1967-68 Messenger hollow body fretless electric bass with aluminum neck

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Previously on Guitarz we've taken an all-too brief look at a vintage 1960s Musicraft Inc. Messenger guitar (as famously played by Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad) and the more recent Eastwood reissue (which is itself a discontinued model... for the time being).

I've not previously seen a bass model of the Messenger, but this is what we have here now being offered for sale on eBay with a starting bid of US $1,500. The bass is a hollowbody and features an aluminium neck.

Intriguingly the neck is fretless (obviously with markers in this instance). The seller does not mention if its fretlessness is an original feature or whether this is a later conversion. In all other areas the bass does seem to be original - it even has the original hardcase.

It would be interesting if, like the Ampeg AUB-1, this was another pre-Jaco Pastorius fretless bass. Jaco famously claimed to have invented the fretless bass, but then again when you are a genius I think you are allowed to make such claims. He certainly invented that whole style of playing. Just look at the flatwound strings on this Messenger in the headstock photo. NOT good for lyrical playing with vibrato, swoops and slides. The best this is going to do is to emulate an upright bass thump.

The eBay seller also provides a few scans of Messenger brochures and sales literature from back in the day, and which I reproduce here for posterity.

If you wondered about that body design:

The perfectly contoured, arrow-straight neck remains thin and fast throughout its entire length. And the fingerboard begins where the soundbox ends, thereby eliminating the need for unsightly cutaways and making possible unobstructed access to all frets.

Regarding that metal neck:

Guaranteed not to bow or warp under normal usage, Messenger's rigid, patented alloy neck grows even stronger with age. Because of its strength, no truss rod is needed. Moreover, the neck requires neither a massive buildup at the heel nor a body support. Backbone of the Messenger is a single-piece alloy structure combining the head, neck and a "fork" extension passing through the sound chamber. The extension is tuned to a frequency of 440 cycles per second. Its constant response controls the tonal quality, reduces "?????" [sorry, can't decipher this word] to an absolute minimum and helps keep strings in motion to produce longer sustained notes.

The price list lists Messenger bass models as follows:

MESSENGER BASS GUITAR

Features: Dual pick-ups with separate tone and volume controls for maximum tone range and versatility. Semi-acoustic body with short scale neck. Available with the Messer tone distortion unit built in the body.

MB50    Morning Sunburst    325.00
MB52    Rojo Red    325.00
MBS60   Morning Sunburst with messer distortion unit    362.00
MBS62   Rojo Red with messer distortion unit    362.00

Note that no mention is made of a fretless model.

G L Wilson

© 2015, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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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

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

The Terminator custom stainless steel electric guitar and illuminating case!

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It's probably easiest if I just quote liberally from the eBay listing for this particular custom guitar:

Nicknamed "The Terminator", this is a RAM-JAM Music one-of-a-kind. You'll be the envy of all other with this baby! This custom 100% 316 stainless steel guitar and all stainless steel body has 2 necks, one with stainless steel frets, and one fretless. It also had custom turned stainless steel knobs and a kick ass design and case. This guitar plays and sounds as awesome as it looks. Like the stainless steel lightening bolt handle on the case, this guitar has power! With its 1/4" solid stainless steel neck, this guitar feels like no other. The fretless is 3/8 of an inch thick and is slightly scaled down for a lighter weight. You can play all the way up to its double coil stack pick up, when you run out of frets, play the fretless area and if you like the feel of that, change the neck to the 100% stainless steel all fretless neck with adjustable height nut. For a rugged sound, use the same strings. For a smoother sound change to the flat wound strings. For slide guitar without the noise of the slide hitting the neck, simply adjust the screws behind the nut to raise strings up to 3/8 above the fretless neck. It has a Schaller bridge, new 1987 Seymour Duncan Hot Stack Pick-up, O.E.M. tuning pegs, .010-.046 strings, and a set of flat wound .013-.056 strings for the fretless neck.

