The Beatles are so influential, that pretty much most of the gear they’ve used (and been photographed with) has become almost as iconic as the Fab Four themselves. The Beatles’ history has been well-documented and we all know they used Rickenbacker guitars, Gretsch Country Gentleman, Vox AC30, Hofner Violin Bass, Gibson J-160e acoustics and so on.

Unfortunately, not everyone can afford the same gear – most of which still in production and available today, thanks, in no small part, to the band’s popularity and continued influence.

The Beatles on stage: Paul McCartney and his Hofner bass; George Harrison and a Gretsch; John Lennon with his Rickenbacker; and Ringo.

The good news is – there’s a lot of great quality gear at a fraction of the price, and which will get you in the ballpark, both in terms of sound, and looks.

Beatles-style Guitars 

Eastwood Classic 6 DLX, a great alternative to the Grestch as used by George Harrison… 

Epiphone EJ160e VS: a good few years ago, Epiphone released the EJ-160e John Lennon signature, which was the first truly affordable version of the Gibson J-160e as used by John and George on several Beatles tracks.

The John Lennon model has been discontinued, but thankfully the current (non-Lennon signature) model is still available!

Eastwood Classic 6: for those who can’t afford a Gretsch Country Gentleman as used by George Harrison in the early years of The Beatles, the Eastwood Classic 6 is a truly stunning alternative. Also available with Bigsby, the Classic 6 is as close as it gets without breaking the bank:

Harley Benton Beatbass: this is one of the most affordable Hofner-style, violin basses around, and should be good enough to make you feel like a budget Macca! You might find better violin basses out there, but for the price it’s hard to beat…

Of course, The Beatles famously played Epiphone Casinos, which are still in production and not that expensive. When it comes to Rickenbackers, though, we’re not that lucky – the brand is really harsh with competitors who try to copy their (expensive) designs, so you won’t find good quality, new replicas around. The best bet is to try and find cheaper copies on Ebay.

John Lennon and his Epiphone Casino

Beatles-style Amps

For early Beatles, you gotta go the Vox AC30 route, of course! Today’s player on a budget (and those who don’t want a big heavy amp….) will be more than happy with the more affordable Vox AC15VR, which nails the classic Vox tone at a fraction of the price – and looks great, too:

Vox AC15VR… perfect for Beatles fan on a tighter budget

The most-used amp on Beatles record, however, was the Fender Bassman. One of the best amps ever, quite hard to beat… but for modern soundalikes (as much as possible…) on a smaller budget, you can’t go wrong with the Fender Bassbreaker series, or even the Peavey Delta Blues 115, which has a fantastic Fender-like tone and quite cheap on the second-hand market.

Beatles-style FX pedals

The Beatles were early adopters of fx-pedals, but their use was limited to a few songs, in the studio only. For instance, George was photographed fiddling with a Maestro FuzzTone in the studio; John used a Wem Rush PepBox  on Paperback Writer, and Paul used a Vox Tone Bender on his bass in Think For Yourself. All of them have been reissued “boutique-style” and can be found reasonably easily online, if not exactly cheap.

Paul McCartney Tone bender MKI, 1965B

The Way Huge Havalina fuzz is a well-priced modern option – a germanium fuzz that does the Tone Bender sound really well!

Other than that, George used some Wah in the later days of the Beatles, so the Vox Wah or Dunlop Cry Baby will be just perfect.

More interestingly, you can also get a few FX pedals to achieve some sounds from the Fab Four psychedelic era – reproducing the sounds of other instruments and studio effects used by the Beatles in the studio: 

• Get the Electro-Harmonix MEL9 pedal for near-perfect Mellotron sounds, such as in the flutes heard in the intro of ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’. The great thing about this pedal is that you can eighter plug your guitar to it and create what sounds like a background Mellotron accompaniment, when you blend effects and dry sounds, OR, you can plug a keyboard to the pedal and play wet-signal only, as if it as a real Mellotron. Even a cheap Casio will sound like something out of a Beatles record!
• Get the Electro-Harmonix Lester K for Leslie rotating speaker effect widely used by the Beatles, in tracks such as ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’ (George’s guitar), ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ (John’s vocals) or ‘Something’ (rhythm guitar).
• Get any digital reverb delay pedal which features reverse delay, for the backwards guitar sounds heard on some tracks such as ‘Rain’. TC Electronics makes some wonderful delay pedals with reverse delay, but even a cheap Behringer EM600 will help you to achieve those sounds.

