I was 12 years old in 1964 when I heard my first Beach Boy song; "Fun, Fun, Fun." I had not learned to play guitar yet, but I loved to sing. I sang in my church choir, also at the chorus in school. At age 12 girls were just starting to look interesting. The prior year most of my friends were boys, but now I had several special neighborhood girls that were good friends.
Music was becoming interesting too. I had my transistor radio dial tuned into the best AM Top 40 station. The Beach Boys really piqued my interest because of their unique vocal harmony. I thought the falsetto voice was awesome. A few years earlier, in 1961, The Lion Sleeps used a similar blend; Falsetto, harmony background voices, and a baritone lead voice.
Over the years I have been privileged to attend four Beach Boy concerts. Brian Wilson even showed up at only one of them. Brian passed away this past week at age 82 on June 11th.
In his prime Brian was gifted and said to be a genius. He was blessed with a not just a terrific knowledge of music, but in his mind he knew the sound he wanted right down to the instrumentation, arrangements, and the vocal harmony parts for the songs. The Beach Boys first recordings the songs he penned were fairly basic.
Brian worked with what was on hand. He taught his brothers, cousin, and neighbor kids how to play and sing them. His brother and friends learned to play guitar while he learned the bass guitar.
When he decided that touring was too much of a strain, he left the concert circuit so he could write music for the band, produce it, and direct the studio players. Session players marveled that this 23 year old kid was always well prepared.
He wrote charts for them, helped with changes, and cobbled together musicians to play the various instruments that he heard in his head. Not many rock songs of that day included accordion, bass harmonica, mandolin, and even orange juice cups.
Brian was never a great bass player, but he learned the instrument well enough so he could create the sound he perceived for those early Beach Boys concerts and recordings. Much like many song writers, Brian wrote the music, and worked with various others for the lyrics.
In the show I went to in the mid 1960’s Brian played a Fender Precision Bass. This was usually through a brown Fender Bassman or a brown Fender Dual Showman amplifier. Though he also used an Ampeg B-15 Portaflex bass amplifier.
At the concerts I attended in the 1970's and 80's the backline consisted of Fender amps covered in white tolex. I am told at one time they were using Dumble amps.
Brian Wilson had quit touring in 1964, but returned for a few concert in the late 1970’s through the 1980’s. He was still using Precision Bass when I saw him at a concert in 1976 when he played bass, and sang Surfer Girl. The Beach Boys backline consisted of Fender amplifiers.
Later photos and videos show Brian playing a Sadowsky Precision style bass guitar and a Valley Arts California Pro Bass. He always plucked the strings with his thumb.
Carol Kaye, in her biography, mentions that Brian liked her to play bass guitar with a pick through a guitar amp, usually a Fender Super Reverb or Fender Concert amp and her Versatone Portoflex amp, to achieve a brighter sound on recordings.
Since childhood the Beach Boys have always been my favorite group. Their style has influenced so many bands, both current and past. During my school years I studied music, music theory, composition, and arranging, but honestly I learned so much by just listening to how Brian Wilson created his recordings, orchestrations, and harmonies.
I doubt we will see another man like him anytime soon. I send Love and Mercy to his memory, and to his family.
It was in 1965 that The McCoys were on top of the charts with their hit, “Hang On Sloopy.” Guitarist Rick Derringer owned a 1957 Les Paul gold-top that had originally belonged to John Sebastian of the Lovin’ Spoonful. This guitar had come with a stock Bigsby vibrato.
Derringer loved that guitar, but his father complained that it looked “beat up.” Derringer died in Ormond Beach, Florida on May 26, 2025, at the age of 77.
According to TMZ, Derringer's wife, Jenda Derringer, said he "died peacefully after being taken off life support Monday night following a medical episode".
His caretaker and close friend, Tony Wilson, said Derringer had undergone a triple bypass two months earlier but had been doing well.
Derringer’s family made their home in a small town in central Ohio called Ft. Recovery. His given surname is actually Zehringer, but he was inspired by the derringer pistol that was on the label of Bang Records an used the stage name Derringer throughout his career.
