Year: 2014

There was a time in the mythic ’70s when guitarists were real men and lugged around 15-pound Morley Rotating Wah pedals to gigs and studios. And if they weren’t real men, they had roadies who were!

From the accelerator-like pedal to the chrome-plated chassis, Morley’s RWV and the firm’s other super-duty pedals were the American muscle cars of guitar effects. They were renowned for their sound and their reliability, and if they ever broke down, they’d have a solid second life as boat anchors.

The Morley wah was truly a better mousetrap. Thomas Organ Company had pioneered the wah pedal in ’67 with its Cry Baby and Vox Clyde McCoy models. But Morley did the wah one better. Then, the firm added other effects to the menu, including the flagship EVO wah with volume and echo, and the groovy RWV with volume, wah, and rotating Leslie-like sound.

These creations came from the mind of Raymond Lubow. The Bronx-born Lubow studied electronics at Manhattan’s Hebrew Tech before serving in the Army Signal Corps during World War II. Post-war, he settled in Los Angeles and opened a radio repair business, similar to a certain Mr. Fender down the road in Fullerton.

It was hardly a background that hinted at far-out contraptions, but in the mid ’60s, Lubow designed an electromechanical echo unit employing a rotating disc inside a metal drum filled with electrostatic “mystery” oil. With his brother, Marvin, counting the money, Lubow started Tel-Ray Electronics, the name derived from his shop that repaired televisions and radios. Tel-Ray’s Ad-n-Echo stand-alone unit allowed musicians to re-create echo effects without echo chambers or the famed Sun Studios dual-tape-machine setup. Sold as the Adineko, the compact component was included as an OEM part in amps and effects units from Rickenbacker, Fender, Gibson, Univox, Vox, and others.

Lubow developed his oil-can concept further to simulate the spinning-speaker sound of a Leslie speaker cabinet. The brothers took their Rotating Sound pedal to market as the Morley – offering “more-lee” than a “less-lee.” Get it?

Lubow’s oil-can technology was brilliant in its simplicity. He used the metal can as a rotating capacitor, driven by a small motor. A wire brush transferred the signal to the exterior of the drum, where another brush on the inside picked it up. The conductive oil served as a buffering layer inside the drum, and the delay time was determined by how fast the drum and its mysterious liquid was spinning.

The oil-can unit was housed on a solid, chrome-plated metal chassis with a rubber-covered treadle pedal. The Morley was near bullet-proof – truly a stompbox you could stomp on!

Thanks to that large chrome housing, Morleys also boasted a long pedal throw – much longer than the Cry Baby/Vox. This allowed for subtle and precise control of the volume and wah – even if you were wearing cowboy boots and bell bottoms.

The Lubows began mixing and matching components and soon had a full line of pedals. They added a volume control to the Adineko plus a wah effect, and soon had the EVO Echo Volume pedal. Substituting their Rotating Sound Synthesizer into the unit, in 1971/’72 they created the RWV Rotating Wah Volume pedal. Retail price was a steep $259.95.

Inside, the Morley was unique. The Cry Baby/Vox wah used a rack-and-pinion gear from the pedal to drive a potentiometer, a setup that became commonplace on the numerous copycats. The Morley, however, used an electro-optical circuit with the pedal operating a shutter that controlled the amount of light from a bulb that reached a Light Dependent Resistor (LDR).

The great advantage of the LDR circuit was doing away with that electromechanical potentiometer. Pots can load a guitar signal, which cuts into the treble sound; the Morley’s LDR retained the full spectrum of a player’s tone. And as pots get dirty over time, their sound gets scratchy – another thing omitted by the LDR circuit.

Still, that little light bulb was one of the few things that would stop working on a Morley. But come on, how many guitarists does it really take to change a light bulb? In addition, Morley pedals were not dependent on a 9-volt battery or wall-wart transformer; Lubow instead designed the effects to run on AC and wired them with a standard cord.

Morley pedals were big. Darn big. Place an RWV next to a Maestro Fuzz-Tone (reining fuzz driver of the day) and the RWV dwarfs the little fellow. It could even make your Marshall plexi stack feel, um, inadequate.

