steel bodied Loic Le Pape Mustang

guitarz.blogspot.com

Loïc Le Pape is one of these French guys who makes übercool guitars out of steel - here is his take on the Mustang. Simple and raw, it looks like the ultimate nu-garage rock guitar, isn't it? 

Also it has interesting pickups, the SP Custom (also a small French company) Trinity humbuckers based on coupled hand-wound Telecaster and Jazzmaster single-coils - 3 sounds in one pickup - plus a piezo...

I'd definitely play this guitar!

Bertram D

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

A rather eccentric Art Deco square-soundholed acoustic guitar on eBay France

guitarz.blogspot.com:

      

Here's a rather eccentric acoustic guitar currently listed on eBay in France. The seller tells us that:

Ayant retrouvé ma vieille guitare Harmony cassé au niveau de la table, je l'ai refaite et me suis laché. La table est en spruce avec le milieu en ébène, les renforts ont été recollés, le chevalet est de type jazz manouche en bois exotique, les pickuards sont en ébènes comme la tête de la guitare. Les mécaniques sont de type gibson. L' instrument est électrifié avec un pièzo placé sous la table à l emplacement du chevalet et une sortie jack et le réglage du volume sur la table. Malheureusement le piézo vient de me lacher, a réparer donc.

A ma grande surprise le son est fantastique et très bluesy. Du coups je m en sépare car j ai d'autres projet de guitare custom en cours.

Did you understand that? My French isn't very good but from what I can gather, the guitar is a re-built Harmony with a new top of spruce with ebony inserts. Ebony is also used for the pickguards (which together with the rectangular sound hole contrive to give the guitar an almost Art Deco look) and the headstock inlay. The guitar also features Gibson tuners, a Gyspy Jazz style bridge with a piezo (now non-functioning?) pickup beneath it. Oh, and the photos show us it has a sound port on the upper rim.

I'm not quite sure that it is really a prototype as claimed in the eBay listing title, but it's certainly a head turner.

Currently listed on eBay.fr with a Buy It Now price of €270.

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

One-off Gordon Smith fretless SG guitar, plus Guthrie Govan on a Vigier Surfretter fretless guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

If you've ever considering dipping a toe or two into the world of fretless guitar, then you could do a lot worse than snap up this Gordon Smith SG-styled fretless guitar, currently listed on eBay UK with a starting bid of a very reasonable £299 and with no bids at the time of writing (approx 13 hours to go before end of auction). It's a one-off handcrafted custom build from this acclaimed British maker from Partington, near Manchester. What's not to like?

And while we're on the subject, check out the below video by Guthrie Govan in which he answers all the questions you may have had about playing a fretless guitar but were too afraid to ask. It really is an excellent introduction to the subject.



G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

MeloDuende Aluha 2 aluminium Hawaiian guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com

What with French luthiers and metal body guitars? We saw already steel instruments by Trussard and LePape, here is MeloDuende - who dropped steel for aerospace grade aluminium, and as you can see the Aluha undeniably shares DNA with spaceships! Doing so they went back to the origins of electric guitar - the original 1932 Rickenbacker Frying Pan was made out of aluminium...

Unfortunately MeloDuende doesn't have original models - come on people, why have a luthier's guitar that looks like everybody's Squier? - but this Weissenborn style hawaiian guitar seems quite unique - and sounds terrific! 

Bertram D

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Surfmaster guitar with "reverse" body as listed on eBay in France

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's an intrguing guitar called the Surfmaster currently listed on eBay France. Somewhat reminiscent of the Squier and more recent Fender Pawn Shop Super-Sonic guitars, it features a "reverse" style body that looks as if it was designed for a left-handed guitar. Unlike the Super-Sonic it doesn't have the chrome control plate and the pickups are unimaginatively Strat-like in their layout. It's a shame it doesn't also feaure a reverse-style headstock so as the complete the upside-down look, but nevertheless it's an interesting design for someone after a guitar with Strat-type features but wanting something that looks a bit different. I suspect it's another guitar made in the Far East.

Currently listed on eBay France with a starting price of €149.

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Sébastien Gavet's Tour Bus Guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com

I have to admit that this is one of the coolest guitars I've ever seen: a variable geometry travel guitar by French luthier Sébastien Gavet called the Tour Bus Guitar (discovered on fellow guitar blog Guitar Wink). You just have to have a look at it to understand what it's about: folded, it takes as little space as possible, elegantly unfolded it provides leg- and arm-rests, plus a perfect look with the right amounts of futuristic ergonomic and steam punk feel. 

The hand carved mahogany is sumptuous and everything is at the right place (I love the control plate - people who follow my own guitar design blog know how much I've been busy with similar things, without ever reaching this level - that comes only with actual construction). And you know what? Its price is absolutely reasonable, it ranges from 1 100 € to 1 500 € - there are 3 models, including one with a Floyd Rose trem -, so I can even dream of buying one one day, and I will!

