Bruce Welch Telecaster

[Billyboygretsch]

On the first album Bruce is shown with a Telecaster. Not many pictures after that. Soon after he seemed to use the Jazzmaster. Did Bruce ever use or record with the Telecaster - I would that would have been an excellent rhythm guitar

[RUSSET]

Bruce doesn't seem to acknowledge that he had a Tele, & people seem to think that he just borrowed the Blonde one from a store for the photo session for the album cover, as it appears to still have a price tag hanging from it. However, there are videos on YouTube from early 'Oh Boy' TV shows that show him actually playing a Blonde Tele live. Maybe things were happening so fast for 'The Drifters', as they were then, that Bruce simply doesn't remember small details from what went on, now.
Fair enough, we all tend to forget what we did yesterday after we get past a certain age; me included.
It reminds me of the joke about a demonstration by pensioners on the streets of London. One is carrying a placard on a stick which reads, 'WHAT DO WE WANT ! ...... & WHY ARE WE HERE ?'

Tony.

[Didier]

I told that here many times already, but when I first saw the Shadows at the Paris Olympia, this was late 1960 or early 1961, Bruce had a blonde Tele, Jet a sunburst PB and Hank the first fiesta red with maple neck.
Bruce and Hank got their matched pair of Strats with rosewood neck around march/april 1961.

Didier

[Uncleboko]

I told that here many times already, but when I first saw the Shadows at the Paris Olympia, this was late 1960 or early 1961, Bruce had a blonde Tele, Jet a sunburst PB and Hank the first fiesta red with maple neck.
Bruce and Hank got their matched pair of Strats with rosewood neck around march/april 1961.

Didier

That's interesting, there was a band based in Barnet around 1962-64 called Mike Stephens & The Sapphires, who's instrument line up was just as Didier mentioned!

[Tigerdaisy]

Teles with vintage type pups don't sound so different from Strats, in fact the harsher bridge pup can give a more authentic sound than current modern Strats. To me Teles sound more Fender than many Strats.

[donna plasky]

Here is a clip from Cliff's old TV show, which we've looked at before but for different reasons (because Cliff is playing Hank's guitar). Bruce has a white or blonde Tele for both songs, Apache and Don't Be Mad at Me. In another episode of Cliff's show, Bruce used a Jazzmaster for most of the show (Move It, and others), and a Gretsch Country Gentleman in one song (I Love You). I absolutely love these video clips and have watched them dozens of times, each time noticing something new. I'm sure I will keep discovering new things when I watch them some more. I really love how Jet's bass line is so strong in these songs. With the black-and-white video, I can't really see if Jet's bass is sunburst or red, but I am leaning toward sunburst.

"Apache" and "Don't Be Mad at Me" - Telecaster


"Move It" - Jazzmaster


"I Love You" - Gretsch

[RUSSET]

Yes, that is one of the TV clips I refered to, with Bruce's Blonde Tele, Donna. Jet would have been playing his first Fender P.Bass which was definately Sunburst with Tortoiseshell pickguard. He didn't have the Fiesta Red one until later when Jennings got the Shadows their matching set.

[Didier]

Yes, that is one of the TV clips I refered to, with Bruce's Blonde Tele, Donna. Jet would have been playing his first Fender P.Bass which was definately Sunburst with Tortoiseshell pickguard. He didn't have the Fiesta Red one until later when Jennings got the Shadows their matching set.

Jet's fiesta red PB might have been the sunburst one after being repainted. The fiesta red Strats that Hank and Bruce got from JMI were repainted ones...

Didier

[satman10]

Hi on this topic I can say that I was the person who purchased the blonde Fender Telecaster that belonged to Bruce in 1961 .
It appeared in Lew Davis's music shop in Charing Cross Rd London early springtime I think.
I later changed the colour to sunburst ,JMI ( manufactures of Vox amps)did a good job.
I had never owned a Fender before and purchased it because I could not afford a Fender Stratocaster .
Pete Clifford was our lead guitarist and had just purchased his second-hand Fender Jazzmaster from a London music store.
He was told that the guitar had previously belonged to the Shadows rhythm guitarist Bruce Welch.
I found out recently on the web ,that my Telecaster had been used by Bruce Welch.
The Shadows wanted a full Fender line up for their first LP cover , so they borrowed a Telecaster from 'Lew Davis music shop' for the photo shoot , and it was returned a few weeks later unsold.
I purchased it in a 'shop soiled condition' for a reduced price of £107!
Two years later , I swaped the Telecaster for a red Fender stratocaster.
I was playing in band called 'Grant Tracey and the Sunsets' at the time, and at a venue I met a rhythm guitarist named Dave Bower,his band was called 'The Cherokees', they had a hit record"Seven golden daffodils".
I recently tried to contact Dave by email to see if he remembered me ,and ask him if he still had my old guitar without success,and found he had moved to Canada.
He ran a recording studio there , so I contacted a musician who worked there by email , and he told me that Dave had had a stroke and was recovering.
Six months later he emailed me.
Dave did remember me after all those years, and he said he no longer had my old Telecaster , if he did ,it would be worth a bundle!
He signed off with "Those were the days".
Pete Clifford later joined the Echoes , and backed Dusty Springfield on her South African tour in 1964.
Pete stayed in South Africa and married a local girl.
He is now on his third marriage.
He was in a group called 'The Bats' and has been quite sucessfull playing his music...........
Footnote. The Sunsets with Pete ,Sid our bass player and myself changed our name to The Jesters because two other bands had the same name.
There was a group called The Sunsets in Wales backing a guy called Shaking Stevens ,and Grant Tracey and the Sunsets which I later joined!
So I was 'Sunset' twice!!


The Sunsets.jpg

[JimN]

On the first album Bruce is shown with a Telecaster. Not many pictures after that. Soon after he seemed to use the Jazzmaster. Did Bruce ever use or record with the Telecaster - I would that would have been an excellent rhythm guitar

The correct order for those acquisitions was probably:

Fender Jazzmaster (late 1959 or early 1960) [this belonged to Bruce]

Gretsch 6120 (second half 1960 because used live on ATV on New Year's Eve 1960) [this too belonged to Bruce]

Fender Telecaster in blonde (late 1960) because seen used live on stage at the Paris Olympia late in that year [Bruce has always said that this was a loan]

Fender Telecaster in blonde (first half of 1961 because featured on the cover of the EP "The Shadows To The Fore" - released June 1961 - and on the photo for the first LP, which must have been taken before the delivery of the three matching red Fenders, ie, in the early spring of 1961) [a loan guitar, perhaps from Selmer* rather than Jennings if the Lew Davis shop reference below is connected]

Fender Stratocaster in red (spring 1961) [this was a JMI loan]

Fender Stratocaster in sunburst (1960-ish) - seen in small photographs on rear of the "Me And My Shadows" LP - an occasional on-the-spot loan from Chas McDevitt in cases of string breakage during a show, though luckily, that LP sleeve provides the evidence of use.