Guitar Archeology

Here are a couple 1960’s Fender Custom Color Jaguars.

Fender Jaguar

Burgundy Mist Metallic

Dupont Number: Lucite 2936-H
Model Year: 1959 Oldsmobile
Years Fender Used it: 1960 – 1965

Fender Jaguar Teal Green Metallic

Dupont Number:Duco 4297-H
Model Year: 1965-1968 Lincoln
Years Fender Used it: 1965 – 1969

Mick Flynn of the Band Child playing a 1958 Gibson Korina Explorer at My Place Tavern in Seattle.  This is one of the later ones that was shipped in the early sixties equipped with a factory installed Epiphone Vibrato.

I got these pics from Brian Brock back in the day, just after he acquired this beautiful 1959 Les Paul.  He told me he traded a Cadillac for it !

Yamaha SG-2C

Hey Mick,

This is Curt Anderson. I was friends and bandmate with Denny Hart (the
bands we were in together were "Your Square" and "The Broadcasters") who
frequented your shop in the 1980s. Around 1984-ish I traded a black
1970s Ibanez Les Paul and a Orange Yamaha SG-2C to you for a really cool
Custom made Fender Musiclander/Swinger styled guitar, British racing
green, Telecaster lead pickup, Vermillion neck, brass Telecaster bridge.
I love that guitar, and it has been on many records since I moved to LA
in 1988. I still have almost all of the instruments I have ever owned.
Every instrument that I have let go of I have regretted. I have been
thinking a lot about that orange Yamaha and now realize how rare it was.
I am wondering if you remember what ever became of the one I traded to
you so long ago.

I know that many amazing guitars have passed through your life since
then, but I just thought I'd ask and see if you knew anything about my
old guitar, or possibly if you know where I could find another.

Thanks for your time,

Curt Anderson

Curt,
Can't remember what happened to the guitar...  But, here is a pic of it for ya !

Wow! That's it! Brings back memories! Thanks. The search continues...
Curt

Curt

Here are some pics of Mick’s Vintage Guitars.   Hard to believe it has been 30 years…

Mick's Vintage Guitars first location California Ave. in West Seattle

The next Location in West Seattle

2nd Location on California Ave. in West Seattle

Some of the old stock..

Mick's Vintage Guitars Inventory

Where are they now ??

The Who with The Buckinghams

Buck Munger was scoring points with Keith Moon and John Entwistle with my terror filled tales of the Marine Air Wing and Phoenix Police Department. They offered their experiences traveling Europe and humorous impressions of America. We definitely shared an appreciation for the practical joke. Moon’s squint-eyed impression of actor… Robert Newton’s Long John Silver was classic. Entwistle exhibited the dry English wit. They prepared me for meeting their band-mates with some essential background information. Pete’s an old codger and Roger is a pretentious rock star. Why right now, that disgusting Roger is down in his room with a bunch of teeny-bopper groupies. Where the actual idea came from, I can’t remember, but the next thing I know I’m on the phone calling Daltrey’s room in my best Phoenix Police Department Desk Sergeant voice “ Hello, Mister Dawntree, this is Sgt Mullen of the Kansas City Police Department, we have a report that you are entertaining under-aged minor females in your room, sir, is that true? Daltrey, stuttered “No, that’s not true, who told you that?” “Well Mr. Dawntree, we have dispatched a radio car to answer that complaint, that should be there any minute, and you can make your statement to the investigating officer.” Hanging up the phone I could see Entwistle and Moon bursting with appreciation for my performance. We could hear feet scuffling outside in the hallway and after a moment there was a knock on the door. Daltrey came in, nodded to Keith and John and stepped into the bathroom. In a few minutes he came out and announced he was going to find Pete, and left. Keith and John, who had been quiet since he came in the room, let out howls of laughter. They pummeled me with compliments. We had a relationship. I had never met or dealt with the Who’s managers. With the Jimi Hendrix Experience most of the communication away from the site flowed through either Chas Chandler or Gerry Stickles. The only time I got to talk to Jimi was at the sound check and after the show backstage, which was always a circus. With the Who I had an off duty relationship with everybody but Roger. I noticed even Townshend liked to join Keith and John in the Roger chop-sessions. The band dynamic was interesting. In public, Daltrey shined and accepted the presumption that, as the singer, he must be the leader of the band. In private, Roger shrunk to the bottom of the pecking order behind John, who was below Keith who was always challenging Pete.