Rick took his Dad’s suggestion to heart. In 1966 decided to make a 3 hour drive to the Gibson factory in Kalamazoo Michigan where he asked that his guitar be refinished.
Instead of going with the original gold-top finish, Derringer decided he liked the clear red finish that was featured on Gibson’s SG models.
After the work was finished Derringer was disappointed, because, in his opinion, the guitar never played or sounded as good as it originally did. He states that he could not keep it in tune and felt that Gibson had done more changes than just the finish.
This was during the time George had been mainly using his Gibson SG. With the acquisition of the Les Paul, Harrison rarely played the SG and gave it away to Pete Ham, the guitarist for Bad Finger.
At the time Bad Finger had just signed a contract with Apple Records and the SG was laying around the studio, which gave Ham an opportunity to play it and he fell in love with it. Sadly, Pete Ham took his own life in 1975.
His wife sold the SG at a garage sale!!
It was later found and was placed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame until June of 2015 when an anonymous bidder paid 294,000 pounds ($570,000) for it. But I digress.
In 1973 Harrison’s Beverly Hills home was burglarized and Lucy, his beloved Les Paul was stolen from under his bed. He wanted it back. George even went on television issuing a plea to have his guitar returned. It must have meant a lot to him.
Guitarist Mark Havey maintained residences in both California and in Mexico. Back in 1973 he was residing at his California home. His friend, Miguel Ochoa, was visiting the United States to buy guitars and make a little money reselling them in Mexico when he stopped in to see Havey.
After the visit, Ochoa went to the Whalin’s Sound City in Hollywood (which later became the first Guitar Center) and saw this gorgeous red Les Paul hanging on the wall and he bought it for $650.
Unbeknownst to Havey, Ochoa had given the store Havey’s phone number as his own contact number. The next day Whalin’s owner, George Whalin contacted Mark Havey with the story that the store owed Ochoa some money because they had overcharged him for the Les Paul. The story seemed pretty suspicious.
Finally Whalin explained they should have kept the guitar for 30 days to make certain there were no claims against it and see if it clears their “hot property” list of stolen instruments. This guitar was on that list and furthermore Whalin learned it belonged to George Harrison. He was in trouble.
Havey assumed this to be a joke until George Harrison called him. Havey knew Tony Bacon, a well known collector and author that lived in California and through Bacon a meeting was arranged with George Harrison.
At the meeting Harrison said his home had been broken in to and property was stolen, which included the cherry red Les Paul. Harrison said it actually belonged to Clapton and was only on loan to him. He needed that guitar back.
Havey left a message for Miguel Ochoa.to call him. A couple of days went by and Ochoa called back. Havey let Miguel know that Harrison was willing to pay for the guitars return, however Ochoa hedged. He was now in Guadalajara, Mexico and would only return it on the condition that he receive a 1958 Sunburst Les Paul, an early model Fender Precision Bass and four other guitars. He was holding this guitar hostage!
Havey haggled with him and got the bargain down to just the Sunburst Les Paul and a Fender Precision Bass.
Harrison, Havey and Tony Bacon scrambled and visited some nearby guitar stores in search of the requested guitar and bass.
Eventually Norm Harris, from Norm’s Rare Guitars in Tarzana happened to have a 1968 Sunburst Les Paul and a vintage Fender bass. Harrison bought the instruments on the spot..
George then flew Havey and Bacon to Mexico and the instruments were swapped and Lucy made it safely home.
Harrison later quipped, "My guitar was kidnapped and I had to pay some guy in Guadalajaura Mexico to get it back."
The purchase included a Certificate of Authenticity, hand signed by Eric Clapton that was encased in a white leather bound, embossed folio. Also a 180 gram vinyl copy of the White Album. Plus owners manual, adjustment literature and coverage under Gibson’s Limited Lifetime Warranty. Asking price at the time was $15,000.
Rick Derringer first came to my attention in the mid 1960's when The McCoys had a hit record called Hang On Sloopy. The song had been recorded by a group called The Strangeloves.
Their record I Want Candy was a hit, and they didn't want to interfere with that records success. So The Strangeloves got their opening act from Dayton, Ohio to do the song.
