10 or 15 string Cuatro Sonero handmade in Puerto Rico by Don Cristobal Santiago

guitarz.blogspot.com:

The traditional Puerto Rican cuatro is a lute-like instrument having ten strings in five courses, tuned in fourths from low to high B-e-a-d'-g'. This solid-body electric version, recently offered for sale on eBay, was built by Don Cristobal Santiago in 1994 and is currently strung with 10 strings but is able to accommodate 15 strings, so that each course would be made up of 3 strings. Mind, am I the only one who thinks that the positioning of the 15th machine head looks a bit like an afterthought?

G L Wilson

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

Harmony H82 electric tenor banjo

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's another electric banjo, this time it's a Harmony 4-string tenor and, unlike the previous ones we have looked at, it doesn't have a skin top to it - so that purists may argue that it's actually a tenor guitar. It has an electric guitar style magnetic pickup mounted onto a spruce top. The seller has copied out the marketing blurb from the 1955 Harmony catalogue that this appeared in, and which I in turn shall reproduce here:

A completely NEW instrument!

Harmony Electro Banjo (Pat. Apppl'd For).

A new instrument in which banjo tone is created electrically - an achievement of Harmony research and ingenuity.

Tuned and played as the traditional banjo. Though the magic of an ingenious bridge and electronic pickup assembly, mounted on a resonant spruce sounding board, it produces the familiar crisp banjo tone so popular today - through an amplifier.

Finished in Jubilee Red and white. Harmo-metal band with fluted red plastic insert at top edge. Pearlette inlaid fingerboard, with edge binding.

Individual tuning keys.

G L Wilson

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

(Customized) vintage BC Rich Mockingbird

guitarz.blogspot.com

At first when I saw this BC Rich Mockingbird, I was positively astonished - I always favor guitars with pickguards, and the sunburst finish that I usually don't like almost gives it a nice classic feel - and reveals what it owes to the Firebird. Then I remembered the Vox post a few days ago, and the suspicion about the authenticity of its strat pickups configuration.

And indeed, I always saw Mockingbirds with humbuckers, no pickguard, tune-o-matic bridge (rarely a Floyd Rose trem), like the metal oriented guitar it's meant to be. Then I noticed the headstock - reverse with 6 tuners in line and a big R logo... Definitely not original, and in spite of what its eBay seller claims (and I'm sure that he knows that this is not true), this is not a vintage Mockingbird but a frankenstein - and I have to admit that I quite like it better like this!

Bertram

Edit: this post called controversy, since - though I made a research about vintage Mockingbirds - several comments confirm it as an original BC Rich (maybe a short lived Mockingbird II trying to invest the strat market) and not a modified one - but I still need a concrete proof... Check the comments for more information.

Second edit: it's confirmed, it's an original from 1983 - check the comments for more (you will note that the info doesn't come from the Internet, but from an old paper magazine!). Thanks to the contributors to this post and shame on me!

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

1950s Stella electric with 3 pickups

guitarz.blogspot.com:

How cool is this? A Stella-brand electric guitar from the 1950s. Of course Stella are best known for their cheap and cheerful acoustics beloved by many an old bluesman, but - whilst rare - their electrics are not unheard of. This 3-pickup example is supposedly particularly uncommon. The seller suspects that it may originate from Japan, and I guess that could well be the case. I just love those three golden pickups with a volume and tone control for each. Although it appears to be a solid body, the seller says it is chambered which may be a good thing seeing as the body is reportedly "bigger than a Jazz Bass".

G L Wilson

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

Nechville Meteor Electric Banjo

guitarz.blogspot.com

OK, to be honest, I know nothing about banjos, and even less about electric banjos, so maybe I'm unduly amazed by this Meteor by Nechville, but I find the concept of the cutaway really brilliant and inspirational! It's so cool that it deserves to be a guitar (sorry banjo lovers!)

I won't pretend I can bring any more information about it - I would just copy-paste what you can find on Nechville's website, so if you're interested, just click on the link above. 

Bertram

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

Duesenberg chrome custom by Zinc

guitarz.blogspot.com

This gleaming artifact is - according to its eBay seller - a Duesenberg-based custom work by French luthier Zinc (about which I couldn't find any information by the way).

It has for sure the characteristic humbucker/P90 configuration of hollow-body Duesenbergs, also the Duesenberg knobs and switch (plus one extra that might be a killswitch), but the body doesn't really fit to any Duesenberg model I can identify: the F-hole is too wide, the cutaway too pointy and the body too round to be a Starplayer - the closest model to it... Also the neck is for sure no Duesenberg, but a strat copy (carrying a Zinc logo) - so it could be that only the gear made it to this custom - then the body is a mystery... Love the chrome finish though!

