I get this immediately:
Carradine Brothers pick Gibsons for upcoming film
Actor David Carradine, famous for his TV roles in "Kung Fu", "Lone Wolf McQuade," "The Long Riders" and, more recently, Kung Fu again, has spent the past few days at RCA's famous Studio B.
Carradine was co-writing (with Thom Bishop) and recording tunes for the soundtrack of the film American Reel, a movie about the life and career of a songwriter. The film also stars Mariel Hemmingway and Carradine's fiance' Marina Anderson. The project is being engineered by Amplifier columnist Fred Bogert.
Playing the role of a musician is familiar territory for Carradine, who was a music major at San Francisco State and also starred in Bound For Glory, playing the role of folksinger Woody Guthrie. He is also an avid guitar player and collector.
David's younger brother Robert was also on hand to lay tracks, shown here using a rare semi-hollow Gibson EB-6. The EB-6 was billed as a six-string bass but more commonly used as a baritone guitar. Only 34 were made in 1960 with the ES-335 type body before they switched to a solid SG-style body.
The two visited Gibson's Custom*Art*Historic Division earlier today to borrow some axes for use in the recording and the movie.
David's personal arsenal of guitars includes a '76 Les Paul Recording model, a '76 Les Paul Standard, an ES-175, a rare Les Paul-style EDS-1275 doubleneck and a well-worn J-50. While Carradine was an expert classical piano player (he studied with Dave Brubeck), his interest in guitars didn't surface until he was 31. But he says that it didn't take long to figure out what guitars he dug.
"Right away, I got into this passion about Gibsons," Carradine said, adding that his first "real" guitar was a J-45, which you can see in the movie Bound For Glory.
