George Harrison played a myriad of guitars throughout his career with the Beatles. Starting out in January of 1960 with a Czechoslovakian guitar called a Delicia Futurama. This was a rather poor version of a Fender guitar which was being imported and sold by Selmer Musical Instruments. It had three pickups mounted on a solid body. Unlike the Fender, the headstock was three on a side for this guitar.
George Harrison with
his Selmer Truvoice amp
This guitar was played through a Selmer Truvoice Stadium amplifier.
By 1962 The Beatles were being recognized in Liverpool and July of that year George acquired his first Vox AC30 amplifier. He played through Vox amps for much of his career.
In September of 1962, Brian Epstein, the Beatles manager, took George and John went to Rushworth's Music store where they picked out a pair of sunburst Gibson J-160E guitars. These instruments went on to become iconic Beatle guitars.
In 1963, just before the Beatles became famous in the United States that George Harrison decided to travel to the United States to visit his sister. She lived near Chicago, in Mount Vernon, Illinois. During this visit he purchased a 1962 one pickup Rickenbacker 425.
He wanted a guitar like the one John had and this guitar was close. He later had a new pickguard made and added a second pickup. He only used it on a few live British television shows.
But the provenance of this guitar states that Harrison used it on the recording of I Want to Hold Your Hand. Harrison eventually gave this guitar to a friend.
By now the Beatles were famous and Vox had built a new amplifier in hopes the music could be heard of the screams of their girl fans. This was the Vox AC50.
By now the Beatles were playing stadiums and arenas across the United States, so in an effort to be heard, Vox Musical Instruments presented the “boys” with Vox AC100 amplifiers. Harrison relied on this amp throughout 1964 and 1965.
Sometime between October of 1965 and March of 1966 Harrison had Mel Evans purchase two Sonic blue Fender Stratocasters. One was a 1961 model which he would later paint and it became his Rocky Stratocaster. You can hear that distinctive Strat sound on the recording of Nowhere Man.
Between April and June of 1966 the Beatles existed mostly in the studio. Harrison and Lennon purchased 1965 Epiphone Casinos. Harrison's had a Bigsby, while Lennon's had a trapeze tailpiece.
Harrison also acquired a 1964 Cherry Gibson SG, a Burns Nu-Sonic bass guitar, and a Fender Showman amp.
In 1966, the Beatles were presented with a prototype Vox amplifer called the UL730. He used this in the Let It Be Sessions.
George with a Vox Super Beatle
(head is backwards)
However they used the Vox UL730 amplifiers on most of their final US and European tour.
In 1968, Harrison was presented with a rosewood Telecaster made by Roger Rossmeisl and Philip Kubuki during the time they worked for Fender. They made two of these guitars and gave George Harrison the best one. The serial number is 235594. The guitars body had to be hollowed out due to its weight.
A number of reports are in the new regarding the Camp Fire tragedy that has affected so many people, but in particular well known luthier Wayne Charvel. Charvel's home and work shop were completely decimated by the fire.
Wayne and his some Michael shared a business building guitars in Wayne's home workshop.
Michael Charvel says his own home was also destroyed in the fire, as were the homes of his brother, sister, and his uncle.
In the online Popular Mechanics article, Michael describes the chaos and fear that he faced when he realized that he could have been killed by the fire if he stayed at his home.
Thankfully the family is well connected to those in charge of the town of Paradise, since Wayne's son-in-law is their fire chief, All made it out alive, and are staying with friends and kind people..
After all people were evacuated, Charvel's residence and workshop were checked by the fire chief, and they were told everything was destroyed. This included all the templates, jigs, custom routing bits, vintage tools, and vintage 1940's Bridgeport milling machine. Wayne built many of his own tools that he will not be able to replace.
Michael says he is grateful that he and all of his family made it out alive.
For anyone unfamiliar with Wayne Charvel, he is a legend in the guitar industry building guitars for Eddie Van Halen, ZZ Top, and Deep Purple. In fact he list of performers he has built custom guitars for is far too numerous to list here.
Wayne began working for Fender Guitars in the mid 1960's doing refinishing work and refurbishing out-of-warranty guitars. In 1974, while he was still working for Fender, he opened Charvel Guitar repair to do custom work.
In fact Fender sent him his first client, the bass player, Roger Glover, and guitar player, Tommy Bolin, pf Deep Purple. Word of mouth reached the manager for The Who, and Wayne Charvel built a clear plastic bass for John Entwhistle.
He also built his own parts to fit Fender and Gibson guitars. Charvel also created custom guitars for Dusty Hill and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Topp.
