Don Mackie's Guitar

This is Don's guitar. It is a 1930s vintage Radiotone. Clearly he did not take it with him during his service with 14AOD, as it does not appear in any of the photos of the band. It had a very high action which made it quite difficult to play; in later years Don played mainly a nylon-string guitar which was much kinder on the fingers. When he died in 1982, my mother was reluctant to part with it, so it spent 22 years at the bottom of a wardrobe. When I retrieved it, it was not in the best condition. The back had started to split from the sides, there was a nasty crack on the front, the tailpiece was broken and the pick guard had crumbled. I took it to Graham Noden, who has a repair workshop in the basement of Andy's Guitar Shop in Denmark Street, London. Graham did an excellent job of restoring it and I think it now plays much better than I remember it when dad was alive. You can read more about Graham here
http://www.andysguitarnet.com/about-us/about-us.html

In performance in Hamburg

Denis Harper & Bert Hunt playing at Hamburg




The Five in Jive

These two were kindly supplied by Denis Harper's wife Jean. They show members of the band in performance. In contrast to the formal postcard prints, the musicians are in mufti rather than army uniform. I have shown beneath each photo the caption written on the back. Although Denis was accordionist with the Band of 14AOD, he was also an accomplished pianist. The "Five in Jive" picture is interesting as it corresponds to the personnel seen in the Glinde photos and also on the recording of "Dinah", further evidence that these members of the band sometimes performed as a quintet.

Don's guitar is an interesting detail. It is a flat top with a round sound hole. Compare this with the postcard prints, where we see him with an archtop with f-holes. Neither of these was his own guitar (which I still have - more on that later.) Someone has suggested that the archtop is a Gibson Cromwell, although the logo on the pegboard is indistinct. I can understand that Don would not have wanted to take his own guitar on overseas service, but how did the band acquire the instruments they used in France and Germany? As far as I can tell Denis's accordion, Ted's drum kit and even the white chairs are the same. What happened to the guitar?