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1955 Bo Diddley on Ed Sullivan/ Guild M-75 prototype?


LX88

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Hello

 

Some of you may have seen a performance on Youtube by Bo Diddley from 1955 0n the Ed Sullivan show.

 

This performance has recently been colorized which gives greater detail to the video overall. Bo is playing a very interesting guitar in this video which has been the subject of several internet discussions regarding what this guitar might be.

 

Many people have suggested that it might be a Kay or a Silvertone etc. My impression is that it may be a very early prototype of a Guild M65 or M75

 

The reason why I m interested is that I have this very guitar. Mine was modified for two pickups and the original pick guard is also gone.

 

There is no logo on the headstock of mine which is also shaped like a Gibson headstock.

 

I am interested in restoring mine and am also interested in finding out more about what this is. I feel it is very important historically.... mine definitely is the same a Bo plays and resembles the later Guild models more than anything else I have seen.

 

I welcome comments on this and will try to provide photos of what I have.

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Looking forward to the photos!

 

Could you please post a link to the video? That would be helpful.

 

Attached is a crappy photo of me onstage with Bo Diddley. He was 64 years old and I played bass for him for one show. A high point to be sure.

2529.thumb.jpg.ee8d1f2c8f82dc8b40bca5105b0448db.jpg

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Thanks for posting the video.

 

The pickup on this looks liked the De Armond "speed bump"...also found on several Kay guitars.

 

The body definitely looks like Guild M75 or M65

 

Someone suggested on another forum that Guild picked up on this body type. Hollowbody but no f holes. Curved top.

 

The neck on his identical to mine. Double dots at the 7th fret.

 

Mine is in pretty good shape except someone tried to add a second pickup. It currently has Gibson firebird pickups, but I would like to change to P-90 type similar to Guild M75.

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Some more research turned up the info that this guitar was made in New York at a factory called United Code. Apparently that factory also made some guitar bodies for D Angelico and Guild.

 

The theory is that Guild presumably liked this body style and adopted it to compete with Gibson Les Paul. Guild M75 is different because it is hollow body, Guild used a Franz pickup which looks very similar to the Gibson P90.

 

It there were several guesses that this guitar was made under the Stewart or Premier brand, It is definitely not a Guild at this point although Guild apparently liked that body style and adopted it or something quite similar for the M75 which it manufactures to this day

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Also ... I gigged with Bo Diddley also. 1993 at the Mill Camp club in Spingfield ( Eugene) Oregon.

 

Eugene had a huge blues scene at the time... Robert Cray came out of there and the Blues Brothers were definitely influenced by Eugene local Curtis Salgado who the first Blues Brothers LP. is dedicated to .

 

On the gig with Bo I got to play with a somewhat legendary guitarist named James Bradshaw who had the guitar chair in the Johnny Otis band before Shuggie Otis became old enough .James was a legend in L.A. in the late 60's and early 70's. but struggled later with alcohol issues.

 

I did the gig with Bo on drums... he was a bit cranky as I remember .He was a real stickler for some magic aspect of playing the Bo Diddley beat but wouldn't bother to let me know what it was.

 

Seeing the video above might have helped. I think most drummers tend to complicate it.

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Also ... I gigged with Bo Diddley also. 1993 at the Mill Camp club in Spingfield ( Eugene) Oregon.

 

Eugene had a huge blues scene at the time... Robert Cray came out of there and the Blues Brothers were definitely influenced by Eugene local Curtis Salgado who the first Blues Brothers LP. is dedicated to .

 

On the gig with Bo I got to play with a somewhat legendary guitarist named James Bradshaw who had the guitar chair in the Johnny Otis band before Shuggie Otis became old enough .James was a legend in L.A. in the late 60's and early 70's. but struggled later with alcohol issues.

 

I did the gig with Bo on drums... he was a bit cranky as I remember .He was a real stickler for some magic aspect of playing the Bo Diddley beat but wouldn't bother to let me know what it was.

 

Seeing the video above might have helped. I think most drummers tend to complicate it.

 

 

Bo took some time out of our short pre-dinner practice and showed us all how to play a Bo Diddley beat.

But first, while we were setting up, the drummer was tapping around his kit and when he tapped his ride cymbal Bo whipped around, pointed at it and spoke in a loud, clear voice "Don't hit that motherf*cking thing again!!! You can have it up there because it look cool but just play the high hats." And that was that!!!!

 

He had the drummer playing a straight 4 on the kick and bass (me) playing more of a South American style bass line. Just the guitar did the "shave and a haircut, two cents" thing that is the signature of a Bo Diddley beat.

It's been fun knowing that, I've told a couple of bands I've been in that their version of the Bo Diddley beat was incorrect and why, having heard it from the source made it twice as fun!

 

It really is simple and it does get the crowd up and grooving.

 

That is a cool looking guitar by the way. A friend had a Guild Bluesbird that looked similar and was also hollow. It was an old one too.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Regarding Bo Diddley....I kind of lost respect for him when he refused to tell me what he wanted me to play.

 

Quite honestly...he sort of adopted the position of a plantation owner toward me. Reverse discrimination. I kept my mouth shut, played the same one measure rhythm of sixteenth notes over and over again all night long. No variation. The same beat for EVERYTHING.

 

So anyway... lets talk guitars. I plan to do a bit bit of restoration on this . The best thing appears for me to put a pair of P-90's on it since it has now been modified for two pickups. I am also having to create a pickguard for it.... I would like to get a Guild / DeArmond pickguard for an M75 but cant seem to find one available.

 

Getting this thing has sparked my interest in the Guild/ De Armond M75's as opposed to Les Pauls. I have been wanting a two pickup type guitar for a while that might be a bit lighter than an LP. The only place I see them currently is online, but I would love to play a modern M75 just to get the feel of the neck and overall weight.

