Does this end the Apache speculation?

[Arpeggio]

Superb work Ulrich!

Rob

[roger bayliss]

What is Bruce playing ? is it a Tele ?... is that a bottle of beer by Hank's foot ? slurp

[Bruce Cramley]

It could just be my bad eyesight, but is that Brian Bennett on the drums ??, if so ...

bruce

[abstamaria]

Wonderful pictures, anyway. My gosh, they were just kids then, wern't they.

Andy

[bor64]

Hanks guitar has no "skunkstripe" so it has to be one of the slabboard strats.....
Where's my new anorak i just bought at C&A....

[RayL]

Ulrich

Your superb enhancement allows many interesting details of the session to be seen. For example, although there is much talk about what amplifiers were used at that time, the microphone that picks up the sound is also important. From the pic it would seem that both Hank's amp and Bruce's amp have an AKG C12 in front of them (but not as close as would be done today). Cliff's acoustic seems to be picked up by an RCA 44BX. The C12 in front of Jet is only mic'ing up the ash tray while his bass lead disappears off towards some gear on the floor which has a slightly 'home made' look. Norrie's head unfortunately obscures the drum overhead mic.

(A quick funny story about the C12 and the later C28. These mics were used extensively by BBC-TV during the 1960s and 1970s and since they were obviously top-class mics they were stolen every once in a while. The thieves, however, were thick and knew nothing of mic technology. These mics come as two parts, the mic top and the power supply, connected by a special multicore cable. The thieves stole just the shiny silver mic top, which is useless on its own. It's fun to imagine the conversation when the thief tried to sell it later to a fence on the White City Estate.)

Ray L

[Didier]

At the time of the recording of Apache (June 1960), the Shadows didn't had much money yet. In 2006, when he came to Boulogne Billancourt (France), I asked Bruce if Hank had already bought the Gretsch at this time, as I had doubts he could have afforded such an expensive guitar then (everyone knows that the Strat was bought by Cliff), he answered : "no, he bought it in 1961..."

Didier

[Bojan]

Wow, it seems that this picture raises more questions than it answers!

[AlanMcKillop]

Great job Ulrich.

Bojan, there is a view held that AC30/4's were used in the studio (and used in the recording of Apache) and that the AC15's were taken for television/live work etc, because they were easier to carry.

Roger, keeping within the timeline which appears to be suggested, it is more likely to be his Jazzmaster.

Bruce, there are other early shots of Tony where he looks very like Brian, but with my eyesight, I'm not sure.

Rob, the picture does give that impression, but flash from the camera (or the back lighting) and/or the enhancement, could cause it to look that way.

In summary, the pic was taken (whenever) and released on the sheet music for QS in mid 1960. Therefore you can rule out Brian as he wasn't a member at that time (however, I've never seen any pics or video footage with him playing with The Shads using AC15's). I think you can also rule out a slabboard strat because of the date.

What makes me think that it could be genuine is the fact that Cliff is there (he played Chinese drums on Apache), his Gibson j-200 is there (which Bruce played on Apache) and Bruce is playing electric guitar (which can be heard on QS as opposed to acoustic).

I'm sure that more will follow and will wait for the response from the south coast.

[AlanMcKillop]

Didier, Bruce bought his Gretsch in 1960 and can be seen playing it live and in television clips in late 1960 (see below), he also had a Fender Jazzmaster which was a top of the range guitar which he bought himself, so they had a few bob.