Peter Cook Firebird Twin Neck Guitar and the Julius Thurgood connection. . . .

 Well, what a small world - a full circle story, Julius saw the Firebird before I did and is still kicking himself! 😐😕

He had already mentioned that he had seen a Peter Cook Twin, at a Guitar Show and it turns out that it must have been the one I have! I sent him details of the one I bought from Harrogate, Yorkshire - this is his reply. . . . . .

Good evening Eric - Good to hear from you. 

The new posts look great and it's nice to get Peter the coverage he that he truly deserves.

Pretty manic here, as we have a big race meeting coming up on the 30th.

I'm pretty sure that the Peter Cook Firebird twin-neck is one and the same - surely Peter did not make many! I remember it being for sale (with case) for £750.

Keep up the good work.

All the best.

Julius

Anyone who has read this feature before, will have read that Peter did make another one, which ended up with Del Bromham, from Stray. Mine has the 12 on top and the 6 below - the one Del had, was 6 on the top.

If you click on the link and scroll down, you will see both of them.

Peter Cook Custom Guitars

 A 35mm shot of it from a previous owner in Nottinghamshire. 

35mm

So, purely from a twist of fate, Julius looked and admired it and now wishes he had bought it. As soon as I saw it on line, I moved quickly and managed to secure it.

If anyone else out there has a Peter Cook Guitar, that has not been featured on here, please get in touch via the comments button.

Cheers. 😎

Julius Thurgood. Not only cars but more Guitars and Stars. ELO, Wizard, Elton John, Paul Kossoff . . . . .

 As I said in part one, Julius is mainly known for historic car racing.

That said, his following email was also very interesting, with little mentioned about the cars.

What a colourful past he has! 👍

More from Julius. . . . . .

I did the COYS ROCK sales for a couple of years. I have always bought and sold guitars, more as a hobby than a business – trading up and down on various finds.

 Actually, I am not a player at all. My first ‘kit’ Fenton Weill got me interested in the construction of guitars and that went through a few modifications before parting with it with a ‘Dixson’ headstock logo (Family name). Sold to a guitar shop in Putney for £24.00. So, it was the engineering of guitars (or lack of it in many cases) that interested me.

 Being in and around Ealing, I also knew the late, great, Chris Eccleshall and commissioned a guitar from him – a double cut Les Paul Special body with a single John Birch pickup. I never actually took possession of it as It was spotted by a member of ‘MUD’ or ‘THE SWEET’ (memory fails me as to which group) whilst still with Chris and I was able to pay back the bank loan that I had taken out to buy it!

 Later I worked at Photogram Studios in Marble Arch. Spurred on by my close mate from Ealing, Bob Potter, who was a recording engineer/producer at Island Records. Bob worked with a wide and eclectic range of artists from Jimmy Cliff, Marianne Faithful to Paul Kossoff’s Back Street Crawler Albums. I sat in on many historic recording sessions back then thanks to Bob. Not sure what happened to Bob, sadly we lost touch a few decades ago. Whilst at Photogram, I too worked with a wide range of artists. Bo Diddley, the original ELO, Wizard, Elton John, Stephane Grappelli and even Val Doonican! Great days!

 I have attached a few more photos:

Bob Potter – where is he now? 

Does anyone know where Bob Potter is now??

I am pretty certain that Julius would appreciate any help. Google Julius for an email contact and drop him a line, if you can help.

Ned Callan SG work in progress with Brian and Mike Eastwood. Finished result is testimony to the Eastwoods’ magic.

A Watkins Rapier. No: 1380. Fixed neck. No truss rod. Bought covered completely in thick white gloss house paint. When removing the paint, I found the hippy doodles on it and managed to preserve them. Scratch plate and pickup make by the Eastwoods to my order. Will surely annoy Watkins enthusiasts with OCD for originality, but I think it works well. 😉

Dallas guitar from my archives. I’ve owned a couple in the past.

 Hope that this feedback is of interest.

Do pass on my best wishes to Peter when you next speak to him.

My biggest regret in collecting old guitars was not buying a mint, cased, Peter Cook double-neck at a Northern Guitar Show for £750.00!

Have been kicking myself ever since! 😉

All the best,

Julius.

So the Peter Cook connection is a strong one. Tom Newman, The Tomcats, Ted McDowell and of that era, Sid Watkins.  

There may be a sort of part III to this, so I may add something to it.

So, Best sit tight and I'll come back to you as soon as I can

Cheers. 😎

Julius Thurgood. Cars, Guitars, Ned Callan, Peter Cook, Peter green, Tom Newman and a whole load more!!

 Well, this is indeed a bumper packed post!!

I know of Julius Thurgood from a classic car perspective and on the racetrack, as well as his involvement with The Historic Racing Drivers Club.

