Does anyone have any information on Russ Ballard's strat style guitar he played in Argent?



Looks like a strat with a tele neck but the top horn is shorter than a strat, obviously a one off but does anyone have any info? I've just built a "tribute" Strat using a standard strat body with "weight reduction" holes drilled in the body and warmoth neck and am really interested to know the origin and history of Russ's guitar. Does he still have it?

Allan

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Top Tip: RAPPERS. Avoid having to say 'know what I'm sayin' all the time by actually speaking clearly in the first place. (Viz Comic)

Looks like it *was* once a Strat. It looks like the holes were drilled into it and the upper horn was carved back to that shape and then the whole thing refinished and a Tele neck bolted on to it. The neck pocket was probably modified to accommodate the square heel on the Tele neck too.

I'm just guessing though....

Dan

Quote Dan LB:

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Looks like it *was* once a Strat. It looks like the holes were drilled into it and the upper horn was carved back to that shape and then the whole thing refinished and a Tele neck bolted on to it. The neck pocket was probably modified to accommodate the square heel on the Tele neck too.

I'm just guessing though....

Dan

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Yes, certainly looks like it could be a modded strat tele hybrid.

I'd really like to know who built it and when, doesn't see to be any info online other than it was built in 1972 or earlier.

Interestingly in this 1972 video it seems to be white with Strat neck

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-6v4H4BtWI

Whereas in this 1973 whistle test video it is gold with tele neck

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsG5V-o6uxY

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Top Tip: RAPPERS. Avoid having to say 'know what I'm sayin' all the time by actually speaking clearly in the first place. (Viz Comic)

OT: 2think4uni - that's the best signature line I have read for a long time !

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Instant gratification is actually pretty good. It's fast as well.

Funky bit of kit! Looks like he wanted a Strat, Tele and SG at the same time (that top horn looks very SG to me).

I note he has his own website these days, why not email and ask?

Hewesy

Quote Hewesy:

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I note he has his own website these days, why not email and ask?

Hewesy

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Doesn't seem to be any email contact address on his web site, I did ask the question a while back on Russ's myspace site but didn't get a reply :-(

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Top Tip: RAPPERS. Avoid having to say 'know what I'm sayin' all the time by actually speaking clearly in the first place. (Viz Comic)

Well, I've finally finished building my "Holy Strat" which is very strongly influenced by Russ's much modded Strat. I thought drilling all of those holes in the body would have an adverse affect on tone and sustain - to my amazement it seems to sustain better and feel more alive than it did prior to body surgery!









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Top Tip: RAPPERS. Avoid having to say 'know what I'm sayin' all the time by actually speaking clearly in the first place. (Viz Comic)

Great job! Still musing about the sustain. Interesting observation.

Does it resonate in any particular key now!!

Oh, and you'll never need a guitar stand - just hang it on anything!

Rick

Wow - that Holy Strat looks great! I've got an 8lb 10oz Strat and if I was brave, I might consider this approach (I'm not!).

Edit: I'm pretty sure that when Gibson drill the (much smaller) weight relief holes in the mahogany bodies (they've done this for years on the non-Historic LP Standards) they put them in similar locations. I think I read somewhere that as long as you stay away from the area between the bridge and neck, the tonal differences are no greater than they would be between any two "regualar" guitars anyway.

Edited by ChromeDome (09/06/11 07:03 PM)

This guitar started life as a £100 chinese strat copy, it became an excercise in turd polishing! The body looks to be Basswood rather than Ash or Alder and had a thick poly finish which was completely sanded off and replaced with a thin cellulose finish instead. Now has all new electrics and Bare Knuckle Irish Tour PU's. The theory I'd heard was that if holes weren't placed in the line of strings then it shouldn't make a difference to tone but this doesn't seem to be the case, could be that some of the rigidity and mass has gone from the wood and made it more resonant as a result? Thinner finish would certainly be a factor, there are other changes too - it now has a Warmoth '59 profile conversion neck with Gibson 24.75" scale length instead of standard Fender item so it could be some of it is down to that. Certainly lost none of it's Strat "quack" which again is a surprise.

A friend has a collection of over 25 Strats and this held up very well in a "Sound off" with them, sounding as good as his top 5 instruments including 54 Custom shop Model and US Standard and a couple of early Tokai Springy Sounds. This was as much a surprise to me as it was to him - my belief was that Swamp Ash is always the tonewood of choice for strats but by some happy accident this sounds really good, it also really resonates when played unplugged which to me is the sign of a good guitar. Hard to say how much difference the holes have made to the tone but certainly not had a detrimental effect, quite the opposite. Definitely a keeper

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Top Tip: RAPPERS. Avoid having to say 'know what I'm sayin' all the time by actually speaking clearly in the first place. (Viz Comic)

Bottom line?

