The current fate of musical instruments heard on classic BB recordings

[CenturyDeprived]

Does anyone have any idea what happened to the musical instruments heard on classic BB recordings?

We know where some of them are: Marilyn (I think?) still owns the Surf's Up (song) grand piano, I have a hunch some collectors on this board may own an instrument or two used on recordings... but does anyone know where the snare drum(s) from Love You wound up? How about the drum machine from "Too Much Sugar"? The flutes on GOK? The trash can snare lid from "Surfin'"?  The empty boxes/packaging for Melodyne/Autotune software belonging to Joe Thomas? Terry Melcher's Mac with beta ProTools?

And how much would the stuff be worth today?

It's an endless list of wondering where everything went. I'm guessing most of the instruments are unaccounted for, and that many were not owned by the band, but were rather rented or borrowed from studios.

I wonder if any of them are still in use?  And separate from instruments, I seem to recall hearing discussion that some of the microphones in the various studios are many decades old, so I suppose a number of those are still currently being used?

[Emdeeh]

The BBs/BRI have a warehouse in the LA area where they store equipment. I've been told that Carl's gear is kept there, which includes the guitars he used in concert and recording. His son Justyn has Carl's brown sunburst Strat, and Denny's son Carl B has the clear drum set DW used.

[DonnyL]

I'd bet that for most of the stuff, no one would even be able to identify/prove a particular piece of gear was used ... aside from some of the group's personal instruments they held onto over the years.

13 years ago, I used to visit a guitar shop in Phoenix that was selling a bunch of silverface Twin Reverbs that they used to rent, and I was trying them out (they all sounded GREAT) ... the old timer owner mentioned that the Beach Boys always used those amps when they came through town ... I imagine these kinds of stories (true or not) are being told all over the place.

[Pretty Funky]

http://www.vh1.com/news/51401/inside-hard-rock-memorabilia-vault/

One of Brian's pianos held by the Hard Rock Cafe.

[bossaroo]

where's the Baldwin?

[SloopJohnB]

where's the Baldwin?

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,19740.0.html

We used it on Heroes and Villains and Fall Breaks and Back to Winter and put it in our storage rehearsal place - we might still have it!

[HeyJude]

The BBs/BRI have a warehouse in the LA area where they store equipment. I've been told that Carl's gear is kept there, which includes the guitars he used in concert and recording. His son Justyn has Carl's brown sunburst Strat, and Denny's son Carl B has the clear drum set DW used.

Interesting, as Carl very rarely used a sunburst Strat in concert (perhaps its his from the very early days?).

To me, Carl's most iconic concert guitar *visually* would be his natural finish ES-335, which he seemed to use for the last 15-20 years of his career. 

Interesting thing about some of their guitars is that some of them are quite valuable independently of their BB connection. Carl's "Old Yeller" Strat is a rare, valuable guitar all on its own.

Al's old black Les Paul would be quite valuable, though did anyone ever determine if Al tracked it down? I recall he posted a few years ago slightly cryptically that it had been "borrowed and not returned" or something along those lines.

[DonnyL]

The BBs/BRI have a warehouse in the LA area where they store equipment. I've been told that Carl's gear is kept there, which includes the guitars he used in concert and recording. His son Justyn has Carl's brown sunburst Strat, and Denny's son Carl B has the clear drum set DW used.

Interesting, as Carl very rarely used a sunburst Strat in concert (perhaps its his from the very early days?).

To me, Carl's most iconic concert guitar *visually* would be his natural finish ES-335, which he seemed to use for the last 15-20 years of his career. 

Interesting thing about some of their guitars is that some of them are quite valuable independently of their BB connection. Carl's "Old Yeller" Strat is a rare, valuable guitar all on its own.

Al's old black Les Paul would be quite valuable, though did anyone ever determine if Al tracked it down? I recall he posted a few years ago slightly cryptically that it had been "borrowed and not returned" or something along those lines.

When I think of Carl's guitars, I think  of the 12-string Epiphone/Gibson and his white Jaguar!

[Emdeeh]

I remember seeing Carl playing the sunburst Strat in the '90s, usually in one or two surf numbers towards the end of a show.

[Mark H.]

I recall Brian's Chickering grand piano being for sale in the late 70s, early 80s in the BBFUN newsletter.  I don't remember who bought it.  Would love to know the whereabouts of Brian's early sunburst and white Precision bass's.  Maybe he still has 'em.

[CenturyDeprived]

All of these factoids about the band members' gear are interesting.

What about instruments/musical gear played by The Wrecking Crew?  Was this usually borrowed/rented gear, property of the studios typically? Or did they sometimes bring their own unusual instruments with them to sessions to play?  

It's interesting to think about how a bunch of instruments that might've been performed on, for example, Pet Sounds might still unknowingly be floating around out there, with people using them on any number of new recordings, all the while being completely unaware of their history.