Vintage & Rare Guitar of the Week: 1965 Koontz tripleneck 12-string guitar, 6-sting guitar and 6-string bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:  

I'll allow the extensive description on Vintage & Rare to give you the necessary info about the above-pictured beast:

This is a one-of-a-kind Custom Triple-neck guitar was specially built by New York Luthier Sam Koontz between 1965 and 1967. Unique triple-cutaway, multi-bound flamed maple, chambered body with 'Florentine' cutaways measuring 19.50 inches in width and just under 1 3/4 inches in thickness. This 'monster' guitar weighs a healthy 19.20 lbs (definitely not for a six-stone weakling) and has three (bolt-on) one-piece mahogany necks. All three necks have individual Grover 'Rotomatic' tuners with kidney-shaped metal buttons. The three headstocks are all multi-bound with black laminate faces. The six-string guitar (in the center) has "Koontz" and a nine-piece decoration all inlaid in mother-of-pearl. The twelve-string and the six-string bass necks just feature the nine-piece decoration. All three necks have 'dome' shaped black plastic truss-rod covers, each with two screws.

Each neck is secured by four screws. The six-string neck has a nut width of just under 1 5/8 inches and a medium-to-thick profile. The twelve-string neck has a nut width of 1 13/16 inches and a medium-to-thick profile. The six-string bass neck has a nut width of just under 1 15/16 inches and again a medium-to-thick profile. Each of the necks has a bound ebony fretboard with pearl 'split-block' position markers. The six and the twelve-string have a 'zero' + 20 jumbo frets and a scale length of 24 3/4 inches. The six-string bass has a 'zero' + 15 jumbo frets and a scale length of 34.00 inches.

Each neck has a specially wound Koontz pickup in the neck position. The six and twelve string pickups with six individual pole-pieces, the six-string bass pickup with a single 'blade' bar. Six controls (three volume and three tone) all mounted on a metal plate behind the Bigsby tailpiece on the six-string guitar. 'Rickenbacker' style seven-sided black plastic control knobs with plain metal tops. Three-way neck selector switch mounted between the six-string and the six-string bass. Three-way 'bass-boost' switch on the six-string bass. Two separate four-layer tortoiseshell over white plastic pickguards, each secured by two screws. All three guitars have specific Koontz bridges with individually adjustable metal saddles and metal covers.

The six-string guitar (in the center) has a 'Horseshoe' style Bigsby vibrato tailpiece unit. The six-string bass and the twelve string guitar have specific metal fixed tailpieces, each secured by five screws and each with a metal cover (secured by four screws). There are some areas of wear on the body, especially on the back of the six-string where there is a fairly large area of surface loss. There are also some small areas of surface loss on the sides of the body. The top and back of the body are a wonderful three-tone sunburst with quite dazzling 'flame'. 

I have to wonder, who would ever need such a guitar? The only realistic scenario would be when one person needs to perform a song which requires them to play 6-string guitar, 12-string guitar and bass VI all within the same song. I can't imagine that scenario arises very often, and would probably require a song to be especially written for the instrument. Nevertheless, it's an interesting beastie and worthy of inclusion here on Guitarz.

It could be yours for $13,500 via Vintage & Rare.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Hoyer double florentine cutaway archtop beauty

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You know by now how fond I am of semi-hollow archtop guitars with double florentine cutaway, such as this beautiful Hoyer. I don't understand why this design is not more successful - or maybe it is its rarity that makes it so attractive!

I couldn't identify this model made in the 1970s, in spite of its characteristic and admirable engraved stoptail, so all I can offer you is mere contemplation, combined or not with lust...

