Mara eFin Prototype with Carbon Fibre Top and 1000 Year Old Neck

guitarz.blogspot.com:

One of the lines in the very long description for this incredible Mara eFin prototype guitar is: "A great eFin guitar, the opposite of NFG guitar". I don't believe that that is the origin of the name, but it's so deliciously pun-tastic I had to include it.

This prototype ergonomic guitar is topped with carbon fibre and the wood for the neck was a gift from a master First Nations carver and was somehow a part of a thousand year old totem pole in Stanley Park, B.C.

The design is a bit out of my usual desires and the one knob so close to the pickups would drive me crazy. I do like the pseudo-slotted headstock and would love to give this guitar a spin.

Currently listed on eBay for $2495 Canadian.

R.W. Haller



© 2015, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

a

Clarke Spellbinder long-scale bass as personally owned by Stanley Clarke

guitarz.blogspot.com:

From the eBay listing:

The ONLY right handed long scale made..truly one of a kind !!!

Available is the coveted serial #4 long scale Clarke Spellbinder (a personal bass of Stanley Clarke ) only RH LS in existence!!!!

The 70's was a busy decade for Lieber Instruments. In 1979, Stanley Clarke became the proud owner of a custom Spider Grinder acoustic bass. At that time, Stanley was also playing Rick Turner's first graphite neck, through body, Alembic electric bass. Stanley loved the graphite neck, and felt that an all composite bass was the way to go. He commissioned Tom to design such a bass.

Stanley approved the design and Tom built a prototype guitar which required four patents to handle the innovations. Stanley loved the bass, and in a joint venture, Tom and Stanley formed the Spellbinder Corporation in 1980. Spellbinder produced a limited edition run of fifty spellbinder basses. One additional custom left-handed version was built at Stanley's request, as a personal gift from Stanley to Paul McCartney. The run was a success and, as planned, the Spellbinder molds were destroyed to insure the instrument's value.

 (sic throughout)

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of US $9,112.50.

Also listed on Reverb.com.

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.

BOND ELECTRAGLIDE unique TREMELO MODEL the ACTUAL one in the BOND catalogue!

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Hello my name is David and I am a G.A.S. addict.

I've always wanted one of these but I just haven't got the space for any more guitars.

I am on the G.A.S. wagon (apart from yesterday's slip up). Sorry.

The first time I saw a BOND ELECTRAGLIDE I wanted it. Oh! I wanted it!

I saw that guy from The Clash (and later Big Audio Dynamite) posing with one. I saw Dave Stewart with one. I read about it in GuitarPorn Magazine. Oh My God! I wanted one.

I put a search in Ebay for one and every now and then one popped up. The other day there was just the body and neck (no fretboard or electronics). I even drooled over that.
Today my dream came true and slowly turned into a nightmare. This story does not have a happy ending. You have been warned.

There it was £700 plus delivery. I couldn't believe it. £700. I looked around my studio. Three walls hung with guitars. A small pile of cases filled with guitars on top of cabinet. Three more under the bed. NO! No more! I can't! That was it. I was not going to succumb. I switched off the computer, had a coffee and a shower and went to work.

I could not stop thinking about it. If I sold something, I could make some space and justify a new acquisition. The price was fantastic. A real piece of history and unique in its own right.

That was it, I started checking some prices. The Baja Tele could go. I could reduce the prices on those other guitars that I've been trying to sell for the past two months. That Peavey amp I don't use. Yes! Yes! Yes! I could do it!

Ebay beckoned. I searched. No Bond Electraglide apart from the afore mentioned shell. Back to my saved search. I was sweating. It can't be. "Click!"... "This item is no longer available."

Nooooooooooooooooooo!

So, all I can do is share with you all my sad, sad story.

This is what I let slip through my fingers. Mock me, go on. I deserve it. What a damned fool!

Seven hundred quid!

Tremolo arm... OMFG!

Thing of beauty

Almost the "number of the beast"! Might as well be for all my torment.

BOND ELECTRAGLIDE
1980s Handbuilt Carbon Fibre Electric Guitar
This is an extremely rare example
it is UNIQUE in being the ONLY bond ever fitted with a tremelo system
it is the actual guitar featured in the Bond Catalogues and magazine adverts
details as follows:
SERIAL NUMBER #000328
3 X  SINGLE COIL PICKUPS
ADJUSTABLE VOLUME BASS TREBLE
Correct power supply
correct Bond stereo cable with angled jack
correct straplocks
original bond owners manual
original bond case{ condition of this is poor }

The guitar has a couple of light marks on the back of the neck which i have pictured
there are NO SPLITS OR CRACKS OR REPAIRS
THE STEPPED FINGERBOARD IS IN EXCELLENT CONDITION
all the electrics work well...except the out of phase button on front two pickups is stiff
the screen lights up , all leds work
the guitar sounds superb and plays well
a true one off example with the factory fitted BOND tremelo unit

Aaaaaaaaaaaagh!
The Q&A was the final knife between the shoulder blades.

Q:     does it actually stay in tune with this tremelo please?  
A:     hello, strangely yes ! the design works very well ..and because of the straight line stringing and roller saddles it behaves much better than a strat for example also the mass of the design and the fact it is so superbly engineered by schaller gives the sound good sustain and tone , i was told by the guitar guru and author and bond expert Paul Day this tremelo cost so so much to 'tool up' by andrew bond with SCHALLER that it was the tipping point for the companies finances ...and it never went into production , this remains i believe the only correct factory fitted example in existence , nice thing ! , best regards, paul

I will NEVER be the same again.

