Bruce's Decision to Play a Stratocaster

[JimN]

Bruce played a Jazzmaster between early 1960 and march/april 1961 when Hank and Bruce were suplied by JMI the Stratocasters with rosewood neck, which they played until 1964 when they switched to Burns.
I have no information on how Bruce got the Jazzmaster, but I doubt he paid for it himself.

He told me that he did (which may mean that the management company bought it for him - either way, it wasn't a freeby from Jennings). I also seem to recall him saying that he eventually sold it to Brian Parker of The Hunters. He wouldn't/couldn't have done that with a loan guitar.

When JMI became UK distributors for Fender guitars, they received mostly sunburst Strats, which were often repainted locally in fiesta red to meet the demand for this colour. Hank's and Bruce's ones were in this case (as I recently discovered in an interview where hank says : "two stratocaster and one Precision Bass were specially painted in fiesta red for us"). Not sure getting a Strat was Bruce's choice, but as the guitars were lended for free by JMI for promotional purposes, the choice was easy...

The all-red trio seems to be the start of the promo "free loan" deal.

JN

[JimN]

Two comments Jim...

Modern string trees with a cylindrical grooved small horizontal bar don't make the strings catch and detune like those old 'wavy' Fender types, which looked like a tiny piece of corrugated iron! The modern versions are not original vintage fittings, but much more practical for actual use.

I have no problem with the operation of the original butterfly string-tree. But the presence of two of them is simply a marker (if it were needed) of the awful later-CBS days.

Also, although you obviously don't like later CBS Strats, particularly the 1970's models,

Some of them were alright. It was the cumulative effect of all the changes - particularly to the Stratocaster, which really suffered under CBS - which did the damage.

... they still are being advertised for sale at relatively high prices.....

I know... unbelievable, isn't it?

... when I saw Roy Buchanan play live in the late '70's, he used a brand new CBS natural finish hard tail Strat, rather than his legendary Telecaster...his playing and sound didn't suffer either!

Some players get a great sound out of them. That isn't the issue. The issue is the aesthetics of the instrument. An original Fender from (say) 1960 is a work of art. An original Fender from (say) 1980 looks and feels like a joke by comparison. I bought brand-new Strat in 1975; it cost me a lot of money (£225 from Rockbottom in Croydon). Compared to the 1962 model a friend had, mine was no better than a copy.

[Mike Honey]

Yes, must agree that when I had the shop, CBS strats were difficult to sell, whether its because they were terrible (and some were), or whether its because of 'urban myth' I dont know

mike

[GoldenStreet]

There was a well known photo of Hank and his red rosewood board Strat on the cover of a Beat Instrumental magazine in the '60's, which showed clearly that the bridge saddles had all been adjusted into a nice neat STRAIGHT LINE! Looks very neat, but no wonder they had tuning problems!

This picture would be even better in colour!

Bill

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[neil2726]

Were not the CBS strats made worse by a 3 bolt neck plate instead of the standard 4 bolt?

[peter roest]

The strat has a middle pu. It was unusual in those days for other guitar brands. As you know most numbers on strat by Bruce were played on the middle pu. May be he or them liked the sound. The design also is top.
About the 3 point construction there is nothing wrong. I have a 1979 strat (on my avatar). Very good strat, only he is very heavy. Did not Jimi Hendrix also play on a big headstock 3 point strat??!!
This is mine 3 point strat S945400

Peter

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[JimN]

That's very similar to the one I had, Peter. Mine had the white scratchplate and the staggered-pole pickups.

It was inferior in every meaningful way to a Stratocaster from the 1960s (especially the first half of that decade).

I was very quick to buy a 1962 Vintage Reissue when they became available (in 1982).

JN

[abstamaria]

It seems, given his druthers, that Bruce would have used the J200 throughout, as he continued to do in the studio. But of course there were the technical problems and the sponsorship, and maybe rock stars then had to be seen with electrics. He had quite a touch and an ear and obviously was very careful with his sound, switching to electric guitars when the piece called for it.

He used the Jazzmaster for "Raggy Tramline," didn't he? Did he have the Strat then too?

Did he play at all for Nivram or was that Hank playing 2nd lead as well? I should check the live videos. In a recent interview, Bruce says that he can't play a scale, probably a huge understatement. What guitar was used for the 2nd lead part?

Andy

[JimN]

"Druthers"?

Hmmm... http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/194850.html

One can still learn something every day!

The released version of Tales Of A Raggy Tramline was apparently recorded on 1st June 1962 (despite being a part-Harris composition), so no Jazzmaster (which had already been used on a hit record by The Hunters). This was well inside the red Strat era.

Nivram? It's Bruce on second guitar (and it says so - or implies as much - in the LP's sleeve note). I don't think it's ever been mentioned which guitar Bruce was using on that track, even with all the fuss about the guitar Hank used for it.

JN

[abstamaria]

Thanks, Jim. Sorry about the Americanism; not sure where I picked that up, being here in the islands.

Jazzmaster on “Raggy Tramline”:

I read that Bruce used a Jazzmaster on the piece somewhere, probably in the previous Shadows forum, and accepted that as gospel truth for many years. Listening to the sound, it seemed to make sense. I did a quick search (I'm at the office, supposed to be working):

The “Out of the Shadows” Wikipedia link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_of_the_Shadows) lists Gibson guitars and a red Stratocaster for rhythm. The date after the piece is December 19, 1961; I am not sure if that was the recording date. Is that significant?

By the way, there was a fun post here (http://www.shadowmusic.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1211) on “Raggy Tramline”; no conclusion about the guitar used except that it was out of tune. An interesting thread.

“Sticking out like a sore thumb and cringe-worthy, Bruce's guitar is horribly out of tune in his 1st & 2nd strings (haven't I read somewhere that BW is paranoid about tuning?). If you've got good ears, Hank Bruce and bass are slightly out of tune from each other”.

I’ll start a thread on this to flush out information, but you’re probably right.

Nivram:

Yes, it must have been Bruce.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOKJc8uge6E

I was led astray by Bruce’s self-effacing comment in that recent interview that he couldn’t play melody. Of course he could. Now, which guitar did he use? In the video above, both he and Hank (whose tone didn’t sound like the record) used acoustics. Perhaps the J200?

Cheers,

Andy