This Reverb.com video suggests other pedals you can use, too, to reproduce the sounds of specific Beatles tracks:

How to Sound Like The Beatles… On a Budget from MyRareGuitars.com

Vintage 1964 Silvertone 1457 Electric Guitar with Amp-in-Case

Inevitably there’s always an earlier “earliest,” but the earliest amp-in-case I know of was built by Daniel when he was working for Epiphone in around 1936. Nathan I. Daniel was a young electronics wizard who was discovered in the early 1930s by Epiphone’s head engineer Herb Sunshine building amplifiers in the basement of a New York department store (back when department stores really had departments and they did things). In 1935 the Epiphone Banjo Company changed its name to Epiphone and introduced a line of electric guitars and amplifiers called Electraphones, which was almost immediately changed to Electar. These included electric Spanish archtop guitars, Hawaiian lap steels, and little amplifiers designed and built by Nat Daniel. In 1936 Epiphone offered its Electar Model C Hawaiian guitar with an amp built into the case, designed by our friend Nat. For some reason, it didn’t go over very well, and the amp was quickly separated out into the Model C amplifier.

Vintage 1964 Silvertone 1457 Electric Guitar with Amp-in-Case

In 1938 National-Dobro revisited the idea, introducing the Supro 60 Electric Combination and the Portable Supro 70 Electric Combination. Both of these featured a little pearloid-covered Supro Electric Hawaiian Guitar tucked into an amp in case unit. I don’t think any of these earl amp-in-case designs did particularly well, but then there was something called the Great Depression going on, which had to have an effect on sales.

Obviously, Daniel thought the idea was good enough. Daniel worked for Epiphone until 1942. After the War Daniel opened his own plant, Danelectro, in Red Bank, NJ, mainly making guitars and amps for Sears and Montgomery Ward, badged Silvertone and Airline, respectively. They began selling Danelectro-branded guitars and amps in around 1954. People throw the term around all too often—and ignorantly—these days, but those ‘50s and ‘60s Danos were truly iconic.

Vintage 1964 Silvertone 1457 Electric Guitar with Amp-in-Case

And maybe the most iconic of Danelectros were the Silvertone Amp-in-Cases made for Sears beginning in 1962. The first were the smaller black-sparkle-finished Masonite one-pickup No. 1448s with an 18-fret fingerboard and a small 3-watt, 6” speaker tube amp built into the case. These were followed in 1963 by the full-size red-sparkle-finished Masonite two-pickup guitars with a 5-watt, 8” speaker tube amp, the No. 1449.

Vintage 1964 Silvertone 1457 Electric Guitar with Amp-in-Case

Let me get this off my chest. Something’s “iconic” when it represents something bigger than itself. “Iconic” does not mean, as modern advertising copywriters throw it around everywhere these days, “his best album,” or, more often, “very famous” or “extremely popular.” Icons are like symbols or metaphors with greater meaning attached, signaling a bigger message or concept. These amp-in-case guitars are icons because they stand for a whole generation and the changes in American culture that were transpiring in the early ‘60s. They were targeted at maturing Baby Boomers who were doing Beach Blanket Bingo with Annette from the Mickey Mouse Club (or, more likely, imagining that they were), switching from Folk to surf rock, starting bands in their suddenly suburban garages. A population on the go, on brand new Interstate superhighways. See the U.S.A. in your Chevrolet. Well, you get the point. I’ll be quiet.

As with everyone else in the ‘60s, Danelectro got bought out in 1966, here by entertainment giant MCA. Whether due to the ownership change or coincidence, the Dano line was shuffled. The two-pickup 1449 was renumbered to 1457 and a bunch of new models debuted. While the amp-in-case concept seemed to continue to 1969, it was no long the iconic versions we know and love.