Bertram

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

Vintage Parlour Guitar with Hopf pickup

guitarz.blogspot.com:




I'm the first to admit I don't know much about parlour guitars (except that they are smaller. I know that much) and I'm not entirely convinced this seller does either but here's what he says...
"Rare, pre war parlour guitar with extreme RARE HOPF SPEZIAL pickup system made in Germany in the 1920s/1930s. The guitar is made of solid woods: (spruce top , maple body, maple neck) with rare HOPF SPEZIAL pickup
The instrument comes from my collection ! The guitar was not repaired or modified. Everything is in original condition."

And it is, as any self respecting haus frau would say, dirty, dirty, dirty!

Too right it's in original condition (assuming the original owner lived outdoors for the last 70 years and assuming the manufacturer included in the original spec, a twisted metal bar, a chunk of grey plastic cable, an old on/off switch and volume knob from grandad's valve radio and an old metal box all screwed to the front of the instrument).

At 750 Bucks (478 Sovs to us Limeys), this seller is definitely in the "optimistic" end of the market. A couple of months back I eBayed one of these pickups with a Hofner logo plus a chromed scratchplate with two more pickups in the same design with the Ideal logo for about £100 including delivery. Discounting £100 (to be generous) for the extremely rare pickup that leaves us with about £378 for an unknown (though admittedly oddly attractive) make of acoustic guitar in dubious condition with a big crack and various holes drilled in the front. Get on over to eBay and hit that BIN button before I do!

David in Barcelona

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

DANELECTRO Vintage VIOLIN SHAPE Acoustic Guitar - WOW!!!!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

We do get to see a lot of instruments being hawked under the banner of RARE!!!! on eBay (usually accompanied by WOW!!!) and often referring to a spectacularly bilious Steve Vai-esque paint job, an INCREDIBLE!!!! "C", "D" "U" or "X" neck profile, Kryptonite TONE-MONSTER PUPS, mother of Death-Metal-Toilet-Seat inlays or some such DAMN-GOOD-REASON-IT'S-RARE attribute, but this, as the seller say's is indeed PRETTY RARE!!!!! WOW!!!!!

And, pretty… pretty, to boot. A vintage Danelectro violin shaped f-hole archtop acoustic. And to answer his question. No, I have never seen another like it (except for the teardrop shaped Danelectro acoustic Gavin found about a year ago and another (signed by Steve Winwood and Kris Kristofferson WOW!!!) which appeared in an auction in 2007). Acoustic Danelectros are rare creatures indeed.

It's a cracking guitar (if you like violin/viola shaped guitars and as I own three, I must do) and in great condition. Apparently the original owner was in a cruise ship band (thought he doesn't say whether he took this on board with him). The seller also says that, based on his research (it doesn't say what that entailed or what his source was) it's from the 50's. I won't argue with that because I just don't have a clue. WOW!!! WOW!!!! WOW!!!!

Please excuse all the exclamation marks. I bought a job lot and have to use them up (there was also a bunch of {yellow} italics thrown in for free - and I'm not one to pass up a bargain).

David in Barcelona

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

Vox White Shadow

guitarz.blogspot.com

The Vox White Shadow is better known with 2 humbuckers and no pickguard, it's the first time that I see one with this strat configuration, and actually the pickguard improves its very special shape (again I wish I could see it in natural finish, because this blue finish doesn't do it any good). This twisted strat design has this kind of typically 1980s stylization that claimed then that psychedelic times were over - here came the computer age... 

The guitar case is also a nice design effort as you can see here.

This guitar was built at Matsumoku factory in Japan - Vox never built their own instruments but subcontracted them to several international companies, like Italian Eko in the 60s for the famous teardrop-shaped Mark VI or the Phantom, or in the case of the White Shadow to Aria - in the early 80s for Vox guitars first come-back.

Take the opportunity to have a look at Vox's new come back in the guitar field, with their 2008 beautiful high-end semi-hollow Virage model - unfortunately not the kind that most people can afford.

Bertram


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

1962 Fender Stratocaster electric guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

After the recent post on the completely stripped 59/65 Fender "Sonic Master"...
We have a completely stripped Stratocaster, with probably the most understated eBay listing I've seen for a pre CBS Strat in a looooooong time. And no sign of exclamation marks except to say "We only accept PAYPAL! ". Which is great, really.

The only pity is the lack of detail in the listing. I quote...

"The guitar has had the finish stripped.
There is light play wear on the body.
There is some surface rust on the body.
All electronics work".

That's it. There is no more.

I'm not a big Strat fan and in fact only own one Fender guitar (the FR48) but seeing this cheeky little number stripped to the wood, I'm kind of warming to them.

I've posted about guitars from these guys before. They claim to be nothing more than buyers and know nothing about guitars per se. However they do have a knack of coming up with some tasty vintage guitars - They have some very sweet lap steels at the moment - so well worth putting on the "favourite sellers" list. The only down side (for me) is they're in the US of A and that always means you have to factor in the shipping (which isn't that bad, considering) and the totally unpredictable import duty which can really mount up.

Stop Press: For those of you wondering about the date...

I just got this email from them.

"According to the serial #81987. The guitar dater project says its 1962". 2112Jefferson
Thanks Jefferson.

