January 1963: "It was a new Harmony [Keith] played now and not the old blonde deep-bodied guitar somebody had made for him. ...
I think it cost about 75 quid. It [looked] all right."
- from Nankering With the Stones by James Phelge

this looks like the model: the Harmony Meteor.
[harmony.demont.net]
smile: don't miss the 1962 catalog description under the photos on that page.
as always, i'd love to hear more from our patient, kind & learned Keith Guitar Connoisseurs, please and thank you very kindly!


- De Lane Lea Studios, october 7th 1963, by Gus Coral
if you want the sense-surround effect, put on I Wanna Be Your Man/Stoned - that's what they recorded that day.


- Top of the Pops, january 1st 1964 (courtesy BrownEyedGirll)

"In 1963, to the popular music establishment, Mick looked like a smirking nightmare from music's dark unwashed underside,
and Keith like the cocksure new gunslinger who might as well have ambled in with a Gatling gun as a Harmony guitar."
- from Black & White Blues, by Gus Coral, David Hinckley & Debra Rodman


- both october 7th 1963, both by Gus Coral



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-01-22 20:23 by with sssoul.

I don't know anything about the guitar, but those are some cool photos, sssoul. Thanks for posting them!

i'm glad if they groove you. Black & White Blues is the source of most of them;
it's a really fine little book with great photos and great insights about the Stones' starting days.

Ian Stewart - Keith with Harmony 1963.

No credits listed



ROCKMAN

When being born his umbilical cord was the first chord he riffed on. Loosing it made him crave for more.

smile: Keith and the electric guitar were born at almost the same time - just made for each other.

these two beautiful shots both look like Epiphones - it's not the same instrument in both photos, though, is it??
the first one's right after the Stones got back from their first US tour - the All Night Rave at the Alexandra Palace;
the second is from 1965; both are courtesy of BrownEyedGirll (thank you!).
as usual, any insights about these guitars - what they're great for, what's ornery about them - will be made very welcome,
as will any details about what Keith used them for and what tracks we can hear them on.


- june 26th 1964, by Frank Monaco


- 1965, by Gered Mankowitz

a few sites with information about Epiphones:
[www.provide.net]
[www.kellyindustries.com]
[www.epiphone.com]
(the Sheraton, Riviera and Casino models all look something like the one(s) Keith's got in the photos)
continued thanks to the kind patient generous learned Keith Guitar Connoisseurs for the education - you rock! have some fresh popcorn. :E



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-02-19 10:13 by with sssoul.

and as long as i'm at it ...
what is that guitar Keith's got in the gallant StonesVikings' wonderful Stockholm 1966 photos?
[www.stonesvikings.com]

here are a couple more shots of it, but the StonesVikings have the best ones.


- probably 1966 (don't know who took it, but i bet it's courtesy of BrownEyedGirll!)


- Ready Steady Go 1966 (probably a rehearsal for the may 27th show; probably courtesy of BrownEyedGirll again)

i'm sorry we can't see more of Keith in that last one, but if you have the "complete RSG" DVD,
you can see/hear him in action - which is recommended in any case. have some popcorn. :E



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2005-11-02 22:36 by with sssoul.

Could it be a Les Paul in the Stokholm '66 photo?

no ... but have some popcorn anyway. :E

speaking of Les Pauls, though: this 59 sunburst LP is real familiar.
i guess Keith got it late in 64; and i believe it's the same one you can see in Gimme Shelter (the film).
i don't know when he passed it on to someone else, but recently it's been turning up fairly regularly for sale/auction.


- Ready Steady Go 1965 (probably jan 15th; courtesy of BrownEyedGirll)


- Ready Steady Go feb 26 1965, by Dezo Hoffman (courtesy of Vox12string)

sense-surround! here's Down the Road Apiece from that jan 15th 65 RSG,
recorded straight from TV by Vox12string: [s48.yousendit.com]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2005-11-04 01:07 by with sssoul.

Very nice pictures, thanks again. And yes, Keith was born with a riff moving around and around his system.

yeah thanks for the pics-btw who's the browneyed girl-where does ½she get all those pics?

the gallant BrownEyedGirll is a friend of mine, and as you see, she gets around. :E
her collection is amazing, and keeps getting more amazing;
and i'm real grateful for her generosity in letting me post stuff from it here.

i'm also grateful to our esteemed, patient, learned Keith Guitar Connoisseurs
who can fill us in a bit more on these instruments - it would be so great to hear from you about them.
i'll make fresh popcorn ... :E



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2008-02-18 19:54 by with sssoul.

Random comments:

- I believe the somewhat Les Paul shaped guitar in the Stockholm pic is a Guild Bluesbird or something like that.

