Teisco Del Ray ET-230 vs Eastwood K-65 reissue - but which is better?

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Currently listed on eBay are this Eastwood K-65 (left above), a now discontinued model based on a classic 1960s Japanese Teisco guitar and with a Buy It Now price of $499.95, and also this - the guitar the Eastwood was based on - an original two-pickup Teisco ET-230 (above centre and right) with a Buy It Now price of $325. Some would argue that the more modern Eastwood reissue would be a better player, but wouldn't the original Teisco be much cooler?

Which one would you choose?

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Vintage & Rare "Guitar" of the Week: Manndolins by Jonathan Mann

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I'm a couple of days late with this Vintage & Rare "Guitar" of the Week and once again, it's not actually a guitar I'm featuring. The instrument you see pictured here is actually a Manndolins 5-string Octave/Baritone semi-hollow body electric mandolin by Jonathan Mann (check out his website here), handbuilt in Tennessee, USA. Jonathan Mann explains his range as follows:

I am a "small shop" instrument builder and repairman. In the past I have built dulcimers, acoustic and electric guitars and acoustic and electric mandolins. Currently I am building only mandolins and concentrating on my "neck thru" design.

I recently got back into the electric mandolin, (building and playing). I came up with this body style by "morphing" a few popular styles into one. Available with 4, 5 or 8 strings. These Manndolins are available in three body types :

1. Hollow body - This version utilizes a traditional style floating bridge and has the most acoustic volume of the three. Its tone is warmer both acoustically and plugged in.
2. Semi Hollow body - This version has the lighter weight of the hollow body but has a mahogany block under the bridge which decreases the acoustic volume but increases the sustain and feedback resistance. This model uses the Aluminum "wrap around" Bridge/Tailpiece.
3. Solid Body - This version has the least amount of acoustic volume and the most sustain/feedback resistance. It also uses the aluminum "wrap around" Bridge/Tailpiece.

Instruments such as that pictured are listed for sale on Vintage & Rare priced at €775.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Eyb sitar-guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com

I've been interested in German luthier Eyb ever since I started to look for a sitar-guitar bridge - they propose one of the few available ones (I finally settled for Rockinger - another German brand - telecaster sitar saddles for my Doppelcaster).

Unfortunately Eyb doesn't only produce parts, but also guitars such as this one - and if they have some innovative gear and technology, their designs don't match! 

I'm afraid the pointy high-tech look is hardly ever interesting, too pretentious! It particularly doesn't fit the sitar-guitar, an instrument that is mostly pretending - so if you want a high end instrument, you must get yourself a real sitar and learn how to play! 

You have to admit that Rockinger made a much better choice by aiming their sitar bridges at telecasters...

Bertram D

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Musima Herrnsdorf archtop

guitarz.blogspot.com

Here is a good old DDR Musima-Herrnsdorf archtop. Herrnsdorf was another Markneukirchen-based instruments company started in the 19th century, turned electric in the 1950s - producing inevitably cool Schlaggitarren, mother-of-toilet-seat covered Hawaiian guitars and solid body upright basses - then merged with Musima in the early 1970s. The top of the guitar sports a Musima logo and the all-in-one scratchplate / control plate / pickup cover the Herrnsdorf brand.

It seems unlikely that in the 1970s anybody would still produce this kind of device to turn an acoustic archtop into an electric one so I guess this guitar is probably old stock put together - after all Herrsndorf pickups were also known as Rellog, a quite famous East-German brand, so they had to be used, even if the guitar itself - though elegant and well proportioned - has nothing of the flamboyant models of the 1950s...

Bertram D

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

21-string Maestro Harp Guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's something that might be of interest to anyone who's ever wanted to delve into the world of harp guitars, or instruments with sympathetic and/or plucked strings allowing potential for a whole bunch of unusual tunings. This Maestro Harp Guitar with six sub-bass strings and nine additional treble strings is currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $550. (You're unlikely to find a harp guitar cheaper).

No doubt it's made in China, Indonesia or Vietnam, but hopefully it's not as disastrous an instrument as some of the incompetently built and largely unplayable oddities produced under the Tennessee brandname.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

For the left-handed player who has everything... leftie Gold Tone Banjitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I've just been trawling through all the left-handed guitars on eBay, trying to find something a little bit different for our southpaw friends - who, rather unfairly, do not get the same range of choices when it comes to guitars as right-handed players (northpaws?) - and the best that I can find is this Gold Tone Telecaster-styled left-handed banjitar - ideal for the left-handed guitarist who wants to let a little banjo into his or her life!