Throughout the bad ol’ ’70s, the range of Morley pedals kept growing, all with that chrome chassis; there was the WVO Wah Volume, VPFV Phaser Volume Wah, CFL Chorus Flanger, ECV Echo Chorus Vibrato, PFL Flanger, CO Volume Compressor, PWF Power Wah Fuzz, and more. All began life as the plain-old indestructible VOL Volume pedal.

To market their wares, the Lubow brothers hired political cartoonist Hank Hinton to draw the character of one of those real men – the wailing, long-haired ’70s rock guitarist who would soon be building his biceps by touting the Morley Rotating Wah to gigs. “The Morley Man” is still used in the company’s ads.

Plug a natural-finished ’70s Strat – an ideal guitar for the era – into an RWV, and you can began to play with combinations of the effect’s three features – the volume control, wah, and rotating-speaker simulator. But to truly appreciate the RWV, get all three going at once. Turn the Intensity knob, and that little oil can spins for all its worth. The Variation lever adjusts the tone from watery to drought. The sound is a swelling, whacked-out, dreamy voice that instantly turns you into that wailing, long-haired Morley Man. It’s a pure, anti-establishmentarianistic chromed tone.

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You can receive more great articles like this in our twice-monthly e-mail newsletter, Vintage Guitar Overdrive, FREE from your friends at Vintage Guitar magazine. VG Overdrive also keeps you up-to-date on VG’s exclusive product giveaways! CLICK HERE to receive the FREE Vintage Guitar Overdrive.

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This article originally appeared in Vintage Guitar magazine January 2013 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

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In the 1950s and early ’60s, the electric guitar was establishing itself as a key part of the new voice of popular music. Amplification provided its volume, and innovative artists were pushing the envelope of sound that could be offered by six strings. So it’s interesting that in a time referred to in retrospect as the “Golden Era” of the electric guitar, major manufacturers were also producing similar electrified instruments with only four strings.

Tenor guitars initially became popular in the 1920s when musical tastes motivated a move by many musicians away from the banjo, toward the guitar. The four-string tenor made for an easy transition, as it could be tuned like a tenor banjo – CGDA fifths. Into the early ’30s, the guitar was primarily a rhythm instrument. Sonically challenged within the ensemble format of a large band, it was typically relegated to the percussive accompaniment of other lead instruments. However, even before the mid-decade advent of amplification, guitars were being pushed into a greater role with virtuoso artists such as Eddie Lang, Lonnie Johnson, and Django Reinhardt mastering the complexities of the acoustic. Likewise, the Delmore Brothers, a pioneering country music duo comprised of Alton on an acoustic six-string and Rabon on a Martin O-18T, were lead instrumentalists in that genre, introducing a country-boogie beat and inspired acoustic solo work that ultimately earned them induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001.

1) A bit of a surprise that Gretsch made Chet Atkins 6120 hollowbody in four-string tenor format. Perhaps the only one of its kind, this ’58 example was the first guitar in the 100-unit 6120 model batch #284xx. The four-pole Filter’Tron pickups were specifically made to accommodate the format. The dot fretboard markers are pedestrian compared to the neo-classic markers on the standard 6120, and the G tailpiece and modified space-control bridge were practical departures from the six-string. Photo courtesy of George Gruhn.

2) Replacing the 6185 model late in 1953, the 6182 model (ultimately named “Corvette”) was almost identical. This early example belongs to the last batch (#126xx) produced before the advent of the adjustable truss rod (with headstock-located cover). This is also the last batch labeled with the dual model stamp. This specimen’s model stamp shows the typical designation of 6182-3 stamped in ink, but also has a “T” suffix written in pencil. It has a standard six-pole DeArmond Dynasonic pickup, and all the other features are consistent with the conventional six-string Corvette. Several of these have surfaced in the four-string tenor orientation, likely one-off custom orders. Photo courtesy of Steve Wilson.

By the ’30s, many major guitar manufacturers had started producing standard and custom-order tenor versions of their popular six-string acoustic guitars. When Gretsch introduced a line of self-branded acoustic archtops in 1933, it included a four-string tenor (Model 240) in its American Orchestra lineup. Not big sellers, they nonetheless filled a relevant niche. Interestingly, in a circa-1936 Gretsch brochure is a notation that pledges, “Any standard model of Gretsch guitar can be duplicated in tenor style… at no increase in price.” This explains why some Gretsch tenor acoustics from the ’30s have surfaced with different features than the standard Model 240. Even more impressively, the brochure promises “…delivery in three weeks from the date of order.”