Eddie Van Halen asked him if he could stop DiMarzio pickups from squealing. He did this by soaking them in hot wax. He advertised this service in guitar publications. No other company was doing "pickup potting" at the time.
Most recently Wayne teamed up with his son Michael to build high end solid body electric guitars under the Wayne brand. They are using "old school" technology, hand manufacturing each Wayne guitar one at a time.
Michael says that CNC machines are great for large companies building many similar instruments, but since Wayne guitars are hand made, they still rely on a pin router.
The father and son have been in business until this tragic fire destroyed their shop. Michael says that they will move forward and eventually be up and running again.
Roy Clark was one of the best entertainers, and funniest guitar players ever, He was a consummate, multi-talented showman. He was a most influential member of the Country Music industry, and his performances helped to popularize it. He hosted the television show, Hee Haw, for 24 years, along with Buck Owens.
Roy Clark also appeared on The Tonight Show, and was a frequent performer on many other popular series. He introduced comedy to his skills as a guitarist and singer, in a way few had ever done.
Mr. Clark passed away this past Thursday, November 30th at age 85.
His parents owned a farm in Virginia, but at age 11, they moved to Washington D.C. where his father got a job in the Navy ship yard. Roy's father was also a semi-professional musician who played a variety of musical instruments, including banjo, fiddle, and guitar.
When Roy was 14 years old, his father taught him to play guitar. Roy was a quick study, and soon was playing not just the guitar, but also banjo, and mandolin. He had a great ear, and was influenced by the style of guitarist George Barnes. Roy also used to go to the many clubs in the D.C area, to not just watch the guitarists play, but also steal their licks. Though Roy played a variety of instruments, he says his first love was the guitar.
Clark was influenced by listening to Earl Scruggs play banjo. So much so that in 1947 Roy Clark had become so good on the banjo that he won the National Banjo Championship at age 15 years old. He began touring with a band shortly afterward.
At age 16, Clark teamed up with guitarist Carl Lukat as his rhythm guitar player. Clark made his first TV appearance in 1949 on a local television station.
By age 17, he had won his second National Banjo title, and in doing so appeared on the Grand Ole Opry. This brought him exposure to some well-known acts, and he was soon hired as back up guitarist for banjo player/comedian, Stringbean (David Akeman), Annie Lou and Danny, Lonzo and Oscar, and Hal and Velma Smith.
These acts performed alongside such well known stars Ernst Tubb, and Red Foley. Their tours introduced Clark to some playing some large venues.
Despite being in front of an audience, Roy Clark admits that he was a shy kid and turned to humor to overcome this on stage.
When he was in school, Country Music was not popular, and despite his success, he was made fun of by some of his classmates. By clowning around, it seemed to help him fit in. In fact he was not confident enough in himself to perform in a serious manner, until the early 1960’s.
By 1954, Country Music star Jimmy Dean invited Clark to join his band as lead guitarist. Dean hosted a popular radio show in Washington D.C. at the time, and the format was soon moved to television. Clark was eventually fired for habitually being late.
By 1957 Clark left Washington. He said he never intended to be a Country guitarist. He just wanted to play the music he liked, that made him feel good.
He later backed up Rockabilly Queen Wanda Jackson in her band, known as The Party Timers. His work for Wanda Jackson brought Roy to the attention of Capitol Records. He signed a contract with them and released his first solo album called The Lightning Fingers of Roy Clark, His first big hit from that record was called Tips of My Fingers. Steve Wariner later recorded that song.
By 1970 Clark had become the highest paid Country star in the United States earning $7 million dollars a year. He also became a headliner in Vegas, making numerous appearances there during the 1960’s and 1970’s.
In 1960 Jimmy Dean was a replacement host for Jack Paar’s The Tonight Show, and he invited Roy Clark to be a guest. Clark also made a solo debut on The Tonight Show in 1963 when it was hosted by Johnny Carson.
Roy Clark made his mark as an actor in a recurring role on The Beverly Hillbillies as a dual character; businessman Roy Halsey, and Halsey’s mother Myrtle Halsey. Ironically, when Clark became successful in Las Vegas, he signed up with the Halsey Talent Agency. So his character was named after his own agent.
Then in 1969, Clark, and Buck Owens were hired as co-host of the syndicated comedy and Country music television show Hee Haw. This show was intended to be a Country version of the show Laugh In. It ran on CBS from 1969 to 1971.
However when CBS cancelled the show, it's creators purchased the rights and the show was put into syndication. It became one of the longest running television shows ever. New programs lasted until 1997. Reruns of the show started airing on RFD-TV in 2008, where it still remains popular to this day.