I don't normally edit posts once they're up but, in case anyone is in doubt... I think this is a CRACKING guitar and if I could afford it, I'd be glad to have it hanging over my rotund, middle aged belly.

David in Barcelona

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

Gibson Trini Lopez

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I remember seeing Trini Lopez on TV when I was a kid but never really got the music as this "Latin stuff" was definitely for the mums so this post is by way of making up a little for my youthful callowness. A beautiful 1967 Gibson Trini Lopez on eBay. I thought the headstock was reminiscent of a Firebird and a little Googling brought up this image of a Trini Lopez deluxe with reversed neck courtesy www.vintageguitars.org.uk



At the risk of sounding cynical (Moi?), this was a period when guitar manufacturer's marketing departments were working overtime to get us buying their products. It's hard to believe now but the guitar market was in decline at the end of the sixties and there were a lot of businesses trying to get a share of the pie. So, we have a Gibson 335 with diamond sound holes and a Firebird neck being promoted by a big star. It's notable that the Deluxe has florentine cutaways as opposed to the roundy ones. It's great that even something as cold as hard commerce can come up with something as beautiful as this.

David in Barcelona

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

Goya Panther

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This Goya Panther is described as a "Fender style Jaguar" which it leans towards but, thankfully it isn't just a copy. It is a lovely looking guitar despite have lost a fair amount of paint off the front. A plus for lovers of relic guitars. A bit of a shame for the rest of us. Never mind. I shan't be blathering on about my dislike of relicism so don't worry.

A little bit of info from the seller's Goya information site on Tripod - "The Goya Rangemasters electric guitars were produced between 1965 - 1969. The 'Goya' brand name was used at various times by Hershman Musical Instrument Company of New York, an importing firm, and as was so often the case with distribution companies one brand name turns up on guitars from a number of different sources. The Rangemaster model, for example, is of Italian origin, reflecting a 1960s predilection for multiple control layouts and most likely comes from the EKO factory. The vibrato bar, however, was provided by another Goya supplier, the Hagstrom company of Sweden. NOTE: Someone informed me that they had talked with a production manager from EKO in the 60s who said they had no involvement with Goya. That same person suggested to me that the Polverini Brothers in Italy made the Rangemaster guitars. It has also been suggested that Italian guitar maker Galanti made the Goya Panther models. The Goya Panther and the Galanti guitars look nearly identical."

A cool looking guitar with some history.

David in Barcelona

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

Fender Dan Smith Stratocaster

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This is a Fender Dan Smith Strat from the 1981-83 transitionary period (for more info, read here). As you can see from the photo, the gold finish is incredibly well worn, but allegedly this is no artificial relic job, this is the real deal. Which begs the question, what on earth was its owner doing to it to create such wear and tear?

G L Wilson

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

Woven bamboo archtop from Taiwan

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I can't tell you much about this guitar, but you can see for yourselves photos from the construction process here.

Thanks to Frogleg Che who posted this on the Guitarz Facebook page. Please feel free to post pictures of your own interesting or unusual guitars on our Facebook page - they may even make it onto the main blog.

G L Wilson

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

Tokai Talbo A-140S -Red Skeleton

guitarz.blogspot.com:

With Hallowe'en just around the corner, who would be without a skeleton guitar to usher in the creatures of the night?

What you haven't got one! Well, luckily for you, I've been checking out eBay on your behalf. This beauty in a deep devilish red could be just what you need. Fortunately for us the seller has posted a bunch of great photos so it's well worth nipping over to eBay to check it out. Unfortunately he doesn't say very much about the guitar so I'm not sure if it's an aluminium body. It's from the 90s so it probably is. A wicked looking guitar, whatever it's made of.

I tried a little Googling on this beastie but haven't come up with another with the Skeleton moniker. So I can't see where the connection is. Maybe the seller is trying for a festive sale.

David in Barcelona

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

Vintage Norma Guitar with fallen F holes!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

What the...? Double take time in eBay town! I tagged this guitar because I thought it was a conventional but very nice looking guitar, especially the pickups. I love the surrounds. Today when I was double checking it I noticed the f holes. What the? I'll say it again for the third time. What the? I don't think I've seen such a strange thing on an otherwise conventional instrument - ever. What on earth were they thinking? The top of the f holes are right beside the bridge, where there is most downward pressure. I'm surprised it's survived. Maybe , as the bottom is the deepest part, they thought it was the best place for sound projection... No, you're right. That doesn't make sense at all.

This definitely comes under the category " well, someone must have thought it was a good idea!"

David in Barcelona (back from Sitges)

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

Mandolin beauties galore from Framus

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Martin Niggemann writes:

I just stumbled upon a recent addition to the Framus vintage archives you might be interested in: the mandolin section. Apparently they made a couple of high-end electric/acoustic mandolins that were modelled on their famous jazz and electric guitars, e.g. the Black Rose, Television/Hollywood, etc., but with a twist!

I never came across any of these on eBay, so I suppose they are quite rare.

