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The Bear FactsAloha.The Tablature"The Girl in the Yellow Holoku" A song supposedly writtenby Webley Edwards (Nov. 11, 1902 – Oct. 5, 1977)Lyrics probably by Randy Oness and the tune is takenfrom the traditional melody “Moani Ke Ala" composed byQueen Lili uokalani.Sung by Pua Almeida, but the most famous version is byBarney and Jules on the Capitol Album “HawaiianShores” T-904 1958.They are both playing the C13th tuning and swap backand forth in the various sections. Download the trackfrom here:- http://www.waikiki-islanders.com/yellow.mp3There is also a backing track to play along with @ :http://www.waikiki-islanders.com/yellowb/t.mp3The Tuners are the old Lollypop style and much easier to gripthat the later Butterbean ones. What was obvious was thatalthough slightly weatherbeaten, the guitar hadn’t been usedmuch, as you can see from the picture the machine head gearsstill have the factory paint seal on the screw, and exhibit no signof wear on the worm gear.Pictures of the Stringmaster Mk1I suppose it actually shows as being played for just a few yearsthen laid up. The Chromework and fretboards are as new, it’s justthe paintwork that exhibits a very 1950’s patina, with the odd chipmore so than wear marks on the body.An Expensive mistakeA couple of years ago (Just before my birthday) I bid on a Tricone by accident and won the auction. It WAS a bargain. Well,this year I did the same silly thing, I bid on a guitar just to be ‘inthere’ when the auction was over and see who won it. wellyou’ve probably guessed, No-one else bid on the guitar (Afterall It was in the wrong section and had the wrong name) so Iwon it, a fabulous Fender Stringmaster Mk1 triple neck assembled by Freddie Tavares in June 1954. (About the time he wasdesigning the Fender Stratocaster.)I had a client for the Stringmaster twin that was pictured in theSeptember mag, so she went to a good home [to be playednot just looked at] and I had the money to pay for my ‘Mistake’This is the same model that was used by Jules ah See andBarney Kalanikau Isaacs on the Hawaii Calls Shows andAlbums.Discovery and surprisesAfter receipt of the guitar, and upon close inspection, I discoveredthat the farthest neck had a nut that was groved for BASS stringsand the tuner shafts were drilled with correspondingly largerholes. This immediately made me think of the Webley Edwardspromotion of some of the Hawaii Calls albums of a “Baritone”Hawaiian Guitar. Further enquiries revealed that the early tripleand quads left the factory configured this way, and Fender marketed a set of Bass Hawaiian Guitar strings specifically gaugedfor these instruments. For the A6 tuning, E-C#-A-F#-E-C#-A-F#.I remembered Albert Green’s Quad that he bought from HootRains, Slim Whitman’s steel player, it had bass strings on it butthey’d been repositioned to neck one, and neck 4 was C6th witha device attached to the tuner pan on string 2 to change the notefrom C to C#. B.J. Cole now owns that guitar.Another surprise was the way the tone control functioned, Itdidn’t have a capacitor between it and earth, it was a ballancecontrol for all of the necks and full clockwise was just the bridgepickups, whilst fully counterclockwise it was all the pickup on. Itwas infinitely variable betwixt the single and twin modes with thedesired tonal response able to be dialled in quite easily. I can’tunderstand why they changed this arrangement on later models.They were more comprehensively variable having a blendpot oneach neck and a tone control that was a capacitor circuit, BUT17the earlier method is so much more friendly to use.Bass tuner pan and nutStandard tuner pan and nutThe machineheadassembly showingthe lack of wear onthe worm gears.Also there’s factoryseal on the screwsshowing it hadn’tbeen opened toadjust the tensions.The tuner pan recessshowing the date andFreddie Tavares’sinspection/assemblysignature.Nearly All Stringmastershave the date andassembler’s signature,sometimes on thebare paint othertimes on a piece of masking tape just stuck inside therecess. If you have the internet check out :http://www.steelc6th.com/it’s a site with a LOT of goodhawaiian albums.Basil Henriques
Transcribed: Basil HenriquesThe Girl in the Yellow HolokuComposed by Lili uokalani/Oness/Webley EdwardsStandard Guitar Tuning E-B-D-A-ESteel Guitar Tuning C13 E-C-A-G-E-C-Bb-C18
The Girl in the Yellow HolokuTranscribed: Basil HenriquesPage 219
Transcribed: Basil HenriquesThe Girl in the Yellow HolokuPage 320
The Girl in the Yellow HolokuTranscribed: Basil HenriquesPage 421
The Tablature "The Girl in the Yellow Holoku" A song supposedly written by Webley Edwards (Nov. 11, 1902 – Oct. 5, 1977) Lyrics probably by Randy Oness and the tune is taken from the traditional melody “Moani Ke Ala" composed by Queen Lili uokalani. Sung by Pua Almeida, but the most famous version is by Barney and Jules on the Capitol Album “Hawaiian Shores” T-904 1958. They are both .
