Jimmy Bryant And The Stratosphere Twin Double Neck Guitar

Jimmy Bryant

Jimmy Bryant was one of the best and fastest, guitar players in the world of Country Music. But in my opinion he was more of a Jazz player. In fact in an interview his favorite player was Django Rhinehart.  I believe it was Jimmy Bryant that brought that genre into Country.

He was born March 5, 1925 to a dirt-poor sharecropping family in Moultrie, Georgia, and named Ivy James Bryant, Jr. 

He was the oldest of 12 children. The young boy was a prodigy and he learned country fiddle at age five to help feed his family by worked as a street musician during the Great Depression years. 

Bryant joined the army at age 18 in 1942.  He was wounded with shrapnel in battle. During his convalescence he met guitarist Tony Mottola, who was in the Special Services Unit.  Bryant was so impressed with Mottola's proficiency that he decided guitar was the instrument for him. 

Jimmy Bryant With His
Gibson Super 400 

Upon discharge with a Purple Heart, Bryant purchased a Gibson Super 400 with floating De Armond pickup, an amp, then played the Washington, D.C. area and in Georgia as “Buddy” Bryant. 

Cliffie Stone and Hometown Jamboree Cast 

He later moved to Los Angeles and he secured radio work as lead guitarist with Cliffie Stone on the California television show “Hometown Jamboree” playing alongside pedal-steel master Speedy West and numerous other country stars. 

At the time he was sporting a sunburst Gibson Super 400 (with a floating DeArmond pickup) and a Fender Dual Professional/Super with two 10″ Jensen speakers. 

Bryant's Boogie

His first recording session was Tex Williams’ “Wild Card” (1950) for Capitol,. This led to a five-year contract during which he made 65 singles as Jimmy Bryant. His first solo record, “Bryant’s Boogie,” was done as a trial to see how well he could perform. He shared the recording with Stone’s Hometown band and Tennessee Ernie Ford was featured on the B-side. 

Jimmy Bryant in a
Roy Rogers Movie 

Bryant later played a prototype of Leo Fender's Broadcaster which was featured in a Roy Rogers cowboy film. Later Bryant was known for his work using a Telecaster. 

Bryant's 59 Tele and 
 a Custom Shop Tribute 

Supposedly Fender was going to produce a Jimmy Bryant Signature Stratocaster, but somehow that deal fell through. He became disillusioned with Fender.

Bryant with his Rickenbacker

As a result he went on to play a variety of other manufacturers instruments, especially some different Rickenbacker guitars. 

Bryant with a Maganatone Guitar 

He also played a prototype guitar made for him by Magnatone. After all he was living in Los Angeles, and Rickenbacker was, and is, a California company. L.A.

At the time Country Music coming out of Los Angeles was much more progressive than what was coming out of Nashville at that time and Bryant wanted to push the envelope.

Stratosphere Boogie

His technical skill made it possible for him to take it to the limit way back in 1954 when he recorded “Stratosphere Boogie” and “Deep Water.” 

Both songs featured an innovative approach to parallel harmonies, which would be impossible to play on a normal guitar, where he sounded like two guitars, country-style. 

Bryant With His
Stratosphere Twin Guitar 

Bryant had long admired the multi-tracking skills of Les Paul which produced similar sounds. But neither of Bryant's songs were double tracked.  Jimmy Bryant had discovered The Stratosphere Twin guitar, which was the key to achieving this sound.

The Stratosphere Twin Guitar was the first double neck 12 string, and six string electric guitar ever made and offered for sale. 

By tuning the 12 string neck in major and minor thirds, Jimmy Bryant had developed a way to produce a twin-guitar effect with a single instrument which enabled him to generate inimitable harmonized lines. 

1956-57 Pamphlet

The unique Stratosphere Twin Guitar was manufactured for just a few years in the 1950's by a Springfield Missouri company called the Stratosphere Guitar Manufacturing Company. Russell Deaver was the inventor and designer, and along with his brother, Claude the company only manufactured approximately 200 instruments which were marketed primarily to country musicians during the short-lived venture. 

Their most popular guitar was the Stratosphere Twin double-neck, which retailed for about $300 which was a lot of money in those days. 

1956 Stratosphere Twin 

It was Jimmy Bryant's use of this instrument made it fairly famous. Since this guitar was featured on a popular Country Music show called “The Ozark Jubilee,”  This was a groundbreaking weekly live television show produced in Springfield Missouri and it featured top country performers such as Chet Atkins, Eddy Arnold, Merle Travis, Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline. The show was hosted by Red Foley. 