Congratulations, that's a lovely looking guitar you've made for yourself. And if you are happy that it plays and sounds as good as it looks, that's all that matters.

Well done, and enjoy it

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

nice job on the swiss cheese strat !

Looks like you've done a great job on that Strat.

My wife and I were lucky enough to bump into Russ Ballard at a John Mayall gig a few years ago. Meeting Russ was great and he was extremely generous with his time, talking to us for just under an hour - about Argent, songwriting and life in general. Great when you meet a hero... and they turn out to be really nice, genuine people.

As it happens, I did ask him about his Strat. Yes it was originally a Strat... I can't remember what year it was made, I think early to mid 60s. Anyway, Russ had a friend of his do the work on the body etc. Russ wasn't too fond of the middle pickup on a Strat... so he removed it.

One of the Old Grey Whistle Test DVDs has Argent playing GOd Gave Rock and Roll to You. I think Russ plays that Strat on it... I'll try to check and let you know.

He does play that Strat on the OGWT video.

Hi again wonks, good to see you again mate

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Same to you sir!

Quote Techno-confused:

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Looks like you've done a great job on that Strat.

My wife and I were lucky enough to bump into Russ Ballard at a John Mayall gig a few years ago. Meeting Russ was great and he was extremely generous with his time, talking to us for just under an hour - about Argent, songwriting and life in general. Great when you meet a hero... and they turn out to be really nice, genuine people.

As it happens, I did ask him about his Strat. Yes it was originally a Strat... I can't remember what year it was made, I think early to mid 60s. Anyway, Russ had a friend of his do the work on the body etc. Russ wasn't too fond of the middle pickup on a Strat... so he removed it.

One of the Old Grey Whistle Test DVDs has Argent playing GOd Gave Rock and Roll to You. I think Russ plays that Strat on it... I'll try to check and let you know.

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Thats great info and really pleased he's such a nice guy too. Looks like he has the same opinion of strat middle pu as Richie Blackmore - can't say I agree, to me the middle pu is a big part of the strat sound.

Wonder what happened to his strat? Haven't seen it on any recent photo's.

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Top Tip: RAPPERS. Avoid having to say 'know what I'm sayin' all the time by actually speaking clearly in the first place. (Viz Comic)

I'd imagine the Russ Ballard Strat (like Ritchie Blackmore's) was old enough to just have a 3-way selector switch (5-way as standard started sometime in 1977). So short of jamming the selector switch in the in-between positions for those now standard position '2' and '4' sounds (fine in the studio but difficult live when swapping positions) the middle pick-up wouldn't be quite as useful to some people. And removing the pickup reduces the overall magnetic string pull so the other two pickups can be brought nearer to the strings before the onset of wolf notes.

I believe I may have witnessed the end of the Strat's working life.

I saw Argent twice in the 70s at Plymouth Guildhall. From the first gig I knew that he had a habit at the end of the set of throwing the Strat spectacularly high in the air and catching her neatly. On the second gig he did the same thing, but without the catching her neatly bit.

I never saw them live again but on subsequent TV appearances I noticed he was now playing a different, more conventional and less interesting guitar.

Poor holey Strat!

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He does play that Strat on the OGWT video.

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This clip's in the 'Old Grey Whistle Test: 70s Gold' compilation that's currently doing the rounds on BBC4 - next broadcast tomorrow (Sunday 25 Sept) at 11.30pm or still available on iPlayer.

Caught the programme last night/early this morning and was surprised at how much miming there still was in the early OGWT days.

Quote Glamhag:

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I believe I may have witnessed the end of the Strat's working life.

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No, it's not dead. It's still in use, as of 2012.

Argent - Hold Your Head Up, Butlins 2012

Five of my guitars have holes. Here's one...

Quote Gadget13769:

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Five of my guitars have holes. Here's one...

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That's a serious woodworm problem mate. Have you had them all fumigated?



Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

What's a wolf note ?

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Instant gratification is actually pretty good. It's fast as well.

I'm interested in doing this to one of my tele's so what size holes have you drilled and what tools did you use to drill the holes?
Many thanks!

Would all those holes weaken the body?