For fans of The Who and Peter Cook's work

[FlatEric]

Hi.

For those of you who are familiar with my blog, you will know that I did a big feature on Peter Cook and his custom work, including stuff he did for John and Pete of The Who.

We had arranged quite a while ago to have a get together to sort out what had been salvaged from "The Garden Shed" and the shop, in Hanwell but various things got in the way, until this week.

Well, what a brilliant day I had with Peter - the promised "sort through" of all the stuff that was in the attic/loft, was more interesting that I could have imagined.

After a cup of tea (how English) and a bit of a natter, we started on a smaller box with diaries, note books, delivery notes etc.
Lots of entries for John (The Ox) and Pete, plus Clapton, Neil Murray, Lemmie/Fast Eddie and a whole host of others.
The second box, marked up as Ned C, was full of Ned Callan bits, as you would expect, as well as more copy delivery notes, which on reading, quite shocked me at the quantities!



I never thought there were that many in circulation - and included were the serial numbers of a lot of them, along with the dates.
There were many more interesting items, which we had a sort through - with another tea, including some Polaroid shots of a very young Peter Cook, playing a Firebird copy, prepared for CSL!


We also came across one of those typical tour jackets of the 70's and 80's, which Peter used to take to shows and apparently, sold like hot cakes.


Anyone remember seeing one, got one?
Then the third box!
So many interesting bits and pieces to sort through and then. . . . .

What do you think this is?
Got it yet? Fans of John, I'm sure would spot this instantly - it had the whiff of "Garden Shed"
I was truly "Gobsmacked"!!!!! Yes, it's the real thing, trust me!!



Also found a few layers down, was this! The bottom part caught my eye, because he mad two Firebird Twin Necks - mine and the one Del Bromham had. . . . was this entry relating to mine?
The parts at the top, obviously relate to the items shown above, if you hadn't already guessed!!!



This is just a fraction of it, in terms of details, notes, etc. - so we are going to have another go at it and try and bottom it, at some time!!

As I said at the top, a brilliant day!

As always, my request goes out to anyone who has/had a Peter Cook or Ned Callan, seen one/played one - would love to hear from you.
Any info/pics - anything.

Cheers.

EDITED: Realised that one of the images was missing - should make a lot more sense now!

Edited November 21, 2016 by FlatEric

[Hobbayne]

Peter Cooks shop in Hanwell has recently closed down and been converted into flats.

[skankdelvar]

Very nice work, Sir.

Once again Mr FlatEric shines an illuminating light on British Guitar history. Truly he is a scholar (and a gentleman)

[police squad]

Peter sold me an aria SBR-150 with actives modified by him. He was a really nice guy. I traded my Manson explorer bass in against it. This was late 86 maybe even early 87

[mikel]

When I was a drummer, back in the early 70s, our bassist had a Ned Callan bass. It was a tone monster through his Orange valve head and WEM 2 X 15 cab. Great instrument.

[FlatEric]

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1479657968' post='3178182']
Very nice work, Sir.

Once again Mr FlatEric shines an illuminating light on British Guitar history. Truly he is a scholar (and a gentleman)
[/quote]

Why, thank you - Very kind of you to say so.
It's a lot of work but a true labour of love!

Cheers.

[quote name='police squad' timestamp='1479658271' post='3178187']
Peter sold me an aria SBR-150 with actives modified by him. He was a really nice guy. I traded my Manson explorer bass in against it. This was late 86 maybe even early 87
[/quote]

Whilst rooting through all the stuff, we came across a "day book" - jobs coming in day to day.
All sorts of names/jobs in there (a lot of them) - I'm sure those of us who are of an age and who visited the shop, may have an entry in the book.

[quote name='mikel' timestamp='1479660944' post='3178223']
When I was a drummer, back in the early 70s, our bassist had a Ned Callan bass. It was a tone monster through his Orange valve head and WEM 2 X 15 cab. Great instrument.
[/quote]

Ah, those were the days - if it was a bass, BIG speakers were the order of the day!
I have a Ned Bass and for something so simple, it sounds really nice!

NB. I have edited the original post, as one of the images was missing - it will make more sence, if you take another look.

Cheers.

[chris_b]

Peter Cook's really was a hidden treasure. Sorry to hear that it's gone.

My wife bought me a Fender Precision Special from there in the mid 80's. The shop manager in the early 70's was Chris?? anther bass player. We used to dep for each other.

[FlatEric]

Bit of an update on the Peter Cook Story.

It is (hush my mouth. . .) Guitar related but I'm sure in this instance, it'll be OK

Click on the link to see Peter, (me ) and the Wonderful Axis Guitar, that has returned to the guy who made it.
[url="http://flatericbassandguitar.blogspot.co.uk/"]http://flatericbassandguitar.blogspot.co.uk/[/url]

For anyone that hase not seen the Axis Bass - see here:
[url="http://flatericbassandguitar.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=Axis+Bass"]http://flatericbassandguitar.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=Axis+Bass[/url]

This is a post that I listed before I managed to track Peter down.
That was a task and a half!!!
[url="http://flatericbassandguitar.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/peter-cook-custom-builder-where-are-you.html"]http://flatericbassandguitar.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/peter-cook-custom-builder-where-are-you.html[/url]

I will be doing more on what we found from the attic, in the new year!

Cheers.

[The-Ox]

very cool! Thanks for sharing

[Telebass]

I did once have a Ned Callan guitar which was a strange single-cut SG type thing. Was quite good! No more details have survived in my brain, however - that was 40 years back!