The show brought some of  the biggest country music stars of the era to Springfield Missouri, and Russell Deaver was constantly rubbing elbows with these men and women, trying to get his instruments in their hands. 

Ozark Jubilee

Back during the 1950's there were a handful of such live shows throughout the U.S. such as The National Barn Dance, The Midwestern Hayride from Cincinnati, Town Hall Party from Pasadena, Louisiana Hayride, and others. 

By being able to get their instruments into the hands of some of these performers, the Deaver brothers were hoping this would boost sales. After all, that's how Leo Fender started out. 

Stratosphere Six String

The Deaver brothers opened a guitar-making factory in the 300 block of Boonville Avenue. They built  single-neck six-string and single neck 12-string models as well as their double-neck electric guitar. The guitars were made of an unusual choice of woods, like gum wood. The bridges and hardware were manufactured at the facility out of cast aluminum. The bridges were most unique. The electric guitars body was unlike anything at the time. 

Stratosphere Guitars were only in business for a few years. The instruments are still sought by vintage electric guitar collectors and Missouri and Ozarks music historians.

In Russell Deaver’s obituary from the Brunswick News of Georgia, it stated "He was a house painter by trade but “his love was music.” “He invented a Stratosphere double-neck guitar in the 1950s, which he played with musicians such as Chet Atkins, Speedy West, and Jimmy Bryant,” the obit states. “He was still playing that guitar up until his death."

Stratosphere Twin

Due to their scarcity the Stratosphere Twin double-necks are of more interest to most collectors. At a recent guitar show, said a New York collector had one on display, and the asking price was $15,000.

Click on the links below the pictures for sources. Click on the links in the text for further information.

©UniqueGuitar Publication 2021 (text only)

Baxendale 'Harmony Guitar' Conversions

 

Buddy and Julie Miller

One of my favorite songwriting teams are Buddy and Julie Miller of Nashville. This married couple write amazing songs and they put on a great performance.

Buddy Miller and Robert Plant 

Buddy is an amazing guitar player, a recording engineer and producer, and a 'gun for hire’ in the Nashville music community. When Alison Kraus teamed up with Robert Plant, they asked Buddy Miller to join The Band of Joy as the lead guitar player. 

Buddy Miller is also a guitar and amplifier collector and is best known for his use of vintage Wandre’ guitars combined with vintage Vox AC-30 amplifiers. 

Buddy MIller's Home Studio

A few weeks ago I watched a video interview with Buddy which featured a tour of the downstairs portion of his home, He and Julie make the upstairs of this old home their living space. Julie has elegantly restored the parlor of this house, but Buddy has turned the rest of the space into a store house for his equipment and a recording studio. 

Scott Baxendale

Out of all of his amazing collection the guitars and amplifiers, the ones that caught my attention were a couple of vintage Harmony guitars that had undergone a “conversion” by luthier Scott Baxendale. I just had to learn more about this process. 

When I was a kid I wanted to take a guitar to summer camp. Our school had ‘band camp’ for a week each summer. I did not want to take a nice guitar with me, so I went to a few music stores with $20 bill burning a hole in my pocket, in search of a cheap instrument. Yep, in 1968 you could still buy a cheap guitar for twenty bucks. Of course the salesmen were keen to sell me a Martin or a Guild until I explained exactly what I was looking for. The salesman said, “Oh, you want a beater.” I never heard that expression, but yes, that is what I was looking for. 

Harmony Stella Guitar H929

So the sales guy brought out a used Harmony guitar, with a Birch body. It had ladder bracing, a stamped aluminum trapeze tailpiece, a bridge/saddle that set on top of the body, and a non-descript head stock with topped with cheap open back tuners. I bought that guitar on the spot and I still have it. 

I imagine some of you reading this may have or started out on a similar Harmony guitar. Check out eBay or Reverb sometime. They are asking $450 to $600 for those today.

Scott Baxendale Guitars

This brings us to luthier Scott Baxendale. In 1974 he moved to Winfield Kansas to go to work for guitar builder Stuart Mossman who was building guitars under his own name; Mossman Guitars. These were excellent guitars right on par and in the style of Martin guitars.

By 1978 Baxendale left Mossman and decided to move to Nashville, Tennessee and go to work for Gruhn Guitars to do repair and restoration work on Gruhn’s collection of high-end instruments. 

As mentioned, Mossman Guitars were great instruments, but the company ran into all sorts of problems. A fire occurred in 1975 forcing Mr. Mossman to take out a large loan from The Small Business Administration to keep his business going. 