The case body is made of aluminum mesh with a diamond plate aluminum bottom for light weight yet rugged look and can be hung on the wall as a display case. The top is made of aluminum mesh with an aluminum angle frame. The whole case is polished to a mirror finish and reflects like it's alive. The EL neon light runs on 2 AA batteries and has 2 settings of flashings and one setting of solid light. The Terminator is held captive in its display case with a single lighting bolt handled shackle strapped down tightly on its rubber lifters which hold it in the center of the case! The custom illuminating case has a white fuzzy bottom with a custom made box to store a slide and picks or a pack of smokes! The strap is made of an army green braided 1970s robot main frame computer wire, tough yet comfortable, and is the lifeline of The Terminator.

Now with 3 necks! One ultimate 32 slim frets, one 22 Jumbo fret, the super fretless!

If you like the pictures, you are going to love the real thing!

"The Terminator" was created by Ram-Jam Music

Quite astonishing, I think you'll agree. And it could be yours if you can afford the $8,000 Buy It Now fee on eBay.

Thanks to Joe from Stratoblogster for brining this guitar to my attention.

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.

1970s Kaman Music Corporation metal-necked Applause acoustic guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Applause guitars were first introduced by Kaman Music circa 1976/77 as a budget brand version of Ovation's roundback guitars. The guitars featured the same moulded round backs as Ovation guitars, although whether this was made from the same "LyraChord" material I could not tell you. More idiosyncratically, these guitars featured one-piece aluminium necks with integral fingerboard and frets! The back of the neck was made of moulded plastic, supposedly designed to feel like mahogany. These metal-neck Applause guitars were built alongside Ovation guitars in Connecticut. Production of the Applause brand moved to Korea in the early 1980s with future necks being made from the more traditional timber choices.

This particular metal-necked Applause is currently listed on eBay UK and has a very reasonable sounding Buy It Now price of £160.

One other thing I have noticed about this guitar in where it differs from its Ovation cousins, is that where Ovations were designed from the ground up to be electro-acoustic guitars, this Applause appears to be wholly acoustic and features no pickups and no electronics of any kind.

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.

Bizarre EMG-equipped headless metal guitar on eBay in Germany

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Will saw this bizarre headless metal guitar on eBay.de (the German eBay site) and has kindly translated the listing for us:

Handmade Metal Guitar Bizarre and Cool!

The ultimate metal guitar! This Metal Guitar was handmade by my colleague, and is a real 'Unikat!' Made of Steel, Brass, Iron & Aluminum. All parts, including the bridge, battery compartment were hand made. Only the pickups, Knobs, tuners, electrical wiring, output jack and a couple of screws were purchased. Very impressive. Comes with Zak Wylde EMG 81 & 85 pickups. 2 volume controls blend the imput of the pickups. Weighs 17.5 pounds. Bizarre & Cool Require a very thick leather strap while playing. Absolute eye-catcher and may be of interest to collectors. Guitar sold "as is." We're always open to offers.

He goes on to add that:

At 17.5 lbs., this is the sort of plank that would make Les Paul players stop whining about how heavy their guitars become after a short time playing them. Check out the frets on this monster. Could they be any fatter?

Remember, it is both bizarre AND cool!

Those frets remind me of the now legendary Gittler guitar - but of course that didn't have the fingerboard.

Unfortunately - for those of you who might have wanted to bid - the listing has now ended. Could this guitar really have sold for as little as €141,50? I would have thought it was worth more than that in scrap metal value alone?

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.

Kramer KL8 bass - aluminium neck and eight strings

guitarz.blogspot.com:

It always kind of annoyed me that no-one seriously took notice of Kramer guitars until Eddie Van Halen started using them, mainly because by this time - in my eyes - they had stopped being cool by abandoning the aluminium necks that made their early instruments so very interesting in the first place. The company was founded in the late 1970s by Dennis Berardi, Gary Kramer and Phillip J. Petillo and produced their first aluminium necked guitars in 1976 from a plant in Neptune, New Jersey. They switched to producing more generic wooden-necked guitars in 1981. Notably, Gary Kramer, had left the company by this point.