Vintage 1964 Silvertone 1457 Electric Guitar with Amp-in-Case

I’ve never played a 1448, but I’ve played this 1457 and the amp is surprisingly good. The 8” speaker and tube output have really sweet tone and really decent volume, more than you’d expect. I can’t say the guitar knocks my socks off, but as primitive as it is, it plays fine and it’s pretty good for a few choruses of “Walk, Don’t Run” and “Apache.” These are pure guitar fun! And, yes, they are iconic…

Garage-Band Dream Machine (Vintage 1964 Silvertone 1457 Guitar with Amp-in-Case) from MyRareGuitars.com

Vintage 1970’s Epiphone ET Series Crestwood Electric Guitar

Here are two examples of the Japanese made EPI Crestwood from the early 1970’s. The Epiphone ET Series guitars were solidbody guitars produced from 1970-1978 at the Matsumoku plant in Japan. In 1970, the decision was made to close down Kalamazoo production of Epiphones in favor of building them overseas in Japan. Epiphone decided to offer a new line of Japanese-built Epiphones that had more in common with other Japanese copies than previous Epiphone products.

Often confused with the Crestwood, Coronet, Olympic and Wilshire, the ET-275, 276, 278, 290 & 290N were a Japanese-made amalgamation of a few older Epiphone body shapes and designs. And unlike the USA originals, these Japanese models featured a bolt-on neck.

Additional Details:

• 1974-1978
• Two humbuckers
• Maple body
• Gold hardware
• Bolt-on Maple neck
• Rosewood fingerboard with pearl block inlays
• Bound neck and headstock
• Tune-o-matic bridge with stopbar tailpiece
• 2 Vol. 2 Tone controls
• 3-way selector switch
• 24.75″ scale
• 1.68″ nut width

Back Catalog Memories: Epiphone ET Series Crestwood Electric Guitar from MyRareGuitars.com

Mystery Ephiphone Guitar: Prototype or Custom Build?

Mystery Ephiphone Guitar: Prototype or Custom Build?

The guitar was delivered a few days later, and I ripped the box open like a kid on Christmas morning. With packing peanuts flying, I pulled out a hard shell case that could have housed a 335. Inside the case was a label-less, serial number-less semi-hollow electric guitar with Epiphone on the headstock, just like my friend had described. The guitar looked and felt like it was USA-made, but I needed to examine it more closely.

I noted the guitar’s Grover tuners, and the nut looked original and to Gibson spec. The brand was inlayed like a Gibson, with the finial in the center, which is typical of a standard 335. I also noticed what I call “ears” on the headstock, which occur when Gibson cuts the neck blanks for their guitars and then reuses scrap pieces by gluing them to the headstock portion of the blank, creating laminate lines that can be seen on the back of the headstock. The neck and heal were made of mahogany, with no laminate joints, and the fret board was rosewood with dot inlays. However, the headstock had no serial number, no volute, and no stamp to indicate that it was USA-made.

Mystery Ephiphone Guitar: Prototype or Custom Build?

Mystery Ephiphone Guitar: Prototype or Custom Build?

Mystery Ephiphone Guitar: Prototype or Custom Build?

The body of the guitar appeared to be a laminate mahogany top, back, and sides-not maple, like a typical 335- with a subtle, tobacco-burst, nitro lacquer finish. The bridge was a Gibson-stamped ABR Tune-o-matic, and the wiring was braided like a Gibson as well, but I could find no label or markings inside the f-hole.

Since I was having a hard time dating the guitar without a serial number, I decided to remove the electronics to get a look at the pots, switch, and pickups. Tone and volume potentiometers typically have a series of numbers on them that identify the manufacturer and the production date. Unfortunately, these pots were liberally covered in solder, which made the numbers completely indiscernible. The pickups, however, did offer me a clue.

Mystery Ephiphone Guitar: Prototype or Custom Build?

In 1980, the Norlin Corporation began to take the first steps toward production of a reissue Les Paul guitar, and they assigned engineer Tim Shaw the task of reproducing a PAF-style humbucker for the project. Due to financial constraints set by Norlin, Shaw could only approximate certain aspects of the original pickups, but the final product was a PAF-style pickup that was superior to the pickups that Gibson was producing at the time. Tim Shaw pickups are easily identifiable because they have a separate, ink-stamped series of numbers on the bottom that indicates the type of pickup (bridge or neck), as well as the date of production. The pickups in question were stamped 329 682, which revealed that the production year was 1982.

