Strings n' Things
When the discussion of guitar strings arises.
I think of the story that Paul relates about being asked what kind of strings he uses.
"Hey Paul, what kind of strings do you use?"
"The long shiny ones." he replied.
Clearly Paul is not the gear tech of the group, however,
that the brand of strings used by the Beatles were...
In the early days (Hamburg) Bass guitar strings were hard to come by, so from time to time a piano might be missing a string or two!
A guitar strap isn't an instrument as such, but one such strap was owned by John. The Vox Python strap was used by John and then given to Eric Clapton. Vox has reissued this item and it sells for roughly $150.00
a bit pricey, for what it is, but considering the original sold for $4500.00 at auction, it's quite a bargin.
(Yes, I have one for my Rickenbacker.)
Recently I discovered a maker of guitar straps that is offering copies of the
Lennon "roof top" strap otherwise known as the Bobby Lee Tulip strap,
used with his Casino
as well as the "bed in" strap
included as "case candy" with the Gibson J-160E.
seen below with George and his Casino.
They sell for about $80.00 each.
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The time I saw
When we heard the Beatles were coming to town, My buddy Ric sent away to KRLA the local AM station sponsoring the event for tickets. $3.00 was a lot then, about the cost of a record album. At the time it was a hard choice: see them live, or buy an album that I can play forever...
...the ticket stub above reveals my choice.
It was a summer night, August of '66. As it turns out it was the second to last performance they were ever to do. Dodger Stadium was not entirely full, but it wasn't devoid of screams. As I recall the last song was I'm Down. Paul had just said that this will be our last song, and the crowd began to scream (for more) so loud that the last song literally could not be heard. Ric had a pair of binoculars and told me what the last song was 'cause I couldn't hear over the screams. I guess he must have read their lips!
Below is the cover of the souvenir program.
I think it cost $1.50. This one is long gone now. I have no idea what happened to it.
I'm very glad I chose to see this show. It was the very first concert I ever attended and quite a feather in my cap to say "I saw the Beatles". I have a bootleg video copy of the 66' tour show at the Budokan in Japan. The song list is the same as the show I saw ....very cool.
