Vintage Guitar - September 2017 - open - 83

Gallup receipt: Connie Gallup Creef/Joe Carducci/Gretsch. Gallup Country Gent: DPI Digital Content, courtesy of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

(ABOVE) Gallup's loan agreement for purchase of his Duo-Jet, dated November 8, 1954, from The
Music Center in South Norfolk, Virginia. (RIGHT) Gallup bought this Gretsch Country Gentleman
for hometown gigs in his days after the Blue Caps. Today, it's in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

second LP, Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps,
released in March '57.
At the Blue Caps' next session that June,
at the Capitol Tower in L.A., he was replaced
by Johnny Meeks.

STRAIGHT DOWN
THE MIDDLE
Legend has it that Capitol's Ken Nelson
offered Gallup a contract of his own, but he
politely turned it down. By the end of '56,
he was home in Norfolk doing maintenance
work for his local school system, a job he
would hold for the next three decades. But
he never stopped playing guitar; he played
local gigs with his band, The Four C's, and
served as house musician for a local radio
station.
"Daddy was a cool, mild-mannered man,"
Bonnie remembers. He was never interested
in the spotlight and was shy about fame
or attention connected to his songs with
Vincent.
Gallup continued to use his Duo Jet for a
time. He was an accomplished woodworker
and electrician - he even built his own
cruiser-style boat and made a new fretboard
for the 6128, inlaid with his name.
In the early '60s, Gallup sold his original
6128 to fund a double-cut Gretsch Country
Gentleman. He played the Gent on the Four
C's sole album, Straight Down the Middle,
released on the local Pussy Cat label. The
band played a funky instrumental version
of "Be-Bop-A-Lula," covered "Girl From
Ipanema," and two Gallup originals.
Gallup was 58 when he died of a heart
attack on October 9, 1988. He had played a
gig that evening.
In the decades after her father's death,

Bonnie Gallup loaned his Country
Gentleman to the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame, where it's on show today.
She remembers he built a homemade
tape echo unit, likely in the late '50s;
not thinking it would ever be worth
anything, she later sold it at a yard sale.
The price? $1.

THE LOST
GRETSCH
When Gretsch
began researching its G6128TCLFG Cliff Gallup
Sig nature model
introduced in 2017,
Joe Carducci led the
detective work.
"We found

September 2017

photos of Cliff during the early
4C's period posed with his Duo Jet,
name on the fretboard appearing
somewhat homemade with the
letters positioned between frets to
simplify fabrication. As we found
only the one receipt for a Duo Jet, it's
my theory Cliff owned only one guitar. Its
last known location was in the Nashville
area, with a childhood friend named
Lowell who told us he bought the guitar
from Gallup for $200 in the early '60s and
confirmed it did not have a name inlaid.
My theory is Cliff removed the original
fretboard and replaced it with one made
in his wood shop. Eventually looking to
sell the guitar, he must have figured he'd
have better luck without his name on it.
"For years, the guitar was stored in a
hall closet at Lowell's home. One day, he
returned from work to find a drum kit in
the living room. When he confronted his
son, who was living with him and didn't
have a job, the son replied he had traded
'that old guitar' in the closet plus a little
money. Lowell kicked him out of the house
and hasn't spoken to him since."
Gallup's playing on Vincent's first two
LPs ensured rock-and-roll guitar would
never be the same. Combining the fire and
brimstone of Chuck Berry with the musical smarts of Les Paul, its
influence still echoes
today - even if his
famous Duo Jet
has disappeared
for now.
Thanks to Bonnie
Creef, Joe Carducci,
Morgan Brunner, Adam
Bowden-Smith, along
with Russell and Rusty
Williforde.

VINTAGE GUITAR

Vintage Guitar - September 2017 - open

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