Cheers from Germany,
Martin

Thanks for that, Martin. I never knew that these existed either. I note also that there are 10-string and 12-string mandolins (each with 4 courses of strings in pairs and/or triples) as well as the more familiar 8-strings. I really like the solid-body electric - it's a much more pleasing shape than the more usual Fender Mandocaster.

G L Wilson

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

It's that cat again! This time on a Burny Flying V

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Following on from our piece about the Fernandes "Love Driver" Strat, I would like to thank Ralf Mutz from bringing this Burny Flying V LV-115KK Ken model to my attention. Like the Fernandes Love Driver it has an ultra-sparkly finish, and there at the 12-fret is the very same black cat inlay. The Burny brand was produced by Fernandes, but the Fernandes name was initially reserved for Fender replicas with the Burny brand being applied to Gibson replicas.

G L Wilson

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

Hofner E1 archtop electric hollowbody

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Recently, when we were looking at a Gibson ES 125, I was speaking of my fondness for the non-cutaway design on electric hollowbody guitars. Well here's another similarly designed vintage beauty, the Hofner E1. For a guitar made in the early 1960s this one appears to be in fantastic condition, and the Buy It Now price is a very attractive £475. In this modern age, a two pickup electric guitar of this design looks really incongruous, but I can't help liking it. Interestingly, there's no pickup selector switch - I guess you select pickups by using the volume controls.

G L Wilson

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

Fender "Sonic Master"

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This is a Fender Frankenstein job with a 1965 Duo-Sonic body married to a 1959 Musicmaster neck, currently being offered for sale at Krazy Kat Music in San Antonio, TX. It's a great looking guitar; it appears to be a natural relic (as opposed to an artificial relic), and looks like it's seen plenty of action over the years.

Now, I don't know about you, but I get confused by the various "student" models that Fender put out between the late 1950s and 1970s. The Musicmaster, Duo-Sonic, Mustang and Bronco all look to be remarkably similar.

Well, to put it briefly, the Musicmaster and Duo-Sonic were originally deigned in 1955 and were essentially the same guitar but with single and twin pickups respectively. Because they were aimed at students, i.e. often younger players, these guitars had a short scale length of 22.5".

Early examples had a body that was even-waisted, but from 1964 - to keep in line with the newly released Mustang - the body was now slightly offset. These models were re-labelled Musicmaster II and Duo-Sonic II.

From this period all three guitars - Musicmaster II, Duo-Sonic II and Mustang - were offered in a choice of 22.5" and 24" scale lengths.

The Mustang and Duo-Sonic II were essentially the same guitar but with the Mustang featuring a tremolo system (the Fender Dynamic Vibrato tailpiece, similar to that which appeared on the Jazzmaster). Both guitars had pickups with adjacent on-off-on switches that allowed the pickups to be selected in or out of phase. Used together, they could function as a humbucker.

As for the Bronco, originally issued in 1967, this like the Musicmaster was a single pickup guitar, but whilst the Musicmaster had its pickup in the neck position, the Bronco had its pickup located near the bridge. It also had its own unique design of tremolo. It was only offered in a 24" scale length.

Another related guitar is the Fender Swinger, a short-run guitar released in 1969 by the CBS-owned incarnation of Fender, and which used Fender Musicmaster parts on a chopped and re-modelled body from the unpopular Fender Bass V.

G L Wilson

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

The Gibson Moderne. A 1982 reissue of the guitar that never existed.

guitarz.blogspot.com:

The Moderne was the other guitar in the trilogy that included the Explorer and the Flying V but the evidence is that it never made it into production. It's been claimed that a handful were made and either destroyed or somehow "lost". That makes a great story and one that will probably never be truly authenticated as it was fifty odd years ago and most of the people involved are now pushing up daisies. A quick look at the article linked in this sellers text reveals that a few copies have been made, notably Ibanez's recreation of the trilogy in 1975 and Epiphone's (re)issue in 2000. Even this Gibson example at just over £3000 (BIN) is one of just 183 made (that number isn't verified either so even the reissue is continuing the tradition of vagueness and speculation).

The article also talks about Glenn Miller (not the famous bandleader) and his reconstructions of the '82 Modernes at Wrona's House of Violins in New York, from a stock of parts he bought from Gibson in 1984. It seems he is still producing them today from those Gibson parts though it's not clear if they're 100% original. These "made from Gibson parts but not BY Gibson" Modernes are certainly going to cloud the already muddy waters for the future and further enhance the mythology of the Moderne.

David in Barcelona

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

Fernandes Love Driver is a real pussycat

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I almost feel that I should have to apologise when posting about another Stratocaster. However, this custom shop quality instrument is no Fender. Built in Japan's FujiGen factory in either the late 1970s or early 1980s (my guess would be the latter), this Fernandes Love Driver with "Erotic Body" is the kind of quality Japanese "copy" that got Fender thinking that if they can't beat them they may as well join them and which led to the emergence of the Squier and Fender Japan lines.

What would you call that finish? It's a kind of dusky pink sparkle. And I'm not usually one for fancy inlay work, but I do like the black cat at the 12th fret position.

