The justjazzguitars collection of vintage and rare jazz archtops.
Rare, Vintage, Jazz,
Archtop, Guitar, Gibson, Byrdland, D'Angelico, Guild, Hofner,
For more info on Tal, Sal,
Johnny, Joe and Barney, and my current favourite players too,
try the "Jazzy Stuff" button at the top of this panel.
........ and
whatever happened to Gwonk? Anyone know?
|
|
Early Days. |
|
|
|
My first guitar was a Broadway Flat-top which
I bought new in 1953. After years of Violin & Piano lessons, and all those scales
&
arpeggios, this was fun ... this was freedom ... this was Skiffle! Just a
guitar, a tea-chest bass, and a washboard.
Three chords were
quite enough.
At School (Dagenham
County High) we added a second guitar and Keith brought
along a real Bass. We played the deep south stuff we found on the
back of Lonnie Donegan’s early PYE EPs. |
|
|
|
|
|
Band No2 followed,
more along the lines of Johnny Duncan, but we soon
outgrew that.
The great thing was that
people with different instruments would just turn up and
play along. One morning Alan Skidmore called in and
we played (4 or 5 of us in my Bedroom) but he was already
on another planet and never came back! Even so, he played
a different kind of music - Jazz! It was an important
moment. |
|
Band No2.
Keith, Rick, me & Colin. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Band No3 was different - my first
Jazz Quartet.
Still with Keith on Bass,
Colin now
on Piano and Gwonk on Alto Sax, we won the School Music
Festival for Ensemble playing Sweet Georgia Brown. "Munser", our Headmaster was not amused! |
|
Band No3 rehearsing. |
|
Saturday mornings were always
spent, Bootram
and I, mooching in the Pioneer Market in
Romford. Huge windows filled with second hand LPs
and musical
instruments. I found an old copy of Tal Farlow’s
Interpretations and bought it for 24/6 (about £1.24)! I played it endlessly. I loved it.
I didn’t know how he did it but I loved it. I was going
to need an archtop and in those days a
Hofner was just about the best archtop around! |
|
|
|
|
|
Cycling home though Chadwell Heath, I
called in at Pioneer's other shop and
there it was, centre stage, a nearly new
Hofner President acoustic in Brunette and not a mark on it.
When I
opened the case it even smelled new. It had to be
mine. I remember working all summer to be able
to buy it. My first archtop. It was the summer of
'57.
I have been trying to play like Tal,
Sal, Johnny, Joe and Barney ever since! |
|
|
|
|
|
That President.
I added two pickups, a single Vol and Tone pot and engraved
the pickguard. A sign of things to come!! |
|
|
|
At the same time I was building my
first home-made guitar (and amplifier too).
Click
here for more details. |
|
|
|
|
|
Somewhere around 1959/60 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Learning the
hard way (with Bootram) at Ten Bob a night (each)! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Still the best of
friends! Celebrating my 70th with Bootram at
Rowleys.
He was so proud
of his Hugo Boss label, we just had to get it in the pic!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|