Booker's Guitar

[Michael Messer]

Interesting - is there a link to the article?

Shine On
Michael

[lewiscohen]

Here you go: pickinparlor.nationalguitar.com/_Bukka-White/blog/153206/51645.html

[Michael Messer]

Here is the relevant paragraph:
Maynard was also able to clarify some details about the instruments used by Bukka. I had long assumed that the “exploding palm trees” squareneck Tricone that you see Bukka photographed with was a prop for the picture, but it was actually used on the Takoma sessions even though it did not belong to him. He was also able to confirm what my ears have told me all along: Bukka’s early recordings were not made with a National. I’ve listened to these tracks for years paying close attention to detail, and I do not hear the sound of a resonator instrument, only that of Bukka’s relentless rhythm style that we have all come to associate so closely with Nationals. “The 30's stuff, Pine Bluff and Shake ‘Em On Down were a Gibson, maybe Broonzy's, but that session was cut short by legal proceedings! The big session from 1940 was a Gibson that Lester Melrose gave him. His guitar playing when I met him in 71 was strictly open tuning largely because of the condition of his old Duolian. Early recordings with a more viable neck enabled him to play in standard tuning, however he could perform all his signature pieces in a couple of open tunings. The actual pitch of those tunings would vary from D up to nearly F# for the D tuning and then G to B in the Spanish tuning. The times I went to his home he had three guitars, an American made Epiphone flat top, a National solid body electric with a National amp, and “Hard Rock”, his Duolian. When he came to Boston and had the stroke, he had Lovene, the O style. I never saw him play that guitar, but it was beautiful (note: this is likely the Style O that appears in the color 70s era footage of Bukka playing “Poor Boy” and “Aberdeen” in his home).”

Interesting. I must re-visit the Tacoma recording to hear the Tricone.

Shine On
Michael.

[steadyrollinman]

Re: Derek Trucks/ Bukka White.

There was an editorial in Guitarist magazine several years ago with Derek Trucks talking about the Bukka National. The photo showed him playing a really old beaten up National which he said was originally owned by Bukka White. No shiny metal, just old dark brown, looking like it had been dragged up from a swamp. He said if I remember correctly that the guitar had bags of mojo and that it brought a style of playing in him that the electrics didn't.

If anyone has the inclination, Guitarist magazine in Bath may be able to recover the article.

[Deleted]

Hi.
I have just discovered this thread and am very disappointed to read comments where personal opinion and hearsay are being misrepresented as "fact."
Keith Perry is a very close friend of mine and he has no recollection of ever being in touch with Michael Messer, nor has he been contacted to clarify any of the "facts" being purported on this thread.
The press release issued by Telarc is accurate - Keith acquired this guitar in 1976 from Booker White personally. The story about this guitar being offered for sale in Nashville in 1979 is completely inaccurate and I do not appreciate such claims being made without any basis in fact or truth.
If Michael Messer can "easily" get the serial number of the guitar from Keith, then why has he not been in touch?
In future Michael, please do not spread inaccurate opinions and present them as fact, especially when you present yourself as such a close acquaintance of the guitar's owner.

[Michael Messer]

Hi Peter,

Your comments are interesting.

I did see Bukka White's National guitar in Gruhn's Guitars in Nashville in 1979. I recently asked George Gruhn about it. He remembered the guitar, but unfortunately had no documentation. Somewhere, I have the catalogue with this guitar listed, but I have searched high & low and cannot find it.

In Gruhn's I saw a plated National guitar with Bukka White's name and PO Box care of Aberdeen Mississippi painted on the case. In the case were picks, a slide and the six inch nail he used for lap steel playing. I believe the guitar was 100% genuine and the asking price was 700 dollars, which in 1979 was way out of my reach.

I spoke to the owner back in the mid 90s. I would never post his details on the Internet, but I do have his phone number in my old address book. I have not said that he is a close acquaintance of mine, purely that I could call him to confirm the serial number.

I am sorry that he doesn't remember our conversation. I remember it clearly, because it was Keith who told me that Bukka White called his slapping the guitar technique 'Spanking the Baby', and told me that he had been offered a large amount of money for it.

I am not making this up. I did not imagine or dream it up. I have no reason to fabricate a story about seeing Bukka White's National guitar, but I know what I saw.

If we are both correct about our facts and dates, then there has to be a logical explanation.

Thirty one years is a long time and unless I find the catalogue, we will never know what the guitar was that day in Gruhn's in Nashville.

I guess we will never find out and I am truly sorry to have offended or doubted anybody, but I know what I saw in 1979 in Nashville.

Best wishes,

Shine On,
Michael.

[Michael Messer]

Peter, the only explanation I can come up with is that if both stories are true, which I am sure they are, then what I saw in Gruhn's was either a fake, (which I very much doubt as Gruhn's in the 70s was one of the leading vintage guitar dealers in the world, in fact...THE leading dealer), or it must have been the National Style 0 guitar. I do not remember it as a Style 0, but this discussion is now giving me some doubt about what I saw.

It definitely had the hand-painted name & PO Box on the case, and it also had the tools (slide, picks and six inch nail) in the pick compartment.

The Derek Trucks story is interesting. I will investigate that one.

I will also do another search for the catalogue.

Shine On
Michael.

[Michael Messer]

Just found this....part of an interview with Derek Trucks
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Guitar.com: How did you acquire the Bukka White National?

Trucks: It was in a music store in Atlanta behind a glass case. It was pretty random that I came across it. It was something that was just sitting there, and I don't think they knew what they had so...

Guitar.com: That's like when you're at a flea market. Somebody's selling something for a quarter and you find out it's some rare, valuable find.

Trucks: Yeah! (laughing)

Guitar.com: Like on "Antique Roadshow"! (laughing)

Trucks: Exactly!
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Shine On
Michael