In 1983 Roy Clark was the first performers to open a theater in Branson Missouri that was linked to an entertainer. At the time it was called the Roy Clark Celebrity Theater, and Clark frequently performed there during the 1980’s and 1990’s. He sold his interest, and the venue in now called The Hughes American Family Theater.
Roy went on and began a limited schedule of touring which included playing with Ramona Jones and the Jones Famiy Band at their annual tribute to Grandpa Jones in Mountain View Arkansas.
Roy Clark married his sweetheart, Barbara Joyce Rupard, on August 31, 1957, and was a father to their five children. He made his home in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Roy Clark Elementary School was named in his honor in 1978.
He also was a certified pilot since he was 23 years old, and owned several aircraft. His first was a 1953 Piper Tri-Pacer, that he auctioned off to benefit the charity; Wings of Hope. He flew himself to many of his concerts.
Roy states that his first decent guitar was a Fender Broadcaster which he purchased in 1951. He says at the time, he could not afford a Gibson, and this was the first guitar he could afford that had a decent action. He a Marine who wanted to sit in with his band at a club where he was playing in Washington D.C. brought in a Broadcaster. He had never seen or played anything like it. Roy had won $500 from the banjo championship and used that money to buy a Fender Broadcaster.
Up until then he had been playing guitars that had a very high action, which was not conducive for his style of playing.
Clark also owned what appears to be a 1963 Fender Jaguar. But by that time Roy's main guitar was a Gibson Byrdland which was set up like Hank Garland's guitar. It had a P-90 in the bridge position and a Charley Christian pickup in the neck position. He preferred that guitar over the Fenders.
During his early years working with Ernest Tubb, he became acquainted with Tubb's guitarist, Billy Byrd. Byrd and Hank Garland designed the guitar for Gibson. It has a 23" short scale neck.
For a while Roy played a signature Baldwin made Gretsch guitar.
One of his friends was Shot Jackson, an incredible steel guitar player in Nashville. In later years Jackson owned a guitar repair business/music store. He was the guy that pulled the Baldwin Prismatone pickup out of Willy Nelson's destroyed Baldwin classical guitar, and put it into a Martin N-20; Willy Nelson's guitar known as Trigger.
Shot Jackson also build and sold steel guitars under his own brand; Sho-bud. Jackson had a relationship with the Baldwin Company that had purchased the Gretsch brand name. He convinced the company to build a Roy Clark model.
The guitar was similar to the Chet Atkin's Super Axe, though later the body shape was redesigned. Like the Super Axe, the Roy Clark signature Gretsch had a built-in effects system that contained a compressor and a phasor. I have played the Super Axe, and it was a very nice guitar. The Roy Clark model came out in 1978.
Clark also owned an Ovation 12 string Deacon electric guitar that he used when he played Malaguena and a few other tunes.
He had originally played it on his Jazzmaster. On the Odd Couple, he played Malaguena on a Martin D-28. But he loved the big sound he got from playing the song on the Ovation 12 string electric.
Roy Clark said that he used the 12 string Deacon when he plays the Dr. Zhivago theme, Somewhere My Love, to emulate a balalaika. He also has a similar Ovation six string model called a Preacher.
Clark has been seen on shows with a Gibson Barney Kessel. In an interview, he says that borrowed that guitar. He does own a Ventura copy of the Gibson Barney Kessel.
Roy Clark had a relationship with Heritage Guitars, which are wonderful instruments built at the old Gibson plant in Kalamazoo Michigan by craftsmen that decided not to relocate to Nashville when Gibson moved and shuttered the facility. Clark said his Heritage Guitar is based on a Gibson ES-335.
The Heritage designation is model 535, however his guitar has only one cutaway. During his most recent years, he played Heritage guitars in concert.
He says he still loves his Byrdland, but since the airlines kept damaging it, he decided to quit taking it on the road due to the guitars value. He did admit that the Heritage has a slightly different sound.
He was given a 1939 Martin D-45 by guitarist Doyle Dykes. It had belonged to an old friend of Clark named Smitty Smith. Smith was Doyle's uncle.
Roy claims his first good guitar was a Martin D-18. He also owned a Martin 00-18. As for Gibson guitars, he owned two late 1930's Super 400's.
He also owned a Gibson L-5, L-7, and L-10 and a black Gibson Les Paul.
On the road he took a Takamine flat top. Roy Clark also owns a 1958 Fender Stratocaster, and some G&L guitars. He has an old Fender Twin amp that he used when he was younger. Roy has consistently used Fender amplifiers.