I was looking at an Epiphone-branded, Gibson-made, USA-manufactured 335 with no serial number and no label, but with pickups that gave me the guitar’s production year. My conclusion was that the guitar must have been either a prototype, or maybe a personal build for someone who worked for Gibson at the time. Either way, my friend had himself a great playing and sounding instrument, and I’d had fun doing the detective work.

Mystery Ephiphone Guitar: Prototype or Custom Build?

Written by: Dave Anderson

Checking Out a Mystery Epiphone Guitar from MyRareGuitars.com

1969 Dan Armstrong Modified Danelectro Electric Guitar

Turns out Danelectro, like every other musical instrument company, got caught up in the corporate feeding frenzy of the 1960s. Danelectro had its origins in electronics work done for a department store by Nathaniel “Nate” Daniel (born 1912) in the Bronx in the 1930s. He came up with his own amplifier design and from 1934-42 made Epiphone’s Electar amplifers. After World War II Daniel moved to Red Bank, New Jersey, and founded Danelectro, building amps for Montgomery Ward (Airline), Sears (Silvertone), and Targ and Diner (S.S. Maxwell). In the early 1950s, when solidbody electrics demonstrated that they were more than a passing fad, Sears wanted more guitars than its subsidiary Harmony could produce and arranged for Danelectro to start making electric guitars. Danelectro and its Silvertone counterparts debuted in 1954.

The first Danos were solid, made of poplar. In 1956 the legendary “lipstick tube” pickups appeared and yes Martha they were purchased from a lipstick manufacturer! In 1958 the classic masonite hollowbodies took a bow, the same year Danelectro relocated to Neptune, New Jersey.

1969 Dan Armstrong Modified Danelectro Electric Guitar

Fast forward to 1966. By then guitar companies could sell any guitars they could make. A number of large corporations, many with experience on the periphery of the entertainment business, started seeing dollar signs and began acquiring guitar companies. CBS purchased Fender in 1965. Norlin, whose interests including breweries (I guess that’s entertainment!), bought Gibson. Baldwin Pianos and Organs bought first Burns of London and then Gretsch. Even Westheimer Sales, importer of Teiscos, was purchased by King Korn trade stamps. Seaburg, the juke box folks, bought Valco/Kay. Avnet bought Guild. Danelectro was purchased by MCA, the company that owned Decca Records and Universal Pictures, among other properties.

Unfortunately for all the greedy corporations, the bloom started to fade from the guitar business almost immediately. According to the Music Trades magazine, guitar sales began to decline in 1967 followed by an even bigger drop in 1968. That year Valco/Kay went belly up. MCA wanted out, but there were no takers to buy the brand. In 1969, MCA simply locked the doors of the factory and that was it.

Which links up with this guitar. Dan Armstrong was a well-known repairman nee guitar designer who had a shop in New York. He and his then girlfriend Carly Simon came up with this idea for a plexiglass “see-through” guitar which would be sold through another area amplifier company, Ampeg in 1969. Armstrong was hired to personally inspect every guitar before it left the plant, but, reportedly, Armstrong was, shall we say, not very interested in showing up for a regular day job shift. Ampeg had trouble meeting demand for the plexiglass guitars and basses. There may have been other production problems.

In any case, a part of the Ampeg design was a series of interchangeable pickups that slid into a slot on the front. These were cast in epoxy to help cut back on feedback.

1969 Dan Armstrong Modified Danelectro Electric Guitar

The rest of the story is a little murky. Some sources say that Armstrong purchased a bunch of leftover parts from the closed Danelectro factory and assembled between 650-700 guitars outfitted with his epoxy-potted pickups. Some stories link this to Ampeg’s supply problems, but why they don’t then say Ampeg is a mystery. Other stories have these guitars being sold out of Armstrong’s New York shop, which probably makes more sense, given the identification on the pickguard. One interesting clue is that Ampeg used Danelectro bridges on its see-through guitars. This has always struck me as odd, that such an advance guitar concept wouldn’t have a sophisticated bridge.