6) This example is from the latest documented mini-batch of Duo-Jet tenors residing in the #156xx batch, from 1955. It displays the arrow-top control knobs and teardrop-style pickguard. The tailpiece and bridge are not original. Not all tenor Duo-Jets have four-pole DeArmond Dynasonic pickups like this. It’s unclear why some electric tenors had these pickups while others had the standard six-pole variety. Photo courtesy of Fred Gretsch.

7) This 6115 Rambler from the #379xx batch is an interesting example of the four-string tenor adaptation of an uncommon Gretsch model, with four-pole Hi-Lo’Tron pickup. The red truss rod cover is original, and this model typically displays a matching red G on the tailpiece. The pickguard is missing. Photo courtesy of Fred Gretsch.

As the ’40s loomed, Gretsch upgraded its guitar offerings, debuting the Synchromatic line of acoustic archtops in 1939. Unlike the previous product line, comprised of midrange variations on the Gibson L-5 archtop, the Synchromatic guitars were distinct, with the higher-end models sporting exotic “cats-eye” soundholes and art deco design motifs. Though the tenor was by then fading in popularity, Gretsch continued to produce the periodic Synchromatic-based tenor. On page 61 of Tony Bacon’s The History of the American Guitar is a photograph of a natural-finished 17″ Synchromatic tenor with cats-eye soundholes. Manufactured in 1953, it was part of 50-unit group (batch #112xx) of six-string Constellation archtops (model 6030-1), all featuring conventional f-holes, confirming this cats-eye tenor as a special-order instrument. This guitar, electrically enabled by the addition of a DeArmond floating pickup, is also a rare example of a Gretsch cats-eye acoustic archtop possessing the single-cutaway body.

One notable jazz artist who by 1940 had embraced the electric tenor was Lloyd “Tiny” Grimes. Known for backing up Art Tatum, Charlie Parker, Billy Holiday, and others, Grimes was influenced by the great Charlie Christian and is remembered for developing a swinging approach to the instrument. This characteristic sound, along with his inclusion as a co-headliner at Alan Freed’s Moondog Coronation Ball in 1952, resulted in some attributing him credit for the invention of an early rock-and-roll sound.

By the ’50s, popular music had evolved and four-string tenor guitars were no longer a standard catalog item. However, the latter decade saw a resurgence of interest in the four-string format as a result of the emergence of Nick Reynolds, guitarist for The Kingston Trio and devotee of Martin tenor acoustics. Reynolds played in DGBE (baritone ukulele) tuning, typically with a capo. And others followed as folk gained popularity.

The mid ’50s represented the heart of the Gretsch electric guitar legacy, and the company would contribute innovation, style, and unique sonic attributes with the guitar models it introduced over the next 10 years. Simultaneously, the six-string electric guitar was rapidly maturing into the most important musical instrument of the 20th century. So it’s a bit ironic that, considering the expansion of its electric guitar line to include some of the most distinctive models of the day, Gretsch was still willing to produce the periodic four-string deviant.

Interestingly, the competition was doing the same; Gibson had been producing the ETG-150 model as a standard tenor electric archtop option since 1937, but other well-known Gibson electrics have surfaced in the tenor format, including anomalous specimens based on the ES-175, ES-5, and ES-330. Gibson solidbody tenor examples of the Les Paul Special and SG-Standard have also been documented. Epiphone and Guild were likewise reported to have created four-string tenor examples of some of their stalwart electric six-string models, as well.

The Gretsch factory is known to have applied the four-string tenor format to a number of its early Electromatic guitar models of the 1950s. Examples of tenor counterparts to the models 6185 (Electromatic), 6182 (Corvette) and 6189 (two-tone finished Streamliner) have all been documented. Likewise, the Anniversary models have been used in the creation of four-string versions of the instruments. In each case, it appears the resulting guitar was a special order, or one-off production example. Gretsch tenor models are usually associated with a typical batch (50 or 100 units) of standard six-strings of the same model, not in conjunction with other tenors.