Bertram D

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

The Mercury Head from B-Way Guitars

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Ben Shin of New York's B-Way Guitars contacted us here at Guitarz with news of his new line, the Mercury Head guitar. It somehow manages to look new and familiar at the same time, and as I commented to Ben, reminded me of a Fender Strat hybridized with an Ovation Breadwinner and a little bit of Tele thrown in. I asked Ben about how the design came about, and whether he was thinking ergonomically. He told me:

How I arrived at the body shape: yes, it was partly based on ergonomics. I took some inspiration from Klein and Teuffel, which I would guess were in turn partly inspired by the Breadwinner. I also sat down and studied how my Strat and Tele sat on my legs and which parts actually touched me when seated in the typical electric and classical guitar positions and how the locations of the strap buttons and body contours affected the position of everything when standing. Then I started messing with a picture of a Strat on my Macbook, warping it this way and that, squeezing certain parts, blowing up others, trying my best to guess how the total mass and distribution of weight would work in reality. (I didn't have the resources to go through multiple prototypes.) Everyone's bodies and arms are built differently, but at least for me the shape feels very comfortable in both the standard horizontal and diagonal/classical seated positions.

I also had a theory that extending the overall length of the body and moving the center of gravity towards the tail without increasing the total volume might deepen the voice of the guitar a tad without making it heavier. Now that I have the prototype in my hands, I think it worked. Although to be honest it's hard to separate what's due to the body shape from what's due to that particular piece of alder. To my ears the bridge pickup has a nice bark to it, without the icepick highs that many don't like about Strat bridge pickups, the neck pickup has balanced highs and a good amount of tight bottom end without mud, and the in-between position sounds like your typical chimey Tele.

I think it looks and sounds great - you can hear it for yourself in this soundclip. It is indeed a quality instrument, with the bulk of the build process being carried out by Glenn Sweetwood of Sweetwood Guitars on behalf of B-Way. The Mercury Head features Sweetwood's innovative 2-bolt neck system using machine thread connectors and allows for a greater contact area under pressure in the neck join, which means better tone transfer.

Thanks to Ben for getting in touch with us and showing us this interesting new guitar. Here at Guitarz we're always happy to support indpendent luthiers and small, non-corporate, guitar companies. Keep in touch, Ben, and let us know of any developments.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

No, it's NOT an Ibanez Iceman, it's a Greco Mirage Bass

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With a starting price of €600, this silver sparkle Greco Mirage Bass with two split P-Bass style pickups is currently listed on eBay by a seller in France; which is interesting because it's quite unusual indeed to see these guitars outside of Japan.

But I know what you're thinking... "Surely, it's a copy of an Ibanez Iceman?"

Well, no, it isn't. The Mirage/Iceman was designed in the mid 1970s by a committee consisting of Hoshino (Ibanez), Kanda Shokai (Greco) and leading Japanese guitar manufacturer FujiGen. The resulting guitar was marketed by the different distribution companies in different global markets, and so the guitar we think of as the Ibanez Iceman was marketed outside of Japan, but within Japan the same guitar was marketed as the Greco Mirage.

To confuse the story a little further, early Ibanez examples were known as the Ibanez Artist 2663, the name being changed to Iceman in 1978, so this guitar has legitimately appeared under three different guises none of which can be said to be a derivative of the other.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

1929 Gibson L5 with 1971 neck and pickup

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Sometimes it's good to just contemplate the most classic vintage electric guitar model, the Gibson L5 - here with a Johnny Smith replacement neck with beautiful inlays... My next guitar will be something like this (just 10 times cheaper)!

Bertram D

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Your Guitars: "Uncle" Bill Kennedy and his Framus Hollywood solidbody

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Bill writes:

Regarding Framus. I was stationed in West Germany in the late 50s and early 60s. Came over with a beautiful Magnatone guitar [pictured right] and sold it to buy a Framus Hollywood solid body.

It was an outstanding guitar. I sent a picture of me to Framus and they posted it on their vintage site. Also featured me in one of their advertisements. Check out the below sites. The unclebillmusic.com site has a lot about the guitars I’ve used.

Love your site...

Bill Kennedy

www.twiliters.com
www.unclebillmusic.com
www.myspace.com/wildbillkennedy
www.rockabillyhall.com/BillKennedy1.html

Hey Bill, thanks for those great photos and some nice links.