Bertram D

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!

From France... the Daguet Dagrite 2

guitarz.blogspot.com:

The guitar pictured here is a Daguet Dagrite 2 belonging to Guitarz reader Rhodri Kasperbauer (we've previously looked at another one of his guitars, an Austrian-made Andreas Fierce Shark). He comments that:

To be honest, it's many things I don't usually like in guitars - 3/3 headstock, truss rod at headstock end, binding, pickup selector switch position, style of controls, set neck, etc...

But, it is actually a superb guitar, great personality and quality. Note the 'German carve' on the body and pickup selector, the inclusion of Hallmark parts (great quality), the nod to Mosrite (maker Roger Daguet met him in the USA and acknowledges this) and (I feel personally) a Rickenbacker influence and maybe even that of Roger Rossmeisl.

Perhaps we don't feature enough French guitars on this blog. I have previously mentioned Daguet Guitars before, but that was just very briefly, so it's great to have these photos of Rhodri's own Daguet Dagrite 2 to publish here. You'll find the full specifications of this guitar on the Daguet website - make sure to check out their other stunning creations while you're there!

G L Wilson

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

Some information on the Wotan guitar we featured back in February

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Further to this blog post from February in which I asked if anyone had ever heard of the Wotan guitar brand, we received the following in the comments:

I'm KAMEL CHENAOUY, French luthier. I designed this guitar in 1978 (the guitar shown on the blog is a copy). It's true, it is an inspiration between BC-Rich (who was a very close friend) and Alembic. I was the french importer of these 2 brands, and it was the trend of the thruneck at that time. The original ones (mine) including bass model were made in Japan. I have put on the french market this design during less than 2 years under my brand: APEX GUITARS, and anyway before begining of the 80s. It was just a transition guitar because it was not really corresponding to my way of design. In fact, I had already my own original models, and because the demand was very high, I could not follow it. So, I stopped everything, put on the market this design just to keep my brand in the people mind and during that time, I re-designed my original models and increased the line by new models, then I made the protos and gave to Kasuga (Fernandes) which had the production capacity. few months after, I started the distribution of my new line and stopped the model you show here. With Kasuga production capacity, I was able to sell about 200 units per month. Life duration on the market was about 12 years and more than 8000 pcs were sold. My guitars were famous and today many collectors are addicts of them. The most successful model was the PROGRAM 2000 a futuristic design including a memory, a personal invention which I started the study in 1978 and patented after, and then exibited on the market in 1980. I'm still designing guitars and still building orginal guitars. Hope this info is useful for the blog. 

I confess I'm still a little unclear about where "Wotan" comes into the picture; where he says the pictured guitar is a "copy" does that mean it's a copy of his design, or is he referring to his own design as a "copy" because it's Japanese-made. Sorry, I got a little confused there? (Anyone make better sense of it? Maybe I'm having a slow day.) Nevertheless it's good to hear from the original designer.

G L Wilson

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

Tantra Hamsa - a very rare electric guitar from France

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's an email from Maxime:

Hello

I'm French, sorry for my bad English.

I have a guitar brand "Tantra":

Model: Hamsa
Color: Red
Dates of manufacture: 1981 to 1983

I wonder if you could give me an estimate of the price at the time and now. Thank you,

Maxime BAUCOUR

Rather than try to make uninformed guesses about a little-known French guitar brand, I decided to ask Hervé Le Garsmeur, one of the founders of Tantra guitars, who just happens to be a Guitarz reader and who has sent us info on Tantra before. Here's his response:

This is a very very rare model. We only made 5 of those. The fretboard is painted (though being in purple heart) there are sparkles in the varnish and it's kind of "basic sunburst". The pickup is the first generation we made, single coil with a grey touch in the middle. So I can assure that this guitar is one of the very first ones of our production (1981). The latter models had two single coils in the same box you could switch either in parralel or series, in or out of phase for humbucking or "Dire Straits" type of sound (but the real big sound was in parallel), the fretboard was natural and had round dots and wider frets.

By the way Hamsa means "swan" in Sanskrit; it's the shape of this bird that inspired this guitar. Concerning the price I really have no idea. If it still plays well I'd say 1500 € because of the rarity, maybe more for a real collector. We stopped making "painted" fretboards because it was really fragile on the edges. There were also two types of wood used. Without looking under the pickguard, you can tell by the weight; if the insrument is really stiff and rather heavy it's made from oak, if it's lighter and you can slightly bow the neck, it's made from mahogany.

Hope you have all the answers you need.

I'd like to thank Hervé for supplying the above information, and also Maxime for showing us these photos of this rare guitar.

