The Cold Ashby Rambler

Guitars Past and Present

My first personally owned guitar was a second-hand, bright red Dallas solid which I bought from somebody somewhere in Essex (Benfleet?) in the early sixties (together with other gear for a band my friends and I were hoping to form). We used to search Exchange & Mart most weeks for this stuff and I remember two of us travelled by train to collect this particular purchase. I knew very little about electric guitars at the time but ownership of this beast soon improved my knowledge!

The action was painfully high so I inserted strips of card from a cereal box in the joint between the body and the neck to make it more comfortable to play. The tremelo arm was connected to the bridge … fine until the thing refused to return to the correct pitch which meant I was playing flat thereafter! Another strange feature was the lead socket on the guitar needed a coaxial plug (as used on TV sets) which meant if I got over excited while playing the plug pulled out and … silence. Frankly, given my lack of playing ability at the time, this was probably for the best! I’ve seen similar surviving Dallas badged instruments for sale online but they all appear to have visible conventional jack plug sockets on the face of the instrument. To be fair, I eventually developed some useful basic techniques on that guitar. I can’t recall where it finally went …

My second guitar purchase turned out to be a popular classic... though I was just looking for a robust jumbo acoustic to take to college. A friend and I went to Charing Cross Road (which was the cool thing to do at the time and I came away with a brand new Italian made Eko J54 (later renamed Ranger). I believe it cost around £26 which was paid in instalments. I still have this guitar. These instruments are survivors as the number still appearing on eBay proves. Mine received a beer glass full of cash smack on its left shoulder which was repaired in a music shop in Leeds (though the ‘scar’ is still clearly visible) and numerous other less spectacular bangs and scrapes over the last 60 years, Yet, having been used in various potentially damaging environments (including schools!) and having been renovated a bit during the Covid Lockdown, it still serves me well - particularly when I’m in the mood for Dylan or blues.

My third even more robust guitar was a 12- string Jumbo. It looked similar to the Eko but was labelled Eros (I believe these were actually produced by Eko). I bought this from a neighbour who had got fed up with tuning it. It had a huge, loud satisfying ring to it when it was accurately tuned, producing a genuine ‘chorus effect’. It was strong as an ox and really heavy. I fondly remember playing my version of Leaving On A Jet Plane on this and used it spasmodically for several years until I got tired of the wear and tear on my fingers and keeping it in tune and clean. Eventually I donated it to the bric-a-brac stall at my village’s annual ‘Open Gardens ‘ event where it was sold for £25.

My next and final purchase to date was in the 1970’s. Much as I enjoyed acoustic playing, I missed experimenting with the previous troublesome electric and eventually acquired a new Westbury Standard which I am still using. These guitars were made by Matsumoku in Japan, a factory which had previously produced Singer sewing machines. I discovered a few years ago that Westburys are much praised by vintage guitar enthusiasts. The Westbury Standard is decidedly not a ‘cheap Japanese copy’ of a Gibson (or indeed any other American brand) as its design is almost certainly original. The pickups, however were made in the USA. These are Dimarzio Humbuckers and apparently each of the pair would now be around the price I originally paid back then for the complete instrument (which aptly demonstrates why governments get so agitated about inflation). I recently came across an online suggestion that it might be worth buying a damaged guitar for its Dimarzios and dumping the guitar. This is surely not likely as no self-respecting guitar producer would fit these to an inferior model. If anyone out there has discovered a poor instrument with these fitted please put me right – then perhaps keep the thing as a valuable curiosity?

Even when played through the basic amp I originally bought with the guitar the sound was impressive but through the Vox Pathfinder 10, which I bought a couple of years ago to replace it, the sustain and overdrive effects are stunning.

Having recently bought a ‘Vintage Delay’ pedal I can now produce the sixties sound that I so wanted in my teens!