Somehow, this all ties up with the fact that Unimusic, Ampeg’s parent company, ran into financial troubles about this time. They couldn’t pay Armstrong. Had Ampeg purchased those Danelectro parts to use the bridges and save money? Did Armstrong get the parts to make these guitars as part of the pay Ampeg couldn’t give him? We may never know the whole story.

All this came tumbling down in 1971 when the Ampeg see-throughs bit the dust. Along with the company. Ampeg was sold to the consumer electronics giant Magnavox that year. Magnavox operated the company until 1980 when the brand went to Ernie Briefel’s Music Technology, Inc. (MTI), distributor of Westone and Vantage guitars from Matsumoku Moto in Japan, as well as Giannini from Brazil. In 1985 the brand was sold once again to St. Louis Music, where it still resides.

Following the see-through debacle and the brief fling with these Danelectros, Dan Armstrong moved to London where he produced some mahogany versions of the see-through designs.

So, that leaves us with these Dan Armstrong Modified Danelectros. As you can see, they do exist! I’m pretty sure these date from 1969, but that’s far from certain. The timing fits. They could date from slightly later, but probably not much.

Basically everything on these guitars is vintage Dano except for the pickups. They are smooth, rich and quiet. Unfortunately, a Dano really needs cheapo lipstick-tube single-coils to sound right. These high-tech units kind of leave the guitar with no soul. I have no idea what the three-way toggle is supposed to do. It may have already been installed!

Nevertheless, like those anthropological missing links, this Dan Armstrong Modified Danelectro fills in some curious connections between some of our most famous brand names and innovative guitar personalities. Maybe some day we’ll know the whole truth about this oddball.

A Missing Link? (1969 Dan Armstrong Modified Danelectro Electric Guitar) from MyRareGuitars.com

Nathan I. Daniel: Founder of Danelectro

A lot of people know about Danelectro – especially the now-retro-looking electric guitars, which have become collector’s items and have even given rise to that sincerest form of flattery, a company of the same name as the 1940s, 50s and 60s Danelectro, which manufactures reproductions of the original instruments, and another company that also issues reproductions, albeit without the name.

Fewer people, however, know much about Nathan I. Daniel, my dad – and the genius behind Danelectro. Nor is my father’s contribution to the history of electric musical instruments widely known. He was devoid of interest in fame or publicity, and after Danelectro closed down in 1969, he simply got on with his life. As a result, most of what has been written about Danelectro has focused on the appearance of the guitars, right down to the shape of their heads and the style of knobs, pick guards and tuning pegs.

I hope that for the people who admire, collect and play original Danelectro guitars and amplifiers (or the Silvertone and Airline products my dad also created), this tribute will give a new appreciation for these old instruments, because the essence of the Danelectro story is Nat Daniel’s lifetime of innovation.

Early Years

Nathan “Nat” Daniel was born in New York City in 1912, a year to the day after his young parents arrived in the United States, immigrants who had come to this country to escape the anti-Semitism of czarist Russia, which then ruled their Lithuanian birthplace. The younger of my father’s two kid sisters, my Aunt Ray, tells how one of their parents’ first words in English was “learn,” and how, when they were children, their parents would take all three of them around to New York’s many wonderful museums, urging them to “learn.”

Because my father could not yet speak English when he entered school, he had to repeat the first grade. At some point during his second time around, as he later told me, “it was as if someone turned the lights on one day, and suddenly I understood everything.” A bright, mischievous child, hardly a devoted student, he nonetheless went on to skip several grades and graduated from high school ahead of his contemporaries. (My dad often ignored homework assignments but aced exams, much to the irritation of certain teachers – most notably a high school math teacher who wanted to flunk him but couldn’t because of his near-perfect score on the New York State Regents Exam.)

My dad developed an early interest in radio, still in its infancy during his teenage years. He built the first crystal radio set in his neighborhood. During the Great Depression, he dropped out of City College of New York and began assembling and selling amplifiers of his own design. It was during this period, in the mid-1930s, that he designed and began manufacturing a push-pull amplifier circuit that eliminated the input transformer that had made it impossible to achieve good high-frequency response. His amp tested “flat” (i.e., provided equal response across the full range of sound frequencies) to the limit of then-existing equipment. He did not try to patent his invention because he could not afford the expense.