The track was already recorded. They had the lead singer of Rick and The Raiders, Rick Zehringer sing the lead vocal. The song became a number one hit, The management company felt the band's name sounded too much like Paul Revere and The Raiders, so it was changed to The McCoys. Around this time The McCoys did local appearances in southern Ohio, near where I have lived for most of my life.
The McCoys called it quits in 1968. Rick and Randy went on to join The Edgar Winter Group. In 1973 Derringer then went on to do a solo act.
Later on Rick played guitar on a few Steely Dan songs. Derringer also recorded the guitar solo for Total Eclipse Of The Heart by Bonnie Tyler, and the solo on Air Supply's song, Making Love Out Of Nothing At All.
By 2010 he went on three world tours with Ringo Star and The All Star Band. He and his wife recorded two popular Chinese songs as Ricky Tu and Jenda Tu for their Asia project.
In 2014 he and other well known players went on tour as Peter Frampton's Guitar Circus.
In 2008 Rick sold some of his prized guitars to Gruhn Guitars. Then starting in January of 2025 and lasting to February of that year he auctioned off many of his favorite guitars. Perhaps he knew something was up?
So I thought I would take an opportunity to understand what makes Roland Jazz Chorus amplifiers so popular. There are so many players that rely on the Roland JC, particularly the 120 watt model.
Roland founder Ikutaro Kakehashi founded Ace Electronic Industries in 1960 as a company that designed and manufactured electronic organs, drum machines, instrument amplifiers, and effects pedals. In March 1972, his company his was acquired by Sumitomo Chemical and Mr Kakehashi resigned.
On 18 April 1972, just a month after resigning from Ace Electronics, Kakehashi founded The Roland Company in Osaka Japan. He had no musical training but desired to use his electronics expertise to appeal to amateur musicians and hobbyists.
The company's goal was to focus on miniaturization, affordability, and simplicity in the design of musical instruments and equipment that his company would manufacture and distribute.
He chose the name Roland as it was easy to pronounce for export purposes. This business was started with only seven employees and at first was run from a rented shed. The companies first creations were drum machines and a compact synthesizer. He followed up by creating guitar pedals under the Boss brand name and synthesizer with the name Juno.
By 1975 his company created what is considered to be the best ever clean sounding guitar amplifier; The Roland Jazz Chorus 120,
Its pure, transparent tonal signature—supported by an integrated stereo amplification system and custom twin 12-inch speakers remains unsurpassed in the guitar world.
Along with its unique clean tone, the JC-120 is equally revered for its impressive Dimensional Space Chorus effect. While other amplifier manufacturers concentrated on building huge tube based amplifiers, Roland was concerned about producing an improved solid-state amplifier.
Operating in true stereo, the JC-120’s chorus still provides a tonal experience like no other, The JC 120 uses twin 60 watt power amplifiers which are paired together to produce the true stereo chorus effect.. This gives this amplifier a combined 120 watts of pure solid-state power.
The JC 120 features reverb and distortion (although the built in distortion effect is rather lame.) However, the real secret sauce for the JC 120 is its stereo chorus. When you combine that with a hint of reverb the sound is amazing.
This amp is on casters which come in handy as it weighs almost 65 pounds. However it is built like a tank to suffer wear and tear on the road. Due to its sound and reliability the JC 120 has become an industry workhorse This amp incorporated technology offered in Roland’s 1974 creation, The Space Echo.
Shortly afterward the initial success of the JC 120, The Roland company offered hybrids of this amplifier including the JC 60, which had similar technology but with only one 60 watt power amplifier and a single 12-inch speaker. This was followed by JC 160 which was a similar stereo amp but with four 10" speakers. For an even louder sound, the Roland JC 200 with two 100 watts amplifiers
In subsequent years Roland has come up with over a half dozen versions of this amp, including a small 20 watt model, a 50 watt model, as well as the JC 77 that Ray Cummins uses, which has twin 10-inch speakers and produces almost 80 watts. While the original JC 120 has two channels, the subsequent models are one channel amps.