Here at Guitarz we really enjoy featuring reminiscences and stories about readers' guitars, and we particularly like to see pictures of you guys with your guitars which helps to make your stories all the more personal. Keep 'em coming, folks - you can email me at guitarzblog-gavin@yahoo.com

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Vintage & Rare Guitar of the Week: Framus Strato Bass from 1974

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Whilst we're in a Framus state of mind, here's another Framus I'd like to show you, currently being offered for sale by Guitar Point in Germany and listed on Vintage & Rare. Again, I am not sure of the exact model. Its Jazzmaster-like styling is shared by several Framus Strato and Strato Star basses listed on the Framus Vintage Archive website, but they don't appear to have one with these pickups and pickguard. It's possibly just a variation of the Strato Bass.

It's interesting also to note that Framus made a Jazzmaster-styled bass three decades before Fender (or rather Fender Japan) decided to produce such a model.

This particular 1974 bass in near mint condition is being offered for sale via Vintage & Rare priced at €675.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Following on from yesterday's post, it's a Framus Atlantic 5/110

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Although I believe I have quite a fair knowledge about guitars, the various brands and models, and also have the ability to retain tidbits of detail about various models, I have never claimed to be a guitar "expert" - and one of the things I love about compiling this blog is that if I don't know something I can throw the question out to the readership and, 9 times out of 10, get an answer.

So, yesterday's mystery Framus is in fact an Atlantic 5/110. It WAS included on the Framus Vintage website but was filed under "Thinline" when I had (quite fairly, I think) been searching to no avail through the "Archtop" category.

Thanks to David B for identifying this guitar and for sending the attached images from the 1965 Framus catalogue.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

1960s Framus electric archtop on Craigs List, but any idea which model?

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Ren Kay posted a pic of this tasty vintage Framus archtop on our Facebook page, but I can't find it in the Framus Vintage Archive. There are guitars that are similarly shaped with the same deep cutaway and same headstock design, but I couldn't find another with the same pick-up and switching configuration, batwing-shaped pickgaurd, and Framus vibrato. Does anyone have a clue what this model might be?  [EDIT: See the follow-up blog post.]

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Rarer sibling of the Ampeg AEB-1 "Scroll" Bass, 1966-vintage Ampeg ASB-1 "Devil Bass" on eBay now

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Original Ampeg AEB-1 and (fretless) AUB-1 Scroll basses themselves so rarely turn up for sale on eBay, so to see this example of the even rarer Ampeg ASB-1 Devil Bass listed... well, I'd be failing in my Guitarz hosting duties if I didn't blog about it.

Features are more or less the same as the AEB-1, although with a different body shape. In common with the AEB-1, the Devil Bass - so called because of the pointy horns - has through-body sound holes, the same scroll-headed neck, and the same "mystery" hidden pickup (essentially a steel diaphragm over two magnetic coils set into epoxy) which allows use of nylon or gut strings if so desired.

I believe that Scroll Bass "expert" Bruce Johnson currently makes an updated version of the Devil Bass (or at least he has been planning to do so), and you can read more about the original Ampeg ASB-1 and AUSB-1 (fretless) Devil Basses on his website.

The Ampeg ASB-1 pictured here is currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $19,500.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Revamped 1979 Jolana Diamant

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The Jolana Diamant was - and still is, since the brand has been revived - a Czechoslovakian copy of a Les Paul, and for me it has the special vibe that also have Japanese copies from the 1970s - it's difficult to tell why but they are almost more attractive than original Gibson models! 

Anyway, as you can see this model has been retrofit with contemporary gear - not as cool as the original stuff that you can see here - in order (I assume) to keep it playable. And though a vintage Diamant is a very nice guitar, I prefer to see it renovated and played than original and in a museum (or a basement). What do you think?

