@MrJellyrollBaker If I am not mistaken, that is his Martin D-28 with a bigsby neck. He played this guitar for many years including in the movie "From Here to Eternity".
@billga2010 That's a bold statement and it's not true. P.A. Bigsby was re-necking martins with his signature head-stock long before he met Merle. Travis did commission P.A. to build the first solid body electric guitar however. He drew it on a napkin. Leo Fender borrowed the guitar for a few days, while it was in for the cut-away to be added, and within 6 months he was building Broadcasters. By all accounts, this ended their friendship.
@jak442 You sound like you know what you're talking about.
I was quoting a Guitar Player Magazine article. "One of Travis' design inovations was having tall the tuning machines on the same side of the headstock ."
@billga2010 A little bit. Bigsby was an amazing guy. From motorcycles(racing and manufacture) to war machines to musical instruments I'd say he contributed far more than his share.
A good friend of mine made a replica/tribute of the Merle Travis Bigsby which I made the pickup for and did the wiring(actually still trying to come up with a tone pot/capacitor combo to get the sound right).
@jak442 From Bigsby websit > One day in late 1946, Merle and P.A. Bigsby were having lunch. Merle, an accomplished cartoonist, had sketched an idea for a new guitar on a Pasadena radio station’s program sheet and passed the drawing to Paul. “Can you make this, P.A.?” asked Merle. P.A. answered, “I can make anything.”And indeed he could! That drawing of the Solid Body electric guitar with all six tuning pegs on one side of the headstock was built the following year and played by Merle in public
The first finger picking tune i ever heard that sound blew me away i have been a finger picker ever since i heard this and this is where Chet Atkins got his style from.
@chester777ful the right hand rolls are modifications of old time mountain banjo players....if you look at some of the "originals" of early country, a lot of them started out picking on a banjo with the thumb and first finger....examples: Lester Flatt, Maybelle Carter, Carter Stanley and Merle. Back in the hills, banjos were very popular because if you knew 3 chord and had a good right hand rhythm you could play about every song out there.....then along came Earl Scruggs and went wild :)
The guitar is not out of tune, it's just the video tape recorder that's not keeping a consistent speed.
alc1009 2 weeks ago
Too bad his guitar is out of tune,,,
alden21 3 weeks ago
@robbourassaguitarist No sir.
arno3ssens 1 month ago
Man, is there anything better on YouTube?
robbourassaguitarist 2 months ago
Magic!
borderlord 3 months ago
Godamn guitar pickin that good makes my dick hard.
MrAndrew74sg 3 months ago
I know this is video is ancient, but wouldn't it be cool to have this in colour and in 1080p?
taufoofar 5 months ago
@taufoofar One day, my friend. One day. :-D
thehoodathunket 3 weeks ago
Thumb pick and one finger....and he tears it up. Great. Thanks for posting.
MrDogrose 5 months ago
What is the brand of his guitar? That headstock predates the Strat headstock, if the year is correct on the video!
Great video! Thanks for posting!
MrJellyrollBaker 6 months ago
@MrJellyrollBaker If I am not mistaken, that is his Martin D-28 with a bigsby neck. He played this guitar for many years including in the movie "From Here to Eternity".
jimirsaysbuddy 6 months ago
@jimirsaysbuddy Very interesting! Thanks for the info. I never realized the Strat headstock was so derivative!
MrJellyrollBaker 6 months ago
@MrJellyrollBaker Merle Travis invented '' in-line '' tuners on the guitar .
billga2010 4 months ago
@billga2010 That's a bold statement and it's not true. P.A. Bigsby was re-necking martins with his signature head-stock long before he met Merle. Travis did commission P.A. to build the first solid body electric guitar however. He drew it on a napkin. Leo Fender borrowed the guitar for a few days, while it was in for the cut-away to be added, and within 6 months he was building Broadcasters. By all accounts, this ended their friendship.
jak442 3 months ago
@jak442 You sound like you know what you're talking about.
I was quoting a Guitar Player Magazine article. "One of Travis' design inovations was having tall the tuning machines on the same side of the headstock ."
billga2010 3 months ago
@billga2010 A little bit. Bigsby was an amazing guy. From motorcycles(racing and manufacture) to war machines to musical instruments I'd say he contributed far more than his share.
A good friend of mine made a replica/tribute of the Merle Travis Bigsby which I made the pickup for and did the wiring(actually still trying to come up with a tone pot/capacitor combo to get the sound right).
jak442 3 months ago
@jak442 From Bigsby websit > One day in late 1946, Merle and P.A. Bigsby were having lunch. Merle, an accomplished cartoonist, had sketched an idea for a new guitar on a Pasadena radio station’s program sheet and passed the drawing to Paul. “Can you make this, P.A.?” asked Merle. P.A. answered, “I can make anything.”And indeed he could! That drawing of the Solid Body electric guitar with all six tuning pegs on one side of the headstock was built the following year and played by Merle in public
billga2010 3 months ago
where is the BBQ adress?
abdounnour 6 months ago
man, this is THE guy who's influenced just about everyone after him. Awesome!
cbcsjc 8 months ago
Amazing! What a fascinating charisma he has in this video!!!
CarlosKBaker 11 months ago
The first finger picking tune i ever heard that sound blew me away i have been a finger picker ever since i heard this and this is where Chet Atkins got his style from.
chester777ful 11 months ago
@chester777ful the right hand rolls are modifications of old time mountain banjo players....if you look at some of the "originals" of early country, a lot of them started out picking on a banjo with the thumb and first finger....examples: Lester Flatt, Maybelle Carter, Carter Stanley and Merle. Back in the hills, banjos were very popular because if you knew 3 chord and had a good right hand rhythm you could play about every song out there.....then along came Earl Scruggs and went wild :)
docsavage98 9 months ago
Wow! The audio quality is actually very good! Look at the head stock! LOL! Very Fender-like.
This is awesome! I think he used some of his hair grease on his fingers at 0:54 seconds into it with that "thumb slide". :-)
davidbrucemusicvideo 1 year ago
The Real Deal,for sure!
greekflatpicker 1 year ago 2
teriffic version ! thank's much !
adeltaprince 2 years ago