Davie Allan

Mentioned in this February 22, 2016 Ultimate Guitar interview.

You got a Les Paul Jr. as your first substantial guitar - why did you choose that instrument?

It seemed that Gibson was one of the major choices and I had heard of Les Paul. The money wasn't there so I settled on the cheaper Les Paul, Jr.

Ultimately, the Gibson didn't feel right to you?

Getting into the Ventures changed my mind to go with Fender. Duane Eddy was my first guitar idol but that big Guild guitar of his didn't appeal to me.

(...) What type of guitar/amp did you use on "War Path" and other really early tracks?

It was still the Les Paul, Jr. then and most likely it was a Fender Concert amp with four 10" speakers.

(...) There were many more projects and these all - or a lot of them - pre-date 1965 when you got the Jazzmaster. So what kind of guitar/amp were you using for these projects?

I think all of them were the Les Paul, Jr. and the Fender Concert amp.

Mentioned in this February 22, 2016 Ultimate Guitar interview.

When you got your Fender Jazzmaster in 1965, did you know you'd found your perfect guitar?

I did. Unfortunately, it was stolen but I got another one right away and I still use it to this day. I also used a Mosrite doubleneck that was given to me as an endorsement due to the success of "The Wild Angels" sound track. The heavy weight started to give me back problems and I only used it exclusively for about a year.

Mentioned in this February 22, 2016 Ultimate Guitar interview.

When you got your Fender Jazzmaster in 1965, did you know you'd found your perfect guitar?

I did. Unfortunately, it was stolen but I got another one right away and I still use it to this day. I also used a Mosrite doubleneck that was given to me as an endorsement due to the success of "The Wild Angels" sound track. The heavy weight started to give me back problems and I only used it exclusively for about a year.

Had you messed around with Stratocasters?

I never got into those. I did have an Ibanez for awhile around 1976 to '81 when I was playing in Top 40 bands. During that time, my Jazzmaster sat in my mom's garage. I don't know how it ever survived. There were torrential rains one year and the garage flooded, but the Jazzmaster somehow made it through unscathed.

Did you know you wanted a guitar with a tremolo bar?

You'll love this and talk about naïve: I had no idea what it was for. All I knew at the time is that it came with the guitar. Once I got into it, as with the fuzz, there was no turning back.

(...) Was your first film project "Skaterdater"? What was that like recording music for an entire film?

My first film for sure. It was a four-hour, no overdub session with a great bunch of musicians: Arrows drummer Larry Brown, Al Casey on rhythm, Jim Horn on sax and flute, and Larry Knechtel on piano. I'm not sure. It might've been Don Randi. Also, as it was with all the films, we never played to scenes in the movie.

For all these various projects, were you using the Jazzmaster and Concert amp?

That's true although many times I overdubbed my leads through the mixing board in the studio.

(...) Did you ultimately rewire the Jazzmaster?

I had new pickups installed in the '80s when I brought the guitar out of retirement.