Bertram D

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Just look at the size of the case for this guitar: pointy 1980s Hondo H-1

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's another 1980s offering from Hondo guitars - reviled in some quarters and loved in others. It's a Hondo II H-1 from the 1980s with body styling obviously based on the now legendary Gibson Explorer but with the pointiness factor taken to the extreme.

Hondo guitars offered a budget range of instruments made in Japan and Korea. The company was originally formed in 1969 by Jerry Freed and Tommy Moore of the International Music Corporation (IMC) of Fort Worth, Texas, working in conjunction with the Samick Company.

It's interesting to note that Hondo was one of the first overseas companies to offer American-made DiMarzio pickups on their guitars - that surely would have made the purchase of a Hondo guitar all the more attractive to the prospective buyer with a strict budget in mind.

The H-1, looking perfect for hair metal bands, is almost certainly a Korean-made Hondo coming from the latter part of the 1980s (Hondo moved guitar production to Korea in 1983). I think if I had a bandmate who played one of these, I'd keep my distance through fear of being impaled.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

One-off Fender Weirdcaster - is it a bouzouki? a tenor guitar?

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I'm not sure what to make of this weird guitar (electric bouzouki? long-scale tenor guitar?). All I know about it is what the eBay seller tells us:

Up for sale is a Hobby shop Instrument that an Employee at Fender had made in the 70's. We are selling for orig owner family member. I dont particularly know much about it. (Electric Boozuki?) ( plectrem?) I've never seen anything quite like it. Has a Mahogany Body, Bolt-On Mahogany Neck,Rosewood Fingerboard, two pairs of octive strings and a pair of single strings. Comes With Hard Case.

(Sic throughout - weird spellings, capitalisation, punctuation all courtesy of the seller).

If it IS a genuine Fender (and the hardware used would seem to suggest that it is), then the real surprise is that it doesn't resemble a Strat, Tele or Jazzmaster/Jaguar. The one thing the seller doesn't suggest is that it might be a prototype or instrument from Fender's research and development department.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

1999 Gibson ES-335 in bronze finish

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Couldn't find any information about the unusual bronze finish of this 1999 Gibson ES-335, is it a custom shop product, a variation on a goldtop? I just find it beautiful, and it's good to look at nice photos of ultra-classic models!

Bertram D

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Orpheum hollow body

guitarz.blogspot.com

I have very little to tell about this Orpheum hollow body guitar, but that since it's labelled 'made in USA', it might have been made by Kay or Harmony - these two companies have made Orpheum branded guitars before their construction switched to Europe in the 1960s (Wandré then Egmond).

Later on it went to Japan but it was used for Guyatone, FujiGen or Teisco made solid bodies. 

Bertram D

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Another one from Matsumoku: the Westbury Deluxe

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Gideon writes:

I've been following the blog for a while and its hands down one of my favourite places on the web.

Thought you might be interested in one of mine, which I don't believe has graced the pages of Guitarz yet.

It's a 1980 Westbury Deluxe in aged walnut given to me by a friend a number of years ago. It was in a bit of state, covered in stickers, etc. A bit of TLC and she's looking a lot better and plays wonderfully.

The small amount I have been able to dig up on these is that they have a hard maple body with a carved top, rosewood fretboard and DiMarzio pickups. The bridge is a Dual Sound DiMarzio (selectable via the microswitch near the pots) and the neck is a DiMarzio Super Distortion.

The Westbury brand was one used by Unicord and these were built by Matsumoku.

That's about all I know, but anymore that you guys or readers are able to provide would be a bonus.

Regards
Gideon

Hi Gideon, thanks for sharing the photos of your guitar with us. For a guitar that had seen better days and was covered in stickers, you've done a good job at cleaning it up. My understanding of the Westbury brand was that it was a pre-cursor to the Westone brand, or you could say that Westbury was re-named Westone. All the Westone trademarks are there (the shape, the chunky metal hardware, use of DiMarzio pickups), and you can't deny that there is a similarity to the Westone Thunder series guitars - although the arched top and German carve on the Westbury Deluxe make it look a lot more upmarket than the slab-bodied Westone Thunder. The dates of operation of these two brands would seem to confirm this theory. The Westbury brand was in operation from 1978 to 1981, and then Westone guitars were produced from 1981 to 1987 when Matsumoku ceased production and the Westone name was transferred to Korean-made instruments with a few upmarket instruments being produced in Japan circa 1990.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Strangely shaped guitar with Rellog Gitona pickups

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This strangely shaped vintage German guitar set with Rellog Gitona pickups is much probably a Herrnsdorf - considering  its characteristic headstock and prolongated fretboard -, though it doesn't sport any brand...