The exception to that rule appears to be with the application of the tenor format to the Duo-Jet electric solidbody. In this case, research confirms that several small “mini-batches” of four-string Duo-Jets (sometimes with the model designation of 6127, other times with the standard 6128 stamp on the label) were manufactured in the 1954/’55 model years, each in a larger batch of six-string Jet guitars. An educated guess might be that these mini-batches were on the order of 10 guitars each. It is not clear why Gretsch produced multiple Duo-Jet tenor guitars, but they are present in the March, 1954, price list at a suggested retail price of $230, consistent with their six-string counterparts. Other Duo-Jet tenors have surfaced from subsequent model years, including from batches #294xx (’58), 305xx (’59), and 399xx (’60). On page 150 of Akira Tsumura’s Guitars, The Tsumura Collection is a photo of a ’61 (or later) Duo-Jet tenor with the double-cut body the Jet line inherited that year. Each of these post-’55 tenor examples appears to be a custom order or one-off rather than from a mini batch.

One special-order tenor described by Dan Duffy, Gretsch quality manager from 1957 to 1970, is a late-’50s four-string tenor Duo-Jet requested by musician Remo Palmari for presentation to radio/TV talk-show host Arthur Godfrey, who was known for playing a four-string baritone uke.

As the mid ’60s were irrevocably impacted by the British invasion and the Beatles, the rock and roll train was at full throttle. George Harrison’s high-profile use of several Gretsch electric six-string models resulted in an explosion in the popularity of Gretsch electric guitars, and the four-string tenor format was overshadowed, if not abandoned altogether by the company, and Gretsch was sold to the Baldwin Piano Company in the summer of 1967. There have been tenor electric examples documented from that era, but they are exceedingly rare, and almost certainly custom orders. No examples of Gretsch electric tenor guitars have surfaced from the ’70s.

More than a half-century after Gretsch’s golden era (1953 to ’65) began and the electric tenor guitar was popularized, these quirky instruments are found in the collections of musicians and vintage-guitar enthusiasts who play music in a style that accommodates the tenor. Not many contemporary musicians play them, though there has been a minor resurgence of interest over the past few years.

Most Gretsch electric tenors were apparently special-order items, so it’s impossible to determine exactly how many were produced in Gretsch’s Brooklyn factory. This dilemma is compounded by the fact Gretsch records were lost to fires in the ’70s, leaving the precious few surviving electric tenors as the only evidence of their creation.

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Edward Ball is the author of  Gretsch 6120… The History of a Legendary Guitar (Schiffer Books). For more on the style, visit vintagetenorguitars.com.

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This article originally appeared in VG July 2010 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

The Gibson Super 400 Premiere cutaway acoustic first appeared in Gibson literature in the 1940 catalog, on a page showing it and the L-5 Premiere in clear “natural” finish. The photo shows the Super 400 PN held by George Smith (described as “Paramount staff guitarist”) and the L-5PN held by Eddie Skrivanek (“radio and studio star”).

The Super 400 Premiere model was listed at $425 including case and zipper cover, which made it the most expensive guitar in the Gibson catalog at the time. Natural finish (N designation) and sunburst were available for the same price. By contrast, a Martin D-28 cost $100 in 1940, while a Martin D-45 or Gibson SJ-200 cost $200.

Expensive in their day, these instruments required a high degree of hand work. The economy had not yet recovered from the Great Depression and few musicians were in a position to buy them. The late Julius Belson, who worked at Gibson in the 1930s and ’40s, compiled production records showing Super 400P sunburst-finish guitars production as six in 1939, 10 in 1940, and 13 in ’41, while production of the Super 400 PN natural-finish version, according to Belson, was 13 in 1940 and five in ’41. By contrast, Martin made a total of 91 D-45 guitars from 1933 through ’42, making the Super 400 Premiere not only more expensive when new, but considerably more scarce.

