Liquid Metal Guitars present the LMG "T"

This is a stunning-looking Tele-type guitar from Canada's Liquid Metal Guitars. The body is made from a solid block of 6061 T6 Aircraft Aluminum, and features a machine-etched finish which is then coated with scratch resistant clear coat developed by Akzo Nobel for use on ultra luxury cars. Take a look a the photos to see how incredibly beautiful this finish is.

The neck is a fine-crafted Canadian hard rock maple affair, whilst pickups are courtesy of Lindy Fralin. I'm skimping over the details here, but it all sounds like it makes for a fantastic T-type guitar. With that aluminium body, it must sustain for days.

You've probably already guessed, I'm a big fan of the finish. It's certainly a lot more attractive than the rusty steel efforts that James Trussart churns out these days.

And finally on this topic, Liquid Metal Guitars now have their own blog: liquidmetalguitars.com/blog/

My Third Electric Guitar Project

[Ben writes...]

My Third Electric Guitar Project
I rebuilt 90's "Maison" made in Korea electric guitar.
This one is for my little brother that just learning to play on guitar.

Guitar Body: Sandvich.
Guitar Neck: Maple.
Bridge: Vintage style.
Guitar Tuning Machines: Plain.
Pickups: H-S-H Maison.

Pictures of the guitar:






for more visit: All About Guitars & Guitars 110

Univox Eagle Bass

Here's a Univox Eagle Bass which is basically a Japanese-built P-bass lookalike featuring an carved eagle in the top of the instrument.

I had a friend a few years back who had a Strat-type guitar featuring a dragon carving (it was a lovely playing guitar, by the way). It was of a very similar finish to this bass but bore the Aria brand name rather than Univox. I'm wondering if perhaps these could have came from the same factory?

Plastic toy guitar sells for £655!

Selcol toy guitar dates back to the mid 1960s, and whilst such toys were fairly commonplace with the names of The Beatles and Elvis upon them, this one is an example of the much rarer Rolling Stones model.

(That's approx $935 at the time of writing, by the way).

Joe Strummer Tele Still Charming After All These Years

Joe Strummer, one of the founding members of seminal British punk band The Clash may have passed away in 2002, but his memory continues to live on in Fender’s Special Edition Joe Strummer Telecaster. Although it was put on the market a year and a half ago, aficionados and fans alike are still seeking out the guitar and the sound that helped to herald I a new era in music.

Strummer’s 1966 Tele was an icon of sorts that delivered messages, as well as that clangy punk-reggae infusion that became The Clash’s signature sound. This reissue is made in Mexico, but to the same original specifications as Strummer’s guitar and is set up in his same exact fashion.

The body has been distressed to appear as Strummer’s Tele did after being well-worn on the road. He painted over it many times with quotes, sayings, and incendiary messages using grey primer and flat black spray paint, which wore down to the blonde finish on more than one occasion.

The first 1,500 of these distressed beauties came with a hard shell case made to look like Joe’s, as well as stickers, and a vinyl LP of one of his last albums with his final band, Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros. Go to www.fender.com for more information and pictures.

This post was contributed by Holly McCarthy, who writes on the subject of the lists of best universities. She invites your feedback at hollymccarthy12 at gmail dot com

My second electric guitar project

[Ben writes...]

This guitar was a 70's "Harmony" made in U.S.A "strat" style electric guitar
Almost A year I had work on this one!
Body: Alder.
Neck: Maple.
Bridge: Gotoh.
Tuners: Gotoh.
Pickups: Seymour Duncan Jazz, SSL1 - Middle/Neck.




The idea for this shape came to me from the funk rock band "The Offspring" Sign:



For videos and more pics: http://guitars.110mb.com/index.php?p=1_11_Second-Guitar-Project

Kelly Groucutt, RIP

Kelly Groucutt, best known as bassist and sometime singer for the legendary Electric Light Orchestra, died last Thursday, 19 June, of a heart attack aged 63. (See BBC News story here).

