CULT CLASSIC RESTORATION PROJECT
Only dimly aware of the Grimshaw brand? Never heard of it at all? Well, although there’s not a great deal of Grimshaw guitars info available online today, we’ve all heard one in action courtesy of Joe Moretti’s spine-tingling guitar playing on Shakin’ All Over by Johnny Kid & The Pirates back in 1960.
Pete Townshend would of course go on to cover the song many times with The Who, and his own Grimshaw SS Deluxe was a real favourite – albeit modified with a trio of Rickenbacker pickups and the Californian brand’s headstock nameplate.
Founded in Lancashire over 5,000 miles away from the SoCal sunshine by Emile Grimshaws Snr and Jr, the company was established in 1930 to manufacture banjos, mandolins and guitars. By 1935, Grimshaw could even boast a Premiervox electric guitar in its catalogue, assembled in the UK largely from Rickenbacker parts. 30 years later, Townshend’s Rickenbacker parts were likely salvaged from the carcasses of smashed instruments, rather than specially imported for the purpose.
Guitar production had been ramped up after Emile Sr died in 1943 and by the late 1950s, Grimshaw’s most successful model was the aforementioned SS Deluxe. The ‘SS’ stands for short scale, and it was popular with
