The Cars – Shake It Up

Some details on this guitar. It started off as a bone-stock sunburst 1974 Fender Jazzmaster, which Ric used on an early promo in that format for My Best Friend's Girl in 1977/early 1978. Sometime after the first album took off, it was sent off and repainted and returned to The Cars touring Europe sometime before the Musikladen gig.

Around 1980-1981, The Jazzmaster was fitted with a Gibson Harmonica or Ibanez Gilbitrar bridge, and possibly also refretted and fretboard leveled to fit with the new bridge. The anecdote provided below was right after this was done, and Ric used the Jazzmaster a lot on the Shake It Up era tunes, including the title track.

The guitar continued to be used and toured with Ric Ocasek through his career. It did get loaned out to one of the Schwartzman bros in Rooney for awhile for a gig at CBGB's in the early-mid 2000's, but it was eventually returned. Also, it seems Ric Ocasek let's people use this guitar in the studio when he's producing as pictures of it have turned up online being used in the studio.

From Musician Magazine 1982 when they had finished recording "Shake It Up" and were touring for it.

http://dailyeventsbookpagethree.blogspot.com/2007/04/cars-musician-magazine-shake-it-up-1982.html

Ocasek's guitar line-up is much simpler. His favorite guitar is an eight-year old Fender Jazzmaster, painted pink. "I used it on this record a lot, and I use it on every record, all the time," he said. But he didn't use it on the last tour. Instead, he took an old Fender Jaguar Easton found for him in a hock-shop. It cost $80. "I think it was just the idea of it being old and beat up," he said. "So I used that on the tour. I should have used the other one, because it sounds cleaner."

Ric Ocasek of The Cars used a Dean Cadillac Electric Guitar, which was reportedly ordered for him by bandmate Elliot Easton when Easton received his Dean endorsement in 1979. This guitar, initially a white Dean Elite, was first used during The Cars' debut album tour. Notably, it was thrown across the stage during a show on the Panorama tour and may have been modified into a three-pickup "Japanese Flag Graphic" design, as seen in a 1981 performance on "Fridays" supporting the "Shake It Up" album. In an interview with Musician Magazine, Ocasek mentioned using the Dean guitar in concerts, although not in studio recordings, as he found its sound too bright. He preferred a 1955 Les Paul double-cutaway, an SG, and a regular Les Paul for studio work. His setup also included D'Addario medium strings and an Ampeg V-4 amp for its adjustable midrange. This Dean guitar was possibly the only one Ocasek owned.

This guitar was found for Ric by lead guitarist Elliot Easton at a hock shop for $80 in 1980 (Fender Jaguars and Jazzmasters were VERY cheap back then, considered "old surf guitars"). See the excript from the 1981 Musician Magazine interview regarding his Jazzmaster and THIS guitar.

MUSICIAN MAGAZINE 1981 "Gear Used on Shake It Up" http://dailyeventsbookpagethree.blogspot.com/2007/04/cars-musician-magazine-shake-it-up-1982.html

"Ocasek's guitar line-up is much simpler. His favorite guitar is an eight-year old Fender Jazzmaster, painted pink. "I used it on this record a lot, and I use it on every record, all the time," he said. But he didn't use it on the last tour. Instead, he took an old Fender Jaguar Easton found for him in a hock-shop. It cost $80. "I think it was just the idea of it being old and beat up," he said. "So I used that on the tour. I should have used the other one, because it sounds cleaner.""

The guitar continued to tour with The Cars despite not being as clean sounding though. It can be seen (along side several of Ric's guitars) sitting on the backline during a Door to Door tour (1987) era soundcheck along with the Jazzmaster.

Another notable use of this instrument was not by Ric Ocasek, but by Weezer, as Ric was producing Weezer's debut "Blue Album" and offered several of his guitars (many used with The Cars) for the band to use during recording of the album. Rivers Cuomo used the Jag on "Say It Ain't So" for the clean parts per multiple sources online and a Guitar World interview from 1995. - The dailyeventsbookblog that has a lot of Cars related gear info still has a post on this - http://dailyeventsbookpagethree.blogspot.com/2006/02/rics-guitars-used-on-weezers-blue.html

Ric still has the Jaguar and the last time it was seen used by him was on the Stephen Colbert show in 2011 in support of "Move Like This" - he used it on "My Best Friend's Girl" - which used to be on the site, is searchable, but currently is not availble for some reason. Probably was used because Rooney may have still had the Jazzmaster at that point.

Here's a link to the video despite it not currently being availble....as it looks like the site is changing a bit..... http://www.cc.com/video-clips/myof3i/the-colbert-report-exclusive---the-cars----my-best-friend-s-girl-

The Daily Event's Blog posted an entire article from the "Shake IT Up" album era talking about The Cars gear

http://dailyeventsbookpagethree.blogspot.com/2007/04/cars-musician-magazine-shake-it-up-1982.html

"He has a Dean guitar that he uses in concert, but not in the studio "because I think it's too bright." He has a 55 Les Paul double-cutaway that he uses a lot, and also an SG and a regular Les Paul, but "not a heavy one, because I can't hold 'em up. I'm too skinny." His strings are D'Addario mediums, and his amp is an Ampeg V-4, "because I can twist the midrange up a lot. I like midrange in a guitar.""

No photo exists of Elliot actually playing the Lead II but he does own one. I happened to capture one of his guitars (the one used on Shake It Up for the title track and the song "Cruiser") before the Hard Rock Cafe took the images of those guitars offline (they had at least 3 of Elliot's leads - one red Fender Lead 1 1/2 that looks like a survivor of a house fire, the red Lead II I posted the link to below, and a white Fender Lead I that was used to record the solo to "Touch and Go" on Panorama).

Here's the picture of EE's straight off of Pinterest - I saved it from the Hard Rock Website when it was still there https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/5e/13/19/5e13198f3fe0d9b01861b547cffb8bc3--the-shakes-shake-it.jpg

The Daily Event's Book Blog also lists out the Lead II's use on "Shake It Up" in a interview taken from Musician Magazine in 1982 done during the release of that album http://dailyeventsbookpagethree.blogspot.com/2007/04/cars-musician-magazine-shake-it-up-1982.html

Let's start with Easton's short-form guitar list. The Fender guitars he used on the album were mostly the Telecaster and the Lead II. "I didn't play the Stratocaster on the whole album, except for 'Cruiser,' that crazy thing where it ends slamming the door."

I used it all through the “Shake it Up Tour, but didn’t take it to England to make “Heartbeat City”. Factoid: I traded Bun E. Carlos, the drummer of Cheap Trick, (who is also a lefty and collects vintage guitars), a 1961 Fender Stratocaster in Candy Apple Red. - Elliot Easton

Greg Hawks was said to have recieved a Pink Fender Telecaster for The Cars 1982 Shake It Up tour. Greg played guitars on the songs "Take What You Want" and a few others, mostly all songs The Cars never recorded in the studio on their original run.

One thing that may keep things interesting on the tour is Ben Orr's pink bass. Pink bass? "There are going to be four guitars," he explains. "and they're all going to be pink. Ric has his old Fender Jazzmaster, Elliot's getting a Stratocaster, Greg's getting a Telecaster, and I'll be playing a Precision bass. Just a little flash for the folks, I guess."