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $779.

G L Wilson

EDIT: Several of you have commented that the above photo is a stock photo of a right-handed guitar which has been flipped to make it look left-handed. It's good to know you guys out there are alert, which is more than I was when I wrote this blog post late on Friday night. But the point is that the left-handed version of this guitar/banjo does exist and is what the successful bidder on the auction will be getting.

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Avalon Carl Verheyen Signature handmade double-cutaway acoustic guitar from Ireland

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I don't really like acoustic guitars with cutaways. Although cutaways have been seen throughout the history of the guitar, the fact that this type of design seems to predominate on acoustics is a trend that has been developing for the last 20 or so years.

When I see an acoustic guitar with a cutaway I worry, because that usually suggests that it is an "electro-acoustic" which can often mean that the instrument is a compromise and therefore lacking in tone and any significant acoustic volume. OK, so I'm not talking about the big boys of the acoustic guitar world: Martin, Taylor, Gibson, Breedlove, Takamine, Ovation, etc, who all produce quality instruments (and most of whom have the good taste to produce a fair quantity of non-cutaway acoustic models); rather I am referring to the deluge of low to medium-priced instruments that are imported from the Far East. Some are excellent. Many are not.

What is the cutaway for anyway? Oh, sure, people will say "So you can play up at the top of the neck", but - honestly - how many actually do this when playing acoustic guitar. I certainly never have the need to play that high up the neck.

No, the real reason for the cutaway is to make the guitar look more like an electric and therefore to appeal more to electric players and people who think it looks cool. Well, as far as I am concerned it does NOT look cool. In my opinion, it spoils that classic acoustic guitar outline and makes the instrument look cheap.

Which, in a roundabout way, brings us onto this Avalon Carl Verheyen Signature acoustic guitar which features not one, but a pair of cutaways. Avalon is NOT an el cheapo brand from the far east, I really must stress this. Rather, Avalon Guitars are high quality instruments handcrafted in Ireland using traditional methods, and have been produced by a team of skilled luthiers since the 1980s.

This double-cutaway acoustic has been built by Avalon for guitar virtuso Carl Verheyen (who probably DOES play right up at the top of the neck on acoustic), and the specs are as follows:

• Back & Sides: Indian Rosewood
• Soundboard: Sitka Spruce
• Neck: Mahogany
• Fingerboard: Ebony
• Bindings: Sycamore
• Purflings: Rosewood / Sycamore
• Rosette: Abalone / Rosewood / Sycamore
• Bridge: Rosewood
• Nut / Saddle: Bone (44mm)
• Bracing System: AXE™

Despite my rant about acoustic guitars with cutaways, I rather like this double-cutaway acoustic. Visually, it still manages to maintain a classic outline; perhaps it's the symmetry that helps.

The list price for the Avalon Carl Verheyen Signature acoustic guitar is £3,860. However, the guitar pictured here is currently listed on eBay UK with a Buy It Now price of £1,400. That could be one hell of a bargain for someone looking for a high quality handmade acoustic guitar.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Firefox mini Les Paul

guitarz.blogspot.com

I'm afraid there's not much I can tell about this Firefox mini Les Paul - but that it's probably Japanese and probably from the 1990s... I find short scale guitars interesting instruments if you don't try to just use them as regular guitars... I once bought a cheap small strat for my kid and it sounds surprisingly good: in open tuning it becomes a kind of electric mandolin with unsuspected possibilities... I'd be curious to hear how these humbuckers sound in higher pitch.

Bertram D

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Presenting the latest creation from Eric Mecum...

guitarz.blogspot.com:  

We've looked at a couple of Eric's eccentric six-string creations before (here and here), and pictured above is his latest. In Eric's own words, it:

...still needs a little tweaking but sounds cool. Old 1986 Seymour Duncan pickup. Teisco neck. Pipe fittings box.

