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!

the modest strat

guitarz.blogspot.com

Lately we've seen wonderful, sumptuous, historical guitars, with special designs, special finishes, special pickups, special gears... Then today, I found this one, looking like a old illegal immigrant worker, unoriginal, roughly assembled, used after a life time of work, and I thought: pretty cool guitar, why is so?

I don't know its brand, I've never seen anything like this, but of course usually anything looking like a stratocaster doesn't activate my optical nerve to reach my brain... It's probably the control plate that got my attention, this one I saw on German or Mittel-European guitars from the communist era, though I can't remember which ones, and the fat rail pickups look Jolana - that is Czechoslovakian... 

I say, enough with the pompous über-cool authentic jazz guitars, glory to the anonymous humble low class outcast, everybody's guitar!

Bertram D

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

Jackson Soloist SL2H in Yellow Bengal finish

guitarz.blogspot.com

(Almost) everyday I search the Internet about guitars, to learn more about them, to feed this blog, or to see what I will buy (or more likely not buy) to improve my guitar work (and my GAS). I look for special guitars, often vintage ones because we are living in strange times, when most guitar makers and lovers are stuck in the 1950s and consider that the first models built are for ever the best ones, then to find the innovation and creativity we lack nowadays, one has to go to the 1960s and 1970s (I know, I know I said this already but we have new readers all the time!)...

So I look for special innovative guitars in term of sound, technology and design, but also for classics to have a better understanding of the history of electric lutherie, but what I see the most on the web are guitars like this Jackson Soloist the so-called superstrat aimed at metal shredding! And when I have to select a guitar to post here, I always overlook an endless stream of ESP, PRS and other Jacksons to find the Teisco or Eko gem, the one-off built in a garage by an obscure genius or the tripping East-german bizarro that we'll enjoy together. Once in a while I try to show a superstrat to keep connected to the whole guitar universe but I don't have much to say about it like today (did you notice the tigerish finish? about as scary as a stuffed kitten - exactly what you need to play hair metal).

I know that metal is the most spread style of pop music, but there is something twisted in the guitar business, because of all the kids who buy a superstrat in the hope of becoming the next Kirk Hammett, only 1% will actually learn more or less how to play - since shredding is highly technical and difficult, and 1% of these 1% will do something good out of it. If they would play good old garage rock, they would enjoy themselves much more, reach a better result in a few months, and play much cooler guitars, wouldn't they?

Bertram

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

DANELECTRO Vintage VIOLIN SHAPE Acoustic Guitar - WOW!!!!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

We do get to see a lot of instruments being hawked under the banner of RARE!!!! on eBay (usually accompanied by WOW!!!) and often referring to a spectacularly bilious Steve Vai-esque paint job, an INCREDIBLE!!!! "C", "D" "U" or "X" neck profile, Kryptonite TONE-MONSTER PUPS, mother of Death-Metal-Toilet-Seat inlays or some such DAMN-GOOD-REASON-IT'S-RARE attribute, but this, as the seller say's is indeed PRETTY RARE!!!!! WOW!!!!!

And, pretty… pretty, to boot. A vintage Danelectro violin shaped f-hole archtop acoustic. And to answer his question. No, I have never seen another like it (except for the teardrop shaped Danelectro acoustic Gavin found about a year ago and another (signed by Steve Winwood and Kris Kristofferson WOW!!!) which appeared in an auction in 2007). Acoustic Danelectros are rare creatures indeed.

It's a cracking guitar (if you like violin/viola shaped guitars and as I own three, I must do) and in great condition. Apparently the original owner was in a cruise ship band (thought he doesn't say whether he took this on board with him). The seller also says that, based on his research (it doesn't say what that entailed or what his source was) it's from the 50's. I won't argue with that because I just don't have a clue. WOW!!! WOW!!!! WOW!!!!

Please excuse all the exclamation marks. I bought a job lot and have to use them up (there was also a bunch of {yellow} italics thrown in for free - and I'm not one to pass up a bargain).

David in Barcelona

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

Badly-strung Tele

guitarz.blogspot.com:

It looks like someone was in a hurry!

But, really, how difficult is it to string up a Fender Telecaster especially one like this example with the slotted machine heads? I mean, that is going to be so confusing.

It's bad enough when people put the string around the wrong side of the tuner so you have to turn the head in the opposite direction from usual when tuning but to transpose two different strings is almost laughable. If I was that eBay seller I would have been ashamed to even show this photo. Having seen this, I don't think I could trust his claim that this is (even in part) a 1968 example of a paisley Tele rather than a later Japanese reissue.

G L Wilson

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

NIN Epiphone Les Paul Gothic

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Nine Inch Nails have created an eBay account especially to sell off their old stage gear - guitars, keyboards, amplifiers, drums, staging, anvil cases, cables, rack/outboard gear, guitar effects, pedal boards, etc. Some items are in working condition and some items, such as this Epiphone Les Paul Gothic, are trashed.

Who in their right mind would pay over $400 for a broken Epiphone Les Paul? Oh... Nine Inch Nails fans. Without the NIN connection, it's worth just a fraction of that. Looking through their past sales there are broken Gibson and Epiphone Les Pauls that have sold for thousands. Crazy!

It's sad really. People are bidding on this (admittedly, not very exciting) guitar, not so they can repair it and make it playable again, but as a NIN souvenir.

I can feel a rant coming on. Isn't trashing your instruments on stage a bit of hoary old cliché now? I find it incredible that bands insist on resorting to such tired worn-out "shock tactics". Even Pete Townshend seems embarrassed by it these days.

I can understand bands want to put on an incredible show, to create a spectacle, but come on... use your imaginations!!! Let's see something NEW and different and exciting. Hell, you could even amaze and excite us with some incredible musicianship! Ever thought of that?

