Buck Owens- Red, White, and Blue

Guitar Gavel “Gear” Of The Week with Will Ray

Will goes over a bottom feeder IYV thinline t-style guitar. He bought it for $200 including shipping and says it plays like a thousand bucks! At 2:09 into the video Will puts it to the test. Enjoy!

Buck and the Red, White, and Blue

From 1969 to 1986 Buck Owens co-hosted the hit TV show, Hee Haw, with Roy Clark. During his career, Buck and the Buckaroos amassed 21 No. 1 hits on the Billboard country music chart, and helped define what became known as the Bakersfield sound.  

A Texas native, Buck considered himself a “super patriot”, but rather than alienate some of his fanbase during a highly contentious, and flag burning political era of the 1960s, he chose to make his statement without words. 

The medium for his voice was his guitar. 

Buck moved to Bakersfield in 1951, the home of Semie Moseley and Mosrite Guitars. In 1966 he had Semie build him a red, white and blue acoustic to quietly make his statement.

This was the main guitar Buck played on Hee Haw. 

Now Buck’s guitar of choice was a Fender Telecaster and he’d been a Fender endorser since 1964. So Fender of course had to create a sparkly red, white, and blue Tele for Buck to play on the show as well.  

In the true patriotic form of American capitalism, Buck was also a very astute businessman.  

He negotiated a licensing deal with Harmony for them to sell a budget version of his red, white, and blue Mosrite custom.  

From 1969 to 1972 Harmony of Chicago produced the model H169, or known by its street name, the Buck Owens American. It’s a grand-concert size based on the Harmony H164 Sovereign.  

These were also marketed with a Silvertone badge in the Sears catalog, technically the Silvertone model 1219L. They retailed for $82.50 plus about $9.00 for the case. 

Buck's royalty was $2.50 for each one sold.  

And they sold a ton.  

Happy 4th of July!

Harmony H169 Specs: Solid Spruce top, Birch back and sides, some may have been mahogany, Rosewood fretboard & bridge