- Keith was probably one of the first english stars playing a Les Paul, which later Eric Clapton and Peter Green would kick into mythical status.



[There'll be no wedding today...]

ahh, a Guild - thank you Bruno!

i went guitar-hunting on the Ed Sullivan appearances, which is a gas gas gas.
Keith's playing Satisfaction and 19th Nervous Breakdown on that Guild on the february 66 show.
and Brian's got a great big Epiphone for Little Red Rooster on the may 65 show -
looks mighty like the one Keith's got in that june 64 shot from the All Night Rave.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2005-11-03 21:09 by with sssoul.

Damn! Thnaks for posting what for most of us are never before seen photos! You and Brown Eyed Girl rock!

glad if the photos are grooving y'all, because i found a couple of really good ones of Keith with that Guild Bluesbird -
thanks so much for identifying it, Bruno!
[ahem: discreetly edited so as not to mislead readers - thanks to Mathijs too!]


- both Australia, february or march 1966; both by Stu





Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2005-11-04 13:33 by with sssoul.

tanks 4 these great pics ..on that new timpet 2005 dvd keith talks about what old guitars he has

>> on that new timpet 2005 dvd Keith talks about what old guitars he has <<

that sounds intriguing, thank you Chippy - but what DVD do you mean?

its the 1 on buy ,sell, trade timpet 2005 ,, its cool,,,about 45min. - 1 hr.long ,,,,lots of pirate interviews & very nice footage of start me up opening nite ,,if i had a burner id burn ya 1 ,,but i dont hav a dvd burner ,if ya want me 2 quote what keith says ill do that on this post

that would be great, thanks -
or maybe we can start a separate thread about Keith's current vintage guitars?

Keith used a blue stratocaster in 1964. There is a shot of him using it in the shot where the audience is rioting and the female police officer faints. Keith used two gibson les paul standards that are sunburst and have bigsby vibrato bars. One with a pickguard and one without. Keith also used gibson firebird reverses and unreverses and Gibson les paul goldtop, gibson black beauty with a bigsby vibrato bar that he gave to Jimmy Page and a gibson black beauty without the vibrato bar. He also used a blonde fender telecaster and a fender telecaster with a vibrato bar.

thanks for all that, RollingStonesRob -
there have been some interesting discussions of some of those in the last few weeks -
Keith's Telecasters:
[iorr.org]
[iorr.org]
the Black Beauty and black 3PU LP Customs that are not quite Black Beauties:
[iorr.org]
various guitars Keith was using in 69:
[iorr.org]

i was planning to ask about those Firebirds - thanks for bringing them up.
i'd love to hear about what they're like to play and what Keith used them for.
i'll post the photos i have of them - but it's past my bedtime, so ... tomorrow.

keith guitar builders in netherlands want 2 no why u play same guitars ,,,keith answers ,,i play strats, teles,cause i use dif tunings ,the only reason i change guitar is i play 5 string which is dif configuration & i also play a few gibsons ,but i basically tend 2 stick with a handful 2 handful 6 or 7 guitars just depends on the tuning ,hey ya work with, they your tools ,if i b a plumber, id b really worried if i lost my fav wrench, u no what i mean,u tend 2 hone it down 2 tryed & trusted few ,they r all very old guitars pretty much, ya no some of them not quite as old as me ,i was still @ school a very young school when some of these was built ,ah 54 55, the thing about the electric guitar ya c is that its probably the only invention that was perfected the minute it came out,, & everyboby else is still tryin 2 figure out how 2 make it better,ya can't,its an amazing thing.... another question,,, keith another thing they say is that your famous 4 your riffs ,what does that mean ,,keith answers,,it means i hear things & can translate them in2 reality,i suppose,i dont no, i can find a passage of music ,,somebodys got a song ,a good song ,but its got no particular texture or something that will drive it & hang on2 it & i can do that,i can im the riffmaster, so they say.....also keith says he came up with title bigger bang but 4 the tours name ,then record co. said name album the same thing....question ,keith what about terrorisn & your safety, r u concerned ,,,keith says ,ahh give me your best shot,i mean i just dont want other people 2 get hurt,but if u start 2 worry about things on that scale ,stay @ home,more keith content here but @ end keith says ,,anybody b dumb enough 2 blow us up & along with a load of our audience & if u do then u really hav a big bang ya no, cause ill come back & haunt ya...

thanks Chippy! i love that observation of Keith's that the electric guitar was funadamentally perfect right from the day it came into this world.
one of his responses in that Ask Keith gizmo on his website is about this, and it's beautiful how moved he is by his relationship with the instrument.
"it's a matter of touch. it's a matter of feel. and it's a mystery."

