Pictures from 1956

George Rout · Post by **George Rout** » 12 Oct 2013 3:25 pm

Recently a couple of very kind friends gave some old Hawaiian folios and other items to me. Included were three 1956 publications entitled Music Studio News, a Randall publication. Here are a few pics which maybe be of interest:

The Royal Samoans were from London.

Obviously, Ernie Ball sold Fender guitars!!!

I wish I could find one of those old Oahu type steel guitar stands now!!!

George

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 12 Oct 2013 3:31 pm

Wow, the good old days, when music stores and teaching studios featured student bands... with up to 10 steel guitars!

Kids today have no idea what a steel guitar is.

That last picture, Dearth Music Studio in Lima OH was where a very promising young student named Jerry Byrd studied the steel guitar!

Ron Whitfield · Post by **Ron Whitfield** » 12 Oct 2013 3:31 pm

The Hummingbirds, straight out of Bell Gardens, home of Eddie Cochran and all kinds of great music of the times. We just didn't know about it, somehow...
Great pix, George, thanx for posting!

Roy Thomson · Post by **Roy Thomson** » 12 Oct 2013 6:17 pm

Thanks for putting those up George.
I really enjoy them.
RT

David Matzenik · Post by **David Matzenik** » 13 Oct 2013 12:16 am

Thanks George, I just love these old photos. There is so much too look at in them.

PS I think the bow tie is making a come back, at least the clip on variety.

Tony Lombardo · Post by **Tony Lombardo** » 13 Oct 2013 3:32 am

I have a similar picture from (I guess) the same era. It features guitar/banjo/steel wizard Irvin Payne with all of his students at that time. (That's Irvin in the back standing.)

Bob Stone · Post by **Bob Stone** » 13 Oct 2013 5:08 am

Thanks for posting.

I love these images. Those were the days!

Doug B.: Who knows? Maybe your 1956 Stringmaster is among those pictured here.

Best,

Bob

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 13 Oct 2013 6:21 am

I wonder how many of those are still playing steel guitar of some type?

I was in the US Air Force in 1956 but I still had my D-6 Oahu steel. Sorry to say it is gone and I have no idea where it is.

John Mulligan · Post by **John Mulligan** » 13 Oct 2013 6:56 am

Great post, George, thanks for sharing.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 13 Oct 2013 7:36 am

Bob, you're right, it's possible that some of our guitars are in those pictures!

I think the bow tie is making a come back, at least the clip on variety.

David, I just had a flashback to the 1950's and the clip-on bow tie!

Thanks for the memory.

George Rout · Post by **George Rout** » 13 Oct 2013 12:09 pm

Thanks for all the interesting comments folks. I'm glad there are others who are nostalgic/sentimental over some of the past steel guitar history.

George

Len Amaral · Post by **Len Amaral** » 13 Oct 2013 1:59 pm

I love black & white photographs of the 40's & 50's. I live in a town not far from Fall River, MA a mill town and some of the restaurants have old pictures on the wall of the mill workers. No one was smiling in the pics. Good times but a hard a hard life. Bravo!

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 13 Oct 2013 4:39 pm

Great photos of a more innocent time.

George Rout · Post by **George Rout** » 13 Oct 2013 6:31 pm

Len, you are correct. B/W pics seem to have more defined lines. Sometimes colour (the "U" is Canadian!!!) shots look like a hodgepodge of colours. Here in Southern Ontario and I have seen it elsewhere particularly in small municipalites, that is pictures of the town's/village past framed on the walls of restaurants et al. Being a rail fan most of life (before most trains disappeared) I've always noted pics of railroads in earlier (better) times.

Geo

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 13 Oct 2013 11:30 pm

George Rout · Post by **George Rout** » 14 Oct 2013 3:36 am

Hi Doug. Nice clear photo. Anybody we know???? Or venue and date????

Geo

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 14 Oct 2013 4:37 am

Here is a pic of me and my Oahu D-6, probably around 1951/52. (Yes I was that young at one time)..

George Rout · Post by **George Rout** » 14 Oct 2013 5:24 am

Nice picture above Jack. Do you still have the guitar and amplifier???

I came across another pic from the lot of material which I received last week. The picture below is on the cover of a 1940 publication entitled "NIOMA Popular Hawaiian Guitar Method Book 4", NIOMA being NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MUSIC AND ARTS in Los Angeles and Seattle. Looks like "not an electric note in the place"!!!!! I can't see any left handed players either!!!! I wonder what they sounded like when everybody was playing, and if there was somebody like Norm English who tuned each and every guitar.

It says on the cover:

CONTAINS SELECTIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS IN THESE TUNINGS:

1. STANDARD A
2. HIGH BASS
3. E7th TUNING
4. E MAJOR TUNING
5. E6th OR C# MINOR 7th TUNING

Not too sure what the 7th TUNING on the bottom line means, but that's the way it's laid out.

I wonder if the chap on the left front line wearing a standard tie lost any demerit points for not wearing a bow tie!!!!
George

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 14 Oct 2013 6:19 am

The guitar and amp are both gone. I have no idea where they are, if they are still around.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 14 Oct 2013 6:26 am

George, the picture was on a guitar site and titled "Student Oahu Guitar Band (c.1940)" I see a lot of nice Rickenbachers in that picture!

Jim Williams · Post by **Jim Williams** » 14 Oct 2013 7:33 am

Sympathy Orchestra?? Nice photos, I was born that year.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 14 Oct 2013 8:34 pm

Patton's steel army...

Bob Gibler · Post by **Bob Gibler** » 15 Oct 2013 7:15 am

Here is a pic of Dad Bob Gibler Senior and his Kalamazoo Keh Lap Steel.
And a couple of his rare Epiphone's one a three necked D-8 and the other a Double neck d-6 Electar.
The little Steel player is me Bob Gibler II around 2 years of age. that would put this pic at around 1960.

Jim Newberry · Post by **Jim Newberry** » 15 Oct 2013 12:10 pm

I sure wish my guitars and amps could tell me where they've been...

Michael Lee Allen · Post by **Michael Lee Allen** » 15 Oct 2013 5:10 pm

Deleted

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Pictures from 1956

Pictures from 1956

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