S.L. Mossman -
Mossman Guitars

A few years later Stuart Mossman entered into a distribution agreement with the C.G. Conn Musical Instrument Company. By 1977 Conn had amassed a collection of around 1200 Mossman guitars and warehoused all of them in a poorly constructed storage facility. All of these wonderful hand made solid wood guitars were destroyed due to lack of climate control. A lawsuit ensued and was eventually settled out of court, but Mr. Mossman never regained his goal of his business of selling high quality guitars. 

In 1985 former employee Scott Baxendale heard that Stuart Mossman was thinking about closing down his business, so Baxendale agreed to buy the company. The deal was inked.  Baxendale relocated Mossman Guitars to Garland Texas. He and his staff were building around 250 guitars a month. Mossman Guitars regained a good reputation and were played by many well-known artists. Some of the Baxendale produced instruments are simply stunning. 

S.L. Mossman Guitars

Then in 1989 Baxendale sold Mossman Guitars to employees John Kinsey and Bob Casey. The new owners moved Mossman to Sulphur Springs, Texas where the company remains today. 

That same year Scott took on a job with The Hard Rock Cafe' in Dallas, Texas.  He built two guitar-shaped bars that resembled a Stratocaster and a Les Paul, and afterwards took on the responsibility for repair and restoration of the Hard Rock's incredible guitar collection. 

Warner Brother's Guitar
by Scott Baxendale 

In 1988 Baxendale was commissioned by Warner Brothers to build a one-of-a-kind guitar for Travis Tritt’s video “Country Club”. This instrument is an amazing work of art. 

Ten years later, in 1998, Scott moved to Denver, Colorado and opened The Colfax Guitar Shop where he built amazing guitars and did restoration work on existing instruments. He ran that business until 2010 when it was sold.

Baxendale then moved to Athens, Georgia where he opened The Baxendale Guitar Shop. He continues to work there today.

Baxendale with converted
 Harmony guitar 

One of Baxendale’s specialties is Harmony Guitar Conversion. He does this by retaining the outer look of the guitar, but internally he uses his own proprietary bracing system. This can be done on old  Harmony, Silvertone, or Kay guitars. And these guitars sound awesome!

Neck Removal

He begins by removing the neck, then removing the existing ladder bracing. He then installs Spruce braces similar to those used on pre-war Martin and vintage Gibson guitars. 

Ladder Bracing replaced
 with X bracing 

The back bracing is also replaced and tuned. Only Adirondack or Engelman  Spruce is used. All cracks are repaired. The old binding is removed and replaced with new material. 

Fret Removal And Replacement

The old frets are removed and the fret board planed straight. The neck is sanded to achieve a 12” or 14” radius. The neck is reset to fit the dovetail joint and given a proper angle for play-ability A new bridge is made with a bone saddle and tuned with a strobe tuner. 

The tuning gears are replaced with Gotoh open back tuners and a new hardshell case is provided after the repair. 

Harmony H162
Conversion by Baxendale

When Scott Baxendale gets finished with these old Harmony guitars, they really sing and they still  retain their original patina.  This man does amazing work.

Click on the links under the pictures for sources. Click on the links in the text for further information.

©UniqueGuitar Publication 2021 (text only)

1958 Gibson Explorer Bass

THIS IS POSSIBLY THE RAREST BASS GUITAR EVER MADE. 

1958 Explorer bass at We Buy Guitars

My favorite music store was Dodds Music in Covington Kentucky. It was originally a jewelry store located in the heart of town. The store catered to talent from the greater Cincinnati Ohio area and got a great reputation for stocking the latest guitars and amplifiers.

In late 1958 Roger “Jellyroll” Troy ordered a brand new Gibson Explorer Bass through Dodds Jewerly and Music. But Jellyroll never came back to pick up his bass.

1958 was the year that Gibson introduced the Explorer and the Flying Vee. Both instruments bodies were made of korina wood.

The prototypes for the Flying Vee, and the Explorer were made of mahogany and it was just too heavy, so Gibson opted for the much lighter korina wood. The necks were also made of mahogany.

The Explorer bass had a long droopy headstock with three banjo type tuning keys on one side and one key on the other side while the guitar had regular guitar-style Kluson keys. Gibson made less than 50 Explorer guitars during the run, which lasted until 1963. The Explorer bass that Jellyroll Troy ordered and the one we are looking at had the serial number 001.

April 1984 Guitar
Player Magazine 

According to an April 1984 Guitar Player Magazine article Gibson made only three Explorer basses. As mentioned, they had all korina bodies, mahogany necks with an Explorer headstock aka banana, hockey-stick or lady slipper.”

