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.

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