Historic Racing Drivers Club

I had a contact from him regarding a Ned Callan and the following email contained some very interesting content and details. Well written and entertaining, I got a second one with even more info and images.

I asked if I could post it up on the blog, as I knew there would be interest in his  story and images. . . . so here we go. . . . take it away, Julius! 👌

Hello Eric.

 Good to make contact with you.

Have always enjoyed your blog!

 NED CALLAN

I was brought up in West London and consequently hung around with the likes of Ted McDowell who occasionally played with Tom Newman and the Tomcats (Ealing Town Hall gigs) and worked for Peter Cook.

Tempo Music in West Ealing was a regular haunt and that’s where I saw the early Ned Callan guitars (including a green Les Paul that Peter Cook had made). Hence my interest in ‘Ealing’ guitars.

I always wanted to add to my small Fenton Weill collection (I bought my first Fenton Weill guitar as a schoolboy from Henry Weill in ‘kit’ form for £5.00. Fenton Weill’s emporium was close to my school), as Peter Cook has always been a bit of a guitar hero.

I later went to work for Sid Watkins at Watkins Electrical Music (a short-lived employment!).

I’ve owned the Ned Callans for a quite few years and the SG-shaped version has just been restored by Brian Eastwood, having previously been modified with twin humbuckers and a horrendous Perspex custom scratch plate. We took a lot of care to restore it correctly and Brian has made a lovely job of it.

The Salisbury has survived in original condition. However, it is currently in storage and I do not have better photos of it to hand.

 I used to run the ‘COYS ROCK’ guitar sales.

Notable guitars were one of the John Entwistle Fender Jazz basses and the ex-Duster Bennet / Peter Green / Eric Clapton / BB King / Muddy Waters 1952 Gold Top Les Paul, which I think is now in a French Collection.

 My collection has been considerably thinned down as my son swapped quite a few in a deal to obtain his stunning 1963 Gibson 335. But I drew the line at my Ned Callan and Fenton Weill guitars going in that deal!

All the best,

Julius.

Well, that will do for part one - Part two will be posted as soon as I can.

Cheers. 😊

Not exactly Taylor Swift!!

 Hi to the thousands of you who are dropping in!😊

Currently exceeding over 500 views a day.

In terms of numbers, a long way from the likes of Taylor Swift but loads of folk seem to be interested in many of my posts that date back in some cases, ten plus years!

So, if you are new to my Blog, Welcome aboard. 😊

I played one of my 1970s Canadian Odyssey Basses on Thursday, not been out of the case for a while but once plugged in, we bonded instantly. What a truly great bass, in my opinion. For a passive bass, so much power and so much tone, from the DiMarzio Double P set up - I just love it. . . and it's brother, to bits.

I also dug out my Greco GOBII 750, in anticipation of the next get together and whilst I was there. . .  my Aria Pro II "Rickenbacker Tribute" which didn't get selected this time around but it was great to see the old fella again.

While I think about it, my setup on this blog has a search box. So, type in make or model or persons name, for the likes of Peter cook, Chip Todd, Hartley Peavey etc, in there and see what you come up with.

Good Hunting.

Back soon. . . .

Cheers. 😁

Kimbara, Ritchie Blackmore, Westone Quantum, Gordy, Peavey T-40 and T-60, Ibanez Studio and many more. . . .

 Hi to all out there. 😊

Over the last few weeks, I have been popping in to see what visitors are reading, something that is available in the back office part of Blogger. There seems to be a flurry of activity in March, with more visitors and more variation of subjects and posts.

This is usually down to people posting links on a sales platform, forums or other Blogger sites. I have noticed that when I search for one of my posts on Google, which is sometimes easier than searching in the blog, what I am looking for is also listed a lot in Pinterest!

The hot ones at the moment are Ovation Magnum (still the most visited), Ritchie Blackmore's pick-ups, Westone Quantum, Gordy Headless, Peavey T etc. Top of the list over March is a Gibson Ripper "tribute"

So, according to the info I have seen in my reports, there are a lot of visits looking at my Kimbara Ripper, which is one of those finds you come across now and again -  one owner, acoustic guitar player, bought it and then spent pretty much all of his ownership, under the bed.

So, if you have just landed here. . . . it's this one.

Cheers. 😊

 Kimbara Ripper Bass

Happy New Year 2024. Bass and Guitar Collection and Ovation Magnum Bass.

 Happy New Year and all the best for 2024. 😀

It turns out that I am rubbish at keeping up with this blog - there is still an awful lot more to put up but the older I get (no spring chicken any more!!) the quicker the time flies.

