Duane and Jet. Who was the first?

[Stratstroker]

I was involved in a discussion a while ago about who was the first to have a hit single featuring a six string bass as the lead instrument! We couldn't resolve it and after a few pints it didn't seem that important!

But with Jet's long overdue honour it has taken on a new significance!!

SO!

Was it Jet with Besame Mucho on the Fender Bass VI?
Or did Duane get in first with a hit single on his Danelectro baritone? If so with which single and when?

Come to that are baritone guitars and 6 string basses one and the same thing?

Al

[JimTidmarsh]

I though all Duane Eddy's early hits were played on the lower strings of a Gretsch (or is that a dirty word on this site ?!?!)?

[Arpeggio]

Where's Jim Nugent when you need him?

Rob

[JimN]

Duen's superb single Because They're Young and its flipside Rebel Walk (both 1960) were recorded with Duane wielding a Danelectro "Tic-Tac Bass" (which is a nickname for Danelectro's version of the six-string bass, tuned EADGBE, just like the Fender Bass VI). They might not have been the first tracks that Duane cut with the Dano - where is Spencer Scott when you need him?

It looked like this (and was pictured on one of his LP sleeves): http://www.rickalexander.com/ClassAxe/DaniBari.htm

Jet - as well-documented - got his Fender Bass VI in 1962, after leaving The Shadows.

Hope this helps,

JimN

[Arpeggio]

Thanks Jim!! I suspected it was Duane - but I didn't know exactly which guitar he used on "B T Young". Sir James Of Nugent is the man!!

[RuneMoe]

I just returned from London, and in one of the guitar stores in Denmark Street it was a 6 string Fender VI from 1962. Beautiful guitar!

Rune

[JimN]

Rune,

Did you buy it?

JN

[RuneMoe]

Jim - no. It was right-handed.
I do not remember the cost, but it was expensive.
It hang on the wall.

Regards
Rune

[Moderne]

Duane's first use of the Danelectro 6-string bass was on his "The Twang's the Thang" LP which he recorded in November 1959. That LP included Rebel Walk - the b-side of Because They're Young which, as Jim said, was his first hit single on the Dano.

Clive

[RayL]

The recording sessions for The Twangs The Thang started on November 20th 1959, with the Danelectro being used for Blueberry Hill. Route No.1 was then laid down using the Gretsch, before returning to the Danelectro for You Are My Sunshine. That completed the day's recording. It's worth noting that out of the twelve tracks on that album, ten used the six-string bass, the only other Gretsch tune being Trambone.

A linked question might be "What was the first recorded use of a six-string bass?" and there's a good case for it being Grady Martin on December 13th 1957 in Johnny Horton's Honky-Tonk Hardwood Floor.

Picking up on an earlier query, are we all agreed that E to E tuning (an octave below standard guitar) is six-string bass, whereas A to A and any other intermediate tuning would be baritone guitar?

Ray L