My father’s first “factory” was his bedroom in his parents’ New York apartment. Later he moved his small manufacturing operation – Daniel Electrical Laboratories – to a loft in Lower Manhattan. His first big customer was the well-known guitar maker Epiphone, second only to Gibson at the time.

During World War II, Nat Daniel served as a civilian designer for the U.S. Army Signal Corps at Fort Monmouth, N.J. Among the other problems he worked on at that time, he found a simple, economical way to equip military jeeps and motorcycles with shielding to prevent the electronic “noise” their engines generated from interfering with the reception of critical battlefield radio messages. Protected from the draft by the critical nature of his work, at one point he considered enlisting in the Marines. His boss – and my mother, Mollie – talked him out of it. As a kid, I once asked about his work during the war. His response: “I saved the government a million dollars.” Whatever the exact amount, clearly it was not a trivial sum.

Danelectro

At the end of the war, my father left the Signal Corps and reopened his amplifier manufacturing business in Red Bank, N.J., near Fort Monmouth. He called it the Danelectro Corporation (coined from “Daniel electric”) and over the next nearly two and a half decades produced what writers Jim Washburn and Steve Soest in the July 1983 issue of Guitar World called “an impressive number of electric instruments … distinguished in their design innovations [and] their quality at a budget price….”

After supplying Epiphone again for about a year, he won contracts to make amplifiers for two major national retail chains, Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward…

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Note: Excerpt, reproduced here with the author’s permission, from a tribute to Nathan I. Daniel by Howard E. Daniel. Copyright © Howard E. Daniel, Pen-For-Rent, 2007-2009. May not be reproduced in whole or in part without the author’s express written permission. The author may be contacted at info@pen4rent.com

Nathan I. Daniel: Danelectro Founder from MyRareGuitars.com

Sir Paul McCartney: Bass Player for the Beatles

#1. Paul McCartney [The Beatles]

Main bass: Hofner violin bass, Rickenbacker bass

Sir Paul was and will forever be the first rock bass player who stepped outside the realm of covering the roots or arpeggiating the chords in the traditional intervals. Paul played what we used to refer to as “piano bass”. His use of the thumpyHofner violin bass was a two-fold application, as he covered the bass frequencies, never leaving John and George hanging out there without the low end support. But, he did this while creating counter melodies and tension and release within the music, a technique you find in more complex musical forms like jazz and classical music. And of course he did this while singing his ass off!. Check out Pauls playing on “Lucy in the Sky”, “Old Brown Shoe” and “Fixing a Hole” just to name a few. Bass players study Paul’s playing closely and learn from the master of tasty, yet up front bass execution.

Jack Bruce: Bass Player for Cream

#2. Jack Bruce [Cream]

Main bass: Gibson EB-3, Wal bass

When I came up back in the late sixties and early seventies Jack Bruce was the default choice when asked “so who’s your favorite bass player”. Jack was an outstanding instrumentalist and singer, but his bass playing was so groundbreaking that he intimidated the great Eric Clapton and frequently blew him off the stage during some of Cream’s extended jams. Unlike McCartney’s clean sound, Jack’s sound was distorted and barky. He accomplished this by using Marshall amps for his amplification, and utilizing the bridge pickup on his bass of choice the Gibson EB-3.

Obviously, Jacks playing on the Cream records are the ones people go to immediately when looking for Jack Bruce virtuosity, but you must check out his playing on his first solo album after Cream called ‘”Songs for a Tailor”.. Check out “The Clearout”, To Isengard” and “Never Tell Your Mother She’s Out of Tune”, truly amazing!

Chris Squire: Bass Player for Yes

#3. Chris Squire [Yes]

Main bass: Rickenbacker 4001

Chris Squire played bass for the great progressive British band Yes. He along with guitar player par excellence Steve Howe was as formidable a pair in the history of rock ever to share a stage. Chris’ cutting tone on his Rickenbacker bass was a benchmark for all future bassmen. “Long Distance Runaround” form Yes’s first album called Yes Album still impresses after 30+ years of being in the dictionary of rock instrumental hooks. Chris continued to blast away and the foundation of what a bass player could and should play for many years after Yes’ first records.