Trashing instruments is up there alongside on-stage nudity and self-abuse as the tired old clichés designed to shock which any self-respecting artists should avoid. Is that really the best they can do?

G L Wilson

ADDITIONAL: If you don't agree with me, fine. You are welcome to air your views in the comments so long as you do so in an CIVILISED manner. Personal insults and bad language are unacceptable and will not be tolerated. If you want to make childishly inane and abusive comments then please go back to YouTube.

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Wandre Roby Gold - for collectors only, apparently

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Isn't it crazy that certain guitars, which 10 or 20 years ago would have been considered junk, these days command such ridiculously high prices? In the past most "collectors" wouldn't have looked twice at some of these kooky old pieces. Some of them, it turns out, are in fact good players with a fantastic tone that can't be replicated using modern gear. Others might still play like a dog, but their eccentric design (by modern day standards) makes them desireable, if only to hang on the wall.

This Wandre Roby Gold from 1963 is quite a stunning-looking piece of vintage Italiana. The plastic control module set into the lower bout of the body is a particularly eccentric touch. Wandres are known for their peculiarities of design such as metal necks with bolted on headstocks and unusual body materials such as fibreglass. This example is quite conservative compared to some models.

However, it hasn't gone un-noticed that artists like Buddy Miller and T-Bone Burnett were playing Wandre guitars and getting an amazing sound, and the price of these instruments has sky-rocketed.

The seller of this particular guitar is asking $14,500 for it! He says that:

This auction is reserved for COLLECTORS ONLY simply because they will truly
appreciate its unique position in the ART and MUSIC MARKETPLACES.

What is he talking about? Would players not appreciate a guitar like this more than someone who simply has enough cash to fling about and buy something like this on a whim? Who are these "collectors" he is referring to? I myself have a "collection" but something at this price is way out of my league.


G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

Things that bug me in the guitar listings on eBay

#1: People who can't spell "Squier"

Take a look at this example on eBay right now - a Squier HM Strat with a pretty revolting two-tone magma finish. I mean, the guy has even shown a close-up of the headstock which has a huge Squier logo on it, and still he insists on spelling it "Squire" in the listing.

How can the seller excuse this?

The name is right there spelt correctly on the guitar!

Anyway, it's very easy to remember: SquiER ends in ER just like its parent company FendER.

It's crazy because if you want to search for a Squier on eBay you need so search on both "Squier" and "Squire" because so many people get the spelling wrong.

And no, I don't have any patience with people who make careless mistakes in their eBay listings. It's not guitar related, but only last week I had to sort out a terrible mess when I tried buying a video camera on eBay, and the careless seller had not only copy and pasted the wrong camera details from a much superior model into his listing but he also sent it to the wrong house number in my street. Attention to detail was severely lacking, and we don't need people like this on eBay.

Rant over.

Outrage as Stratoblogster is Censored!

Since when did Blogger/Google start censoring our blog posts?

JP Stratoblogster posted a very interesting rant recently which questioned Premier Guitar's apparent habit of giving rave reviews to their advertisers' own products. A review of one guitar in particular, the Etavonni GT-1 - a very expensive and supposedly innovative instrument, made JP think that something very fishy was going on and so he wrote this article (now re-posted).

Then the article was pulled!

Someone didn't like it! Premier Guitar? Etavonni? I don't know, but it seems that JP's comments clearly hit a nerve. Too close to the truth, perhaps? Almsot certainly, I'd say.

Why not respond with their side of the story? Why not enter into the debate in a reasonable, sensible way? Or even admit "Yes, we screwed up..."

Getting the article censored by Google/Blogger is just playing dirty tricks.

UPDATE: Kudos to Premier Guitar for getting involved in this discussion and responding to some of the issues that JP raised. (See the comments both here and on Stratoblogster).

A rant about inappropriately used decals

You see it time and again on eBay. Someone builds a "Bitsocaster" guitar - a Strat or a Tele type guitar assembled from spare parts, and they apply a Fender decal to the headstock. In the listing they may say that "This is not a Fender", but in that case WHY put the decal on there in the first place? I do not understand this peculiar way of thinking.

If I play a Strat or a Strat-a-like that is not a Fender then I DO NOT WANT it to say Fender on the headstock. It would be a lie, pure and simple. (Actually, I have five Strats/S-type guitars. Two are Japanese Fenders - a blue flower Strat and a candy apple red 12-string, one is a Japanese Sanox Sound Creator and has that logo on the head, another is my DiMarzio/Charvel which has no logos at all, and the final one is my Feline Holy Panther which sports the Feline logo on the headstock although seeing as the body is from a genuine 1970s American Fender technically it's more Fender than much of the crap bearing that name that you see on eBay.)

How would a copy guitar benefit from having the Fender logo on it? The only answer I can think of is so that the player can pretend that they have the real McCoy, which is a bit sad really.

The same goes for Squiers. If you play a Squier, be proud of it and don't replace the logo with a Fender one. There's nothing wrong with playing Squier guitars, most of which are excellent guitars in their own right. I don't see the point in pretending they are anything else.

What is worse is that there are guitars which aren't even copies that people are slapping the Fender logos on. You see Fender decals appearing on all sorts of weird un-Fender headstocks.

Take a look at this example as pictured above. The diminuitive body is almost certainly from a 1980s Encore starter guitar and is made from MDF. The neck may or may not also be Encore. OK, so the guy has done a nice spray job on it with that blue finish, but it is so definitely not a Stratocaster or even an approximation of one, so WHY put the Fender Stratocaster logo on it? Look at the shape of that headstock! Who does he think he's fooling? Or does he genuinely think it looks like a Stratocaster?