G L Wilson

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

90s Acoustic Dean

guitarz.blogspot.com

This electro-acoustic guitar from Dean has something vulgar that is almost exciting (like Patricia Arquette wearing pink leopard-print leggings and lake placid blue lace bra in True Romance, if you see what I mean..) I cannot find anything about it on the Web, though it's just from the 90s and from an important company, and not some brandless Japanese cheapo from the 60s - if anybody has info, it's welcome.

I'm busy with electro-acoustic guitars lately, and quite desperate to see that they are at 99% even more conservative than electric ones ; that's why I chose to show this one here: even if I think it's quite ugly, at least it tries something different.

Bertram

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

Defil Jowita 12-string

guitarz.blogspot.com

A vintage semi-hollow body Polish Defil Jowita 12-string with flat top, cat's eyes soundholes, undefined pickups - some reviews I read say it sounds bizarre but not bad... 

I like the very modernist feel of this kind of design - simple, sharp, elegant -, it has something optimistic from a time you could still believe in human and guitar progress.

Bertram


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

1959 Gibson ES 125 with Bigsby

guitarz.blogspot.com:

For me there is something very appealing about a hollowbody electric with a non-cutaway body design. Yes, I know access to the top of the fingerboard is restricted - perhaps it's the anti-shredder in me that finds this desireable.

Most people associate such non-cutaway body designs with fully acoustic guitars but the Gibson ES 125 was clearly designed to be electrically amplified - just check out the depth of the body in the image above right. This particular example, currently for sale on eBay, comes complete with its original Bigsby vibrato.

G L Wilson

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

Hayman 4040 bass from 1973

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's another one for the lefties. It's a Hayman 4040 bass, built in London by Jack Golder and Norman Houlder of Shergold Woodcrafts Limited (established 1967). The Hayman brand name was applied to instruments distributed by Dallas Arbiter until termination of the contract in 1975. From 1975 to 1982 their guitars and basses appeared under their own Shergold brand.

G L Wilson

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

Teisco / Kay semi-hollowbody

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Wil McGrath writes:

I've been enjoying the blog for a while, and I've finally found something to contribute! My girlfriend picked this up from a local store that deals with goofy vintage guitars a while ago, and we've been unable to find any information out about it. It's obviously a Kay-badged Teisco, and while I've seen similar hollowbodies with sliders instead of pots (you featured a Harmony a while back, ferinstance), I haven't been able to find another guitar exactly like it. At this point it doesn't really matter what it is, I just figured I'd share (and if anyone asks, it isn't for sale)!

Thanks for that! I hadn't actually realised that Teisco built guitars for Kay, but it doesn't surprise me at all.

G L Wilson

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

Top Gear guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Looking for all the world like an electric banjo, here's a one-off project guitar that someone has built from plywood, and which is based on the logo of BBC TV's motoring show, Top Gear. The Tele neck pickup "hidden" inside the letter "O" is quite a clever touch.

G L Wilson

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

OMG! Another Mel-O-Bar. But what a Mel-O-Bar!!!! Naugahyde!!!!

guitarz.blogspot.com

We've had a few vintage Mel-O-Bars recently but this one is 1980s, unused with just a couple of small scratches on the neck and a liberal coating of shop dust. That's like fairy dust but more expensive. The sellers say it's been on display in their shop since the 1980s. The body is foam padded "for comfort" and, it's covered in Naugahyde!!!!!!! Sorry, more exclamation marks and bold type, I just can't help it.

It was Tom Waits who introduced me to the subtle, sticky and seductive texture, the clammy and clinging faux leatherette-ishness and the sweet, heady vinylious aroma of Naugahyde and I've been a sucker for it ever since.

I checked out Naugahyde on Google and they are still in business! www.naugahyde.com 

"There is only one Naugahyde and it's proudly made in the USA." Well, for that I'm glad! They do have a somewhat skewed take on eco friendly though, which is kind of fuzzed over with their story that Naugahyde comes from the sloughed skin of naugas - "No naugas were harmed in the production of this material". But as Naugahyde is actually made of PVC, the welfare of cute little fictional critters is the least of our worries. Slight digression... Guitar making is, in the mainstream at least, an industrial process and, even apart from the timbers that are used to build guitars, there are glues, paints, varnishes, plastics and heavy metals (yeah! I'm talking to you Ozzy) used in their manufacture so... Where art thou, eco-guitar?

It also has another interesting though somehow less, well, tactile feature (if you get my drift) which I've never seen before. Along the edge of the neck is a guide bar to help position the slide. I guess you would feel the notches with your finger tips as you play. I tried searching for more info on this but with no luck so far. It may well be an innovation unique to Melobars.

I'm pleased to say, that as it's clearly not everyones cup of tea, I had little opposition in the usual bidding frenzy over there at eBay Towers and it will be winging its way to sunny Barcelona (into the loving arms of the Spanish customs department so they can determine how much to fleece me for this time) very shortly. I stayed up till 4.30 in the morning to bid for this, by the way.