Trust me, anyone reading this who is in their 30s or 40s, what the old folks tell you is very true!! January very quickly turns into May and June turns VERY quickly into October and before you know it. . . . another year is gone and it's Happy New Year, all over again! 😁

So, sitting here this morning, as January 1st has rapidly turned into January 6th, I have had a read through my blog and checked the comments and stats and made a mental note to try and put up up some more content!!

So, what's with the Ovation Magnum picture?

Well, from the year I posted it up, all those years ago, it has always had the most amount of hits during the year and 2023 turns out to be no different.

My Ovation Magnum has been a firm favourite with guitar and bass enthusiasts and has probably lead to many new readers coming on board. 

Flat Eric's Ovation Magnum Bass

I still have it and I still love it.

Fingers crossed I will find a few moments every now and again, in order to entertain you with some more posts.

Take care and keep on Strumming, Picking and Plucking.

Back as soon as I can. . . . . 😁

Cheers. 😎

Peter Cook Axis Bass Guitar Very Rare 1 Of Only 8 Produced !!

 Hi to all out there!

I am starting to run out of titles for more finds from the maker of Axis Basses amd Guitars, so I used the heading from something I found during the first lockdown year.

I thought I had lost all of this for good! Memory sticks  - great for what you can put on them but tiny and very easy to lose!!

Having put up the last post for Axis Bass 204, I went hunting for that tiny USB stick and found it. . . . . with other things I thought I had lost, so here it is, with words from the previous owner, who had it up for sale but after all of this time, I can't remember where or how much it went for. . . . lost in the sands of time! If you are reading this now and you have it, please get in touch with me via comments. Thank you. 

Words and images below are from the owner who had it up for sale.

Peter Cook Axis Bass Guitar Very Rare 1 Of Only 8 Produced !!

See Details For More.

 

It’s a heartbreaking decision to sell my most treasured basses but that’s what this virus has done.

So here is an Axis Bass Guitar built by Peter Cook this is Number Three out of eight basses that he built in the Axis series, this is a very very rare and desirable guitar.

Peter Cook was best known for building a lot of the amazing basses for John Entwhistle of The Who, he also worked for Pete Townsend and many others he was also responsible for the Ned Callan range of guitars so this is an exceptional hand built bass built by a master craftsman.

The neck and body of the guitar is Rose Wood the stripes are Maple. It has an Active On Board Parametric Tonal System, the circuits of which were created by Tony Koorlander. Has both an XLR and Standard Jack Socket, Grover Tuners.This was streets ahead of anything around at the time.

Has an amazing range of tonality, cosmetically it’s in excellent condition with very few dings, it’s been played mainly in studio settings rather than live and not that often at that. The action is low and fast but can be adjusted, its truly an original and I am really loathe to part with it.

Condition is Used. Buyer Collects.

Credit to Flat Eric for some of the info

 

 

As you can see this one is 203, one number behind the last find and as Peter recalled that he can only remember making eight Basses and eight Guitars, it is looking truly great for the third off the line. To date, I have not seen a serial number over 208 on either.

The look of this bass is very close to the Axis guitar that I found and was mine for a time but was pleased that I could reunite Peter with one of his creations. As he said to me, "I have made all these things in the past but have very little of what I did"

Peter, The Axis Guitar and me! 

The guitar that Peter now has, came from half way around the world and cosidering there are only 16 instruments out there, I amazed that I have managed to track so many down.

 

Ok, that's enough for now - back with more stuff, as soon as I can.

Cheers. 😎

Peter Cook Axis Bass. Another one found.

Hello again!

I have been contacted by a reader, who has recently found an Axis Bass and bought it on the strength of what he could see. As he said, he recognised it as being of some quality and decided that it was worth giving it a go.

Below are images of the bass and details from the new owner.

 

 

I found it in a musical intruments store near Portobello market in London.

The seller told me that he bought alot of instruments from a member of a metal band and this bass was among others. I recognised a good instrument, despite it being in sad shape, so I bought it. Only after that I found your site and read about the whole story.

The bass has a one piece mahogany body and a one piece mahogany neck and the serial number on the head is 204.

As found, it was gutted from all of it's active electronics and wired as a simple Jazz Bass. I have cleaned all electronics and installed an active preamp, with treble and bass EQ on the two pots closest to the bridge, Recreating the active electronics would be really time consuming and probably expensive to, so I think I will settle on the current electronics that I came up with.

It seems that it was heavily gigged by the metal band and still needs some TLC and a setup.Frets are worn, they are basically flat and one of the tuners mounting holes preventing it from rotating needs to be redone, things like that.

Thank you very much for gathering all this information and putting it together, the whole story is facinating and there is really no other source to know about all of this!

Another one discovered and being taken care of.

The original electronics were by Tony Koorlander, which mine has and are quite interesting.

That's all for now, links below give you more information.

Cheers. 😎

Tony Koorlander

Tony Koorlander's circuit and what it does