Unlike Travis Bean guitars and basses, Kramer's aluminium neck was basically a T-shape in cross section with a fillet of timber to either side so as the give warmth to the back of the neck against the player's hand. Kramer produced more basses in their early period of metal-necked instruments in a ratio of approximately 4:1, mainly because bassists for some reason seem to be more willing to experiment with new ideas than guitarists (which is something I have often complained about - c'mon guitarists, stop being so conservative!).

The above-pictured Kramer KL-8 bass is an 8-stringed beauty (OK, it's only strung with 4 strings in the photo, no need to point that out in the comments), has a pair of DiMarzio pickups and a whole bevy of switching options. Note the wooden inserts (looks to be walnut, maybe?) in the back of the neck. Note the four machine heads at the body end for the octave strings. This concept of tuners at both ends of the instrument was also used around the same time on 12-string guitars and 8-string basses built by the likes of Wasburn and BC Rich (also 10-string guitars in the latter case). Actually, speaking of BC Rich, the whole design is rather reminiscent of their guitars; only the forked headstock gives the game away that it's a Kramer.

The eBay seller has listed this bass as being from the 1980s, but I think it's more likely to be 1970s, although conceivably it may have been from the last year of production of aluminium necks in 1980.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $1,500.

G L Wilson

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

Jeff Lynne playing a Veleno aluminium guitar with ELO in 1973

guitarz.blogspot.com: Speaking of aluminium guitars...

I saw this archive clip on television earlier this week: the Electric Light Orchestra playing "Showdown" from a 1973 edition of BBC1's Top Of The Pops. I was very interested to see that Jeff Lynne was playing a Veleno guitar. Veleno guitars were legendary for having been completely crafted from aluminium and for featuring a real ruby inset into the headstock.

Note how in typical Top Of The Pops fashion, when the song goes into the guitar solo, the camera focusses on the drums! When the camera DOES alight onto the guitar then they apply a colour synthesizer to the image. Frustrating for all us guitar spotters!

As well as having a new solo album of cover versions due to be released, Jeff Lynne has recently re-recorded 12 classic ELO songs playing all the instruments himself, which is being released as "Mr. Blue Sky - The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra". You can read more about this project in this Music Radar interview.

G L Wilson

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

Goulding Resonator guitar handmade in aluminium

guitarz.blogspot.com:

UK luthier Anthony Goulding, who specialises in guitars made from aluminium, has unveiled his latest creation, this gorgeous single-cutaway resonator guitar.

It's a departure from his trademark doublecut German carve guitars, and I guess he's based it on the Goulding Stack body shape. Of course, a metal-bodied guitar lends itself nicely to the resonator concept. Like all Goulding guitars it is completely hand-built and features Goulding's own hand-turned metal hardware. I particularly like the plate on the headstock which features the same pattern as that on the cover over the cone on the body.

G L Wilson

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

1980s Magnesium alloy Staccato guitar with "interchangeable" neck and fibreglass body

guitarz.blogspot.com:

We've previously looked at a Staccato bass here on Guitarz and today we're taking a peek at this Staccato guitar, one of the lesser known 6-stringers that they made, which - compared with the bass - is a much more conservative almost Strat-like design too. It's one of just (approximately) 200 such instruments built between 1985 and 1987 by Pat Townshend in partnership with Chris Jagger (yes, the brother of a certain other Mr Jagger).

As well as the unusual choice of materials used (magnesium alloy for the so-called interchangeable neck - which actually encompassed the centre body section too - and fibreglass for the body), the main innovation behind the Staccato was the ability to swap and change necks. I can't see that in a performance this would be any more convenient than swapping a whole guitar, but there you go, at least this company was trying something different.