 

De Armond M75's look interesting to me. From what I gather they were discontinued but several are available online .A possible alternative to all these Les Pauls.

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Regarding Bo Diddley....I kind of lost respect for him when he refused to tell me what he wanted me to play.

 

Quite honestly...he sort of adopted the position of a plantation owner toward me. Reverse discrimination. I kept my mouth shut, played the same one measure rhythm of sixteenth notes over and over again all night long. No variation. The same beat for EVERYTHING.

 

So anyway... lets talk guitars. I plan to do a bit bit of restoration on this . The best thing appears for me to put a pair of P-90's on it since it has now been modified for two pickups. I am also having to create a pickguard for it.... I would like to get a Guild / DeArmond pickguard for an M75 but cant seem to find one available.

 

Getting this thing has sparked my interest in the Guild/ De Armond M75's as opposed to Les Pauls. I have been wanting a two pickup type guitar for a while that might be a bit lighter than an LP. The only place I see them currently is online, but I would love to play a modern M75 just to get the feel of the neck and overall weight.

 

De Armond M75's look interesting to me. From what I gather they were discontinued but several are available online .A possible alternative to all these Les Pauls.

 

I get it and at the same time, it's obvious what you are going to play with Bo Diddley, just takes spinning a few tracks to have the thing sussed out.

We were seasoned pros with PhDs in Bar Band, he respected that and we took care of his show for him.

 

He was bitter about trusting the record companies, they took most of the money his hits earned - that was what they did to many artists back then.

 

Back to guitars. Guild made other hollow Les Paul-ish shapes, a friend of mine had a Guild Bluesbird that was light as a feather and had Guild mini hum buckers in it, great guitar. Later Bluesbirds were not as light, more Les Paul-ish.

The DeArmond I played was a solid body with a bolt on neck. I think they did make a semi-hollow or hollow version with a glued in neck too, never actually held one of those.

 

Consider a set of TV Jones Filtertrons instead of P-90s, they have a sort of hybrid tone between a Strat and a Gibson and are very low noise.

Any luck with the photos, I'd love to see them and it might help to identify the guitar. There were some lesser known brands who made similar models back then.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Regarding Bo Diddley....I kind of lost respect for him when he refused to tell me what he wanted me to play.

 

Quite honestly...he sort of adopted the position of a plantation owner toward me. Reverse discrimination. I kept my mouth shut, played the same one measure rhythm of sixteenth notes over and over again all night long. No variation. The same beat for EVERYTHING.

 

So anyway... lets talk guitars. I plan to do a bit bit of restoration on this . The best thing appears for me to put a pair of P-90's on it since it has now been modified for two pickups. I am also having to create a pickguard for it.... I would like to get a Guild / DeArmond pickguard for an M75 but cant seem to find one available.

 

Getting this thing has sparked my interest in the Guild/ De Armond M75's as opposed to Les Pauls. I have been wanting a two pickup type guitar for a while that might be a bit lighter than an LP. The only place I see them currently is online, but I would love to play a modern M75 just to get the feel of the neck and overall weight.

 

De Armond M75's look interesting to me. From what I gather they were discontinued but several are available online .A possible alternative to all these Les Pauls.

 

As the granddaughter, great granddaughter and great great granddaughter of plantation workers I don't believe playing for Bo Diddley could be that bad.

Jenny S.
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Regarding Bo Diddley....I kind of lost respect for him when he refused to tell me what he wanted me to play.

 

Quite honestly...he sort of adopted the position of a plantation owner toward me. Reverse discrimination. I kept my mouth shut, played the same one measure rhythm of sixteenth notes over and over again all night long. No variation. The same beat for EVERYTHING.

 

So anyway... lets talk guitars. I plan to do a bit bit of restoration on this . The best thing appears for me to put a pair of P-90's on it since it has now been modified for two pickups. I am also having to create a pickguard for it.... I would like to get a Guild / DeArmond pickguard for an M75 but cant seem to find one available.

 

Getting this thing has sparked my interest in the Guild/ De Armond M75's as opposed to Les Pauls. I have been wanting a two pickup type guitar for a while that might be a bit lighter than an LP. The only place I see them currently is online, but I would love to play a modern M75 just to get the feel of the neck and overall weight.

 

De Armond M75's look interesting to me. From what I gather they were discontinued but several are available online .A possible alternative to all these Les Pauls.

 

As the granddaughter, great granddaughter and great great granddaughter of plantation workers I don't believe playing for Bo Diddley could be that bad.

 

Surfergirl wins teh interwebz!!! :)

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Agreed but Gretsch now puts TV Jones pickups in their premium offerings. Mr Jones does vintage as it should be. I had him rewind a vintage NOS Gretsch Supertron recently, it was only about 170 ohms, now it's in the middle of the 4k range, as were the originals.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Back to guitars. Guild made other hollow Les Paul-ish shapes, a friend of mine had a Guild Bluesbird that was light as a feather and had Guild mini hum buckers in it, great guitar. Later Bluesbirds were not as light, more Les Paul-ish.

 

One of the best guitars I ever played was a Bluesbird, highly chambered, thus lightweight yet very resonant, equipped with P90s. Beautiful axe, discontinued long ago.

Scott Fraser
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+1 Kuru, TV Jones are a step up from the Filtertron ($138 vs $89). The Gretsch G6138 Bo Diddley model runs $2,500 to $3,333 and uses sensitive Fillertrons so it's no slouch guitar (pricewise). I think I would go for the cheaper pups on the M75 guitar in question as a little less power may help avoid unwanted feedback and the modded hollow body guitar may not need the more expensive pups. But either of them would be a good choice for some Bo pup vibe... :cool:
Take care, Larryz
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