I cannot tell if this design is great or horrible - probably both!

Rellog Gitona (Gitona stands for Gitarre Tonabnehmer - guitar pickup) was a Markneukirchen-based East-German brand, as was Herrnsdorf.

Bertram D

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Vintage & Rare Guitar of the Week: Leo Losspennato RadioStar headless doubleneck guitar and bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This doubleneck from German luthier Leo Lospennato aims to combine vintage styling (the Filtertron pickups and worn orange finish are a definite nod to Gretsch) with a more modern twist in the shape of headless necks and fine tuners behind the bridges.

The headless design would no no doubt eliminate any neck heaviness that doublenecks guitars all too often suffer from, and the body does look to be relatively compact. Personally I find the straight lines of the cut-out area at the base of the body for the fine tuners to be stylistically too harsh; I think curves with rounded over edges would have been more much more elegant and in keeping with the styling of the instrument, but that's just my opinion.

This guitar/bass doubleneck is being offered for sale via Vintage & Rare priced at €2950.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Aria Pro II SH-800 through-neck thinline semi

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I realise that we're at risk of becoming the Matsumoku Fan Blog with a third post in a row about a Japanese Matsumoku-made guitar, but I make absolutely no apology for this. These guitars are still out there, are fabulous players, brilliantly engineered, and should be snapped whenever possible by discerning guitarists rather than buying the latest Chinese-made Fender Reissueocaster.

This Aria Pro II SH-800 is not a model that I remember, but is from circa 1979/1980 back when the logo on the headstock gave the name as "THE Aria Pro II". Although it appears to be a semi-hollowbody it's not part of the Titan Artist series; in fact it's of a completely different construction and is more of a Thinline - effectively a hollowed-out solidbody! The SH-800 and the more upmarket SH-1000 model can be seen here in this Japanese-language Aria catalogue from 1979.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Matsumoku-made Westone Thunder III guitar from 1983

guitarz.blogspot.com:

It's funny how your perception changes over time. I remember thinking, back in the day when they were being produced, that Westone guitars were all rather ugly - although I would have been first to admit that they were "ugly ducklings" by which I mean that the quality of the build and the playability meant they were really quite elegant swans beneath the ugly duckling appearance. (Errmmm... perhaps, I've carried that metaphor a little too far).

Anyway, back in 1983, this Westone Thunder III was the top of the Thunder range and features all maple construction, a very modern and comfortable heel-less set neck, and coil taps/phase reversal switches for the humbucker pickup, which is - unusually by present day standards - the middle pickup in a three-pickup S-H-S layout. It's the kind of pickup layout that makes you question why so many modern guitar manufacturers stick rigidly to the same few tried and trusted ways of doing things and don't try anything different from the norm anymore.

This guitar is currently listed on eBay UK with bidding currently just over £30 at the time of writing. Japanese-made Westone guitars have more than kept their value over the last thirty years and examples often change hands these days for sums in excess of their original retail price in the 1980s.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Aria Pro II Titan Artist semi-hollowbody in crackleburst finish

guitarz.blogspot.com:

As far as I am concerned, one of the best kept secrets in the guitar world is the Aria Pro II Titan Artist series from the 1980s and 1990s. They are absolutely superb guitars, and are my own guitar of choice. I have two, a 1990s Korean-made TA-40 with Welsh Dragon graphic, and an earlier 1980s Japanese Matsumoko-made TA-30 which is actually my main electric guitar. The Korean-made examples are very good guitars, but the Japanese Matsumoku-made Titan Artists definitely have the edge over them; the differences are subtle, but I feel, important to the overall quality of the guitar. Anyway, this is the subject for a future blog post, one that I will return to later.

