Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Ronnie Lane's Guitars


Ronnie Lane's Guitars

I mentioned in the last post on Ronnie Lane at Rockpalast that I was disappointed that he wasn't playing his Zemaitis guitar. Not that I have anything against Strats or Ovations, it's just that Ronnie played some really cool guitars and basses over the years. Different time periods in his career make me think of different instruments.
 
When he played with the Small Faces, he seemed to favor hollowbody basses and played a number of different ones, but the bass that comes to mind for me is the Harmony H22. The one shown has a white pickguard, while the one Ronnie plays has a black pickguard.
 
If you watch videos of the Small Faces on Youtube, you will see Ronnie playing a number of diferent instruments. The H22 shows up in Song of a Baker and Itchycoo Park
He also plays what looks like a Harmony H27 in this video. (Also check out Steve Marriott's Gretsch White Falcon Double Cutaway!)
 
Harmony H27
 
 
 
When I think of the Faces it's this Zemaitis bass.
Zemaitis Bass that belonged to Ronnie Lane of 'The Faces' now owned by  Bob Daisley (Ozzy Osbourne)
This shows up in a lot of Faces videos, Like this one.
Three Button Hand Me Down
 
This bass is currently owned by Bob Daisley who has played with Ozzy Osbourne among others.
 
 
 When I think of Ronnie Lane from the Slim Chance time period, I think of two guitars, his modified Gretsch Sho-Bro, and his Zemaitis guitar which you can see in this video.


 
This guitar is currently owned by Keith Smart

The story that I've heard about the two guitars is that the Gretsch Sho-Bro resonator and coverplate were removed to use in the Zemaitis. The cannibalized guitar then had a wooden plate attached over the hole, and Ronnie continued to use it as can be seen in the video for How Come.

The Gretsch Sho-Bro  - as it originally looked.

Faces - Richmond

Here it is with the wooden plate - How Come



And here it is currently. You can see where the plate was attached.
1953 Sho-Bro Gretch given to me by Ronnie Lane after our last gig together.Some well known songs written on this old girl. in My Photos by

It is currently owned by Andy Guainiere


 As I said earlier, Ronnie played a number of different instruments over the years including Fenders, Rickenbackers, Ovations, Harmony and Zemaitis. Here are some more pictures and videos snagged from the web, the usual disclaimers apply, I don't own the rights ... and so on...


WIth different Zemaitis bass
Ronnie Lane



Ronnie's Zemaitis 12 string




Also seen here
What Went Down That Night With You




Modified Sho-Bro
Ronnie Lane




Zemaitis Acoustic bass similar to one of Ronne's,  owned by Bob Daisley


More of Bob's instruments here


Some Links about Ronnie and his instruments
http://www.vintageguitar.com/3607/ronnie-lane/
http://www.slim-chance.co.uk/pages/ronnielane.html

Info on Vintage Harmony guitars
http://harmony.demont.net/

Info on Zemaitis
http://www.zemaitis-guitars.com/

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing the info on Ronnie's guitars. The acoustic bass of Bob Daisley's is a Zemaitis copy, made by DAVE OF ENGLAND. Cheers Keith

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Keith, I can't believe I missed your comment until now. I probably missed my chance, but I wanted to know how how are the strings attached on Ronnie's Zemaitis at the tail? It's not a tailpiece, and I can't make out from the pictures I've seen how they are attached. If you see this, I'd love to know.
      Thanks, Curtis

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    2. Hi Curtis. You probably do what I do, type in "Ronnie Lane", and see what pics come up. I only just found your reply. Send me an e mail via www.keithsmart.com I can send you more pics of the guitar and how the strings attach etc. cheers keith

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  2. hello,
    i am trying to get close up pictures of ronnies h-22 with the black pick guard. appears its not just one ply. also the tuners had been changed out wondering what they were.
    thank you and best regards,
    michael lindner

    ReplyDelete