Big Star – #1 Record

Chris Bell used a Gibson ES-330 fitted with a Bigsby vibrato, believed to date from the mid-1960s, to record Big Star's #1 Record. The guitar is still owned by the Bell family but is on loan to Ardent Studios.

"(Chris) also had a cherry red Gibson ES-330 (black single-coil pickups) (sic) from his teen years, which the Bell family still has. That guitar was definitely one of the ones used on the 1st Big Star record." -Van Duren

Chris Bell used a 1970 Yamaha FG-180 acoustic which may have been used on Big Star's #1 Record, and on his solo album I Am The Cosmos.

Andy Hummel is pictured here performing with a Höfner 500/1 bass guitar.

...there was always a Hofner at the studio – may still be. Hofners are great. There’s no other sound like it. They have that short scale which is very easy to play and they are very light. We used it some before and during the 1st LP. Later Terry Manning or somebody put round wound strings on it and ruined it I think. Hofners need flat wound strings." - Andy Hummel, 2007

In this semi-experimental video made by Chris Bell and Andy Hummel, you can see clips of the band rehearsing what would become Big Star's #1 Record. In these clips Jody Stephens can be seen playing a Ludwig 4 piece drum kit with Zildjian cymbals. In a quote from Big Star biography 'The Story of Rock's Forgotten Band' by Rob Jovanovic, Andy Hummel (bassist) recalls 'In those days Alex [Chilton] used a gold Les Paul, Chris [Bell] played a cherry red Gibson 335, I played a blond-neck Precision bass, and Jody [Stephens] had a full set of light-blue pearl Ludwig drums.'