Thanks for sharing that with us, Eric. Nice to have a guitar which you can keep your liquor and jazz mags inside.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Vintage & Rare Guitar of the Week: 1984 Charvel San Dimas Explorer Bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

GrinningElk Music Co., USA, are selling this unashamedly 1980s "hair metal"-era Charvel San Dimas Explorer Bass with lightning bolt graphics via Vintage & Rare. In their own words:

If you're looking at this bass, you are either a big fan of San Dimas guitars and recognize its rarity, you had long hair back in the 80s and it was the greatest period of your life or both. We've had this beast stashed for a good while [...] Anyway, this bass was custom ordered from Charvel by Roy Jenkins in '84 and truly represents all that was cool back in those glory days, so far as Metal instruments are concerned. It, of course sports the gold logo and earlier, brass appointments. You gotta wear it low, if for no other reason than to look cool and the bass comes in its original blue- lined, Charvel case. Sometimes, you buy a bass or guitar just to take you back to the days when everything was right in the world, all the girls wore spandex and there was nothing like a mortgage to worry about. Sometimes, you buy something for yourself and there ain't nothing wrong with that in our book...

It's a great looking bass, but as the seller insinuates, it definitely evokes a certain era. Price available on application.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Wayne Resonator guitar from Down Under... any info would be appreciated

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Ozzie Joey posted this photo on our Facebook page, saying:

Wayne Resonator, an Australian guitar circa 1940s. I just got hold of one of these but can find little about them anywhere... Anyone have more info?

If anyone has any info, please let us know via the comments. Thanks!

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

1965 Gibson Firebird III non-reverse is a rather unusual oddity

guitarz.blogspot.com:

When I first saw the photo (above, top) of this Gibson Firebird III from 1965 I could tell that there was something out of the ordinairy about it but I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was exactly.

This guitar is in original condition and has not been modified in any way; aside from the usual knocks and signs of aging, it's as it would have been when it left the Gibson factory in 1965.

Designed by car designer Ray Dietrich at the behest of Gibson president Ted McCarty, the Firebird was introduced in 1963 and has remained in production more or less up until the present day. The so-called "reverse" body shape was replaced with a more conservative "non-reverse" design between 1965 and 1969. Possibly the example we see here is a transitional model. Have you noticed what is unusual about it yet?

It's the headstock. The original "reverse" body Firebirds also sported reverse headstocks, but you'll notice that this example has a non-reverse headstock. (Note also the banjo-style tuners. I've often wondered why these aren't more commonly used on guitars.) Quite how rare this is, I'm afraid I cannot tell you, but the eBay seller here obviously thinks it's worth the $13,500 Buy It Now price.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Lado Guitars "The Condor" - one of only 100 built from 1981

guitarz.blogspot.com:

From some angles this guitar reminds me of Brian Eastwood's Bender Distortocaster.

Built by by Joe Kovacic, a.k.a. Joe Lado, in Ontario, Canada, it's a Lado Guitars Rooster 1 from 1981 (you may have guessed the age from the presence of DiMarzio pickups, which were almost omnipresent on guitars of this era), and is #57 of only 100 such examples.

Currently being offered for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of US $2,995.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Shergold Marathon Bass VI left-handed 6-string bass circa 1986

guitarz.blogspot.com:

We looked at a Shergold Marathon Bass VI earlier in the year, but the example now pictured here is even rarer simply because it is a left-handed version. I'm particularly pleased to feature this instrument on the blog as I am always on the lookout for interesting guitars and basses that might appeal to our left-handed friends. This is definitely "Left-handed guitar of the week", I'd say "...of the month" even, and a contender for "of the year"!

The Marathon Bass VI features a single pickup - a humbucker with 16 pole pieces which can be switched between humbucker, single coil and phased options, thus allowing for a whole palette of tones. (Whilst we're looking at this instrument, I do feel the need to rant once again how much I loathe people referring to these Bass VI guitars as "baritone guitars". They are NOT baritone guitars; baritone guitars are not tuned as low as a bass's low E, but instead occupy a tuning somewhere in-between a traditional guitar and a traditional bass. The mix up in the nomenclature comes from people not wanting to confuse a Bass VI with the modern 6-string bass which has a different tuning and string spacing; however these people are just creating confusion elsewhere instead. Prats.)

This left-handed Shergold Marathon Bass VI is currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $2,799. That's not quite as outrageously priced as the last (right handed) example we looked at ($4,500), but I'm still amazed that these basses can command even half of that. I'm sure they are quality instruments, all I'm getting at is that originally they were priced quite moderately; you'd get a lot of guitar for your money whereas now it's a case of a LOT of money for your guitar.