David in Barcelona

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

Risa LP-style electric ukulele

guitarz.blogspot.com:

When Bertram posted his photo of the ukulele shop window in Berlin recently, the one thing that really stuck out for me was the diminutive 4-string Les Paul in the centre of the window display. It turns out that this is an electric tenor ukulele from Germany's very own Risa Instruments.

Risa have for a few years now been producing a very interesting range of professional quality ukes, including minimalistic headless uke solids and steel string electrics. For a number of years they produced an electric with a thinline kidney bean-like body equipped with Danelectro-style lipstick pickups. Now they've gone more traditional and have based their latest electric quite faithfully on the Les Paul, complete with a set-neck. There are soprano and tenor models, and a choice of natural mahogany, cherry sunburst (pictured above), and black finishes. (Incidentally, there is nothing new about the electric steel-string ukulele - Gibson themselves produced such an instrument way back).

They look fantastic, but don't come cheap being priced between €499 and €599. My immediate reaction was that "I want one of these" but then I saw the demo video and was put off slightly:

I mean, he may as well have been playing a guitar. What is the point of using a ukulele?

What appeals to me about a uke, is using different tunings from the guitar and approaching the instrument in a different way allowing for fresh song ideas.

I'd still like one (a tenor... I can't be dealing with the titchy scale of the soprano), but I for sure won't be doing any of THAT.

G L Wilson

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

Migma Elektra Deluxe

guitarz.blogspot.com

Time for another East-German guitar! Here is a Migma Elektra Deluxe - and like usually for this kind of guitar, there is little to know about it. It is from the 70s, and there was also a Musima version of it (regular followers of this blog know about this, otherwise click on the Musima /Migma label below), with a slightly different body shape, and a more sober finish.

Because the finish of this one is quite astonishing, and at first I thought it was a recent and eccentric retrofit, but I found out that some Migma guitars had this kind of accordion plastic finish that you find also on Hagström or Eko guitars of the 60s, when the whole music world switched from accordion hell to the beautiful guitar era. This finish is actually more tasteful than the usual blue sparkle, mother-of-toilet-seat or faux-wood, and makes this guitar quite a looker. 

I would consider adding it to my budding communist guitars collection, if its mislead eBay seller didn't ridiculously overprice it. I hope that the guitar won't sell and that these instruments can still be bought by musicians and not only vintage speculators. 

Bertram

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

Get ready to do a double take... It's the Leverty Guardian guitar!

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Just looking at this creation from Leverty Guitars, I am lost for words!

In which case I shall borrow from the eBay listing:

The 'Guardian Guitar' is an in house and totally one off 'Leverty Custom Guitars' project, built by Dick Levens, and custom painted and finished by me (Jim Fogarty). Our one aim when the original idea for this guitar was conceived back in early 2001, was to build the 'ultimate' totally hand crafted custom guitar, featuring and incorporating seriously detailed artwork into the overall design, finished perfectly and using only the very best of materials and electrics in the build.

The 'Guardian Guitar' for sale here was the end result completed in late 2008.

The body of the guitar is mahogany, the neck is of one piece construction with an ebony fingerboard. Fingerboard markers are finely etched in 22 carat gold leaf, all individually worked and lacquered in (though you'll need a jewellers eyepiece to see the finer details). The pick ups are 'one off' custom Kent Armstrong humbuckers, designed and made specifically for this guitar.

The electrics were very much based on the setup of one of Jimmy Pages' guitars, with a three way selector switch controlling the two pickups and separate tone and volume controls for both bridge and neck pickups. The volume controls giving the option of single coil operation for each pickup, the bridge tone pot also giving the option of reverse phase. The neck tone pot giving the option of running the neck pickup in series with bridge pickup.

This guitar is most definitely a complete 'one off'. It could never and will never be repeated. The painting process was finally finished in October 2008 after literally hundreds of hours of painstaking and finely detailed work. The artwork applied to the both the front and the back of the guitar, the back of the neck and the headstock genuinely need's to be seen to be fully appreciated. The artwork on this guitar is extreme, the detail almost ridiculous.

Jim Fogarty has documented the whole artwork process here on his website (info via Guitar Noize - I knew I'd seen it somewhere before!)

See also Dick Levens' website.

G L Wilson

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

A late 30's Harmony made 'Ball McIntire' slide guitar

First of all I want to make an UNRESERVED APOLOGY to Gavin for turning his blog into a circus with an ill considered and childish remark which upset quite a few people.
I feel like the guy who gets invited to someone's party and proceeds to pee in the plant pot.
I hope this entry goes some way to make up for the stress I caused and restores some harmony to these pages. Sorry Gavin.

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Talking of harmony: This very nice looking Ball McIntire guitar on ebay caught my eye as much for it's own intrinsic beauty as for the lengthy and detailed description, not to mention almost enough photos to crash eBay's servers. The seller of this instrument obviously has a great deal of knowledge and interest in guitars. Definitely not one of those who are "selling it for a friend and don't have anything to plug it in to so can't say if works or not". Did I mention the sound clips? Seven (count em) nicely recorded little pieces which showcase the great tone of this, more than seventy year old, guitar. It's worth checking the listing just to read his description while listening to him play.