This particular Aria Pro II TA guitar (I'm not quite sure of the exact designation - the binding and gold hardware would imply that it isn't the basic bolt-on neck TA-40 model; it's possibly a TA-60) is finished in a very dated 1980s "crackleburst". I'd quite forgotten about finishes like this. Didn't Washburn produce a similar "magma" finish? Whatever, it really is quite awful and doesn't do the guitar any favours.

This guitar is currently listed on eBay UK with bidding currently at £51. I'd expect a guitar like this to sell for up to £200. I personally wouldn't want to spend more for a Korean-made TA, but a Japanese example would be worth forking out more for.

G L Wilson

EDIT: Sold for £186.89 which seems fair enough but is in the region of the upper limits of what you'd want to spend on a Korean-made Aria TA.

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

1960s Silvertone/Kay 1413 single pickup electric guitar in (what should be) metallic green

guitarz.blogspot.com:

The Silvertone 1413 guitar and its sibling the tremolo-equipped 1417 were only part of the Silvertone catalogue for 1963-1964. These guitars were built for Silvertone by Kay, Silvertone being the brandname for musical instruments sold through Sears. Unfortunately this example would have been a lot cooler if someone hadn't painted it black at some point in its life; having scraped away only some of the black paint to reveal some of the original metallic green finish hasn't helped matters a great deal.

I thought at first that the guitar was missing a bridge, but checking on the catalogue pics uploaded on the Silvertone World website it does appear to be accurate. I guess I was forgetting its a short scale guitar - or at least not very long in the body - and expected the bridge to be further forward. Silvetone World also offers the tidbit of information that:

The 1413s most famous role was probably onscreen with Cap'n Geech and the Shrimp Shack Shooters in the Tom Hanks film 'That Thing You Do.' 

The 1413 retailed for $39.95 in 1964. This example is listed on eBay with a But It Now price of $395, suggesting that it is 10 times more valuable now than it was new.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

What's going on here: Rickenbacker 4001 bass with competition stripe?

guitarz.blogspot.com:

You'll have to forgive me for exhibiting trainspotter-like tendencies and being a bit of a guitar nerd, but what's the deal with the Rickenbacker bass that Tony James of Generation X (Billy Idol's "punk lite" band from before he went solo) is playing in this classic archive clip from BBC TV's Top Of The Pops.

Did Rickenbacker ever make a bass with a Fender-esque competition stripe (and what would they call it? "Competition-Glo"?), or is it a self-applied graphic, OR is the bass actually a Japanese knock-off?

Furthermore, do I win any points for Most Irrelevant Guitarz Blog Post?

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Shergold Marathon 6-string bass from 1978

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Yesterday we looked at a vintage guitar made by an almost forgotten American manufacturer, and today I want to show you a guitar from an almost forgotten British manufacturer.

We've looked at Shergold guitars before here on Guitarz, plus related brands Hayman, Ned Callan and Shaftsbury. Of course there's a Burns connection too, as Shergold was founded in 1967 by Jack Golder and Norman Houlder who were both former Burns London employees; also in the mid 1970s Shergold would go on to produce guitar bodies and necks for the re-launched Burns UK brand with guitars such as the Flyte.

Shergold were always a forward-looking company, keen on innovation. They are famous for their "detachable" doubleneck guitars (as famously used by Mike Rutherford of Genesis), plus guitars with modular electronics which can be swapped and changed dependent on the sound desired. They were also the ONLY manufacturer (that I am aware of) who were producing a 6-string bass back in the 1970s. This was after Fender had given up on the Fender Bass VI and a LONG time before the advent of modern 5- and 6-string basses in the mid 1980s.

