I've recently been in touch with an old friend of Alvin's from Nottingham and he has given me the name of the original Big Red owner (or at least, as he remembers it). I've thought it might be fun to try to track him down and tell him about the half million dollar offer Alvin received for it - but that seems a bit cruel, no?

Rod....
Nice to see/read/hear your stories of yester-year.
You may consider,oh I don't know...teaching English, or something along those lines as you certainly have a way with the mighty pen...or pencil...or keys...or...or...ok I am done....

Cheers!

Great story.
I wisch i was in dartford too. I visited Edit Grove where Brain Mick and Keith lived in rediciolous houshold as Charlie Watts stated.

I i was the guy who sold Alvin the Big Red and see it on the screen in the cinema ( woodstock ) ,i think i would tuched and mighty proud.

About the "replacement " Es 335 Trapeze tailpiece ,( you can see it on the cover of R&R Music T.T.World),Alvin used wile the Big Red was in for repair. I wonder who bought it .Herb told me ( us on the other board ) that it was sold on a auction for $ 14000.00 Dollars. With the stickers on it.
Can the one who bought it please step foreward.

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I just wanted to say how proud I am to be an Alvin Lee fan. I graduated from Lynbrook High School in San Jose, CA. in 1980 and there were only about 2 or 3 fans of his in the entire school. Now to see that Gibson has made a replica of his guitar fills me with a sense of satisfaction.

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Gerard.....small world....
I graduated from Fremont High in 83....my daughter graduated from Lynbrook last year, with another graduating this year from Lynbrook.

Alvin Rocks!

The true history of the first 1958 Gibson cherry 335 with Bigsby is it was finished Dec 15. 1958, more than a year before it was offered as an option color.
It came factory wired in stereo.
It's in a private collection.

The s# is: A28800 and came with a California Girl case made by Stone Case Co.

DLM

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My neice is graduating from Lynbrook this year: Christine Kehoe.

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WTF!! is this ,Rowe??
Dark side in a uproar??

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I believe there was a sticker on the old dot neck headstock.

Peace,
DLM

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OK EVERYBODY I SAW AN INTERVIEW WITH ALVIN LEE AND THE GUY ASKED HIM ABOUT THE IMFAMOUS PEACE STICKER ON THE UPPER HORN. AND ALVIN SAID A CAT AT WOODSTOCK HANDED IT TO HIM JUST BEFORE HE WENT ON STAGE ,,AND IN ALVINS OWN WORDS I SLAPPED IT ON. ON A PERSONAL NOTE I SAT ON STAGE IN FRONT OF A SPEAKER BANK AT THE SYNDROME IN CHICAGO IN 1970 AND WATCHED HIS WHOLE SHOW AT TIMES HE LOOKED OVER AT ME AS HE WAS WAILING AWAY RIP ALVIN LEE THE WORLD IS A BETTER PLACE BECAUSE OF YOU

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Great stories about Big Red, Pieter, RS, Toni - thanks! And here's what Alvin himself said about it (hope you forgive me Toni, it's from http://alvinlee.com/equipment.html)

Working on the 335 electronics is a bit like keyhole surgery. I used to fasten guitar strings to the pots, toggle switch and jack socket before dropping them into the body and pulling them out of the F holes. That way, there is a good chance of getting them back in place again later. Loads of fun when one of them falls of!!!!!!

Darn, how much I miss our old friend and his great sense of humour already..

Hey, just so you know, I'm not the dumb Dave Toni refers to. What you guys needed to have experienced, was to actually hold & play Big Red. I got to for about 10 min. W/Alvin. He went and got his backup guitar, saying he couldn't play mine! (I have very low action on my 335 & very light strings. 008 set.). It took all I had, & this was backstage at a gig in Az., I had been playing 6 days a week, & I was in good playing shape, it took all I had to bend his strings! Also, the action was very high! He said "how do you play this thing?" referring to my 66 335, I said, "back at ya!" about his 335! The guitar (in 82) was in very good shape, it had some battle scars, but was very well-made and sturdy. The finish on the body seemed rough, due to the stickers. One of our roadies took a picture of me playing Big Red, but, as time goes on, I can't find the picture. One other thing: I first met Alvin at the Tower records in Hollywood in '78. Rocket Fuel was just out, and he and Tom, and Mick came for a autograph session. That's where he drew a schematic on my pad of paper, on how to wire a start pickup with a separate vol control to the back humbucker. He was a little "happy" at the time, but treated everyone with respect. I said to him "These things are a pain in the ass, right?" . He just smiled and shrugged. So 4 yrs later, when we met backstage where we opened for him, he was the same guy!! He asked if we had met before, I said yeah, but it was at a record store. He remembered the schematic, and old me the guy who did my mods on my 335 "did a excellent job". Just to recap, he was the same guy both times! I think Pieter got to play Big Red, maybe I'm wrong.
Anyway, I'm not the dumb Dave Toni refers to. (I hope!)

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No, my friend, you are not Dumb Dave. You are Sweet Dave.

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I saw Alvin break the guitar. It was indeed at The Marquee but I can't remember exactly when. I remember, at the end of the show, Alvin threw it over the back of the Marshalls and saw a roadie pick it up afterwards with the neck snapped off. Really didn't notice Alvin bang it on the ceiling, either then or at all the other gigs they did there. Don't recall the ceiling being particularly low at The Marquee.