A Brief History of Rock ‘n’ Roll

In 1922, the words “rock” and “roll”, which was black slang for sexual intercourse, appear on record for the first time in Trixie Smith’s “My Baby Rocks Me With One Steady Roll”.

The transition was steady and seamless. Big Band dance music and Western Swing had long since absorbed the 1/4/5 blues progression from Jazz players. The flatted 7th chords in major or minor keys had become an integral part of the tension and suspension of progressions in American music. The 2 to 4 minute song (or instrumental) had been refined for the prevailing recorded music format of the day: records. Radios from coast to coast had already settled on music program delivery formats for popular music. By the start of World War II, all the pieces were in place.

The recording ban, starting in 1942 and finally ending in 1945, turned out to be the death knell for Big Bands. They never fully recovered. This coupled with the wartime 20% live entertainment tax (“Cabaret Tax”) had a profound impact on live music: closing nightclubs and dance halls across the country. Records became more important to a music-loving public than ever.
Soldiers returning from tours of duty in foreign lands and with some money in their pockets were ready to start new lives. Many quickly married and started families. Birth rates skyrocketed in 1946 and beyond. It was the start of the Baby Boom generation. The music was destined to change with the times.

Smaller musical ensembles made up of non-union musicians and singers (vocalists were exempt from the recording ban) jumped in to fill the void for popular music. Vocal groups flourished and trios and small band formats experimented with all forms of available music to meet popular demand. Former Western Swing bands paired down to minimal ensembles like Bill Haley and the Comets: four members: guitar, rhythm guitar, drums and bass. The guitarists also did the singing. The songs were similar to what had fitted the larger band format, just simpler.

In 1946, “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie” by Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five becomes the biggest hit ever in the increasingly popular jump blues style. The new music was adapting to the smaller band format pretty well. This tune is barely different from the 1939 Big Band hit “In the Mood” by Glenn Miller – but the format was new and the ‘sound’ was updated.
Later that year Les Paul began experimenting with ways to make the guitar more musically expressive. It needed the power and sustain of a saxophone or clarinet, particularly if the smaller bands didn’t have a wind section. Amplification had solved half the problem – there was no difficulty in getting the instrument to be loud enough. It simply needed the sustain. He attached a guitar neck to a 4×4 and screwed some body pieces to the side to make it feel like a guitar. The experiment worked: the strings fastened to the solid wood had much more sustain. Les Paul took the experimental model to Gibson. They were not yet ready for this idea and didn’t see the potential yet.

Elsewhere in California the same year, Clarence Leonidas Fender (“Leo” Fender) had started a new business to build guitars and amplifiers. The business was called the Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company. The first Spanish style design was the solid body, single pickup “Esquire”, followed by a two pickup version called the “Broadcaster’. It embodied exactly what Les Paul had tried to sell to Gibson.

Early in 1947, Arthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith was one of the first musicians to use a prototype Fender Broadcaster (later to be renamed the Telecaster) to record “Guitar Boogie”. This changed everything. Arthur Smith took a simple jump-blues tune (very similar to “In the Mood” and “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie”) and managed to capture the entire feel on a simple electric guitar. He distilled a decade of popular music into a simple instrumental – onto a single instrument. He had shown the way – now anything seemed possible.
West Coast musicians began to buy Leo Fender’s strange creations and form small bands. They could play to large venues and proved to be just as musically expressive as the Big Bands. They were young, the music seemed to be brand new and the horizon opened to Rock ‘n’ Roll. By 1952, Gibson saw the growing interest in Leo Fender’s creation and called Les Paul back to their offices to have another look at his experiment. The final product was the Les Paul model – the first Gibson solid body.
Some historians feel that 1959 marked the decline of Rock & Roll:

  • Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens had died in a plane crash.
  • Little Richard had retired from music to become a preacher.
  • Elvis Presley had joined the Army.
  • Both Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry were being prosecuted.
  • Alan Freed and others were under indictment and scrutiny for bribery and corruption in the payola scandal.

The music industry was under siege – Change was inevitable.

Postscript

There is a simplicity to Rock ‘n’ Roll that appeals to just about everybody, regardless of cultural background. Some theorize that the basic back-beat of rock ‘n’ roll is similar to the syncopated rhythm of the beating of the human heart. For whatever reason, the believers claim that “Rock ‘n’ Roll will never die!”.

There is a raw simplicity to the music. The tunes are short and easy to understand. The arrangements and instrumentation are often ragged – without the complex harmonic intricacies and precision of the Big Band era that preceded it. Distortion is embraced and some of the greatest hits of the 1950s and 1960s have recorded mistakes and speed up or slow down during the two and one half minute pop tunes. As a musical genre, however, the emotion comes clearly through. Though the instrumentation may be spare and the players far from considered virtuosos, the music is full of motion and passion.

Suddenly it was possible for the average person to pick up an instrument and express themselves. You can get some pleasing sounds out of a guitar right away, unlike a violin or clarinet. During the 1950s, all sorts of new musical possibilities were available: rural blues, urban jazz, country, swing, classical (in all its forms), singing cowboys, movies, television, many radio stations, vocal groups, instrumental groups, the list goes on and on. What was new – what was different – was that the music did not have to be perfect to be profound. A garage band could motivate a dance crowd just as well as the Big Bands could. The possibilities are endless…

Restringing a Harmony Classical Guitar

Restringing a Harmony Classical Guitar

Bringing Back to Life a Folk Era Harmony Nylon String Guitar

A recent customer dropped off a Harmony nylon string guitar to be restrung. This one was assembled in Chicago, IL by the Harmony Company to fill the swollen demand for guitars during the folk boom of the early 1960s. CMI (Harmony) was the largest manufacturer of stringed instruments at that time and supplied most of the department stores with their name brands. Unfortunately, we could not decipher a complete model number; something that appears to end in 10 – our best guess puts this instrument in the early ’60s.

