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Lot Essay
Believed to have been acquired by Jeff Beck in the late 80s or early 90s, this Supro Dual Tone was particularly favoured by Beck for slide use. Jeff is seen noodling and picking out notes on the Dual Tone over the 1961 Ray Charles’ song ‘Hard Times (No One Knows Better Than I),’ in the 2003 PBS documentary feature Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: Red, White & Blues, as he and Tom Jones prepare to record the blues classic at Abbey Road Studios on 12 Mar 2002. Directed by Mike Figgis, Red White & Blues was the sixth of seven feature-length films executive produced by Martin Scorsese that capture the essence of the blues while exploring how the art form deeply influenced music the world over.
When Jeff embarked on a short US tour of his Rock ‘N’ Roll Party with Imelda May from 24 March to 9 April 2011 in support of the release of his Rock ’N Roll Party, Honoring Les Paul live concert album and DVD, he played slide on the Dual Tone for Howlin' Wolf's ‘Poor Boy’. Detailing Jeff’s equipment on the tour for Vintage Guitar, Jeff’s then guitar technician Steve Prior told Dan Forte ‘We’re using a white Supro Dual Tone for one song, ‘Poor Boy’… It’s a wooden-body, and it’s got four controls just under the second scratchplate – Volume and Tone for each pickup. The switch is just two-way, so it’s either pickup, no middle position.’
The VALCO Dual-Tone
The first electric instruments manufactured by the California firm, the National String Instrument Corporation, were released in 1935 and sold under their brand name Supro. Within a year National had relocated to Chicago, Illinois and under the three new principles, Victor Smith, Al Frost and Louis Dopyera began production there. Smith, Frost and Dopyera appropriated the first letters of each of their given names, V, A, L, and rechristened National as VALCO (as in the VAL Company). A significant producer of electric instruments and amplifiers VALCO produced products for a myriad of other brands and retailers including Gretsch, Oahu, Silvertone and Airline. Their own line of electric guitars and amplifiers retained the Supro name.
Launched in 1954, the white plastic-covered body Dual Tone was a mainstay of the product line. Priced at $135 in their 1956 catalogue the guitar was an exceptional value for a two-pickup electric guitar at the time. The guitar would find a strong market among musicians on a budget looking for an electric guitar and Valco-produced electrics were used by many early electric blues players like J.B. Hutto. Link Wray, Frank Zappa and David Bowie were all later devotees of the Dual Tone.
With little sustain and a unique low and mid-range quality, described by guitarist and journalist Brad Tolinski as "honk", these guitars became the foundation for a new generation of 21st-century guitarists like Jack White and Dan Auerbach.
When Jeff embarked on a short US tour of his Rock ‘N’ Roll Party with Imelda May from 24 March to 9 April 2011 in support of the release of his Rock ’N Roll Party, Honoring Les Paul live concert album and DVD, he played slide on the Dual Tone for Howlin' Wolf's ‘Poor Boy’. Detailing Jeff’s equipment on the tour for Vintage Guitar, Jeff’s then guitar technician Steve Prior told Dan Forte ‘We’re using a white Supro Dual Tone for one song, ‘Poor Boy’… It’s a wooden-body, and it’s got four controls just under the second scratchplate – Volume and Tone for each pickup. The switch is just two-way, so it’s either pickup, no middle position.’
The VALCO Dual-Tone
The first electric instruments manufactured by the California firm, the National String Instrument Corporation, were released in 1935 and sold under their brand name Supro. Within a year National had relocated to Chicago, Illinois and under the three new principles, Victor Smith, Al Frost and Louis Dopyera began production there. Smith, Frost and Dopyera appropriated the first letters of each of their given names, V, A, L, and rechristened National as VALCO (as in the VAL Company). A significant producer of electric instruments and amplifiers VALCO produced products for a myriad of other brands and retailers including Gretsch, Oahu, Silvertone and Airline. Their own line of electric guitars and amplifiers retained the Supro name.
Launched in 1954, the white plastic-covered body Dual Tone was a mainstay of the product line. Priced at $135 in their 1956 catalogue the guitar was an exceptional value for a two-pickup electric guitar at the time. The guitar would find a strong market among musicians on a budget looking for an electric guitar and Valco-produced electrics were used by many early electric blues players like J.B. Hutto. Link Wray, Frank Zappa and David Bowie were all later devotees of the Dual Tone.
With little sustain and a unique low and mid-range quality, described by guitarist and journalist Brad Tolinski as "honk", these guitars became the foundation for a new generation of 21st-century guitarists like Jack White and Dan Auerbach.