The Shergold Marathon 6-string bass pictured here is currently being offered for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $4,500. I can't help but feel that this price is a little steep, but maybe that's because I remember when I was working in Summertown in Oxford, there was a music shop near the office that had a Shergold 6-string bass in white marked at £199 and it was in there for ages; obviously people weren't rushing to buy it. I thought it was cool, but it was still too expensive for me at the time. This would have been in the late 1980s. Only a few years earlier, Peter Hook of New Order had used a similar Shergold 6-string bass on "Blue Monday".

Stylewise, it is somewhere between the old-fashioned Bass VI (tuned as a standard guitar but an octave down) and the modern 6-string bass (which typically have a low B string and a high C). I believe the Shergold opted for the one-octave down from guitar tuning, but the neck and string spacing is wider than you'd find on a vintage Bass VI (Fender, Danelectro) - definitely more bass-like than guitar-like; even the tuners are large-buttoned dedicated "no doubt about it" bass tuners.

Whilst I'm sure the Shergold Marathon 6-string bass has gone up in value since the example I saw for sale in the late 1980s, I find it hard to believe that it's remotely in the area that this eBay seller is asking for. It's a very cool bass, but I think it's another one to file under "Optimistic sellers".

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Micro-Frets Caliber I from another almost forgotten American guitar innovator

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Micro-Frets guitars turn up very rarely on eBay, and even less so on eBay UK. This Micro-Frets Calibre I, circa the turn of the 1970s, is currently listed with a Buy It Now price of £750, which isn't bad at all for an American guitar of this vintage in good condition. The seller points out that a set-up to your own requirements may be needed, but hey, any new guitar out of the box needs a good set-up these days, so that's no biggie.

And if you don't know why Micro-Frets were so innovative, I suggest you read a couple of blog posts from the archives, here and (perhaps even more pertinently) here.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Vintage 1960s Futurama 3 solidbody electric guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:  

Before the Stratocaster hit the shores of the United Kingdom, there was another three pickup solidbody guitar with a tremolo arm that was popular with British guitarists of late 1950s/early 1960s. This was the Futurama 3 which was indeed very futuristic for its time (even if by today's standards it does look quite bizarre and rather "chunky"). Fast forward just over a decade into the 1970s, and a whole other generation of budding guitarists who couldn't afford Fenders, Gibsons or even their cheaper Japanese knock-offs, started out playing Futurama guitars, I guess as hand-me-downs from their fathers, uncles or older brothers, or else as cheap 2nd-hand shop finds.

Futurama guitars were imported into the UK by Selmer as an alternative to German-made Hofner guitars. Early examples were manufactured in Czechoslovakia under the trade name of Resonet by the huge Drevokov Co-operative, which was also known for furniture manufacture. The proper name for this guitar model is "Grazioso" - they were re-branded as Futurama for the UK market. The guitar had been designed by Resonet's Mr Ruzicka (who must have caught a glimpse of a Stratocaster at some point) and had been in production since 1955 before Selmer started importing them into the UK in 1958.

From 1959 production switched to a company called C.S.H.N. (which simply means Czechoslovakian Music Instruments) and produced these guitars under the brandname "Neoton", later to be re-named "Jolana" (which apparently was the name of Mr Ruzicka's daughter - no coincidence, surely?). The headstock design also changed from 3 tuners on each side to 6 in a line.

The Futurama 3 pictured here is one of the later Jolana-made examples, probably from 1962-63. It is currently being offered for sale on eBay UK with a starting price of £450.

For more information, please see this page.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

1981 Westone doublecut electric guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:  

Kaizerart, the French seller of this Westone doublecut guitar from 1981 refers to it as being "70 Years" model, a reference that is lost on me. It's one of the earlier Japanese-made Westones from the 1980s, from before the better known models such as the Thunder, Concorde and Spectrum series. It's essentially a double cutaway Les Paul style guitar (albeit with simpler controls), with an arched top, set neck, and Bordeaux red finish.