Jack Casady: Bass Player for Jefferson Airplane

#4. Jack Casady [Jefferson Airplane]

Main Bass: Epiphone semi-hollow, Fender Jazz bass

Playing bass in 60’s bands was not really a safe place for cats trying to make a name for themselves based on their playing and not their hair. Although Jack Casady had some great hair, his percussive, thumpy sound was break from the mostly low-endy studio recordings heard in the mid sixties. Jack played a melodic, linear style that helped to define the style that was to be called “lead bass”. I am sure the likes of Stanley Clarke and Jaco Pastorius were influenced by Jack. If you want to hear Jack at his best listen to his playing on “The Other Side of This Life” from the live Airplane offering called “Bless its Pointed Head”.

Jack also showed great diversity while playing in Hot Tuna with guitarist Jorma Kaukonen. Hot Tuna played electric and acoustic blues as well as some of its own music, and Jack always was solid and interesting. Many imitators have been out there, but none can compare to the original California bass rebel Jack Casady. By the way he was never married to Shirley Jones and was not the father of David Cassidy.

Tim Bogert: Bass Player for Vanilla Fudge & Cactus

#5. Tim Bogart [Vanilla Fudge, Cactus]

Main Bass: Fender Precision Bass (50’s Model)

Tim’s style although great has been controversial at times. While playing in the Vanilla Fudge Tim alongside drummer extraordinaire Carmine Appice layed down some very solid bass lines, while also stretching outside the realm of what a bass played had played up to that point. After leaving the Fudge Tim and Carmine was the rhythm section in Cactus a much underrated band. Cactus recorded some very heavy records in the early 70’s and Timmy’s playing was distorted and atypical. Cactus was a departure from the Vanilla Fudge in that Cactus boasted a very strong guitar player in former Detroit Wheels axeman Jim McCarty. The chemistry between Bogart and McCarty was strained, as neither one was used to the role each other was playing, but as frequently happens the music thrived under adverse conditions.

Timmy went on to play with Jeff Beck in the short-lived Beck, Bogart, and Appice. They only released one album, although there was a second LP in the can that was never released. If you can get your hands on it, there is a “live” album recorded in Japan that is a very good record, showing BBA at there live best.

Although Tim Bogart’s playing is controversial there is no doubt he is one of the most influential bass players of rock and roll.

That’s it for now y’all – now slap that bass!!!

My 5 Most Influential Bass Guitar Players from MyRareGuitars.com

Back in the day, before the Internet brought cool guitars to your desktop, we used to have the pleasure of snooping out guitars in little out-of-the-way shops. Mac and Joe used to run one such parlor out on Woodland Avenue in Southwest Philly, a low-rent district for sure. After work I’d descend to the Green Line and catch either the 11 or 36 trolley, which dumped me full of anticipation in front of their store. What would I find today – a Hagstrom? A Framus?

1983 Electra Endorser X934CS Electric Guitar

One night we were hanging out near closing, when a fellow pulled his car up, ducked in and asked if we wanted to buy a Les Paul. To a guitar dealer, there are no finer words. To me (yawn), it was time to leave. Then he added, “Plus I’ve got this here Japanese Electra.” My ears perked up.

1983 Electra Endorser X934CS Electric Guitar

While Mac and Joe ogled the frankly boring mid-’70s LP, I was ogling one of the most gorgeous guitars I’d ever seen. Later I found out it was a 1983 Electra Endorser X934CS. A set-in neck with no heel. Mahogany with a carved maple cap that had flame so deep you got high staring at it. Finished in cherry sunburst, my favorite. Plus lots of that early ’80s brass for sustain. Sustain? These humbuckers, which turned out to be original and American, scream forever, enough to blister the paint off the other guitar. Besides having push-pull pots with coil taps and phase reversal. I’m a sucker for those every time. The fit and finish were impeccable.

This was my first encounter with an Electra, and I was hooked. Looking back in the pages of old Guitar Player magazines led me to St. Louis Music. A phone call led me to Tom Presley, the man who directed most of the Electra line through the 1970s and actually designed the Endorser. The Endorser actually was a straight, fancy version of part of the earlier Electra MPC line, which had the cool plug-in sound modules.