My first electric guitar project

Hey there, I'm Ben from All About Guitars and Im gonna keep this blog rocking!
First I'll introduce u to my website: Guitars 110 .

lets begin...
my first electric guitar project:
I started from an unknown 70's japanese "strat" style guitar, named "Stiefel".
And here are the features:
Guitar Body: Many pieces of different woods.
Guitar Neck: Maple.
Fretboard: Rosewood Scalloped.
Pickups: Fender Made In Mexico.
and here are the pictures of the guitar:




After a week, I'd made a pickguard from wood:




sound check: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=71RPJR7Y

Eko Galanti 2V

Aesthetically speaking, I really like this Eko Galanti 2V, but am not so sure how well it'd fare as a player. Is it just me or does the action look a bit on the high side in the pictures on the ebay listing?

Framus TV Star Bass

Very nice! I like the Jaguar-esque offset shape of this vintage hollow-bodied Framus TV Star Bass from 1966. It's one for all lovers of 60s-sound basses and lovers of very thin necks too!

Call for Guest Bloggers and Your Input

Hey guys, I'm back, but I am extremely busy with other projects right now and can't guarantee that I'm going to be able to post to this blog quite as regularly as I have been doing in the past.

Several people have contacted me with view to contributing a guest blogger post or two, and this is something I would like to encourage. I want to keep this blog moving on, so if you fancy getting involved please do contact me.

I would also feature more of YOUR guitars - especially if they are one-offs, self-built, luthier-built to your specifications or have interesting customisations. For the purposes of this blog, one-offs are much more interesting than off-the-peg guitars that you can find anywhere. Most of the guitars we have seen in our "Your Guitars" category were built by reader Andy Stone, so let's have a few more of you sending in your guitar pictures and stories (or you can be a guest blogger and post them yourself).

(Someone sent me their customised Tele pics a few days ago - sorry, I forget your name as I don't have access to that email right now, but I am going to use your piece in the next few days - thanks!)

I've also received quite a few link exchange requests recently, which I have not gotten around to doing anything about yet. Sorry, but it's been a bad time for me. I will get these sorted, so please just bear with me.

Taking a (short) break

I'm currently taking a few days off. I only have limited online access where I am at the moment so doubt I'll be able to post any proper blog entries until next week. If anyone fancies a spell of guest blogging, now is the time to ask!

Hofner Violin Bass selling for £12,995.00

This Hofner Violin Bass has quite a hefty price tag on it, and you'd be correct in thinking there may be a McCartney connection but as a righty you can guess it's not one that he's owned.

However the bass has had its fair share of muso owners, among them Marco Nelson (The Style Council), Damon Minchella (Ocean Colour Scene) and Paul Weller, and it has appeared on quite a few recorded works by each of those artists including Weller's first two solo albums. As well as all this history, the bass has been signed by the world's best known exponent of this style of bass guitar, Sir Paul McCartney himself.

If interested and you've got the cash, snap it up now, because if it doesn't sell on eBay it's going to be auctioned at Christie's.

Thanks to David Brown for bringing this item to my attention.

1978 Ovation Magnum Bass

The Ovation Magnum Bass, this one from 1978, is built like a battleship. Just look at all that solid mahogany and that seriously heavyweight hardware that it carries. The volume and tone controls look like they've been transplanted from a submarine.

From its design you can tell that it is a cousin of the now legendary Breadwinner and Deacon guitars. Supposedly it's an excellent player, but looks-wise it's a weird one. It's really quite ugly but quite wonderful at the same time.

Sad news

On a personal note, I have very sad news to relate. My loyal companion and friend of the last 16 years, my beautiful cat Spock, passed away yesterday. He often came and sat with me when I played guitar, and as a kitten was so intrigued by the vibrating strings that he came right up and had a go at plucking the strings himself with his teeth.

Regular readers to this blog will recognise this picture of him from my Blogger "About Me" icon. I have today decided to change my "About Me" icon out of respect for my beloved pet.

