I found this snapshop of Jimmy Day. This photo came with the snapshot of Buddie Emmons playing his Bigsby -- see the Buddy Emmons photo thread.
What guitar is Jimmy Day playing, and what is that hanging down from the underside of the guitar? There is something that looks like a long bellcrank and a big rod going from under the keyhead back to under the changer. But it does not look right. This photo indicates that it was processed or developed in 1958. That only means that the photo was taken in 1958 or earlier. The Buddie Emmons image appeared to be a year or two old before it was developed.
Chris Lucker
Red Bellies, Bigsbys and a lot of other guitars.
Bent, it is not a Blanton -- I have the first Blanton Jerry made and he said he completed the guitar in 1964.
It is not a Bigsby. It may not be Jimmy Day's guitar. It could be borrowed.
Chris Lucker
Red Bellies, Bigsbys and a lot of other guitars.
More likely one of Shot Jackson's early Sho-Buds with the wrap around wood. He probably has a hand towel in his lap as this was popular was some steel players of that era. Either that or his zipper was open.
Last edited by Kevin Hatton on 14 Dec 2011 8:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Carter D10 8p/7k, Dekley S10 3p/4k C6 setup, Regal RD40 Dobro (D tuning), Recording King Professional Dobro (G tuning), NV400, NV112, Ibanez Gio guitar, Epiphone SG Special (open G slide and regular G tuning guitar) .
Whatever that is under the guitar definitely looks mechanical, you can clearly see three straight sections of metal. Its hanging awfully low... could it be the earliest of knee levers?? I can see how that may work.
Here's a clip of Jimmy playing behind June Webb. He's wearing the same outfit, and it looks like this could be the same guitar, but here it seems to have only one pedal rod.
Not to make this thread about the "First Guitars Made" in my collection, but coincidentally I have the first DALAND pedal steel that was made by Don Davis, (the DA), Hank Sugarfoot Garland (the LAND) and Shot Jackson. My little double neck was Don Davis' personal guitar. Don Davis confirmed that the three of them made and sold ten DALAND guitars in six weeks centering around August 1954. Don Davis told me that he and Hank Garland were both far too busy with sessions to make any more guitars so they told Shot Jackson to go ahead and make pedal steels on his own. So, the 1956 date you mention, Rusty, could be correct.
That pedal steel Jimmy Day is sitting behind is not a DALAND. DALANDs are plunger guitars with endplates that are Bigsby-like and had slimmer front aprons, but some DALANDs had no marking on the apron.
Last edited by Chris Lucker on 15 Dec 2011 10:48 am, edited 2 times in total.
Chris Lucker
Red Bellies, Bigsbys and a lot of other guitars.
Russ
I just looked at your June Webb video and that guitar looks like a DALAND. The way the legs mound in sockets that are separate from the endplates is a tell. The front legs mount in a socket that is welded to a piece of angle that mounts to the front apron -- see the screw heads? It does not look like any changer on that guitar that Jimmy is playing behind June Webb, so maybe there are plungers?
I thought Don told me that all the guitars had endplates, though. Maybe this is a Shot Jackson post-DALAND guitar?
I asked Don if he knew any players who bought his steels, but he could not recall any names, and you would think he would remember Jimmy Day.
Chris Lucker
Red Bellies, Bigsbys and a lot of other guitars.
I posted a another clip with the same question few years ago, nobody responded. Considering that Jimmy still played his Wright in the summer of -56 and got his first Bud in -57, this mystery guitar probably falls in between there. My guess is, this is a Shot Jackson built horn. There are few Gannaway clips of Jimmy playing the guitar, with Jim Reeves too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OTF5Jln ... re=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0finLu5q74
And oh, btw Bent, this guitar has no rear apron! On Deke's wbesite here, you can see several snapshots of this guitar ( one next to Buddie's Bigsby )when Jimmy was with Ray Price at Big D Jamboree: http://www.dekedickerson.com/dekephotoa ... oyles2.htm
Jussi, If there is no rear apron we would think that we could see Jimmy's checkered shirt in the background i.e. behind the non-existing apron
Could be because of the angle that what I think I see as an apron is actually the underside of the top and the weird "bell crank" and "pull rod" that runs the length of the guitar.
In a reply to Rusty Blake's post above I originally stated that DALANDs were made by Don Davis, Hank Garland and Shot Jackson around AUgust 1956. I made a mistake. I should have said August 1954. I should have known better. Don Davis had sent me this ad last year.
Chris Lucker
Red Bellies, Bigsbys and a lot of other guitars.
