Here’s another bit of vintage gear with a fascinating history. Some of you may remember when I restored this 1946–47 Fender Woody Pro amplifier a few years back with the help of my friends “Crazy” Joe Tritschler and Tim Masters (and T.K. Smith).
The Woody Pro amplifier is what the Bob Wills band played through in the 1940s. It was a custom-built, limited-run amp made by Leo Fender for the top professional acts that he sponsored. Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys were his flagship act (and they were probably the most popular act on the West Coast in the 1940s). Even though there were less than fifteen of these Woody Pro amps made in 1946–47, I count at least six of them on stage with Bob and the Texas Playboys.
The amplifier I have here came from Bob Stoltenberg, the son of Western swing tenor guitarist Smokey Stoltenberg. His dad had the amp, but Bob didn’t know where he got it from, and Smokey passed a long time ago. The amplifier surfaced in Tracy, California.
The last time Bob Wills was photographed with the Woody Pro amps was in the spring of 1949, when the band was based at Wills Point ballroom in Sacramento. Sacramento is only about an hour away from Tracy. Who knows? Maybe Smokey Stoltenberg got one of the Bob Wills amps. It sure seems like the most likely explanation, as I don’t know of any other Woody Pros used in Northern California in that era.
I’m taking the Fender Woody Pro amp with me to Texas next week for the Cowtown-Birth of Western Swing festival. It sounds dirty and overloaded, just like those 1940s Wills recordings (and the glorious Tiffany transcriptions). As Bob Wills might say, it’s “UGLY!” In the best way possible!
See more photos and some videos at Deke’s original Facebook post!