David in Barcelona

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

Harmony Meteor archtop electric

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This 1970s-era Harmony Meteor archtop fits the bill quite nicely, and I'm always happy to find something interesting for my Southpaw friends who all too often have the fuzzy end of the lollipop when it comes to guitar choice.

Its inspirations are all too obvious, but it has a number of features of its own that characterize it as something more individual, such as that big ol' Harmony headstock, the stencil-like f-holes, the bolt-on neck, and those DeArmond Gold Tone pickups.

Strangely, there's a strap button mounted on the lower horn, so I guess some right-handed person (a Northpaw?) has previously been playing this. Somehow there seems something wrong about that; lefties don't get enough choice of guitars as it is, without the righties taking their instruments.

G L Wilson

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

Gosh! It's a Guyatone! And it's Gorgeous!

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A Japanese 1964 vintage Guyatone SG. It is a rather stonking example in my opinion. I'm quite taken with slightly greasy looking black finish, the gold foil pickups, chunky little Cadillac tailfin tailpiece and the exquisite G spot logo. All in all a very desirable piece of work. And according to the seller "This Guitar comes with Card Board Box!!" Who could ask for more?!!!!

David in Barcelona

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

Ukuleles, ukuleles everywhere!

guitarz.blogspot.com

It's good to carry a photo camera all the time, you can fish things in real life, that you can't find on the Internet... I pass regularly by this window, and I always think of GL - our host here at Guitarz - and his taste for ukuleles (I tried one myself but couldn't get anything interesting out of it, I'd be more attracted by a lute, a saz or a mandocaster). So this time I took a picture of it!

Anyway, this shop is fascinating, and I never thought you can have so many uke variations: banjolele, guitarlele, resonatorlele, lespaulele, sitarlele, travelling ukulele, baritone... Also little amps and other accessories, and - something I didn't notice but that is obvious on the photo - a book to learn how to play AC/DC songs on a ukulele!

Bertram

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

ESP Japan Custom Shop Ultratone as played by Arnold Schwarzenegger

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OK, let's do a caption contest on this one!

This guitar, as played by Arnie himself whilst campainging for Governor at a rally at the California State Capitol October 5, 2003 in Sacramento, California, is currently up for grabs on Gumtree.

It's an ESP Japan Custom Shop Ultratone in black relic finish with a set maple neck topped off with a rosewood fingerboard inlaid with skull and cross bones position markers and with 22 extra jumbo frets. It is equipped with a single EMG 81 humbucker in the bridge position and a single volume control, and also features Tone Pros hardware, Sperzel tuners, and comes with a ESP Custom Shop case.

Thanks to Bill for this one.

G L Wilson

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

Red Rocket Charlie Christian Thinline Tele

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Matt Nowicki of Red Rocket Guitars in the USA custom builds retro boutique guitars such as this Thinline Tele in Heritate Orange, equipped with Fralin Blues Special Tele bridge and a Vintage Vibe "Charlie Christian" in the neck. It also comes with an optional set of magnets and it is wired for volume and tone controls with a premium paper-in-oil tone capacitor on a 4 way switch, which provides for a range of tones from vintage jazzy to hard and bright, and the hum-cancelling position where the sound gets big.

The body is Chambered Ash, double bound with ivoroid and checker purfling, with the controls being rear mounted with exotic wood covers, and also features Red Rocket's very attractive own design f-hole.

The flame maple neck is finished in a vintage tint nitro and has a Paduak fingerboard - real mother of pearl position markers and side dots, '59 LP (.89-.98) profile, 1 11/16” graph-tech nut, 22 medium jumbo stainless frets, machine bolts with threaded inserts, double acting truss rod in heel, 9.5" radius, and a Custom Paduak truss rod head plug.

The vintage style tele bridge has compensated brass barrels, fingerpicker's cutout, 2 extra mounting screws to increase stability and extra thick chrome, the best. Other Hardware includes Electrosocket, Sperzel Trim-lok tuners, and chrome barrel knobs.

G L Wilson

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

Inter-Mark Cipher

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This, apparently is a rare 1960s Inter-Mark Cipher guitar. I know nothing about it, and have not previously heard of the brand, which may be meaningless anyway seeing as so many guitars in the 1960s and beyond were re-badged depending on what stores they were being sold in. It could be Japanese, but to my eyes it has an Eastern European look to it.

If anyone knows any more or can identify this guitar, please let us know!

(My Rare Guitars has a 1970s semi-hollowbody Inter-Markguitar from Japan, but that doesn't necessarily mean to say that the above pictured guitar is also Japanese, especially if Inter-Mark were a brandname rather than an actual manufacturer).

