Wilkanowski Archtop Guitar from a Violin builder in 1937. Very Unique Acoustic Guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I'm not sure what I can really say about this Wilkanowski Archtop Guitar from 1937. The pictures really tell most of the story. But if you want to know more the seller has a very lengthy and informative history of this guitar and it's builder with the listing.

R.W. Haller

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1909 Gibson L-1 Archtop acoustic with Leather case

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I contacted the seller of this 1909 Gibson L-1 Archtop guitar since it was mentioned in the ad that it came with a great story. I received this reply:

"As the story goes on that Gibson....It belonged to a preacher that rode a moped across Canada with this guitar in that leather case on his back. The guitar was later given to his son who kept it in a closet for like 50 years..till now...its in very good condition, as it sat in closet for most of its life."

I'd like to hear some of the stories this semi-closet classic would have to tell from the trip along the way. I've driven across Canada, and cannot imagine what it would have been like on a moped. This stunner did it on the back of a preacher, only to be kept in a closet for 50 years after that. I hope it goes to someone who can give it stories again.

R.W. Haller

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Beautifully Vintage Gretsch Synchromatic from 1955

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This all original (except the tuners) Gretsch Synchromatic 100 looks like it still has a ton of songs left in her. I'd really love to write on a guitar of this vintage.

I love the art deco bridge and the simple tailpiece.

My guitar covet-list grows

R.W. Haller



© 2015, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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Hofner Club 40 from 1956

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here we have another great example of why it's so easy to love Hofner guitars. What a beautiful and simply elegant guitar. This Hofner Archtop benefits in style by not having F-holes, and I say looks pretty lively for something that is old enough to retire.

At $3599 Canadian she'll need to find that special someone to spend her golden years with.
I wish it were I

R.W. Haller




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Jim is looking for info on his "Triumph" archtop guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Jim writes:

Hi Gavin,

I'm a fan of the Guitarz blog, it's been a great read. I started to learn how to play last year, and I'm finding the instruments and their history very interesting.

I bought this guitar in a junkstore yesterday (pictures attached), I was hoping someone at Guitarz might be able to tell me where it's from, how old it is? It's got a 'Triumph' sticker label on the headstock with a 'Foreign' label on the back, also stamped with number '13547'.

I think it's a cheap copy, but I've kinda fallen in love with it and I'm going to get it cleaned up and looking a bit healthier. It's currently smells of old books! Hope someone might be able to fill in some it's history, as I can't find anything about it.

Thanks for the great blog - it's been a really great resource.

All the best, Jim

Hi Jim, I believe what you have got there is a Selmer Triumph guitar. It's hard to pinpoint it to an exact model because the Selmer Triumph name encompassed several different guitar designs and a few amplifiers too.

To give some background, Selmer were a musical instrument manufacturer established in the early 1900s and based in Paris (surely their best known guitars were the gypsy jazz guitars as played by Django Reinhardt). By 1928 they had aquired a semi-independent UK branch. From the 1950s and through to the 1970s some of Selmer UK's own-brand guitars were produced by Germany's Höfner especially for the UK market.

However, rather than being a Höfner this particular guitar looks to be very similar to the Framus Studio 5/51. We've looked at one of these before here on Guitarz, although that example was unusual in having just a single f-fole.

Speaking of the f-holes, you'll notice that these Framus guitars have very distinctive shaped f-holes which omit the crossbar of the "f".

So, in brief, Jim, your guitar would be made in Germany, most likely in the 1960s. For further information you might want to check out this exchange I found on an internet forum, which concerns another very similar guitar.

By a strange coincidence, it also looks very similar to a guitar owned by my friend Frank, which has recently been restored by luthier Jeff Beer.

G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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Herbert Todt / Pergold violin bass

guitarz.blogspot.com

This astonishing violin bass was created by luthier Herbert Todt for East-German company Pergold - that was probably a brand used by workers of bigger companies in Markneukirchen like Musima when they made higher end instruments in their personal workshops - for example this one has a carved solid archtop, not a plywood one, and laminated neck. 

And it has 'comma' soundholes, similar to but more specific than the ones of the Migma we saw a few days ago, and for which colorful names have been proposed by our readers...

