Rare Guitars: Brian Ray’s Happy Days ’58 Gibson TV Junior

This is another gem from Brian Ray’s fantastic guitar collection. It is one part of a pair of his Gibsons that made an appearance on the popular television show, Happy Days. The other, a ’65 SG Junior in Pelham Blue, is no less beautiful. If you’re noticing a trend, it’s certainly true that the Paul McCartney guitarist has a penchant for single pickup guitars.

In fact, he’d go so far as to say: “I find that for me, there is no better, cleaner, simpler design in electric guitar than a single-pickup guitar with the pickup in the bridge position”. He shares that in the case of Gibsons with without a neck pup, you get a longer neck-to body contact, resulting in a lot more play in terms of resonance, from the fingerboard down into the body.

Check out this ’58 Gibson TV Junior:

Also check out Brian Ray’s weirdly wonderful Teisco Spectrum 5 here.