Casio EG-5 cassette guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I'm aware of the Casio's MIDI and synth guitars, but I've never seen one of these before.

It's Casio EG-5 and is a real product of its age (the 1980s, of course) and a wonderful piece of "guitar cheese".

The insubstantial plastic body most obviously, and curiously, features an integral cassette player. Whether this is for recording the guitar as you play, or for playing your own backing tracks (or perhaps both) is not clear.

This particular example is being sold on eBay by a French seller and looks like it isn't currently in full working order (it'd need some strings for starters).

I'm wondering if this was a Japan-only model that somehow made it out to Europe. Has anyone out there seen one of these before? Perhaps you've even owned or played one? Please let us know in the usual way in the comments beneath this post.

G L Wilson

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Casio MG-510 / MG-500 MIDI guitars

Why is it almost impossible to have a good picture of a guitar from the 80s?

Anyway, here are the Casio MIDI guitars MG-510 (the strat clone) and MG-500 (the cool bizarre shaped one).

So no, Casio didn't just issue cheap watches, pocket calculators and toy keyboards for minimalist German electro-punk bands, they also produced some very interesting MIDI guitars - at least they provided the concept and the electronics and had famous guitar manufacturer FujiGen Gakki make the guitar parts.

It seems that these Casios where some of the best MIDI guitars of their time, a. o. since they completely integrated the MIDI system and the controls - no other did... You can get more info here.

And I think that the design of the MG-500 is one of the best of its MIDI 80s kind.

bertram

Casio Synth Guitars

Casio synth guitar

Ah yes, the constant quest for the sound of tomorrow - the synth guitar. There have been many advances since these Casio's were produced - though I know Bob Weir of The Grateful Dead (Best Band In The World) used a Casio MG510 for a while. I've never played a synth guitar, but of course with midi pickups and everything it is much easier these days to get a realistic and responsive system - Garcia and Phil Lesh of the Dead also used them - I remember seeing The Dead at Wembley and Garcia's trumpet playing was stunning. This one is here, with the added advantage that you can type in the numbers "07734", turn it upside down and say "hello"!


This is the one that Bob Weir played for a while - the MG510

Jemaine Clement's Russian Bass

Russia - Why Not?

In my previous post about Flight Of The Conchords I briefly mentioned Bret McKenzie's Casio DG-20 digital guitar. However, I'd been wondering, what is that retro-looking bass that Jemaine Clement plays? (See above left).

I've found a very similar looking Russian bass (above right) over at Cheesy Guitars in their Unidentified Guitars section. Unfortunately the only information we have is that it was made in a factory in Belarus. Still it narrows things down a bit, as I had previously suspected that Jemaine's bass was a Teisco or some other 60s/70s Japanese bass.

EDIT: It's a Kavkaz!