The current offerings which date back to 2010 until the present include the Roland JC 40 with twin 10-inch speakers and 40 watts of power, and the JC 22 which pumps 30 watts into twin 6 and a half-inch speakers. This a very small amplifier but it is suitable for gigging and recording.
There are far too many artists who rely on the Roland JC 120 to mention, all the way from America to Jeff Skunk Baxter. As this amplifier is solid-state it requires little or no maintenance, the sound is pristine clean so it does not color the sound of effects pedals, it is sturdy, and it is loud.
Many professional musicians use backline companies that rent amplifiers for performances and the JC 120 is a staple. These amps are all built to sound the same where as some tube amplifiers may have individual qualities.
The JC 120 has been around over 50 years and has proven its reliability.
I originally wrote this article in 2009. This was years before I stumbled upon Nikos Apollonio on Facebook. We have since become Facebook friends and I discovered that Nick not just to be an excellent luthier, but a wonderful guy. He is about my age, and has a great sense of humor. He loves a good pun and speaks his mind.
Though he is of Greek heritage I believe that in his heart he is most definitely an Irishman. Nick enjoys playing Celtic music with his friends on his fiddle or his homebuilt hardanger fiddle and Irish bouzouki.
Nick began his career as a ship builder, but transferred his woodworking skills to build some of the finest Celtic stringed instruments ever. He lives in Belfast Maine where he builds his wonderful instruments in a small shop at his home. His brand name is Apollo Stringed Instruments..
Back in 2009 I was curious about the unusual 12 string instrument that Noel (Paul) Stookey used on the Wedding Song video and his album, "Paul And..."
It was around the time that I stumbled across Mr. Apollonio selling a similar instrument to the one he made for Noel Paul Stookey back in 1968. Regarding this guitar/cittern Nick stated;
"This odd looking guitar was custom made for Noel Paul Stookey in 1968 after a chance meeting in Camden, Maine. It was only my 15th guitar and at the time was rather crude and basic, due to my inexperience.
It did not hold up to string stresses, although it had a very stellar career with one of the most popular performers in America at the time."
Its delicate and haunting sound, though not as deep and powerful as a full size regular shape guitar, inspired Paul to write The Wedding Song on it, for his lifetime friend Peter Yarrow's upcoming wedding. Over the decades the song has been the crowning music of nuptials for countless thousands of people who still write about it.
Noel Paul Stookey wrote on his original webpage (no longer available) how "He and his wife Betty were attending a Rinctum that was held at the home of folk singer Gordon Bok in Maine. Stookey is a Maine resident. A Rinctum is a gathering of musicians for the purpose of sharing songs with each other. Betty has a brother named Bob Bannard who is a friend of Gordon Bok. Bob was instrumental in getting Gordon together with Noel to produce Bok's first album.
Ironically, Nick tells me that during his college days he ran across Gordon Bok's album in a record bin and became a fan of the 12 string guitar after hearing Bok's version of "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man", and he realized that he knew Gordon Bok.
When Nick first knew Gordon he was playing a Harmony or Stella 12 string guitar. A fellow named Sam Tibbets built Bok's first 12 string. Sam was a co-worker with Nick at Camden Shipbuilding. After seeing the instrument that Gordon was playing, Nick built five similar versions for him including one Laud, which was a six course instrument with pairs of two unison strings, tuned in fourths. (Gordon Bok composed and used this instrument on the song, "Bay Saint Marie".
Betty’s brother Denny was there and he had brought with him a boxy looking twelve string guitar and began to play songs from the Hebrides Islands. Noel described how fascinated he was at the beautiful sound of this instrument. He described it sound being by similar to a harpsichord. He became hypnotized by the sound.
He mentioned this to a fellow that was sitting nearby. To his surprise this man said, “I made that guitar.” Noel was astounded. The man introduced himself as Nick Apollonio and said that he made guitars and stringed instruments for a living.
Noel immediately ask if he could build a guitar for him. Mr. Apollonio said yes, but it would take him several months.
Noel went on to say there was a period in the career of Peter, Paul and Mary were there was a lull in their performances. He was just enjoying life in his home when one morning he woke up at 10 AM, which is early for most musicians, and went down to his kitchen.