This Staccato guitar is currently listed on eBay UK with a starting price of £599.

G L Wilson

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

R. Howells one-off metal bass guitar - one for the scrap heap, perhaps?

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Part of me really wants to like this "one-off R. Howells handmade metal bass guitar" currently being offered for sale on eBay UK, as someone has gone to a lot of trouble to engineer this piece completely out of metal (which metal, we aren't told).

But another part of me wants to scream, "No no, it's all wrong!" The neck looks exceedingly long, but perhaps that's because the body is small. It may be my imagination, or else the angle of the photograph, but in the full length picture it looks as if the neck is wider up at the nut than it is at the body end. I suspect that it is actually parallel along its length, which would be unusual but not unusable. Of course, playability would all depend on how it intonates. Are the frets positioned correctly for the scale length? They may be, but the cynic in me thinks that this is unlikely.

Look at the engineering of the tuners which are integral to the headstock. I have to wonder if this perhaps was a project by maybe an apprentice metalworker. A certain R. Howells, most likely!

Down at the other end of the bass we find a very solid piece of hardware with adjustable retainers for each string. Quite what purpose these are supposed to serve, I do not know, for they are behind the bridge - which itself does not seem to have saddles of any kind. Maybe the tailpiece blocks are intended as fine tuners, but this does seem a weird inclusion where adjustable saddles would be considerably more useful.

The angled jack on the face of the bass is a nice touch, as are the hand-turned contol knobs, but this bass has not been wired up nor has it been finished having only a dummy pickup mounted in its aluminium pickguard. (And considering the detailed metalwork elsewhere, why does the pickguard look so crudely cut out? Was it finished in a hurry, perhaps?)

This would probably make a better sculpture than a working bass guitar. A lot of hard work has obviously gone into it, so it's only a pity that it resembles a child's drawing of an electric guitar.

Currently listed on eBay with a starting price of £100.

G L Wilson

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

Stunning Wandrè Davoli Scarabeo

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Can't help it, if there's a Wandrè available around, I have to show it here! And the Scarabeo is not the less amazing creation of wild Italian luthier Antonio "Wandrè" Pioli! Actually it's also one of the rarest, so I have no more info about it, but looking at it is enough, isn't it?

Bertram

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

Burke, USA-made, aluminium-necked electric guitar, design patented in 1961

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Apologies for the sub-standard photo, but this was the only one that showed the entire length of the guitar in question face on.

The eBay seller claims that this 1960s Burke electric guitar in metallic burgundy finish was the very first electric guitar to feature an aluminium neck and was thus the forerunner to Wandre, Veleno, Travis Bean, et al. Apparently Glen F. Burke patented the design in 1961. Whether the patent was for the concept of an aluminium neck or if it was for the entire design of the guitar, we are not told; I suspect the latter.

The aluminium neck runs all the way through the body to the end strap button, so it's actually an aluminium neck and centre block with pickups and bridge sitting upon it. The fingerboard is rosewood and the body itself is maple and is hollow, no doubt contributing to the instruments allged "acoustic tone". The body shape is most peculiar, looking as if a symmertical design had been sawn down the middle and one half flipped over. (In fact, I am reminded of this).

The pickguard is odd in that it has no screws mounting it to the body, but instead is kept in place by the pots for the controls, which are comprised of a volume and tone for each pickup, and a 3-way pickup selector.

This guitar is currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $10,000.

Thanks to Jeffrey Jones and to Dirk Lubbe who both emailed me about this guitar.

G L Wilson

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

Staccato MG bass, circa 1986, made from magnesium alloy and fibreglass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This Staccato MG bass from 1986 is one of approx 200 guitars/basses built in the UK by Pat Townshend. I recall these guitars well from when they were first introduced, and remember seeing them at a music show in London, I'm guessing, in 1986. As I remember Chris Jagger (Mick's brother) was also involved in the company, and no doubt it was through his connections that these guitars were used by Mick Jagger and Bill Wyman in the Rolling Stones. Other endorsees included Gene Simmons of Kiss, and Motorhead's Lemmy (and if memory serves me correct, I saw Lemmy's bass exhibited at the above-mentioned music show).

