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Topic: Bob Wills Questions |
Dennis Smith
From:
Covington, Georgia, USA
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Posted 22 Nov 2012 11:45 pm |
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Hi
I was watching some Bob Wills videos on youtube and there is one of Take Me Back To Tulsa and there is a D8 steel and a pedal steel is this unusal for then?
Also everybody was playing Fender insturments bass, jazzmaster, D8 and early pedal. Was Fender ever there sponsor?
Dennis |
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Morgan Scoggins
From:
Georgia, USA
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Posted 23 Nov 2012 4:49 am
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Eldon Shamblin was sponsored by Fender Guitars. For most of his carrer he played the very first Stratocaster that Fender made. The original color was gold, but after years iof play, it was a geeenish color. I think that guitar is on display at the Texas Playboy Musieum.
I am sure other members of Bob Wills band played Fender instruments but Eldon was the only one I am aware of that was sponsored by Fender. Eldon was a personal favorite of Leo Fender.
_________________
"Shoot low boys, the're ridin' Shetlands"
Last edited by Morgan Scoggins on 23 Nov 2012 5:44 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 23 Nov 2012 11:05 am
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That appears to be the same video previously discussed here. I may have added a link to the wrong video; if so, please point us to the correct one.
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Brad’s Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
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Dennis Smith
From:
Covington, Georgia, USA
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Posted 23 Nov 2012 12:33 pm
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Hi Brad the link dosen't work for me so I don't know if it's the same. The video is posted on youtube by Gatorrock78. All I did was put in Bob Wills take me back to tulsa and it was the 2nd video on the list.
Dennis |
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Billy Tonnesen
From:
R.I.P., Buena Park, California
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Posted 23 Nov 2012 3:54 pm
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I Beieve that Video featured Gene Crownover on non pedal Fender Steel and Reese Anderson on Pedal Steel. Leo Fender supplied the Bob Wills Band with their Amplifiers from the start, first with Noel Boggs, then Herb Remington etc. What better way to promote the Fender line than with a touring Band that Musicians came out to see. This started in the mid 40's.
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Sacramento Western Swing Society Hall of Fame, 1992 |
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Paul Seager
From:
Augsburg, Germany
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Posted 23 Nov 2012 10:01 pm
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Perhaps to use the word "sponsor" would be to bold because it was very early days for Fender but I've read in various Fender histories that Leo Fender was a fan of steel guitars and Western Swing music, and worked closely with the steel players of the time, happily receiving their feedback on his instruments. He did build a few special amps for the players.
By the accounts I've read, Bob Wills would turn up with suitcases of money (this is before electronic banking) and pay for stuff, cash.
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\paul
Bayern Hawaiians: https://www.youtube.com/@diebayernhawaiians3062
Other stuff: https://www.youtube.com/@paulseager3796/videos |
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Jeff Mead
From:
London, England
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Posted 24 Nov 2012 10:54 am
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Dennis - both steel players are playing identical Fender double neck pedal steels - Fender 1000 I would assume
The guitarist looks like he's playing a Jaguar which would make the clip from the early 60s (The Jag was introduced in 1962 but I guess they may have had a pre-production model) and the bass player has a Jazz bass.
This isn't the same clip as was discussed in the other thread as it mentions a prominent quad neck Stringmaster.
This is the link by the way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--_AXFcm48o |
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Dennis Smith
From:
Covington, Georgia, USA
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Posted 24 Nov 2012 1:12 pm
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Hi Jeff, you are right it is two pedal steels. The guitar is a jag or jazzmaster they look alike and I can't read the headstock.
Dennis |
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Jeff Mead
From:
London, England
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Posted 24 Nov 2012 1:28 pm
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| Dennis Smith wrote: |
Hi Jeff, you are right it is two pedal steels. The guitar is a jag or jazzmaster they look alike and I can't read the headstock.
Dennis |
I was trying to decide because if a Jazzmaster it could make the clip a couple of years earlier but I said Jag because it looks like the thinner single coil pickups and there seems to be a bit of a glint where the metal bits of the pickguard are on a Jag (the JM doesn't have any chrome in the pickguard area). Also if you look at his right hand (during the piano solo), it looks like you can see the little hexagonal metal plate with the pickup selector switches which only features on the Jag.
BTW the Jaguar was Fender's top of the line guitar, costing more than a Strat in its day. |
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Rockne Riddlebarger
From:
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
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Jim Kennedy
From:
Brentwood California, USA
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Posted 29 Nov 2012 6:11 pm
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Several years ago I saw a PBS series on the Bakersfield sound. I can't remember who was being interviewed, I think one of the Buckaroos. When asked about using Telecasters he commented that Leo Fender came to Bakersfield and personally gave them Fender guitars and amps. They weren't sponsored by Fender. Leo just knew the Bakersfield sound was going to catch on and it would be good advertising. Seems like Leo knew how to sell them, too.
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ShoBud Pro 1, 75 Tele, 85 Yamaha SA 2000, Fender Cybertwin, |
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Scott Thomas
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Posted 29 Nov 2012 7:37 pm
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I have a picture in a book that shows Forrest White and Freddy Tavares posing with what looks like a few members of the Bob Wills band next to their tour bus in the Fender parking lot. It looks obviously 1950s some time.
The caption says that Wills and other bands used to stop by regularly to have their equipment refurbished. I think in those days, the relationship with Leo and the big names that used his equipment was more personal.
Definitely a Jag. Also, that is a rare early stacked knob Jazz bass. Those were only made in the first year or two. |
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Alvin Blaine
From:
Picture Rocks, Arizona, USA
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Posted 30 Nov 2012 11:58 pm
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Leo used to work on Junior Barnard's Epiphone guitar, when he was in the Texas Playboys, back in the mid '40s.
Leo put one of his early boxcar steel pickups on Junior's guitar in '46. Then wired it up so Junior could use both the steel pickup and his DeArmond through two separate amps, and I think they were wired out of phase from each other. Junior also got one of the first 15 inch speaker Fender Pro amps, actually two of them.
Here is Junior's "Fender" modified Epiphone, from his Bob Wills days in '46 & '47. Three years before Fender made a standard 6 string (the Broadcaster), and 8 years before he made Eldon's Strat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0Wkd0jQ-nw
A clip of Junior playing this guitar, his solo is at 1:05.
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http://www.facebook.com/cowboytwang |
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