Bertram D

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

Merlijn shows us his Welson

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Merlijn writes:

Hello everybody from the Guitarz blog! I love reading your blogs but I want to know something from you. On the photos [above] you can see an old guitar from the brand 'Welson'. It was a famous guitar brand during the 50s and 60s. This guitar belonged to my father. I'd like to get more info about it. Could you help me?

Sincerely, Merlijn.

Hi Merlijn, whilst I can't give you much specific information about your father's old Welson guitar, I can tell you that the Welson brand name belonged to a Castelfidardo-based (i.e. Italian) accordion making company founded by Orlando Quagliardi in 1921. Welson guitars were distibuted in Germany as Dynacord and in the USA under the Wurlitzer and Orpheum brands.

For more information see the always fascinating Fetish Guitars website.

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.

1950s Herrnsdorf archtop jazz guitar - an early stereo guitar perhaps?

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's a fine old German-made Herrnsdorf archtop guitar from the 1950s. It's quite a sophisticated guitar for its age seeing as it has two pickups - one sliding Otwin unit as can clearly be seen in the photos, and another pickup hidden in the top of the neck in the fretless section. (The seller refers to this as a piezo pickup, but I'm pretty sure it's another magnetic pickup). There are also separate "banana plug" outputs for each pickup beneath the scratch plate... which begs the question, was the guitar designed to have two separate outputs to go to separate amplifiers (i.e. an early "stereo" guitar), or was it designed to be used with a special plug equipped with two banana plug pins?

More photos are available here.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of 1,800 Polish Zloty (approx £356 or US $596). Item currently located in Poland.

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.

Wunderschöne Framus "Studio" 5/51 Jazz-Gitarre von 1969

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's a cool archtop acoustic from 1960s Germany, namely a Framus Studio 5/51. It has a number of idiosyncratic features, such as the bolt-on neck (not uncommon on European-made acoustics of this era, see for instance the Italian-made Eko Ranger series and the Eros-branded copies of the same). More noticeably, and perhaps quite oddly, it features only a single f-hole, giving it a strangely asymmetrical appearance. The seller claims that "the model is known and loved for its super easy playability and clear, twangy tone." It certainly appears to be in very nice condition judging by these photographs.

Currently listed on eBay.de with a very reasonable-sounding Buy It Now price of €199.

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.

First Act Custom Shop Baritone Guitar Prototype

guitarz.blogspot.com:

A semi-hollow archtop baritone guitar is what I dream of - I hope to acquire soon a Hagstrom Viking baritone that is the only available model I know of , but this 27' scale  First Act Custom Shop one-off is just beautiful, with its bad-ass Gretsch look, single HB in bridge position and Bigsby-like tremolo... Too bad it's unique and it's sold!

Bertram D

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

From Germany: vintage Pfaff / Willy Dreier archtop jazz guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com: I'm not quite sure why this Pfaff archtop jazz guitar has a Willy Dreier label inside. Friedrich Pfaff produced guitars from 1947 - 1955 for MIGMA, whereas Willy Dreier was a Berlin luthier working in the early to mid 20th Century. Maybe he worked on this particular guitar at some point, performing renovations or repairs perhaps? Whatever the case it is surely an instrument worthy of inclusion here on Guitarz. Just check the (quite appropriate) German carve, the Art Deco headstock and inlays, and that Melos Belton pickup which looks like an extension of the fingerboard itself.

Currently listed on eBay.de with a flurry of bidding at the time of writing. The auction ends tomorrow, so I'll list the final price later.

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.

Gretsch Synchromatic Jr. G3967 Historic Series

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Gretsch guitars are usually associated with cool super classic outlines, but the rare Gretsch Synchromatic Jr. G3967 really stands out of the lot, with its claw-like florentine cutaway, thin waistline, cat's eye sound-holes and gold finish!

Reviews say that it has its own specific sound with its floating mini-humbucker creating an almost acoustic quality than people often associate with some kind of jazz, but of course you can play any kind of music with any kind of sound!

It's exactly the kind of guitar I love, a classic base with a twist - well this one has more than one!

Bertram D

PS. exceptionally I take the opportunity of this post to invite you to pay a visit to my other blog, where I posted my first pedal review - for the Inductor Guitars Mellifluous Pussy MP-1. 

I enjoyed making this review, and I plan to do more, feel free to leave comments! 

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