The "Poor Boys Gibson" guitar

This home-made guitar is not a Gibson, of course. Built from a single plank by a maker of cigar box guitars, it is even more rustic than the acoustic we looked at last week.

Needs must...

OK, I'm having a bit of a sale right now, because (a) I don't really have the room for so many guitars, and (b) because I need to be able to pay for the latest purchase (more of that later!). So, here we have for sale the following:

• Danelectro '56 U2 circa 1990s with mismatched body and neck
  
• Danelectro 12+6 doubleneck circa 1990s (Was sold but the courier companies made it all but impossible for me to ship to Spain, so I had to issue a refund. I feel a rant coming on! - GLW, 20/02/09)
  
• Fernandes Native Pro with sustainer
  
• Washburn Idol WI-64DL with Buzz Feiten tuning system and VCC tone controls

So, if you like what you see, get bidding! EVERYTHING MUST GO!

(And yes, I did take my guitars out into the snow for a few photos, and no it didn't do them any harm whatsoever.)

Eko Electric XII

This Eko 12-string electric guitar looks to be in fantastic condition, considering it must surely date back to the 1960s or perhaps early 70s at the latest. Look at how very shiny it is. You can't even see any light scratches from playing in these pics. But that neck is like a tree trunk. Actually, the neck looks identical to the one I had on my old Eko Ranger 12-string acoustic (and that was a bolt-on too).

A rustic travel guitar

Brad Fisher of Williamsburg, VA has designed his own acoustic travel guitar, the prototype being up for sale on eBay right now. Looking something like a boat paddle, this guitar's body seems proportionally bigger and hopefully more resonant than that sported by some travel guitars, e.g. the minimalist Martin Backpacker, but its shorter than usual scale length requires a higher tuning. (Unfortuantely he doesn't give us the scale length or tell us what tuning he's used. I wonder if it could use standard tuning if strung with heavier gauge strings?)

The seller tells us that "...the tuners are in the back of the body instead of the head, that way you could stick the neck end in a back-pack or bag without messing up the tuning." I'm not quite sure why this is an advantage, because surely by chucking it in a backpack you could just as easily mess up the tuning at the other end instead? Or is that end supposed to be sticking out of your backback? Also, it wouldn't be a guitar for standing upright as you wouldn't want to stand it on the tuners.

Roberts Roto-Neck Guitar - two fingerboards on one neck!

Guitars don't come much weirder than this strange specimen with two fingerboards mounted on a single neck! The idea is that you simply rotate the guitar to play a different set of six strings, which can presumably be tuned differently from the first set. (Otherwise, what's the point? And a capo is hardly going to work on this thing, is it?)

I can't imagine the neck shape would be very comfortable to play with an extra set of strings and fingerboard at an angle to the one you're trying to play. I wonder if it is even really playable?

I've never seen anything like it before. The listing says it is a very rare Roberts Roto-Neck guitar and dates back to 1991. Does anyone else have any more info on this very peculiar guitar?

Things that bug me in the guitar listings on eBay

#1: People who can't spell "Squier"

Take a look at this example on eBay right now - a Squier HM Strat with a pretty revolting two-tone magma finish. I mean, the guy has even shown a close-up of the headstock which has a huge Squier logo on it, and still he insists on spelling it "Squire" in the listing.

How can the seller excuse this?

The name is right there spelt correctly on the guitar!

Anyway, it's very easy to remember: SquiER ends in ER just like its parent company FendER.

It's crazy because if you want to search for a Squier on eBay you need so search on both "Squier" and "Squire" because so many people get the spelling wrong.

And no, I don't have any patience with people who make careless mistakes in their eBay listings. It's not guitar related, but only last week I had to sort out a terrible mess when I tried buying a video camera on eBay, and the careless seller had not only copy and pasted the wrong camera details from a much superior model into his listing but he also sent it to the wrong house number in my street. Attention to detail was severely lacking, and we don't need people like this on eBay.

Rant over.