Steel guitar great - Rick Nelson

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 7 Oct 2023 9:11 am

Nice pic. That's one of several images from a Rickenbacker ad photo session. Ricky Nelson, James Burton, and James Kirkland with Rickenbacker guitar, bass, pedal steel and Rickenbacker amps.

Jim Arnold · Post by **Jim Arnold** » 9 Oct 2023 8:46 am

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet are on TV. James Burton is always playing his Telecaster. Rick plays his Gibson acoustic. You never see their amplifiers.

Dave Hopping · Post by **Dave Hopping** » 9 Oct 2023 9:02 am

I saw one Ozzie and Harriet in the late '50s where the obligatory Rick music segment had James playing a strange-looking guitar which I realized much later was a Rickenbacker.

Only saw it the one time.

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 10 Oct 2023 5:05 am

I suppose Ricky was always miming to his recordings when he 'played' at the end of the TV show.

There's one clip when James Burton is miming to his 'Hello, Marylou' solo on a Gretsch 6120!!!

Still, it was all very enjoyable, although we didn't get that show in Britain. I've caught up, courtesy of YouTube, though. I'd acquire every Nelson album up until 1966 - James' contribution alone was always worth the cost.

These promotional shots are very interesting, even if they're deceptive, Rick stuck to his J-200 or his D-28 and JB never abandoned his dark red Tele for more than a moment (until the Paisley one appeared!)

Dave Hopping · Post by **Dave Hopping** » 10 Oct 2023 10:32 am

Indeed! There's another mime where James starts off on his Tele and all of a sudden he's playing a sunburst Jazzmaster!

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 10 Oct 2023 12:10 pm

Dave:

I bet that Leo was more than happy to bestow guitars upon JB (and may have been a little peeved if he showed up with a Gretsch or a Rickenbacker).

I don't know if this 'folk tale' has reached US shores but here it is.

Our only real rival to the Americans in the late-fifties was Cliff Richard. His first record ('Move it') in late 1958 was as good as anything coming across the Atlantic then.

Cliff became a huge star very quickly. His group (first called the Drifters but, realising the clash with the US group, it was changed to 'The Shadows') featured bespectacled Hank B Marvin, a fast-improving guitarist who was fettered by the awful guitars that were all we could get. (Hank had an Antoria.)

We couldn't get American guitars at that time; there was a trade embargo. Cliff got his office to send for a catalog from Fullerton. It had been said that Cliff's lead-player 'looked like Buddy Holly and sounded like James Burton'. That was pushing it a bit but he wasn't bad.

When the catalog came, they pored over it. They knew JB played a Fender, but which one? They decided that he had to be using the top-of-the-line, so Cliff paid for a Custom Color (Fiesta Red) Stratocaster with gold hardware!

They eventually learned the truth: James played a Tele. The die was cast, though, and history was made. The first Fender in Britain was that Stratocaster - #34346. Strictly speaking, it's Cliff's property but Bruce Welch - their rhythm player - now has it and I doubt he'll part with it.

It's the guitar that launched a thousand careers! Two years later, they arrived in British stores - the Golden Era had arrived! (I didn't follow that trend but, instead, bought a Gretsch Jet Firebird - because I didn't have enough for a 6120.

)

Dave Hopping · Post by **Dave Hopping** » 10 Oct 2023 2:03 pm

Roj-
There'd always been rumours that Fenders were real hard to get outside of the USA, and FWIW when I lived in Canada in the early '60s there was a 40% import duty(on top of list price) on Leo's products. A little later on after I was back in the US I did a few gigs with a guitar player whose folks had been stationed in Germany, and all he could talk about was The Shadows, which up until then I'd thought was Bobby Vee's band. He played a Shadows album for me and I was enthralled, but I never heard anything else about them, although Cliff Richards' "Living Doll" was on my high school's cafeteria jukebox, and got some plays.

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 10 Oct 2023 2:34 pm

The problem was the huge debt incurred in WW2. The trade embargo was intended to drive up sales of British and European goods.

That was all well and good with most things but, once we'd seen the album sleeve - 'Buddy Holly & the Chirping Crickets' with a sunburst Stratocaster and a Gibson ES-325 in sharp focus we were pretty discontent with Hofners, Futuramas and all the European junk. The floodgates opened in 1960 and most of us went to the Charing Cross Road to look in Selmers' window.

I will never forget it: a Gibson ES-5 Switchmaster (a whopping £225.00) and a white Telecaster for £125.00. Such sums were beyond even our parents!!! I opted for the Jet Firebird (I wanted a 6120 because Chet, Duane Eddy and Eddie Cochran had them) paid over time: £165 instead of £220 for the 6120.

Shortly after that, insanity enveloped me and I fell hook, line and sinker for the first Gibson Super 400 in Britain - I paid £475 over two years but, by that time, I had a good gig with a successful artist and I managed it. I do recall that they gave me £160 for trading in the Gretsch!

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 10 Oct 2023 2:38 pm

PS: The other guitar player in our band had an ES-5 Switchmaster that looked almost as good as my S400.

We did a lot of TV and stuff, and that prompted John Lennon to exclaim when we first met the Beatles in Feb, '63:

"You're the guys with the f*****g great guitars!!!"