The neck and centre body section is cast in one piece from magnesium alloy. Perhaps some more knowledgable readers can confirm this, but I seem to recall reading something to the effect that all the magnesium used in these guitars was filtered from sea water (magnesium being an element dissolved in sea water) and as such provides a material that made these guitars very environmentally friendly. Depending on the process employed to extract magnesium from water, that is.

The outer part of the body is made from fibreglass and seems to have been sculpted to provide for an ergonomic and body-fitting shape. Note that the strings are anchored at the headstock whilst the tuners are situated at the other end of the instrument behind the bridge. Pickups are double-bladed sealed units which are concealed within the magnesium centre body block with only the blades themselves protruding through to the front.

The fingerboard is made from an industrial plastic material and is fitted with 22 very low flat frets, which almost brings to mind the strange fretboard of the Lane Poor bass.

Unless my memory is playing more tricks on me, I believe Staccato offered basses and guitars with exchangable bodies / necks where the centre neck section could be swapped out for another guitar or bass (or converserly the body could be changed for say one in a different colour).

This eBay auction for this bass is finishing in 11 hours as I write; the starting price is $1,999 and Buy It Now price is $2,499.

G L Wilson

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

One-off 1970s Ibanez Artist made from solid brass is quite literally Heavy Metal

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Wow! I mean we've seen metal guitars before, but not any made from solid brass. That's right, solid, not plated. I couldn't say whether or not the guitar body is chambered, but weighing in at a whopping 70 lbs it's possible that this one-off brass Ibanez Artist IS solid all the way through! Imagine what that must feel like... and you thought a Les Paul was heavy! Despite the weight, apparently it IS fully playable and has recently been professionally set up. Looking at the condition of the body with scrapes and dings it looks like it may have been used over the last 4 decades too.

But "WHY?" you may well be asking. Apparently it was created as a centre piece for the unveiling of the Ibanez Artist line at NAMM sometime in the mid 1970s. (Has anyone got a more specific date for me here?)

Other than unusual choice of body material, specs are: 25" scale, 1 11/16" nut width, ebony fingerboard, Flying Fingers humbuckers, active 3-band equalizer.

This one of a kind guitar is currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $24,999.95.

Thanks to Jason Moody for bringing this guitar to my attention.

G L Wilson

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

Wandre Doris: an eccentric 1960s Italian original

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Wandre Guitars were designed by Wandre Pioli (1926-2004) and built in his factory in Cavriago from 1959 to 1969. The Wandre Doris is a beautifully eccentric example, featuring Wandre's aluminium neck covered in polystyrene coating. Note the 6-in-a-line timber and aluminium slotted headstock and note also how the neck is almost parallel along its length, which is common on Italian guitars of this vintage. The moulded pickguard is resplendent in 3-dimensions and incorporates pushbutton pickup selectors and and angled output jack. These guitars were from a day and age when you didn't see the same old generic components on each and every instrument. The tremolo is quite a wonderful affair looking as if it's been assembled from motorcycle parts.

The Doris model has been re-issued by Eastwood Guitars (and kudos to them for reviving all those retro designs) but you wouldn't really mistake it for the real thing unless seen from a distance.

This original 1960s Wandre Doris is currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $5,500.

G L Wilson

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

Dude taps away on 24 strings on his homemade monster metal bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Cor blimey, guvnor! When I first saw the picture of this thing I thought it might be a Star Trek fan posing with some exotic piece of Klingon weaponry. But no, apparently it's a touch-style 24-string "bass" (not sure why it can't be called a "guitar", but that's what the fellow calls it).