The Explorer bass came with a humbucking pickup that came to be known as a “Mudbucker”. It also had a baritone switch similar to the one found on a Gibson EB-2. This switch activated a large capacitor.

Two of the original Explorers were produced with a natural finish, while the third was sunburst.

Wayne Bullock with '58 Explorer Bass and Lonnie Mack with '58 Flying Vee

It was Cincinnati musician Wayne Bullock that finally purchased the bass from Dodds Music and in 1962 he was playing it in the same group in which Lonnie Mack was the guitarist. It is rumored that Jellyroll Troy eventually purchased a 1958 sunburst Explorer bass. 

Author Robb Lawrence

In 1973 Bullock sold the bass to guitar historian Robb Lawrence for $1,000. By then Bullock had first painted the bass green and then painted it metallic blue (Lonnie Mack painted his guitar red).



When Robb Lawrence bought it, the Explorer logo was missing and the scars on the headstock were filled in with putty and painted black. It was worse for wear since it was an actual gigging instrument that had made its rounds to all the greater Cincinnati nightspots.

1958 Gibson Explorer Bass

Lawrence set about restoring the bass to its original splendor. But he lent it out to guys like Chris Squire, John Entwhistle, Jack Bruce and others. These guys loved it. The bass sounded great and was comfortable to play since your hand rested on the elongated back part of the body.

Lawrence eventually sells the Explorer bass to Rick Derringer’s manager. It became a present for Randy Jo Hobbs, who played bass for Johnny Winter.

Randy Jo Hobbs

Hobbs eventually sells it to Steve Friedman of Stuyvesant Music on 48th street in New York City. The same bass that was more than likely featured on Lonnie Mack’s version of Memphis, now shows up on the Lou Reed song Hassle.

It was eventually traded to a store called We Buy Guitars, which was run by Friedman's brother, Richard. The bass spend a few years there.

Tom Wittrock

In late 1984 the bass was purchased by a Texas guitar collector named Tony Dukes. He used it in some “fancy” shows with his band “The International Aces.” He also took it to guitar shows.

He nick-named the bass, “Hoss.”

Al Helm, the former manager of Sound Vibrations in Corpus Christi Texas has some knowledge about the bass.

Tony Duke with Explorer Bass

He says, a replica of the bass was featured in a guitar calendar put together by Tony Duke around 1983. Mr. Helms goes on to say that a Cadillac dealer named Byron Goad loved the looks of the bass, but thought the sound was too muddy.

Custom Shop Replica 

So he ordered an Explorer bass similar to it from the Gibson custom shop. Goad wanted a korina neck on this bass instead of the usual mahogany. He also wanted the ‘lady slipper’ headstock, but Gibson had lost the template. His request was that the tuners be in a row instead of the way they were on the original. Goad finally received it a year after his request. It set him back around $2,000.

Mr. Goad ran into financial difficulty and sold his custom shop Explorer bass. Tony Dukes passed away in 2013. Roger Jellyroll Troy no longer has his Explorer bass. He passed away in 1991.

We do not know what has become of the original Explorer bass or Troy’s sunburst Explorer.

Guitar Afficienado Magazine featured a column in which Rick Neilsen talks about the 1958 Gibson Explorer guitar that he purchased from George Gruhn. He brought the guitar to a Texas Guitar Show and was offered $75,000 cash on the spot.

Auctioned at Skinners $611K

He goes on to say that another 1963 Explorer guitar sold for $611,000.

Clapton's Explorer

In June of 1999, Eric Clapton sold many of his prize guitars at Christie’s Auction House to raise money for his drug rehabilitation center.

That guitar sold for $134,500.

Tony Dukes

Since only three Explorer bass guitars were built in 1958, can you imagine what price they would command?

Unfortunately there are no videos with the 1958 Gibson Explorer Bass. Even more unfortunate is the fact no one knows what happened to the Explorer bass known as "Hoss".

Lonnie Mack Band 1963 - Hawaiian Garden Cincinnati, Ohio

Unidentified Man With A 1959 Gibson Explorer Bass Guitar

I recently discovered this photo of a member of the "Let's Talk Guild" forum posing with this 1959 Gibson Explorer Bass. Perhaps it is a different one than the bass owned by Wayne Bullock.

©UniqueGuitar Publications 2014 & 2021 (text only)

Both of the below recordings were done at Fraternity Records in Cincinnati. Wayne Bullock is playing bass.