The earliest Super 400P shipping ledger found by noted Gibson researcher/VG contributor Lynn Wheelwright is for a Super 400P taken as a sample by Doc Caldwell on January 25, 1940. It’s reasonable to assume production of this instrument started in 1939. While some Super 400 Premiere models were shipped as late as ’42, it appears Gibson was shipping from stock of already manufactured guitars rather than actually producing them that year. Production resumed after World War II, but the model name was changed to Super 400C (indicating cutaway) in ’48. The non-cutaway Super 400 was introduced in ’35. Annual production of the non-cutaway Super 400 was greater than the Premiere model cutaway until after World War II. The non-cutaway Super 400 was discontinued in ’55 while production of acoustic cutaway Super 400C models continued until ’82.

The Super 400P and L-5P were the first cutaway models offered by Gibson; European makers such as Luigi Mozzani (mentor to Mario Maccafferi) were producing cutaway guitars in the ’20s, and Maccaferri and Selmer were producing cutaway guitars in the ’30s that today remain highly prized by players interested in emulating the style of Django Reinhardt and other gypsy-jazz musicians.

The earliest Super 400P and L-5P models made in ’39 have a fingerboard extension over the body which is glued flush on the top rather than elevated, as the non-cutaway L-5 and Super 400 models were given. The flush fingerboard had the effect of slightly dampening volume and was not conducive to installation of a floating pickup. In 1940, the Premiere models were altered to feature an elevated fingerboard. Any pre-war Premiere Super 400 or L-5 is a greatly sought after collector’s item, but most musicians prefer the 1940 model (with the elevated fingerboard).

Research by Joe Spann, author of Spann’s Guide to Gibson 1902-1941, indicates Super 400PN (with serial number 96654/ factory work order number 1484F-2) was shipped from the factory three times and mentioned in the shipping ledgers a total of four times. The model designation on the label of this guitar is simply “Super 400.” However, the shipping ledgers show it shipped the first time on April 10, 1941, as a Super 400 PN to Salak Brother Piano Company of Racine, Wisconsin, in a #400 case and was later returned to the factory, probably on a dealer exchange, and shipped a second time June 30, 1941, simply as a model Super 400 along with a large batch of other instruments to a Gibson display at Niagara Falls, New York. After being returned from the special exhibit the guitar remained at the factory in inventory for almost a year and was then taken out by Gibson salesman Jack Blanchette as a sample on April 14, 1942, without a case. At the time, it was noted in the shipping ledgers as a model Super 400PN, and Blanchette placed the guitar with Hiltbrunner Music of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on April 24, 1942. At that time the shipping ledgers record the guitar as a Super 400PN. Spann’s research indicates that the first Super 400PN was shipped March 10, 1941, and the final unit left the factory November 17, 1942. 

The label in this guitar also features the handwritten fraction 11/8″ which indicates the recommended setting for the height of the bridge measured from the top of the guitar to the top of the bridge saddle. This was commonly handwritten on pre-war Super 400 labels.

During the Great Depression, Gibson had a very generous exchange program designed to make dealers more comfortable ordering expensive instruments which might prove difficult to sell in hard times. If a dealer was dissatisfied with an instrument or if it remained unsold for too long, they could exchange it for other new Gibson merchandise of equal value. As a result, shipping totals and the actual number of instruments manufactured are not the same. If instruments were returned in less-than-pristine condition, many were refurbished, often using parts typical of the time rather than per original specs, therefore it is not uncommon to find instruments with some features out of sync with what would be expected from the work order and serial number. It should also be noted that the factory work order numbers were applied prior to completion of the instrument, whereas labels with serial numbers were typically not applied until the company received an order to ship it to a dealer, at which time final set up work would be done and a label would be applied. As a result, some serial numbers are out of sync with the factory work order numbers by well over a year.

The Super 400 Premiere is among the rarest and most-sought historically significant collectible archtop guitars, ranking with some of the finest instruments produced by luthiers such as John D’Angelico and Elmer Stromberg.

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You can receive more great articles like this in our twice-monthly e-mail newsletter, Vintage Guitar Overdrive, FREE from your friends at Vintage Guitar magazine. VG Overdrive also keeps you up-to-date on VG’s exclusive product giveaways! CLICK HERE to receive the FREE Vintage Guitar Overdrive.

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This article originally appeared in VG October 2013 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

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