I know, I've been very cynical in the past about such multi-stringed instruments and "extended range basses", and even have my own catchphrase to be used in the eventuality of sighting such a beastie: "Is that enough strings? Just buy a harp already!"

But I've been told that I shouldn't be so closed-minded, so I'll let you watch this chappie in action on his 24-string bass in the below video and allow you make up your own minds.

Actually, someone commented on YouTube, "Whats the point in having that many strings?", and 24-string bass chappie answered, "There is no 'point', I just love to play stringed instruments!" which, I guess, is fair enough. It's like the answer to the old question "Why climb that mountain?" with "Because it's there!" In this instance, it's "Why have so many strings? Because I can!"

Love it or loathe it, it doesn't matter. It's worthy of a blog post on Guitarz for weirdness factor alone.

G L Wilson

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

30mm Lock 'n' Load guitar with sliding pickup, aluminium neck and stepped fingerboard

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I make no secret of the fact that I dislike guns intensely and have absolute contempt for that old cliche, the guitar shaped like a gun.

However, this 30mm Lock n Load custom guitar, which still looks like some piece of military hardware, I find quite intriguing. It does have a "steampunk" feel to it.

It has a sliding pickup on a bolt-action system allowing it to be set in any one of six positions. The neck is aluminium (it looks like it could benefit from some wooden inserts on the rear - see video) and the integral fingerboard is stepped, a la Bond Electraglide.

In the seller's favour is his refreshing honesty when telling us that the guitar weighs a whopping 15.4lbs/7kg and would be "only good for one song at a gig".

See more of the guitar here:

It's not really to my taste, but is still worthy of including here on Guitarz as an example of something quite unusual.

EDIT: As Big Red X points out in the comments, this would appear to have been made by British Custom Guitars.

G L Wilson

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

Check out the wiring on this crazy metal guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Guitarz reader Elad found this metal guitar on eBay. He writes:

This was offered on eBay with a start price of 99.99$, gained some bids, but then ended early by the seller for an unknown reason.

Even though it is hollow with the body made in two halves (and hinged so it can be opened up!), it looks to be pretty chunky. I sure hope that it's made of aluminium and not anything even heavier! And just check out all that wiring inside. That looks like it would be a nightmare to sort out. It appears there's a series of LEDs around the top and sides of the guitar so I guess it has a built-in "light show" of sorts. The trem arm is a pretty unique shape too - looks like it might double as a bottle opener.

See more, bigger photos, etc, over at Elad's blog TonePedia.

G L Wilson

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

EGC alu and lucite guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

(c) AE|2011, http://photography.fuzz-wire.net

Kevin Burkett of the Electrical Guitar Company creates boutique-quality aluminium guitars and basses. This particular example is a one-off, inspired by the now legendary Dan Armstrong plexiglass guitar, and which marries a lucite body to an aluminium Travis Bean-style neck. Unlike the Dan Armstrong which had such a deep-set neck that there was only room to accommodate a single pickup, the EGC has two P90s. Indeed, from what I can make out in the photographs, the neck/body interface looks to be one of its most interesting features. It appears that the neck and the plate at the rear of the body are formed from a single billet of aluminium, allowing the end of the neck to be flush with the top-end of the body with no need for neck pocket or deepset tenon.

(c) AE|2011, http://photography.fuzz-wire.net

More here: http://digital.premierguitar.com/premierguitar/201003_1/#pg193

Thanks to Dirk Lubbe for bringing this beauty to my attention.

G L Wilson

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

Vaccaro X-Ray V2 with an aluminium neck

guitarz.blogspot.com

You probably think that you've seen the characteristic V-shaped metallic headstock of this Vaccaro X-Ray V2 before - you're right, that's the Kramer one, from the time - back in the 1970s - they were making alu neck guitars. Mr Vaccaro is actually one of the founders of Kramer Guitars, and together with his son bought the patent for the necks and headstocks after Kramer crushed, and after upgrading them created the eponymous but short-lived company that released this guitar.

Bertram

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