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WHEN I WAS JUST STARTING OUT ON GUITAR, I WOULD SDEND OFF FOR THE 'BELL'S' COMPANY GUITAR CATALOGUE. IT DIDN'T CONTAIN ANT FEDERS OR GIBSON'S OR GRETSCH'S BUT INSTEAD HAD EUROPEAN GUITARS, SOME BRITISH MAKES AND SOME GUITARS MADE IN JAPAN BUT INPORTED UNDER VARIOUS BRITISH AND EUROPEAN NAMES. THE BELL'S CATALOGUE PROVIDED A GREAT DEAL OF ENJOYMENT TO IAN PARKIN AND MYSELF WHEN WE WERE JUST SCHOOLBOYS AT INGS ROAD SECONDARY MODERN SCHOOL IN THE LATE 1950s AND EARLY '60S. WE WOULD SIT ON THE LOW WALL SURROUNDING THE SCHOOL'S YARD AT BREAL TIMES, AND AVIDLY SHARE OUR THOUGHTS ON THE VARIOUS GUITARS THE CATALOGUE PORTRAYED. WE DREAMT OF OWNING SOME OF THOSE MODELS WHICH SEEMED QUITE EXOTIC AT THE TIME. HERE ARE SOME PAGES FROM AN OLD BELL'S CATALOGUE: THE ABOVE PAGE SHOWS A SELECTION OF 'BIRD' GUITAR AMPLIFIERS. I THOUGHT THEY WERE PRETTY COOL... THE 'BROADWAY' SOLID AT THE BOTTOM RIGHT OF THE ABOVE BELL'S CATALOGUE PAGE WAS A GUITAR I FANCIED BACK THEN. I SUSPECT IT WAS MADE IN JAPAN. A SINGLE PICKUP VERSION OF THE 'BROADWAY' AT BOTTOM RIGHT. CAN YOU BELIEVE THE PRICE? ONLY £18, 7/6 pence! AND THE 'FRESHMAN' TO THE LEFT COST EVEN LESS AND SPORTED TWO PICKUPS... A NICE SELECTION OF BURNS GUITARS. ROSETTI GUITARS WERE ALWAYS ON DISPLAY AT THE WAKEFIELD MUSIC CENTRE WHEN IAN PARKIN AND MYSELF WALKED FROM SCHOOL AT LUNCHTIMES TO STAND AND STARE IN THE SHOP'S WINDOW. I PARTICULARLY REMEMBER THE 'LUCKY 7' MODEL. MY FIRST AMPLIFIER WAS MADE BY ROSETTI AND WAS ALSO CALLED A 'LUCKY 7.' KAY GUITARS WERE AN UNUSUAL ADDITION TO BELL'S CATALOGUE AS THEY WERE ACTUALLY AMERICAN. A NICE SELECTION OF WATKINS AMPS. IAN PARKIN EVENTUALLY GOT A 'DOMINATOR' IN PALE BLUE AND CREAM. I WAS ENVIOUS UNTIL MY DAD BOUGHT ME A VOX AC 30! SELMER MADE SOME GREAT AMPLIFIERS AND THEY SELL FOR SUBSTANTIAL SUMS TODAY IN GOOD CONDITION. THIS SELMER ZODIAC IS FROM BELL'S CATALOGUE. AN EARLY TAPE ECHO UNIT. THE 'SWISSECHO.' THE MEAZZI 'FACTOTUM STEREO ECHOMATIC' CAME COMPLETE WITH TWO SPEAKER CABS! WHAT A BEAST!! THE ABOVE IS A HOFNER 'GALXIE' SOLID BODY GUITAR, INSPIRED BY THE FENDER STRATOCASTER I GUESS. BELL'S CATALOGUE ALSO SOLD VARIOUS 'BITS AND PIECES' FOR GUITARISTS OF THE DAY. I HAD THE 'FUTURAMA' PLECTRUM AND A BOTTLE OF SELMER 'POLYSHINE.'

I think this old 'late '50s or early '60s guitar is a Dallas model, possibly a Dallas 'Tuxedo' ?

