Monday, 13 September 2010

Tantra Surya from 1983

guitarz.blogspot.com:
For the guitar enthusiast such as I, there is always something "new" to discover. Yes, the guitar world is extremely conservative and set in its ways, but that doesn't mean there have never been any mavericks. You just have to look a bit harder to find the more unusual stuff.

This French seller currently has this Tantra Surya guitar from 1983 on eBay. It looks for all the world like a very curvy Flying V, and has an almost Sci-Fi/flying saucer feel to it. The pickguard appears to be made from alumunium and has an integral bridge with the saddles attached to an up-turned lip at the rear end of the plate.

Unfortunately I can tell you very little else about this model, and the seller doesn't seem to know much about it either, but mentions a possible connection with French superstar Johnny Hallyday.

As ever, if anyone has any more info, please use the comments below!

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

2 comments:

  1. Hi,
    My name is Phil anf I live in France,in Britanny.
    When I was near 12 years old i helped my father in his work, installing big vacuum machines in the Tantra Guitars Factory.
    These guitars were crated by a young group of freinds that were playing music together and wanted to product their own instruments. They convinced Johnny Haliday to use in one of his tour a special model that they made for him (the ax guitar) and started to product the other models...
    Unfortunately, they didn't meet success and their factory closed as short as it opened.
    So short that they weren't able to pay my father's work!
    I remember that they gave him some tools of the factory (because they didn't have any cash) and... a great red and yellow Tantra Surya Guitar!
    And i still own it today ! (And it still works!!!) I just customed it a little bit for my 9 years old boy to learn him bow to play bass guitar ... look at this video and you'll see that Tantra guitars are not completely dead !
    https://youtu.be/0BHuqo5fbdM
    If you want me to send you a photo no problem!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi,
    My name is Phil anf I live in France,in Britanny.
    When I was near 12 years old i helped my father in his work, installing big vacuum machines in the Tantra Guitars Factory.
    These guitars were crated by a young group of freinds that were playing music together and wanted to product their own instruments. They convinced Johnny Haliday to use in one of his tour a special model that they made for him (the ax guitar) and started to product the other models...
    Unfortunately, they didn't meet success and their factory closed as short as it opened.
    So short that they weren't able to pay my father's work!
    I remember that they gave him some tools of the factory (because they didn't have any cash) and... a great red and yellow Tantra Surya Guitar!
    And i still own it today ! (And it still works!!!) I just customed it a little bit for my 9 years old boy to learn him bow to play bass guitar ... look at this video and you'll see that Tantra guitars are not completely dead !
    https://youtu.be/0BHuqo5fbdM
    If you want me to send you a photo no problem!

    ReplyDelete