The WHO Sunn Amplifiers

Buck Munger would now be figuring out what to do with the Who, who were on the radio in LA with “Happy Jack,” sounding nothing like the band that exploded at the Monterey Pop Festival. Several cocktail conversations with Pete Townshend had calmed my fears. The destruction was limited and mostly cosmetic. Bobby “Plum” Pridden, the …equipment manager, would repair and maintain the gear. Grille-cloth is easy to replace. Pete suggested we run an ad, “Even The Who Can’t Bust ‘em.” He loved Sunn’s heavy-duty cabinet construction, built from three-quarter inch plywood-compared to the normal half-inch in the best of the competitors. I flew to Kansas City to meet the Who, deliver the equipment and get signatures on the contract. On takeoff, I spilled a drink on the guy sitting behind me in First Class who, in a genuine twist of fate, turned out to be Joe Banaron, CEO of Thomas Organ, the owners of Vox Amplifiers. Months before the Who had destroyed a stage full of Vox amplifiers on the Smothers Brothers show. Joe remembered. Landing in KC, I took a cab straight to the motel and stopped by the coffee shop where I met Pridden on his way to the airport to pick up the gear. On the drive out and back, Bobby briefed me on the situation. It was just Pridden and the band. The booking agency had sent someone along as Road Manager but he “lost a lot of the band’s money” and “the lads ran him off”. Roger and Pete had their own rooms and John & Keith shared a room. Roger “pulled all the birds” and Pete was the reclusive genius. Bobby described himself as a poor kid from the slums of London that got his big break in life with the Who. It was easy to see the depth of his loyalty. Back at the Motel I decided to start with the rhythm section first, so I had Bobby drop me off with Entwistle & Moon. It took me a few minutes to understand the accents completely but I made out that John was the one who got the band interested in Sunn, having borrowed a 200S unit belonging to the Moody Blues. We talked about the Monterey Pop Festival and the post show buzz on both the Who and Hendrix. On the same small label in England, the two acts were well aware of each other, and I sensed some real hostility.

Buck Munger finally relaxed when he had the signed Jimi Hendrix contracts in hand. They were hefty, drawn up by Sunn’s new Hollywood attorney, Averill Pasarow, Frank Sinatra and Sonny Burke’s lawyer, and another turn-on from my partner Peter Burke. Within a week of the contracts landing in Oregon, my world changed completely. I was

Jimi with Sunns

moving out of the broom closet on Santa Monica Blvd and into a suite in the Sunset/Vine Tower. Sunn was opening a high profile office for me, complete with a new secretary, promotional assistant and equipment manager. A rehearsal and storage space would be rented blocks away. My corner office on the fourth floor had a new JBL sound system and overlooked the most famous intersection in Hollywood, Sunset & Vine. Blocks from RCA, Columbia and Capitol Records and across the street from Wallach’s Music City, the all night music store where you could buy records or musical instruments around the clock, and where Hollywood studio musicians had bought emergency strings, sticks and drum heads in the middle of the night for years. Pretty amazing, One year ago Peter and I were in this building knocking on doors, and now I had keys. And Peter was going on the payroll. For the all-important secretary-receptionist I hired Sheila Bernson from a film production company that had an office in the dubbing studio on Santa Monica. Sheila had a strong resume having started at ABC Television when she was 17 years old. Now, in her 20’s, she knew everybody in Hollywood and looked smashing in a miniskirt. The icing on the package was The Room At The Top, a fine dining restaurant and bar located in the penthouse, and, they offer room service in the building. Let the party begin.

Jimi With Sunn Amplifiers

Buck Munger left Jimi on the phone to Oregon and wandered back into the hall where setting up Mitch Mitchell’s drums was the focus of attention, which gave me the opportunity to check out Mitch’s kit up close and introduce myself. Mitch was another jazz-influenced fills master, no boring boom chucker here. With three guys in the b…and you have to fill up the musical spaces. In handling a set of Mitch’s sticks, I noticed they were “Ringo Starr” models. At that point in time Ringo was taking a lot of heat as the least of the Beatles and I was a little surprised this cutting-edge drummer would have an old-school idol. Ringo? “Ringo’s a great drummer,” growled Mitch, giving me a glare. The Brits stick together and I’ll admit, after Mitch chewed on me, I went back and listened again, and he was right. I was a lot closer to Jimi this time. At the Monterey Pop Festival I was a ways back taking in the whole Experience. This time I was standing right behind his amplifiers watching the KT-88 power tubes cook. I don’t know what I would have done if they crapped out, all I knew how to do was change a fuse, and I realized I didn’t even have any extra fuses in my pockets. I was spread-eagled on the altar of fate. We were flying high over the city and if we crashed, so be it, but for now, the view was breathtaking. I had wondered how Jimi’s set from Monterey would translate inside a giant gymnasium. Remember, these were the days of no stage monitors, no board mixes and minimum, if any, lights. Look at all the pictures of Jimi. None were taken in a follow-spot. At this venue Jimi was just up on a portable stage at the end of the basketball court with bleachers on either side, or folding chairs in the middle. The place was packed with college students. It wasn’t a warm summer night outdoors with lights, camera and warm-up action. It took about half a song to erase any doubt that Jimi could create the magic again. This time I tried to get a look at how he made it happen. He had the longest fingers I have ever seen on a human being. They seemed to be able to stretch half the neck length. He plucked and hammered the strings with his right (fretting) hand and waved his pick in the air. He played behind his head and he plucked the strings with his teeth, all while keeping the barrage of sound bouncing off the walls. “Foxy Lady” was a hit here too, as was “Hey Joe” and “Like A Rolling Stone” by the time he got to “Wild Thing” the joint was rockin’.