G L Wilson

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

Kronodale Recycled G: quirky guitar design from France

guitarz.blogspot.com:

We last looked at France's Kronodale Guitars back in 2008. The design of the above-pictured Kronodale Recycled G is just as eccentric as the guitar we looked at before. Whether it does actually use recycled materials, I could not tell you, but with a name like that I'd certainly hope so. Surely it isn't solely named after the recycle logo featured in the guitar design? I have to say I'm a little disappointed that they cheated and the cutaway section doesn't pass right beneath the strings and between the pickups (it's only made to look that way), but I guess the guitar body would be in danger of collapsing in on itself under string tension if it was constructed like that.

This guitar is currently listed on eBay with just under 3 days before end of the auction and bidding still very low. Someone could get a very interesting guitar for very little money unless there's a mad scramble of bids at the end.

G L Wilson

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

Patrick Robert Strats with unique Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix artwork

guitarz.blogspot.com:  

David Kerchove has sent in these photos and specs of his S-style guitars, built by luthier Patrick Robert of France. 

The Eric Clapton S-type guitar seen here features a one-piece swamp ash body, a birdseye maple neck, Kinman Blues pickups with Eric Clapton electronics, vintage style hardware, and unique airbrush work.

The handmade Steve Ray Vaughan Tribute S-type guitar (below) features a one-piece swamp ash body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, binding on top of body plus neck and head, Van Zandt Blues pickups, Schaller tremolo with roller, Sperzel tuners, and unique airbrushed artwork.

The handmade Jimi Hendrix Tribute S-type guitar (below) is not owned by David, but comes from the same luthier. It features an alder body with maple top, maple neck, vintage style hardware, Kinman Woodstock pickups,  CTS / Swichcraft  electronics, and  - you've guessed it - original airbushed artwork!

Thanks David, for sharing these with us!

G L Wilson

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

1971 Jacobacci Studio II from France

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here from 1971 we have a Jacobacci Studio II in a walnut finish and outfitted with a pair of high impedance Benedetti pickups. It is, I believe, a hollowbody guitar, although it sports no soundholes. Although the guitar has been refretted and has replacement Kluson tuners it is still a very desirable piece from this French luthier (we previously looked at a Jacobacci tenor guitar here on Guitarz).

This guitar is currently being advertised for sale, and the seller is asking €2300 for it.

Thanks to Dirk for bringing this fine guitar to our attention.

G L Wilson

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

Custom 77 Roxy - a new classic?

guitarz.blogspot.com

I know that I probably spend much too much time ranting here about how unimaginative guitar making became in the last decades, so let's cut the crap and rejoice over creative luthiers and small companies that can still produce guitars such as the Custom 77 Roxy, an original yet sober, timeless and classy semi-hollow wonder that has everything it takes to become a new classic.

I love this guitar, firstly for its beautiful bevelled outline, both sensual and dynamic, and the fact that it's a semi-hollow that doesn't have to be a copy of an ES-335 to have credibility. I also appreciate the Duesenberg-style bridge humbucker + neck P90 combination, the simple pickguard, the wraparound bridge, the old-school F-hole on this radical body, and the controls positions seem to be well thought - not just placed where tradition tells... I just wish it was bigger but it's just because I'm big and I'm still looking for my dream semi-hollow guitar!

Custom 77 is an interesting French guitar company that released nice original models, on top of producing the inevitable Fender/Gibson copies (it's probably necessary to generate basic income, but that's the buyers's fault, isn't it?) - all with Iggy/Ramones/Clash inspired names - plus basses and acoustic guitars, also drums and cymbals and they just started an effects boutique line. I will keep an eye on this company because I'm sure that they will keep releasing new cool stuff and one day I will want some of it... 

Bertram

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Gérard Audirac "Cathedrale" 10-string classical guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

The Guitarz blog is supposed to cover all kinds of guitars, but there are certain guitars that I don't blog about very frequently simply because I don't know a lot about them. These include resonators, lap-steels, pedal steels, antique guitars, and classical guitars.

Here we see a classical 10-string by French luthier Gérard Audirac, currently being offered for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $7,350. This model is known as the Cathedrale and is known for its powerful projection, rich tone and long sustain. As you can see from the photos, this is quite a contemporary design with its distinctive headstock and elongated soundhole, which is positively conservative compared with the soundholes on Audirac's Conservatoire double bouche model.

For those wanting more information, there's an interview with Gérard Audirac here, and for French-speakers, the first installment of an interview on YouTube here.

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Exclusive: Tantra electric guitars brochure

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Hervé Le Garsmeur, one of the founders of French guitar manufacturers Tantra, has kindly shared with us this Tantra catalogue, the original of which is apparently disintegrating and, he suspects, may be the last one on the planet. So, here it is for prosperity:

Thank you for allowing us to share this, Hervé. It's very much appreciated!

G L Wilson

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

Unusual antique guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Apologies, but here is yet another guitar about which I know nothing! It is being sold on eBay by a French seller who tells us:

Rare ancienne guitare, forme peu courante, usures et petits manques d'usage.