A video clip which you may, or may not, have seen before but here are Les Paul and Mary Ford performing their immortal recording of 'How High The Moon.' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkGf1GHAxhE&feature=emb_logo

New pic of Keith in the studio with his 1957 Gibson Super 400.

A Roy Clark album cover...nice Gibson archtop with a 'Charlie Christian' pickup.

A '60s Guild advert...

Rockabilly girl...

DOCTOR BILL LOOKING RATHER LIKE THE ELIZABETHAN MAGUS DOCTOR JOHN DEE! THAT'S MY GRETSCH ANNIVERARY GUITAR I'M HOLDING. BET DR DEE DIDN'T HAVE ONE OF THOSE THOUGH! 😅

Strictly speaking this is slightly outside the Wonderful World of Guitars remit but I know all the serious guitar fanatics come here (just like I do)..If youre looking for fresh fuel for your guitarmania, grab a copy of this CD as a little Christmas present to yourself. Pure joy guaranteed!

A cute Fender advert...\

Brian Jones, who was generally acknowledged as the 'best' musician in The Rolling Stones' but who, in many ways squandered his talents through excessive drug and alcohol abuse, had a slightly more interesting harem of guitars than his fellow Stone keith Richards. Here he is with a green Gretsch Double Anniversary model. (I own exactly the same model but with a Bigsby fitted.)

HERE'S A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE BALDWIN SEMI-ACOUSTIC WHEN IT WAS FIRST INTRODUCED BY BURNS WITH A BURNS BRANDING... FENTON WEILL GUITARS WERE THE FORERUNNER OF BURNS GUITARS AND, WHILST SOMEWHAT CRUDER IN THEIR DESIGN, SHOW ELEMENTS OF JIM BURNS' LATER IDEAS. HERE ARE SOME PHOTOGRAPHS OF FENTON-WEILL GUITARS: YOU CAN CERTAINLY SEE ELEMENTS OF THE LATER BNURNS DESIGNS IN THE ABOVE PHOTO' OF A FENTON-WEILL MODEL. ANOTHER FENTON-WEILL GUITAR, THIS ONE HAS A MAPLE FRETBOARD AND RED POSITION MARKERS. ABOVE IS ANOTHER FENTON-WEILL MODEL WITH AN OFFSET BODY SHAPE. THIS FENTON-WEILL HAS A VERY SMALL BODY, SIMILAR IN SIZE TO THE LATER BURNS 'SONIC' MODEL.

A stunning piece of work. This is true guitar as art.

An unusual harp guitar...

Bah nah nah nah

And another variation on the 'square' or oblong Bo Diddley guitar. This one's pretty cool.

A Fender catalogue from the '50s...

The headstocks of the Moneleone archtops are beautiful too. I really like the subtle introduction of red in this one.

Steve Klein Bill Frisell Model.

These guitars are made by a company called 'M-Tone' in Portland, Oregon in the USA. I think they're really special with great craftsmanship. I particularly love the green one...

Hey, Chiquita! 😉

One Day (At A Time) (Remastered 2010) John Lennon - One Day (at a Time)

A non-cutaway archtop design from John Backlund similar, in some ways, to the Rockerbox design that Eastwood guitars realised for John, but I've always been a sucker for non-cutaway archtops and it's a pity this design never went into production...

And a nice bit of wood No 2:

HERE IS A GUITAR MADE BY THE ARMSTRONG COMPANY. THIS MODEL IS KNOWN AS THE 'ICARUS.'

ONE OF THE BANDS I ENJOYED IN MY EARLY DAYS AS A GUITARIST WAS 'THE SPOTNICKS' WHO WORE RATHER FUNNY LOOKING SPACE SUITS ON THEIR ALBUM COVERS. BUT THEIR LEAD GUITARIST WAS RATHER GOOD... AND HERE'S A LINK TO 'THE SPOTNICKS' PLAYING 'AMAPOLA' LIVE IN THE EARLY 1960s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLe0ga8UhoA

HERE'S THE ROUGH SKETCH I MADE WHEN STARTING TO DESIGN THE 'ASTROLUXE CUSTOM LIMITED.'