He was alone in the house and he spotted a large cardboard package standing in a corner. His first thought was that his wife had done some shopping and had something delivered by parcel post. On closer examination he saw the package was from Maine and addressed to him . He realized it was the instrument he had ordered. He had almost forgotten.
He took it to his home studio. The walls in the studio were all painted black. The carpeting was red. Stookey cut the twine the held the package together. There was no case. It was tightly packed in newspaper.
(please click the above link for Stookey's song about this 12 string instrument)
In Noel’s own words he said “I looked once again at this strange flat sided twelve string and think how inauspiciously he arrived." I returned to reading the next several pages of the note which suggest brand and tension of string to use and a bit about the wood and a brief history of the casket style.
It seems that long voyages on the sea made for a certain kind of musical vacuum and when the desires of the crew ran beyond shanties and the little squeeze concertina, several planks from an empty packing case could be fashioned together into a box and joined with a long sturdy neck (made perhaps from a split oar) to produce a fair replica of a guitar without of course the tonality that results from shapely curves of steamed, pressed and clamped hardwood."
Any musician, from serious composer to jazz virtuoso, knows the extent to which coincidence often creates a new set of melodic options. I could be wrong but it seems to me that most musical 'accidents' just challenge the status quo; the 'established' way of presenting the inversion of a chord.
This coincidence often creates a new set of melodic options. It seems to me that most musical 'accidents' just challenge the status quo; the 'established way'.”
In his first encounter with Sebastian, Noel had hit upon the first chord for the beautiful song he wrote about his guitar. It was this is the same instrument he used to write and play The Wedding Song.
As time went on, Nick wrote, "After 41 years and many hundreds of instruments, I decided it was time to rebuild and update; to make it even better than new, with all the features that keep my 12's user friendly and more playable than most any other."
Nick went on to tell me that he has since built five 12 string bell shaped guitars for Stookey. One being a custom Spanish laúd ( 6 unison string pairs tuned F>f in 4th intervals) on which he composed one of my (Nicks) favorite tunes of all time, 'Bay Ste. Marie'.
Since his first build Nick has made several design changes. He states his current Bell shaped instruments are based on the bell shaped Washburn and Healy (model 5270) that was owned by poet Carl Sandburg.
This guitar dates from 1926 to 1928 and was a top of the line model. It was strung with steel strings and had a spruce top with mahogany back and sides. The body joined the neck at the twelfth fret, and it has a slotted headstock. The guitars body originally had a floral design decaled on the instruments top. Lyon and Healy was a very large instrument manufacturer and distributor during this era. They currently build and sell high end concert harps. George Lyon's middle name was Washburn.
Nick Apollonio's unique bell shaped instruments. and all of the instruments he builds include a neck designed for optimal playing. The bell shaped models have a short scale for extremely easy playing, It comes with a user friendly exterior adjustment at the neck heel for optimum action adjustments in any climate, plus a bridge calibrated for exact intonation of each string. The unique tailpiece on the instruments heel removes forward tension on the bridge allowing for lighter (though stronger) bracing, to boost sound.
Materials are: AAA western red cedar top with a compass point inlay around the sound hole. Native solid woods from a supplier in British Columbia, a neck of dark walnut aged 60+ years with a neck scarf cut and glued with a substance stronger than the wood.
An ebony fretboard and bridge with pearl position dots and brass side markers. Nick's instruments use solid inner linings that are Not kerfed, which he states adversely effect the instrument's sound
The headstock has a pale abolone "A" for Apollo logo inlaid at the top.
The tuning is set up for 2 frets low with medium strings or concert pitch with light gauge strings.
The body length is 19"; width is 13 3/4; depth is 4". The instruments scale is 24 7/8th."
He has also developed the six string Trichordo (tuned three courses of C, G, C). This is an easy playing instrument of his own design.
Considering he builds custom, handmade instruments his prices are quite reasonable, ranging from $2200 to $3500. A factory built Martin or Taylor guitar, built in the United States would retail for much more.
If you are considering purchasing a quality hand crafted guitar or Celtic instrument I encourage you to contact Nick Apollonio. Please check out Nikos Apollonio's web page.