The Harmony Meteor was the top of the line instrument from Chcago based Harmony company. Harmony (owned by Sears) was one of the biggest makers of acoustic instruments from 1892 on. Their policy was that everyone should be able to purchase a guitar or mandolin, so prices were low and you could order them by mail. By todays standards, these guitars really are bad. But in the days that only Fender, Gibson and Epiphone (and some Gretsch) were the only good guitars around -but very expensive-, if you wanted to play guitars the cheap Harmony and Kay instruments were the only ones available. There made out of plywood and plastic, what made them playable was the pickups: they were made by D'armond, and therefore the sound wasn't so bad. EVeryone knows what a Harmony sounds like: it's that real dry, aggressive country sound of the first Stones and Kinks album. It is the true British sound.

The second guitar is the Guild Bluesbird. Guild is an American competitor to Epiphone, but for some reason they never got it completely right. There acoustic guitars are quite popular (especially in the C&W scene), but the electrics never have bene to popular. For Keith is was a in-between guitar. He was changing from large semi-acoustics which would fedback on stage to the Les Paul, and the Guild Bluesbird actually is a semi-solid Les Paul. The sound is aching more to a Gretsch. Nowadays, Guild Bluesbirds pre-1968 fetch some decent money, as they are regarded as good vintage instruments.

The Next one is Epiphone Casine which Keith really used a lot, and if it wasn't for the uncontrollable feedback he would still play it. Epiphone was a manufacturer of jazz guitars that became too big so was bought by Gibson. The 1930's jazz boxes are considered top of the line and command hue prices. The Epi-line built by Gibson are now considered true vintage guitars and are getting more and more expensive. The Casino is considered THE Beatles guitar, so prices have gone to the roof. There's three Casino's: The Sheraton, The Riviera and the Casino. In short: the Sheraton is Epi's Gibson 345 copy, the Riviera is the Gibson 335 copy, and the Casino is the Gibson 330 copy. The Sheraton and Riviera have wooden blocks in the center so are seni-solid, the Casino is fully acoustic and therefore very prone to feedback. The Casino has a long scale, and therefore became more popular than the short-scale Gibson ES-330. A good, Gibson build Casino with P90 pickups truly is one of the best guitars available, and is still used by many guitarists in the studio. They are quite useless on modern stages. By the way, both pictures of Keith show the same guitar. Brian later played a Gibson 330 with nickel P90 pickups, Keith played a 330 with black dog ear P90 pickups at Hyde Park.

The Gibson Les Paul here is the Bigsby equiped Les Paul Keith bought in 1964 and used on the TAMI show. He toured with it until 1966, and sold it to Mick Taylor in 1967 through Ian Stewart. Taylor toured Europe and the US with it with John Mayall, and took it to the Stones camp when he became a Stone. He played it on the 1969 and 1970 tour, but I never seen it again after 1970. It's not on any picture of the Exile period, so it was probably sold or stolen around 1970. It popped up again some 10 years ago in the hands of a London collector, and last year he decided to sell it. Apperently it has sold for $500.000, which isn't that much for a Keith Richards/Mick Taylor/Mick Jagger owned and played instrument. By the way, there's been at least 10 Gibson Les Paul standards in the Stones camp, and actually recognising them can be really hard.

Mathijs

brilliant and fascinating as always - thank you so much for all this, Mathijs!

i've located a few more photos of Keith's Epiphone(s) ...
one of them is on page 132 of Rolling With the Stones, labelled as june 7th, 1964 -
i don't have a scanner, so if someone who does have one could be coaxed into posting it that would be way cool.
meanwhile here are two i do have scanned; it looks to me like a different instrument than the one in the book - but (as we've all noticed!) i am easily confused. :E


- probably 1964, by Stu


- 1965 or 66, also by Stu



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-02-19 10:14 by with sssoul.

>> Everyone knows what a Harmony sounds like: it's that real dry, aggressive country sound of the first Stones and Kinks album. It is the true British sound. <<

smile: we all know the sound, but not all of us know that we know it.
it's so great to have these things highlighted for us - thank you, Mathijs. this is a true gift, and i appreciate it.

so ... the Harmony is the main guitar we hear Keith playing on the first couple of singles and the first album; what about those 1964 Chess sessions - is that still the Harmony or ... ?



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2005-11-07 12:19 by with sssoul.

This could well be the same Les Paul that Keith got in 1964 and later sold to Mick Taylor:



It was taken by Bengt Skogberg on 16 March, 1968 during a Blues Breakers tour of Scandinavia



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2005-11-04 18:47 by ChrisM.

cool shot, ChrisM! thanks for posting that.
so what is the LP that Keith's playing HTW on in Gimme Shelter -
one of the horde of other Gibson Les Paul standards that Mathijs mentioned?