A lifelong Eddie Cochran fan who partnered Jeff Beck for a tour celebrating the music of Cliff Gallup, Darrel Higham tells us why he uses only Gretsch guitars
What was your first encounter with Gretsch guitars?
“When I was about four or five years old I heard Elvis for the first time. The neighbours were playing his music very, very loud and it made a huge impression on me.
It turned out that mum and dad had a couple of Elvis albums in their record collection, and then I discovered this Eddie Cochran album in there, Singin’ To My Baby.
The first thing that struck me about the album cover was there were two headshots of Eddie and in between there’s this picture of him holding this beautiful red guitar. From that moment onwards, I basically wanted to be Eddie Cochran. And all these years later, not much has changed!”
When did you get your first Gretsch guitar?
“I bought my first 6120 in late ’89. Sadly, it was stolen in ’97 from a theatre in Melton Mowbray where, ironically, I was playing Eddie Cochran in this theatre show. But, fortunately, I went to see Eddie’s mother and sister in ’92 and I managed to get several pictures of my guitar sitting next to Eddie’s. That was a dream come true.”
Have you acquired a collection of Gretsches since that time?
“Yes, I have a Duo Jet that is based on the Cliff Gallup model, a White Falcon that I bought when I was touring with Jeff Beck – and the very first gig I did with it, the bridge fell apart! I’ve got a 6120 Custom Shop that was built in 2008 by Stephen Stern. I saw that at Jeff Beck’s house –
