When Rolling Stone magazine published their 100 Greatest Guitarists list last year, Hubert Sumlin was ranked at number 43 – ahead of Mark Knopfler, ahead of Muddy Waters, ahead of more than fifty other guitar players counted among the best to have ever plugged in.
Howlin’ Wolf’s guitarist
As blues great Howlin’ Wolf’s guitarist for almost 25 years, Sumlin was one of Jimi Hendrix’s greatest influences. From one blues legend to another, Muddy Waters managed to poach Sumlin away from Howlin’ Wolf for several months during his early Wolf tenure. In 2004, Mojo magazine declared the 1962 Howlin’ Wolf/Rocking Chair album the third greatest guitar album of all time.
Little Red Rooster
Hubert Sumlin provided the phenomenal guitar parts on such legendary and pivotal blues tracks as ‘Spoonful’, ‘Killing Floor’, ‘Back Door Man’, ‘Smokestack Lightnin’, ‘The Red Rooster’, (‘Little Red Rooster’), ‘How Many More Years’, ‘Wang Dang Doodle’, ‘Highway 49’, ‘Shake For Me’, ‘Howlin’ For My Baby’, ‘Built For Comfort’. ‘Down In The Bottom’, ‘Ain’t Superstitious’, ‘I Asked For Water’, ‘Sittin’ On Top Of The World’, ‘You Gonna Wreck My Life’, ‘Goin’ Down Slow’ and more. He was revered by the likes of the Rolling Stones, (and Keith solo), Elvis Costello, Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton, and Australian blues great, Chris Wilson.
Mick & Keith
Hubert Sumlin died in 2011 and the respect for him among the world’s top musicians was shown when his funeral costs were paid for by Mick Jagger & Keith Richards. Several touring US artists that we’ve spoken with over the past few weeks have unanimously stated that not only was Hubert Sumlin a brilliant guitarist, but that he was one of the nicest people in the entire music business. Chris Masterson, touring here with Steve Earle, said, “I treasure the times I got to play with Hubert and I miss him every single day.”
An incredibly versatile guitar
So, we are enormously proud to be able to offer for sale one of Hubert Sumlin’s personal guitars. Over the years Sumlin was generally sighted playing a Sunburst Stratocaster, but sometime in 2000 he acquired this black Lone Star Strat. An incredibly versatile guitar, with scads of different tones within – check out our soundfile – it’s easy to see why Sumlin was attracted to this particular Stratocaster.
Pearly Gates Plus
The Lone Star was the first model released in Fender’s “Hot Rodded” series – boasting a pair of Texas Special single-coils in the neck & middle positions, alongside a Seymour Duncan humbucker – a ‘Pearly Gates Plus’ – at the bridge. Fender produced the Lone Star Strat in just five color options, of which Black was reportedly the least common.
Icing on the cake
A rockin’ blues machine to its very core, this is one of the best Strats we’ve ever experienced. That it was owned by such a legendary player is like sixteen metres of icing on the cake! Authentication is provided via a receipt from the store in Austin, Texas, where Sumlin eventually traded the guitar, (on a vintage Goldtop Les Paul), plus an Austin newspaper photo-piece, covering the Howlin’ Wolf tribute show that he was in town to play.
Rock & blues history
Complete with its original Fender hard shell case, (lightly stickered by a subsequent owner), this truly awesome piece of rock & blues history comes with FREE COURIER DELIVERY to any address in Australia. ($100 airfreight to New Zealand, $175 to the US, Canada, UK and mainstream European countries)