Vintage Guitar - September 2017 - open - 82

(CLOCKWISE TOP LEFT) Gallup
and The Four C's in December,
1957, preparing for an appearance
on WVEC-TV. Gallup performed
with his local band until his
death in 1988. The Four C's'
early-'60s album. The Blue
Caps onstage; Gallup, Vincent,
and drummer Dickie Harrell.

that... And I use the [vibrato] bar
with my little finger."

with the first floor's flooring removed to
increase space. A utility room was converted
to an echo/reverb chamber.
Bradley primarily recorded country acts,
but had cut a few other rockabillys including
Johnny Carroll, Roy Hall, and Bobby Helms.
When Johnny Horton recorded there in
January '56, he followed Bradley's protocol
in using the A-team, resulting in Grady
Martin's legendary guitar work on his sides.
For the Vincent sessions, Gallup played
his '54 Gretsch 6128 Duo Jet with DeArmond DynaSonic single-coils. The guitar
had an optional fixed-arm Bigsby B3 plus
a compensated aluminum bridge instead of
the Melita used with the standard tailpiece.
Gallup bought the 6128, serial number
15654, from South Norfolk's Music Center
on November 8. The sales agreement listed
its cost at $274.50; after trade-in and finance
charges, Gallup paid 15 monthly installments of $15.20 each, and it's important
to stress that it was indeed a 1954 model.
Many have speculated it was a '55 or '56, but

Gallup's receipt, the serial number, and the
guitar's details (location of the logo on the
pickguard, the big block fretboard inlays,
and more) all point to its actual vintage.
In the studio, Gallup recalls using Grady
Martin's amp for at least one unspecified
session, which at the time was likely a Standel
25L15 - a 25-watter with a 15" Lansing.
However, there are photos showing Gallup
plugged into a tweed TV-front Fender Pro.
Otherwise, it remains unclear which amp he
used on which sessions or which days, but
he does recall playing dry and direct, with
no effects; the sumptuous echo on the final
recordings were thanks to engineer Thomasson in the control room using Bradley's
Ampex tape recorders - likely a combo of
Models 300, 350, or 351.
As he explained to Forte, Gallup played
using a combination of a straight pick held
between his thumb and index finger and two
fingerpicks on his middle and ring fingers.
"Most people don't do that," he said. "In
fact, I don't think I've ever seen anybody do
VINTAGE GUITAR

82

September 2017

With "Be-Bop-A-Lula" climbing the charts, Vincent and the
Blue Caps set off on a six-week
tour with Johnny Burnette and
the Rock and Roll Trio and
the newly crowned "Queen of
Rock and Roll," Lillian Briggs.
Vincent's debut LP landed in
August, followed by a single of
"Race With The Devil" released
in October.
"Most of [the songs] were
worked out on the road," Gallup
told Forte. "A couple of songs
I wrote with Gene. They were
written one night and recorded
the next day." And for live gigs,
he played that Duo Jet through
a tweed Fender.
Gallup quit his day job but
found life on the road "pretty
tough." At 26, he was five years
older than the rest of band. Plus,
he was married and his wife,
Doris, had a baby on the way
(Vincent was newly married, as well, to
15-year-old Ruth Ann Hand - a fact kept
hidden from the public). In the autumn of
'56, Gallup resigned from the Blue Caps.
His daughter, Bonnie, was born in the new
year. "I'm the reason Daddy left the Blue
Caps," she told VG.
At the same time, Vincent's star kept
rising. He and the band had a cameo in the
proto-rock-and-roll film The Girl Can't Help
It, starring Jayne Mansfield and including
Fats Domino, Little Richard, and Eddie
Cochran. In Gallup's place, Russell Williford donned a blue cap and picked his '52
blackguard Esquire.
For the band's next session at Bradley's,
October 15-18, 1956, Davis lured Gallup
back to play lead; Williford said Davis
wanted to retain the sound from the first
LP, so Williford didn't play on the album,
but continued to tour (and would later buy
a '50s Duo Jet of his own, in emulation of
Gallup). The group cut another 15 masters
that were whittled down to shape Vincent's

Gallup with Four C's: Connie Gallup Creef/Joe Carducci/Gretsch.

HANGING UP
HIS BLUE CAP
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