Guitars For Trade Harmony Guitar Restring

The customer acquired it 17 years ago from a neighbor who brought it along for his tour of duty in Vietnam. Considering what it has been through, it is in quite good condition. If only it could talk, I’m sure it would have some wonderful tales to tell.

Before re-stringing, we had to replace a missing screw from the original Waverly tuner cog.

Waverly tuners are the original.

Waverly tuners are the original.

Fortunately, we have a tub of old Waverly tuner parts to mine from.

Guitars For Trade Harmony Guitar Restring

Success! We found a fit.

Guitars For Trade Harmony Guitar Restring

Several years ago, a quick and dirty fix to re-attach the bridge to the top wood was made using screws.

Guitars For Trade Harmony Guitar Restring

We used La Bella nylon strings because this Harmony requires nylon strings with a ball end.

Guitars For Trade Harmony Guitar Restring

A check of our work shows we have the ball end in the right position.

Guitars For Trade Harmony Guitar Restring

A small hand drill makes tightening so much easier.

Guitars For Trade Harmony Guitar Restring

Guitars For Trade Harmony Guitar Restring

Guitars For Trade Harmony Guitar Restring

Tip: if you have squeaky, tight tuners, don’t use any type of petroleum to smooth operation; it attracts dirt and dust. We recommend using paraffin wax; particularly Gulf Wax. We got ours at the local hardware store.

Guitars For Trade Harmony Guitar Restring

Done!

Guitars For Trade Harmony Guitar Restring

The Martin 000-18

The Martin 000-18

One of our favorite Martin guitars is the 000-18. The 000-18 was a less sought after model during the 1960’s, at a time when large guitars like the Martin D-18, Martin D-28 and Gibson J-45 were more popular.

The 000-18 was perceived to be a lesser Martin. Yet in the hands of Davy Graham, Alexis Korner, Martin Carthy, and Richard Thompson, the 000-18 defined the sonic DNA of celtic and contemporary English folk music.

Davy Graham

Davy Graham

Alexis Korner

Alexis Korner

Martin Carthy

Martin Carthy

On the other side of the Atlantic, contemporaries such as Ry Cooder were redefining blues with the 000-18.

Ry Cooder

Ry Cooder

We were delighted a couple of years ago when Martin decided to redesign the 000-18. Taking their cues from the 1930’s, Martin gave the 000-18 a 1 ¾” nut, ebony fingerboard and bridge and “tortus” body bindings and pickguard. The vintage style “Waverly” inspired tuners used on the 000-18 take weight off the headstock and create excellent body to neck balance to this already very light weight guitar.

The 000-18 is sonically open, yet balanced with a dry, haunting woody tone. These characteristics are sought after in vintage Martin 000-18’s, which sell for 10x the price of a new 000-18.

The Gretsch White Falcon

The Gretsch White Falcon

The White Falcon was introduced in 1954 as a showpiece instrument for the NAMM show that year. The guitar was so popular at the show that Gretsch decided to put it into production, and it has since become an icon of the world of electric guitars.

The body of the White Falcon is 17 inches wide, larger then most of Gretsch’s hollowbodies, and the guitar features a gold sparkle pickguard with an engraved Falcon.

Over the years the White Falcon has undergone some minor changes, but it is still as striking and recognizable as it was in 1954.

Who Played this Guitar?

Neil Young

Young’s 1961 White Falcon is not his primary electric guitar for stage and studio work, but he is still known as one of the foremost White Falcon players. He used the guitar frequently in the early stages of his career with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. His long time guitar tech Larry Cragg says, “That’s the real deal. Neil’s had it forever. It’s kind of green looking and really stunning.”

Guitars For Trade Gretsch White Falcon & Neil Young
Guitars For Trade Gretsch White Falcon & Neil Young

 Billy Duffy

The Cult’s Billy Duffy may be the player most frequently associated with the White Falcon. Duffy used a White Falcon he purchased in 1981 through most of his work in the 1980s. Gretsch even introduced a Billy Duffy signature model White Falcon.

“They do look cool but the distinctive sound is really important to me and it’s something I’ve really experimented with. I’ve tried to go for something … cinematic. I didn’t want the surf thing or rockabilly, and I didn’t even want to do Ennio Morricone – I wanted it to be psychedelic. It’s a feeling I pursued, and I still am.”

Guitars For Trade Gretsch White Falcon & Billy Duffy
Guitars For Trade Gretsch White Falcon & Billy Duffy

Stephen Stills

Another iconic White Falcon player is Stephen Stills. Stills has used all manner of different acoustic and electric guitars over his long and storied career, but frequently has been seen with a White Falcon, usually his 1958 model that was replicated in the signature model that Gretsch has periodically produced over the years.

Guitars For Trade Gretsch White Falcon & Stephen Stills
Guitars For Trade Gretsch White Falcon & Stephen Stills
Check out our Gretsch White Falcon