For all of my guitar collector friends, sadly my sister, Deni Larimore-Albrecht has to part with her classic 1961 Fender Jazzmaster and will be doing so in the next 24 to 48 hours. She has a couple of buyers already, but hasnt sold it yet. I wanted to share in case any of you may be interested. Below is her provenance. How I Acquired a 1961 Fender Jazzmaster Guitar When I was 9 years old, I started playing an old guitar my father picked up somewhere (parts unknown to me). It was originally set up for 7 strings, but a friend of the family named Russ Sturgill (who had built several guitars) set it up for 6 strings using one of my moms knitting needles as a replacement bridge, & refilling the nut. For my 10th birthday, I received a Sears Silvertone guitar, after learning to play On Top of Old Smokey at my dads request. I played this haphazardly for a couple of years until the neck was mysteriously broken, & then I more seriously started playing the original conversion guitar. I started getting serious when I was about 13, learning top guitar favorites such as Miserlou & Pipeline. I soon discovered that I could make my acoustic sound more treble-like, more like an electric, if I played close to the bridge with a Fender thin pick. I desperately wanted an electric guitar but my parents didnt seem to be very interested in getting me one. Then one day my dad walked by my bedroom as I started Pipeline, running 16th notes down the fret board with the low E string, and then moving into the memorable baseline on the low E & A strings. Not surprisingly, Dad immediately stuck his head in the room (as I had hoped), asked what I was playing, & how I achieved this unique sound. It was a song called Pipeline I replied, but it would sound much better on an electric.... Dad asked if I knew the whole song, I answered that I had been working on it, so he countered (to my delight) that if I learned the whole song, he would buy me AN ELECTRIC GUITAR! I never learned a song faster in my life.... For several months, Id had my eye on a pretty white Supro electric guitar & a classic Supro amplifier at Mutchlers Music Store in my hometown. Dad knew the owner, & also knew I had spent quite a bit of time drooling over the duo. So on my 14th birthday, in April, 1968, my dad and I drove from our home in Auburn, CA, to downtown Sacramento, & answered an ad from the Sacramento Bee. The man needed money, & was selling his 1961 Fender Jazzmaster guitar, 1960 Fender Bandmaster amplifier, & Supero Reverb Unit all for $400. For once the little voice in my head won out over shiny, dazzling & new, & I chose to make the Fender equipment mine. I played and played that axe for the first year, often jamming in my garage with neighboring fellows down the street. The color of my 61 Jazzmaster was a Sunburst color, which wasnt very cool in the psychedelic days of Jimi Hendrix & Pink Floyd. Not surprisingly, once again my wonderful father arranged to have my Jazzmaster painted white. The paint job was done by John Sanders Sr., owner & proprietor of Palm Music in Auburn, in approximately 1969. In addition, my mom and I painted (expertly I must say) my Bandmaster jet black. In 8th grade, I formed a couple of small bands, including The Royal Bluesman & The Underground Railroad, and we played for a number of small parties. (I usually played rhythm & sang lead vocals). In the middle of my freshman high school year, I auditioned for an existing Tijuana Brass-style group called the Baja Slobovian Brass & was chosen to play guitar. I was the only girl in this group, & for the next three years, we played at least one job every weekend, & sometimes two or even three. Parties, dances, wedding receptions, fairs, concerts, we played all over Auburn, Sacramento (35 miles away) and occasionally Reno and the Bay Area. In every single gig, I played my trusty Jazzmaster! Entering college at University of Nevada Reno, after three years of high school, I played guitar with several college and rehearsal bands. After transferring to the University of California at Berkeley, I played my Jazzmaster in several facets of the Marching Band Spring Show, 1974 & 1975. Back home again after college, I was performing with my Jazzmaster in several pickup groups around town. At this time around 1976, for the first time in my life I studied guitar with a professional guitarist. He was a well-known Sacramento jazz musician by the name of Gary Breckenridge, and I was always lugging my Jazzmaster into the studio. In addition, I played this same trusty guitar with Fred Morgans Big Band, a 16-piece, 40s swing band from 1975-1979 (see picture). But I had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1973, and it was really starting catch-up with me. Although I continued to play with a few small groups up until about 1984, by then I could hardly hold the guitar on my lap, much less play a bar chord. Confined to a wheelchair to this day, I have not been able to play guitar since then. All 7 guitars have been stored in my home, with the Jazzmaster occupying a deep place in my heart. Friends play it from time to time when they drop by, but I know my best friend the Jazzmaster needs to sing out in front of a crowd once again. Although it hurts me to do so, I need to offer my beloved axe to someone who can love and play it as I once did.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Dec 2013 16:47:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015