Did any guitar enthusiasts watch Pop Gear? I don't think I saw any Fender Stratocasters. I thought I saw the guitar player from Billy J. Kramer playing a Telecaster but that was it. Weren't Strats big in England at that time? Also, I thought when the Beatles used Rickenbackers for a time that it created a mad rush for Rickenbackers in England. I didn't see any except for Lennon's in the concert footage.
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TheGovner is right. I just rewatched Pop Gear and I saw the white Strat. I believe it was in Tommy Quickley's band.
shareI saw a couple Epiphones and some Gibson acoustics, but the weird-looking unidentifiable guitars made me think these films were sponsored by the obscure guitar company that made them. Odd to see all members of a group playing instruments by the same manufacturer.
shareThose weird looking long horned guitars were made by Burns,
an English guitar company of the time.
Some models were later imported to the USA under the
Balwin (piano co.) label.
I don't recall seeing very many Strats in early British rock with the notable exception of Hank Marvin with The Shadows. Vic Flick with John Barry used to pose with one for photos, but I don't know how often he played one. At that time it seemed mostly Gibson, Gretsch, Hofner, Burns and a few Voxes. I just wish they'd not have used so much lip-synch stuff since at that time they kept the (now cool) amps off the film stage. If you ever get to see "Blow-Up," there's a great scene with the Yardbirds. It's something to see them with PILES of Voxes.
shareBy the way, Quickley's guitarist had me wondering whether a studio guitarist might have done the original track (Jimmy Page comes to mind). If you notice, he seems to do a rather poor job of faking the playing, as if he doesn't know how to play the part. He doesn't even seem to have a handle on the chording. Still, he might have just not been into the faking. The tone at times almost seems to anticipate Stevie Ray Vaughn a bit. Just pondering.
Ohh, I'm not really up on them, but on the Beatles question, around this time I believe that while John tended to favor a Rick or an Epiphone Casino (I believe there are a few Casino players on this film), George usually used a Gretsch. A bit before the time of this film I believe he acquired his famous Rick 12 string electric. Regards, BTF.
Quickly's guitarist was probably giving it half an effort, like drummers often do when the band is miming to playback. Whoever played the guitar on that track did a very nice job, so I'm assuming it was the guy in Pop Gear.
shareRe the Guitarist with Tommy Quickly and the Remo Four:
Chris Huston of The Undertakers said that:
"...the best technical guitarist on Merseyside was Colin Manley of the Remo Four. He could play and replicate anything."
Which suggests that Manley would have been perfectly capable of playing the guitar parts - which aren't at all difficult in the song.
Fenders and Strats, particularly, were hard to come by in England in the early 60s. George Harrison often told a story about how the local guitar shop in Liverpool finally got one Strat in, and he raced to buy it only to discover that one of the other local guitarists had just made the purchase. George was crushed and said it haunted him for years that he didn't get that guitar (a blue one, I think, but could be wrong).
shareFrom the mid 1950s there was a UK board of trade ban on the sale of American goods. That meant that American guitars weren't generally available until later in the 1960s and, for example, Cliff Richard had to personally import a Stratocaster for The Shadows' Hank Marvin.
Some groups might have bought American guitars in Germany when, like The Beatles, they played Hamburg but otherwise they mainly used local or European guitars, of which Burns were among the better ones - hence there are a lot of them in this film.
Don't forget than many of the groups here would only very recently have started to make a reasonable wage (if they were lucky!) and so might still have the inexpensive instruments they had been using before having any hits. Guitars like Stratocasters might still have been too expensive for them anyway.
Forgotten groups with expensive gear — and then The Spencer Davis Group with Steve Winwood playing budget equipment. Just goes to show you that you don`t have to play a top-of-the-line guitar to get a good sound if you "gots the talent".
Eat every carrot and pea on your plate. ~ Momshare