G L Wilson

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

Washburn Tour 24 Tele

guitarz.blogspot.com:

With reference to the Takamine GE-400 that Bertram posted yesterday, Ed writes:

I had a mid 80's Washburn Tele that must have come from the same factory. Black with Orange/Red accents, including the fret markers. Same tremelo, too. I bought it on eBay because it matched my shoes. Solidly built, but It was the heaviest tele I ever played. I shipped it to someone in the Ukraine last year.

Love your blog,

Ed in Laguna Beach

Thanks for that, Ed. I remember these from back in the day, and thought they were cool then. I suppose it's a Tele in body outline only. It's a Washburn Tour 24 and would have been built between 1982-1985, with solid Ash body, dual humbuckers and tremolo. I'm not sure what the trem unit is in this case, but some of these guitars (most likely the USA-built "Chicago" models) were outfitted with Washurn's proprietary Wonderbar locking tremolo system - which was a much bulkier piece of hardware than that seen here.

G L Wilson

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

Back to the future - Old Alloy Electric Guitar 1965 Vintage Unique 1 Off

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Now, this is an unexpected find. The seller claims it's from 1965 but from the overall look, the pickup and the headstock it looks like it's from the 80s/90s. So as the seller says, It's waaaaaay ahead of it time. I'm simply going to copy and paste the sellers description in full as he's done such a good job and to be honest, there isn't a whole lot more I could add. Except to say that if this is from the sixties, it's a pity it didn't go into production.

Here we go...

...Well, where do I start in describing this incredibly unique electric guitar. I can not think of any other that comes near the unusual build or sheer sexiness of this instrument. It was clearly way ahead of it's time. I have nicknamed her `The Bat'Leth" because the body has a striking similarity to the Klingon battle weapon in Star trek.

I was left this guitar by an old neighbour of mine in his will, where I used to live in Bristol. I had always admired it whenever round his house and had asked many times if it was for sale but he always said no.

His name was Brian Laney. He worked for the R&D department of an English guitar company but I have been racking my brain for several days and have never been able to remember the name of it. Though I believe they were Bristol based. I have no idea if they even still exist. The guitar was handed to him on his retirement.

The guitar was a prototype built by Brian circa 1965 in order to assess the musical qualities of different materials. Needless to say it is a One Off. Completely unique. It is left handed, though I remember being told that it can easily be converted by unbolting everything and swapping everything over the other way round.

From what I remember being told, the body and neck were made from an aircraft quality alloy, the head being wood. It has a Spruce-Ply Back, stained blue, which is attached to the body by bolts. There is a gap of about 5mm between the back & the front which I have tried to show in one of the pictures. The whole guitar is only about an inch thick.

The main alloy body is about 10mm thick and was cut, shaped and finished entirely by hand. The bottom front point is removable, I assume to suit your mood (see Picture 5). Brian had a sense of humour.

At the rear, the neck is attached to the body by another alloy plate, thus making an extremely rigid structure. Indeed, this guitar will sustain for Britain. The wood back serves no structural purpose whatsoever.

It seems there used to be a cover of some sought on the back of the neck. The neck itself was `hand carved` and shaped from alloy. The head is wood with what seems like a clear plastic backing and chromed tuners. I don't know if these are original or not.

The nut appears to be graphite. The pickup is a humbucker but I have no idea of the name or model of it. There is the facility to fit 2 single coil pickups but I don't think this has ever been done.

Amazingly, the guitar only weighs 9 lbs, the same as a Gibson Les Paul, though I am sure a pound or two could be saved by changing the bolts to alloys.

I have plugged it in on many occasions and she can certainly sing, though my rendition of `Smoke On The Water` hardly gives her justice. I'm only a poor drummer, so no talent then?

It comes with it's own custom cable as the body is fitted with a `canon` connector. A normal 1/4" mono jack is at the other end.

The guitar is fitted with strings but their age is unknown. I have cleaned her a little bit, though not to much as I don't want to destroy the Patina of the past 45 years.

The volume pot could either do with a clean or replacing (cheap to buy), as it's a bit crackly when turning, though she happily pumps out the decibels.

One word of warnng. If you intend to emulate Pete Townsend, beware that you will probably destroy the stage, not the guitar as she is incredible strong.

I have no idea as to value, so have started the bidding at 99p and see where it goes from there...

Well, there you have it. Not wanting to be a doubting Thomas (more like a disbelieving Betty), the pickup looks like an 80s (Dimarzio or similar) and the shape is so 80s/90s - I know the Gibson Explorer is from the fifties so this could well be the real deal. It's just so hard to imagine this being played by The Beatles, The Moody blues, Roger Miller, Sonny and Cher, Cliff Richard, Ken Dodd, The Seekers or pretty much any band in 1965. I'm pretty sure the machine heads are later than 65 but they could have simply been replaced.

I have to say I do love it. I love the blue coloured plywood, the industrial rivets and the raw metalness of it. I'm tracking it on eBay and if it stays close enough to my budget, I will be bidding for it. If I get it we'll be able to see close up and hopefully learn some more about it.

David in Barcelona

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