The Third Model From The Original Bo Diddley, Billy Gibbons Trilogy
The One Below is The Blues Style Model With Tuna Matic Bridge
Sounds Awesome With A Tom Holmes Pickup. See The Billy Gibbons Guitar Book
Roman Abstract Cadillac Custom Shop Guitar
Order Any Headstock style
Order any fingerboard wood or body wood
The rarest of the Bo Diddley trilogy of custom shape. Bo did not use this one as much as the rectangular guitar or the Jupiter Thunderbird.
Billy Gibbons was a big fan of this guitar long before he started using the Billy Bo AKA Jupiter Thunderbird.
In fact he went to guitar builder Tom Holmes 30 years back to have Tom make him a smaller version of the Cadillac, which is today called the BG1 (Billy Gibbons 1).
You can see Billy using it in the early ZZ Top videos.
The Story of the Bo Diddley Trilogy Of Guitars
Jupiter Thunderbird, Cadillac and Rectangular Guitars.
If someone or somebody knows something I don't, please contact me ASAP so that I might make any corrections.
Sometime back in the 60's or early 70's, I don't have an exact date or even a point of reference. Elias McDaniel AKA Bo Diddley who was a real innovator, decided to design himself some cool, distinctive looking, futuristic guitars. He felt that playing the same guitar that everyone else played was counterproductive to his career. As a former band manager & concert promoter I concur whole heartedly with what Bo was thinking.
Bo approached a guitar builder in White Plains, New York, known only as Giulliano (Pronounced Juliano) . Bo knew him from when he was the production manager of Gretsch Guitars 60 Broadway NYC NY.
Giulliano constructed the three now famous guitars & Bo named them after automobiles that he liked. These were never Gretsch guitars, These were custom made creations that employed the use of Gretsch necks. Bo was seen using the Jupiter Thunderbird, quite a bit however the Cadillac he used more in the studio.
Bo's Girlfriend "The Duchess" used the Cadillac quite often and it became synonymous with her. See Below.
I have heard all kinds of variations to this story from many different people. I have only written what seems to be repeated over & over by people that I know and respect in the industry.
The Great Elias McDaniel AKA "Bo Diddley"
The Dutchess and Her Cadillac
Ed Roman in Las Vegas is now constructing all three models. Instead of making them set neck guitars, Ed has chosen to build these with the absolute highest level of quality using modern - vintage electronics, high quality woods and top grade bridges, tuners etc etc.
The Abstract guitars are not for everyone, They are not inexpensive like a cheap imports and they are designed with the concept of making their owners better players.
These guitars are will still be around 100 years from now, they are true works of art and they sound awesome. Bo Diddley would have been proud!
Ed Roman - (702) 597-0147
Pop Quiz: What Does Bo Diddley Mean?
This Also Qualifies As A Short Rant
Bo Diddley Was An Innovator, Bo Diddley Was A True Original, Bo Diddley Never Made It To Where He Should Have Because He Was Censored By "The Man".
Elias McDaniel took the name Bo Diddley as his stage name. He had a really great guitar sound, It was a new sound and it rocked the world in the 50's... Sadly for me, I grew up in the lily white white world of middle class suburbia Ridgefield Connecticut. (AKA Pleasantville) The AM radio stations WABC, WMCA & WINS in New York fed all us kids white bread & pablum to listen to. I wish I knew then what I know now. Some of it was good, The Ventures, The Beachboys etc etc, Most of it was pure Shite, 1910 Fruitgum Company, Bobby Vinton, Pat Boone, etc etc. The Hartford Stations WPOP & WDRC were a little better but we really missed the boat musically until the later 60's when album rock took over.
Back In the day the only way to get really good music was to buy an album based on what the album cover looked like. When I bought my first Cream Album I had no idea what it would sound like. Even my first Zeppelin album was a complete surprise to me when I got it home & played it. I didn't even know they were the Yardbirds after the lead singer died. All we knew were what the liner notes said and nothing much else. I remember the day I bought the Jeff Beck Truth album. I had heard of him through the Yardbirds, which got some play on the Hartford stations. The crappy radio stations at the time never played any of it until several years after it came out. When they finally did start playing some better stuff it was only the FM Stations. FM Radios at the time were quite expensive. So we never got that until later also
It was incredibly lucky that "House Of The Rising Sun" was such a big hit, Or we would never have gotten the Animals. The Animals were my favorite band during the 60's with the Yardbirds, The Doors & The Stones running close seconds.
Yes, The Beatles were great, some of their early stuff is still my favorite, But much of it was weak by comparison to late 60's album rock, Brian Epstein cleaned them up and sanitized them enough for the radio stations to even play songs like Twist & Shout. But the Beatles always played sweet love songs like "Till there was you". "Michelle" " And I Love her" etc etc. In reality they were actually rowdy street toughs who fooled the moms & dads & radio stations into thinking they were 4 nice young teenagers from England. Occasionally The Beatles snuck something in like a Chuck Berry tune or a Smokey Robinson song but they would always return to something like "Yesterday" or "Yellow Submarine"
Herman's Hermits, Peter & Gordon, Chad & Jeremy, Freddie & The Dreamers were pure pablum.
Spencer Davis, The Zombies, The Animals, The Stones were rougher around the edges and got closer to the USA delta blues roots that they had all heard growing up in the rougher areas of England
I wish I knew who to blame exactly for this but I'm sure it was some religious fanatic or some group of ultra conservative morons who censored the music on the pop stations. I could sit here and describe what I would do to them given the chance but it would make me look like some kind of barbaric ruffian which of course I'm not. LOL
OK Back To Bo Diddley, I had never heard of Bo Diddley except for some racial rhymes and jokes that made him some kid of steppinfetchit cartoon character. I didn't know he was a real person.
Bo Diddley in the vernacular slang simply means nothin'... (Absolutely Bo) (Nothin' Diddley)
As in "You
Ain't Gonna Do Diddley"
Or "You don't know Diddley,
"You
don't know squat"
"You
don't know Diddley-Squat "My girl is red hot your girl ain't Diddley-squat
(Notice The Double Negative)
"I ain't got no money, I ain't got Diddley ----
"I got absolutely no money"
"I Ain't
Got Bo Diddley"
"You Ain't Shit, Mofo,
You Ain't Bo
Diddley'
Old Bo Diddley Went To Da Store'
Shit On Da Counter Pissed On The Floor'
Wiped His Ass Wiff A Piece O Ham
Tole Da Man He Doan Give A Damn (The
Man) ( Who Is "The Man" Anyway? )
"The Man" is the person responsible for censoring
everything.
If Anyone Would Like To
Add To This, Or Contribute Something Similar
I Would Love To Print It...
Ed Roman July 2010
