I thought they only made organs...
This is a gorgeously funky-looking and allegedly quite rare Wurlitzer Wild One Gemini Stereo Guitar from 1966, currently for sale on eBay. I love the shape - all straight lines and points. Also, you can't really make it out in the above picture, but each pickup has a selector switch for Jazz / Rock settings (a coil tap perhaps?... except they look like single-coil pickups) and the pickups themselves are engraved with the legends Channel A and Channel B, I guess, in an effort to be user-friendly. Another nice touch is the Wurlitzer W on the Bigsby-style vibrato. (See the album while it's still available for close-up pictures).
Update: The seller contacted me to explain the function of the Jazz / Rock switches:
Hey,
I am the seller on the Wurlitzer Gemini on Ebay. I just thought I would drop you an e-mail.
The guitar comes with two types of caps and that is were the tone difference comes from.
The jazz setting sounds muted like when you turn the tone down on a pickup and the rock setting is bright and P-90 sounding.
Thanks for your time.
Alex
My research suggests that these guitars are indeed fairly rare having been manufactured only between 1965 and 1967. They were actually made by a tiny factory in Neodesha, KS (US) called Holman-Woodell. (The building is still there on 515 Main St.) No idea how many might have been made. Originally Mr. Holman talked Wurlitzer into being his guitar making company's sold distributor. The arrangement was short-lived, however - possibly due to finish issues on the Holman products (the paint tended to peel off). Wurlitzer went to Welson in Italy as a supplier of Wurlitzer-branded guitars, while the Holman concern went through a series of name and management changes. The guy who designed the original Wurlitzer/Holmans left for the Kustom shop in another Kansas town. There's more about it here: http://www.wurlitzerguitars.com/files/holmanguitars.pdf. Interesting story and cool looking guitars. But, the Holman pick-ups were evidently pretty weak and, as I said, there were apparently some finish problems with those guitars. Too bad, though - the stereo wiring as well as the tone controls and switching were actually pretty good.
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