‘Lucky Betty’ owned by Betty La Foy
Starting out in the summer of 1959 from Porter, Indiana, ‘Lucky’ Betty La Foy and her all female stunt crew took their daredevil show across America, driving jalopies through rings of fire, jumping motorbikes over school buses and escaping certain death many times over. And if that wasn’t dangerous enough, Betty’s piéce de résistance was to ride the Wall of Death on a modified ex “Wrecking Crew’ Indian Scout motorbike while playing rock n roll hits on her custom made electric guitar. Betty had a red version for week day shows, and a white one for Sunday best.
After 40 years of dropping the jaws of audiences worldwide and without ever having a single stunt go wrong, Betty decided to quit before her luck ran out. She currently lives a quieter life on the Florida Keys with her devoted husband, Big Al. At 79 she still drives her hot rodded 1934 Ford Model 40 V8 Coupe every day and is the oldest Floridian resident ever to receive a speeding ticket, shooting 73 mph in a 50 zone.
Body: Double-cut, super resonant American Alder body with custom “Lucky Betty” graphics and go faster binding. A Red version for the weekday and a White one for Sunday best.
Bridge: The Wilkinson WVC Vibrato bridge enabled Betty to pull off her signature ‘changing gears’ trick and come back in tune every time. What are you gonna do with yours?
Pickups: Single Joe Doe designed humbucker that can take you from 0 to around 8k in the twist of a volume pot.
Controls: Lots going on under the hood here. A single master Volume, single tone control and variable coil tap providing a huge range of tones from soulful to scorching hot.
Machine heads: Wilkinson WJ55 E-Z-Lok machine heads provide simple, effective action and are plated in shiny chrome like the mudguard from an Indian Motorbike.
Neck: Hard rock Maple with classic Vintage ‘soft C’ profile for instant comfort. On the rear there’s a good luck message from Betty’s husband, Big Al. Run your fingers along it for luck, just like Betty did before every show.
Fingerboard: Lignum Rosa™ for outstanding tonal transfer and durability. A traditional 10” radius makes playing as easy as riding around a small wooden cylinder at 30mph with a guitar in your hands.
Frets: 22 Medium profile frets.
Nut: 43mm Graphtech nut, smooth and friction free, just like the running order of Betty’s shows.
Headstock: Unique Vintage “Joe Doe” Lucky Betty” headstock design.
Case: Joe Doe luxury hardshell case with certificate of authenticity and case candy.
The limited edition 'Lucky Betty' is an original Vintage® guitar, designed and created by Joe Doe Guitars and the UK Vintage design team.
The idea for this model came after I’d seen some original 1950’s film footage of an all female daredevil stunt group. They were strapping each other to the front of cars and driving through rings of fire, which I thought was incredible. So I took it one step further and imagined Betty and her crew riding the ‘wall of death’ on motor bikes whilst playing guitar riffs of the day.
The graphics on this guitar are similar to those seen on drag cars from that period, and on the back of the neck I’ve added an imaginary message from Betty’s husband wishing her well on every jump. It’s also the little extras that help tell the story, for example, in the case-candy for this model you get a ticket stub from one of her shows as well as a speeding ticket Betty was given long after she retired to Florida Keys. I guess she never grew tired of speeding!
Joe Doe is actually 1950’s USA slang for a ‘blind date’. I’ve always been a fan of Americana, I love classic American cars, guitars, films and the Hollywood stunt guys from the same era, especially the old cowboy movies. There’s the almost compulsory dive off the saloon roof when the baddie gets shot for example, and I’m using that idea to build my first acoustic guitar.
I’ve always been a tinkerer, I loved taking things apart when I was much younger, especially guitars. My first electric guitar was a sparkly red Encore but I wanted to finish it in black to fit in with my passion for heavy metal… so I stripped it back to the wood and painted it with Dulux. It was a transformative experience as I realised I could change things the way I wanted. This, for a man who was, and still is, never satisfied with anything, was quite exciting.
I never take commission work because I have too many guitars of my own I want to build. For me, the best part of Joe Doe guitars is building a guitar and enjoying the creative process as ideas and mistakes happen along the way. Each guitar is a journey and when it's finished, the results can often be quite emotional.”