1983 Electra Endorser X934CS Electric Guitar

This guitar, indeed all of the Electras and later Westones were designed in the U.S. and built by the legendary Matsumoku factory in Matsumoku City, Japan, one of the great guitar makers. Matsumoku produced some of the higher-end Aria guitars (and some Epiphones) of the ’70s, and sold its own very fine Westones before St. Louis Music took over the brand name in ’84. Matsumoku also made sewing machines – go figure – and in 1987 or ’88 was bought by Singer, who shut down the guitar operation. The Yen was so expensive by then that it was pretty hard to export to the U.S. anyway.

1983 Electra Endorser X934CS Electric Guitar

Mac and Joe bought both guitars and continued to “ooh and aah” over the Gibson. I timidly asked how much for the Electra, and they waved their hands as if brushing a fly and said “Three bucks.” I left them to their ecstasy (mental) and, a big grin on my face, quietly slipped out with my treasure to catch the trolley back toward town. This Electra Endorser is still one of my favorite guitars to this day.

Hey, man. Wanna Buy a Les Paul? (1983 Electra Endorser X934CS Electric Guitar) from MyRareGuitars.com

1967 LaBaye 2x4 Electric Guitar

Most guitar aficionados know the story of Les Paul’s “log”. Remember, back in the ’40s, Les figured all he needed for the perfect electric guitar was a neck attached to a chunk of wood with some pickups on it. He built his log and it worked. But his audiences were disturbed by its look, so he cut up an Epiphone archtop and attached the sides to his log, satisfying his fans. Whether or not a guitar teacher in Green Bay, WI, named Dave Helland knew about Les’ log, he too arrived at a similar conclusion. “Heck”, thought Dave, “You could put a neck on a 2-by-4 and have a guitar.” And when one day he met up with the folks from the Holman-Woodell guitar factory in Neodesha, KS, that’s just what he did. The La Baye 2×4 Six, Four and Twelve were born. La Baye because, if you know your geography, his hometown sits on a – well, look at a map!

1967 LaBaye 2x4 Electric Guitar

Holman-Woodell is probably best known as the factory that made the famous, short-lived Wurlitzer guitar line in 1966. The company was founded in 1965 by Howard E. Holman and Victor A. Woodell. Holman had worked for Wurlitzer and his company had been established essentially to make guitars for Wurlitzer. Their guitars were designed by Doyle Reading, who would later go on to do Kustom guitars for Bud Ross. Unfortunately, they didn’t quite get the painting quite right, and Wurlitzer started getting lots of returns from dealers because the paint was flaking off. By the end of the year Wurlitzer had cut Holman-Woodell loose and they tried to make it on their own with the Holman brand.

1967 LaBaye 2x4 Electric Guitar

Which brings us back to Helland and his La Baye 2x4s. Helland didn’t recall how he came in touch with Holman-Woodell, but he did and they agreed to make him a run of guitars and basses in early 1967. Working out the design wasn’t exactly a chore! Basically La Baye’s were regulation Holmans except for the 2×4 body. The neck, pickups, and vibrato are the same as found on both Wurlitzers and Holmans. The pickups are weird single-coils that, instead of using height adjustment screws to compensate for the front and back positions, use thin wafers of plastic stacked around the poles. My favorite feature, however, is the threeway switch which some Einstein decided to put on the bottom of the guitar. There’s no way, baby, you can play these without bumping that toggle. At least you’re constantly surprised at the sound you get!

1967 LaBaye 2x4 Electric Guitar

Tommy James and the Shondells played La Bayes briefly, as did a Milwaukee band called the Robbs, but that’s about as far as they got. Holman built about 45 La Bayes, mostly Sixes, but also several 12-strings, short-scale basses, and one long-scale bass, which Helland took to the 1967 NAMM show. He got no orders. Helland gave up guitar designing and guitar teaching, switched to photography. Holman didn’t last much longer. They sold out and became Alray (for Al and Ray). Reportedly a few La Baye bodies were assembled as Alrays, but by November of ’67 the doors closed for good on these Wisconsin-Kansas logs.

Purchasing Les Paul’s Log (1967 LaBaye 2×4 Electric Guitar) from MyRareGuitars.com