More photos here.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Custom headless doubleneck guitar and bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Unfortunately I was too slow in getting to feature this headless doubleneck guitar/bass combo before the eBay auction finished. It's not the most elegant of creations but it's certainly a headturner. I'll let the seller describe it for you:

This is a working instrument, built in the early eighties, intended to be part of a Rush covers band. In spite of being a bit rough at the edges, the visual impact of this machine on stage is spectacular.

The necks for this instrument are Japanese, from a company called Westone. Both necks are very well set up with low actions and good intonation. They still feel in very good condition, as this certainly hasn't been played much for a 30 year old axe!

The body is all mahogany [...] The machine heads are all Schaller M4 and M6 chrome [...] The pickups are 80s DiMarzio models [...] The guitar has two Super II humbuckers, made popular by Paul Stanley, the guitarist in Kiss [...] The bass has a "Model G" humbucker, which was the same as the famous Wal bass Model 1, but packaged for a standard guitar pickup mount.

Both sides have their own volume level knobs, which are also coil tap pull switches. The guitar additionally has a 3 position mini-toggle pickup selector switch. There is a single stereo jack output keeping the necks as separate signals...

This instrument eventually sold for £365.76 on eBay UK after 26 bids.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Motorik Guitar Works SD-40 - Yamaha SG-2 replica

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Long-term followers of Guitarz will know by now that I am great fan of early Yamaha electric guitars, especially the SG-2, SG-3 and SG-12 models. (If you'd like more info on these guitars, please read my article on the Vintage & Rare blog).

The above pictured SG-2 looks like it must have been preserved in a time capsule for the last 44 years. However, Yamaha enthusiasts might have spotted that shoreline gold was not a colour option, these guitars only being produced in pearl white, sunburst, and coral red.

But neither is this an original SG-2 that has been refinished. It is actually a brand new guitar, a replica of the SG-2 painstakingly and lovingly built by Ben of Motorik Guitar Works, a regular contributor to the OffsetGuitars.com forums. The attention to detail on this build is quite outstanding, even down to the hardware used, much of which had to be custom-made by specialist suppliers. The guitar, which Ben has named the Motorik Guitar Works SD-40, was commisioned by the wife of a very good friend of Ben's for his 40th Birthday. (And where can I meet a woman like that?)

Ben also has a second Yamaha replica in the works, this time it's an SG-3 replica and this one he's going to be keeping for himself. When it is finished, it'd be very interesting to compare it side by side against my own Yamaha SG-3 original (and why do I get the sneaking feeling that it might possibly sound better?).

For more photos of Ben's SG-2 replica and to follow the complete build, see the Yamaha SG-3 & SG-2 replica project builds thread on OffsetGuitars.com. Take some time out, read it from the beginning and marvel.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Vintage & Rare Guitar of the Week: Stevens Custom Guitars Bass Ukulele

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Our Vintage & Rare Guitar of the Week this week isn't technically a guitar at all, it's a bass ukulele. I'm aware of the Kala U-Bass (I have one in my arsenal and enjoy recording with it), but if the above video is anything to go by I suspect it has been surpassed by the Stevens Custom Guitars Bass Ukulele from Germany.

The secret of Kala's U-Bass is in its polyurethane strings, and here with the Stevens bass uke, once again the custom-made strings from Pyramid strings must surely lie behind this tiny instrument's huge sound. The Stevens Guitars website tells us that the strings are "similar to classical, wounded, silverplated strings and custom made for our instruments". I'm not sure if that means that they have a nylon core as on classical guitar strings, but I think that would be my interpretation.

Available in fretted and fretless versions, the Stevens Custom Guitars Bass Ukulele is available via Vintage & Rare for €1100.

For comparison check out also the Kala U-Bass.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Bill Lawrence very red hardtail Strat from Japan

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I saw this very red Japanese-made Bill Lawrence Strat on eBay, and couldn't help wondering if there was any relation to my own cellophane red DiMarzio Strat, which I was told by a Guitarz reader was made by a now defunct Japanese manufacturer called Harayama (about whom I can find absolutely NOTHING).

