Friday, 7 November 2014

Wandre Davoli Cobra 2 ... sadly one for the collectors only at this price

guitarz.blogspot.com:
I think it's high time we had another look at another guitar from our favourite eccentric vintage Italian guitar manufacturer, namely Wandre. This Wandre Davoli Cobra 2 is one of their later models and is nowhere near as barking mad as many of their earlier designs. In fact, the offset body design is somewhat reminiscent of Fender's Jaguar and Jazzmaster models. But checkout that headstock design; that's got to be a contender for our Top 10 of crazy headstocks.

Here's what the eBay seller has to say about this guitar (translated from Italian, I believe):
Perfectly Working! Imagine Wandrè’s discouragement in contemplating the Cobra model, so traditional and inspired to other people’s designs. A restyling was necessary... Wandrè did not follow the Vox and Eko fashion of generally giving to guitars animal names (condor, lynx, cougar etc.)

Wandrè believed the name Cobra meant to draw inspiration and energy from the animal itself. That’s why in the second version a bizarre headstock imitating a snake’s hood with glasses and a snake scale finish for the pick-guard and for the headstock itself. Ready to leap and bite. The swan song of a production with no more raison d’etre in the market. An intoxicating bass version also available.
Note that the guitar still features Wandre's trademark metal neck construction. Notice how the headstock is attached to the neck by means of a bracket.

Wandre guitars now fetch silly money among collectors. Which is a shame because it means they are often languishing in collections rather than being used and played by working musicians.

This example is currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of €3,200.00.

G L Wilson

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2 comments:

  1. I'm more of a piano person myself, but this guitar is lovely! I'm actually glad that beautiful instruments like this go for so much on Ebay and other auction sites. Collectors take good care of pieces like this. My sister would probably love a guitar with this color scheme at least. http://welchmusiconline.com/

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  2. The whole headstock attachment via the volute thing is most bizarre.

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