Longueur de la caisse 435 mm longueur totale 900 mm.

Usures d'usages et du temps.

...which doesn't tell us much more other than its supposed rarity and its length.

Still, it's an interesting piece and worth recording for posterity on this blog.

G L Wilson

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

The truth about the Tantra Suryah guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Here's a follow-up to last September's blog post about the Tantra Suryah guitar. The following email should explain all:

I saw this guitar on "guitarz" and since I'm trying to send you some words about it.

My name is Hervé Le Garsmeur, Iive in Britanny and was one of the founders of "Tantra guitars". At the very beginning Tantra was a rock band that decided to build its own guitars and P.A equipment. We ended by building a little factory in Bréhant-Loudéac (Morbihan). We worked very hard during 3 years (1 for settling down and designing the guitars an 2 to product them) and had to quit in 1984 (thanks George Orwell!) because being very young at that time (the youngest was 19 , the oldest 23) we had some difficulties to find a bank that would follow us. We sold a little les than a hundred insruments so they are very rare and I'm glad to see that some of them survived.

The model "Suryah" presented on "guitarz" is one of the first we ever made. Suryah means "the sun" and the first idea is an egg shape (very symbolic). Those "beasts" were made to last forever. I've got one of those at home and I play it daily since all these years and it's still a very reliable and sounding instrument. Body and neck are carved in the same piece of very old oak (yes!) reinforced by a central piece of amarante (very hard wood from Brazil). The fretboard is also in amarante that turned from purple to brown with time. The pickguard is in stainless steel (cut with a laser) and NOT ALUMINIUM.

Pickups are home made (Huge alnico 12 wrapped with 10 000 turns of thread) we wanted very large single coils. It explains the steel pickguard that shields perfectly the electronic devices. It's indeed a very quiet instrument when plugged.No truss rod in the neck, just a hollow square stainless steel bar all through very much like old Martins.

There's a true connection with singer Johnny Halliday as we made him a special model (axe shape) for his show "Le survivant" at "Le palais des sports" in Paris 1982. This guitar in by now on sale for about 10 000€. You can see it on internet if you type "Johnny Halliday guitare tantra". We also made electric harps for Alan Stivell and many other strange instruments.

Thanks for the information, Hervé. It's very much appreciated.

G L Wilson

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

Marcel Dadi's Princess

guitarz.blogspot.com

After posting about the Ibanez Marcel Dadi, I figured that most people probably don't know who Marcel Dadi is - I can understand that, he was supposedly a genius picking player (the picking is a finger technic used mostly for country music and acoustic ballads) so I thought that I should propose a video of Dadi playing his Princess. I've never been interested in him or his music, but when I started guitar is the early 80s, his name was everywhere in France, he had his signature strings that were extremely popular, as were his teaching method books. Anyway, he was also associated with Chet Atkins (and several other country musicians whose name trigger nothing in me), so American readers probably know him better than people from the rest of the world...

Dadi plays here this one-off guitar made by French Luthier Franck Cheval: the Princess. I'm not a fan of heavy abalone inlays but the rolled upper horn à la Gibson Mandolin is quite impressive. Some people call it the best guitar in the world... Ah, ces Français !

Bertram

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

Tantra Surya from 1983

guitarz.blogspot.com:
For the guitar enthusiast such as I, there is always something "new" to discover. Yes, the guitar world is extremely conservative and set in its ways, but that doesn't mean there have never been any mavericks. You just have to look a bit harder to find the more unusual stuff.

This French seller currently has this Tantra Surya guitar from 1983 on eBay. It looks for all the world like a very curvy Flying V, and has an almost Sci-Fi/flying saucer feel to it. The pickguard appears to be made from alumunium and has an integral bridge with the saddles attached to an up-turned lip at the rear end of the plate.

Unfortunately I can tell you very little else about this model, and the seller doesn't seem to know much about it either, but mentions a possible connection with French superstar Johnny Hallyday.

As ever, if anyone has any more info, please use the comments below!

G L Wilson

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

French luthier Paul Lairat

guitarz.blogspot.com

It's been a while since I last posted about a luthier, but I found here a pretty fine one, a French guy called Paul Lairat. Just look at these guitars!
I of course selected his most noticeable guitars that also fit my taste! First on the right you can see a semi-hollow model with F-holes, a Benedetti (high end French brand) humbucker in neck position, a piezo pickup under the bridge and a bizarre finish - it looks like wood trying to imitate Formica!
On the left is a very smart combination of ergonomics and classicism, a model with a beautiful woodwork reducing matter to the minimum... This very peculiar construction makes even more sense when applied to Lairat's astonishing long scale double 6-string bass, a huge instrument that is not heavier than a regular Les Paul...
bertram

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