I contacted the eBay seller to see if he had any more info, and he replied:

Japanese made Bill Lawrence guitars were manufactured by Moridaira from late 80s to mid 90s in the factory of Morris. Moridaira is a Japanese musical instrument company that introduced Gibson and Fender to Japan in 60s and the current importers/distributors of Moog, Paiste, Orange, and so on.

Moridaira's house brand of guitars is Morris. Morris is the best well-known acoustic guitar manufacturer here in Japan. Morris has been manufacturing acoustic guitars since 1967 and they also made electric guitars in the 70s and early 80s.

Kawai and Ibanez have also had guitars with similar finishes, so perhaps it was something of a Japanese speciality.

This guitar is currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of £675. Bill Lawrence of course is a famous designer of guitars, pickups, etc, and so would only have lent his name to the finest of Japanese made instruments, so you can be sure this Strat (hardtail and with H-S-H pickup configuration) is something special.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Polish noise terrorists BNNT and their baritone missile!

guitarz.blogspot.com: Poland's BNNT are an art-rock/noise duo who play impromptu gigs on the back of a small truck in a series of what they call "Sound bombings". The duo consists of Daniel Szwed on drums and Konrad Smolenski on a four-stringed instrument he calls the "baritone missile".

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

A weird 1960s-era bass to identify...

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Greg Cadman writes:

Adradic seaside band from 1966 The Blue Stars. Is that a Jolana bass?

(Adriatic?)

I'm not sure what the bass is, it looks like it might be Italian, although I guess it could just as easily be of East European origin. Come to think of it, I'm not even sure what the two guitars are either. If anyone can identify any of the guitars in this photo, we'd love to know!

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

1960s Kent violin-shaped electric mandolin

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Ever since Beatle Paul McCartney's endorsement of the Hofner 500/1 "violin bass", having first seen one for sale in Hamburg's Steinway Shop in 1961, the violin bass has been much copied by guitar makers in Europe and Japan. On this very blog we've looked at a plethora of different violin basses, violin guitars, and even a couple of violin 12-string guitars (just check through all these posts). However, this is the first time I've seen a violin mandolin!

This hollowbody electric mandolin carries the Kent brandname (apparently it's the Kent Model 836), so no doubt is Japanese in origin (very likely a re-badged Teisco), and looking very much like a scaled-down version of the Kent violin bass.

Currently being offered for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $625. More Kent electric mandos here!

More Kent electric mandos here!

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Mathias Lerche's photo album from the Copenhagen Guitar Show 2012

guitarz.blogspot.com: Please note that the photographs in this blog post are the property of Mathias Lerche. Please do not copy without his permission. Thank you!

Overview at the fair

Mathias writes: I thought I would drop you a few lines about Copenhagen guitar show that was this weekend (6-7 October). I had a stand with the few guitars I have and decided to take pictures of the other builders at the fair.

Overview at the fair

MAGMA (that would be my stand, and yes that's beer under the table)

My nice neighbors at the fair, Sanden Guitars of Sweden, with a fanned fret and true temperament models. Yum!

Legendary Danish builder and repairman Denis Dalsgaard responsible for all the wacky basses for Stig Pedersen of D-A-D

Buffing up an old slanted fret acoustic built for a handicapped guy

Skilled builder and shredder Donovan of Librium Guitars looking mean with a beret (he's not really)

Peder Pedersen and son Kim of PP-Guitars (that's the father on the right). They know how to utilize a CNC router.

PP-Guitars

Schloff Guitars

Michael Schillhof (I believe) of German Schloff Guitars showing off some smooth transitions.

Master builder Ole Kehlet...

...and a closeup of his top of the line model. Around 120000 Danish Kroner (about 16000 Euro) if I remember correctly. Drool...

My personal favorite at the fair: Le Fay Basses of Germany. Cool design, workmanship and great attention to detail.
Meik Dobbratz and his brother even do all the hardware themselves.

Le Fay Basses: Closeup of fanned fret ...

... and steel fingerboard-fretless models.

The horror...

A funky GUS guitar ...

...which shares a jack plug feature with mine

A Mayones with an interesting finish. Deep grooves dyed red and nicely bound.

Lastly, spot the guitar hero!

All for now, take care.

Mathias

I would like to thank Mathias for generously sharing his Copenhagen Guitar Show photos with us exclusively at Guitarz. G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!