This guitar is currently being offered for sale on EBay France with over five days left for the auction to run and with bidding currently just over €50 at the time of writing. If anyone can explain the "70 Years" reference to me, please leave a note in the comments.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

2006 Gibson Vegas Standard semi-hollowbody flat-top oddity

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The Gibson Vegas Standard was only produced for two years; I'm guessing it just wasn't traditional enough a Gibson for most guitarists' tastes. Whilst many of the features of the guitar are Gibson trademarks - the Trini Lopez "diamond" soundholes, the Firebird headstock - to have them embodied onto a single instrument was quite unusual. Even more unusual is the fact that the Vegas is a flat-top guitar and not an archtop as you would expect from a Gibson semi-hollowbody. In fact, I'm not 100% certain we should call this a semi-hollowbody because the construction is quite different. It's more of a "thinline" with a flat top mounted onto a chambered back, and as such has more in common with guitars such as the Fender Telecaster Thinline than to any other Gibson models. In fact, speaking of Fender, its slightly offset body shape make it look something like a slimmer Fender Starcaster (the original semi-hollowbody Starcaster that is, not the budget Strat knock-offs). The neck on this guitar does give the impression of being quite long as if this guitar might have a Fender-like 25.5" scale, but it must be an illusion caused by the small (for a Gibosn semi) body, for the scale length is Gibson's usual 24.75". It's a good looking guitar and proof that Gibson are not always content to live in the past and rely upon their historical designs.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $1,399.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Rare 1967 Fender "Smuggler's" Telecaster offered for sale on eBay

guitarz.blogspot.com:
While this may look like a pretty ordinary Fender Telecaster, albeit quite a nice vintage example with a naturally aged faded blonde finish, I'm sure by now you'll know that certain vintage Fender guitars can command some quite staggering prices. Indeed, all is not as it first seems, for if you remove the pickguard on this Tele, it's revealed to be a rare example of a "Smuggler's" Tele, so named because of the cavities in the body below the pickguard, in which - I'm sure you could imagine - it would conceivably be possible to hide contraband. These cavities were intended to reduce weight in the guitar body; personally I've never found Teles particularly heavy and maybe the consensus of opinion was that the production of a slightly lighter than usual Telecaster didn't really warrant the extra machining on the body and so these "Smuggler's" were only produced briefly in 1967.

Currently listed on eBay, this guitar has a starting price of $9,995.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

13-foot tall playable giant Fender Strat offered for sale on eBay

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I believe I linked through to the (now defunct) website for these giant guitars in the very early days of this blog. I had wondered what had become of these giant guitars (there was a Strat and a Tele) and now it seems that the Strat has turned up on eBay.

I'm not sure of the builder's name (he's Ujaxman on Mice Pace and YouTube) but he hand-built the giant Tele and Strat and has been lugging them to festivals and special events all over the USA for over 10 years now. Fender even granted permission for the Fender name to be used on the headstocks - and let's face it, these guitars were made in the USA unlike so many Fender guitars these days.

The giant guitars aren't to be confused with guitar sculptures or giant guitars on roadside signs - they are fully functional electric guitars and are playable - and if you don't believe it, check the video. Anyway, claiming he can always build another one, Ujaxman has listed the giant Stratocaster on eBay. It's yours for $72,999!  

G L Wilson © 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Teisco Spectrum 4 - 1960s Japanese guitar, four pickups, hot pink finish!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

We've looked at a Teisco Spectrum 4 previously here on Guitarz but it's such a cool guitar that it warrants looking at again, and seeing as there is another example being offered for sale on eBay and it's finished in hot pink, I couldn't resist posting it here for you all to see. It's in fantastic condition, probably better than the blue example we looked at before which was missing one of its four pickup selectors. Everything seems to be intact here, including the tremolo (which is the usual suspect for going walkabout). I'm guessing that the other device mounted at the bridge is some kind of string mute/damper. Why is it that I think this guitar might be well suited to surf music, I wonder?

Currently listed on eBay with a starting price of $400.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!