David. Forlornly blogging from Barcelona

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

Gus G1 baritone guitar - carbon fibre, aluminium tube, flip flop paint, and 001 serial number

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Those Guitarz readers who were savvy enough to buy a copy of our limited edition Guitarz 2012 Calendar may already have flipped through the pages to October 2012 and seen a particularly stunning photo of a Gus fretless bass. However, I don't think that we have ever looked at Gus guitars on the blog itself before.

This particular example is a Gus G1 Baritone guitar with the serial number G1/B 001. Built by Simon Farmer in the UK, each Gus guitar or bass is essentially a custom order, although some instruments will have more specific custom features than others. The construction is of cedar with a skin of carbon fibre. All hardware is fabricated in-house a the Gus workshop so these guitars are not going to carry all the same generic hardware that we see everywhere else. The body is basically a teardrop shape and - most notably - is mounted inside a chrome-plated aluminium tube (actually welded in 5 sections). This tube helps give the instrument a more recognisable guitar-like shape and provides the familiar body horns.

The G1 Baritone has a 30" scale length and is designed to be tuned down to B (a fourth below 'normal' guitar pitch). This example has been finished in "Plum Crazy" purple to green flip flop paint from House of Colors.

For more information please check out the Gus Guitars website.

Currently listed on eBay UK with a starting price of £2999.

Thanks to Dirk for suggesting we feature this guitar.

G L Wilson

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

In the beginning there was the guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

The Modulus Genesis G3 

This an interesting example of a great solution to a problem that doesn't really exist for many other makers. Maybe it's to give you something to talk about. A way of breaking the ice at parties. "Hey man, crazy tuners you got on that geetar!" Is it really such a huge benefit to have the strings aligned perfectly straight? And, does that outweigh the disadvantages of having machine heads that are practically impossible to replace should it be necessary?

However, it is a very nice looking guitar and the seller says it's one of the best guitars he's ever played. And, as Modulus have stopped making guitars and now only produce basses and they made very few guitars during a short period, it is deserving of the tag "rare".

It may seem, from the slightly cynical tone of my intro, that I'm a bit of a luddite. That's not true. Well it might be but, in this case, it seems like being different for the sake of it rather than true innovation. I'm all for innovation and for the evolution of guitars. In fact, when you look at, say, Fender's bewildering catalogue of micro-variations on the Tele/Strat themes and those hideous limited-edition-figured-burly-swirly-deluxe-looks-like-a-sideboard-costs-an-arm-and-a-leg-made-in-the-USA Premiumcasters, it's clear that it's only the small boutiques that are truly pushing the evolution of guitars forward. And don't get me started on those ****ing "relics"! Sorry, sorry, hyperventilating. Don't worry, I'm OK now.

David in Barcelona

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

Halua Hi-Tech Hawaiian Guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Did you ever see a guitar as sleek-looking as this Halua acoustic lapsteel? It's like a spaceship out of a SciFi movie where the whole craft is perfectly seemless and smooth. The bridge is integral to the body as is the fingerboard (it's not a "fretboard" in this instance, because being a lapsteel it has no frets, just markers).

Although it is based loosely on the Weissenborn acoustic slide guitars of the 1920s and 30s, this 21st Century reinterpretation is constructed of carbon fibre (or "carbon fiber" if you will) and comes in its own carbon fibre case that doubles as a stand.

This particular guitar - currently for sale on eBay - formerly belonged to Ben Harper, and was apparently surplus to requirements because he had somehow ended up with two.

Halua guitars are handmade by Hans Jorgen Jahr, a Norwegian now relocated to Australia.

For more please see: www.halua.no

G L Wilson

NB: Please make sure you are reading this Guitarz post at guitarz.blogspot.com and not on a Scraper blog that copies posts without permission (and steals bandwidth) so as to profit from advertising. Please support original bloggers!

London International Music Show 2009

It's June which means it's time for the London International Music Show (LIMS09), which once again is being held at the ExCel Centre in London's East End and is on for four days until Sunday 14 June.

When you enter the hall you can always tell it's a music fair even if you've been blindfolded, because amid the sheer cacophony of sound you can always hear someone thinking he's the next Mark King slapping away on a bass guitar as if the 1980s never went away. It always happens at these events. I think it's a tradition or an old charter or something.

Of course, in recent years it was the London Guitar Show, last year it was the London International Music Show incorporating the London Guitar Show, now they've dropped the Guitar Show moniker altogether. I think some other instruments wanted a look-in too, and that's not really a bad thing, and there's still plenty of guitars to look at, play, and generally lust after. Or even laugh at.

Speaking of which, you'll notice I started this post with a photo of a display of Spongebob gear. Well, that's got the ridiculous out of the way. Let's look at some more serious stuff!

Some of the first guitars to catch my eye were these beautiful examples from Sparrow Guitars, many of which feature custom hand-painted finishes. These are some serious rock'n'roll machines and they have the looks to make sure you look great on stage.




These rather attractive Mayones Guitars (below) were on display at the Blackhawk Music stand.


I particularly liked this finish (below) which I assume was created by sanding through the black finish to the red beneath. It's a lovely textured finish and is definitely quite eye-catching.



The Patrick Eggle stand. Fine guitars made in the UK.

...and you know how I love perspex-bodied guitars. This Patrick Eggle example (below) isn't highly polished like acrylic guitars from most other manufacturers. The edges have been sanded to a rough matt surface that helps define the outline of the instrument. I also love the straight-through-the-body f-hole.


A whole heap of Airline guitars. It must be the...


...Eastwood Guitars stand.


Ah, you know about Eastwood by now, surely? Retro-looking guitars but with modern playability, reliable hardware, good pickups, etc. They certainly look the part.

Pictured below is the one I really wanted to try. Regular readers will know that I'm a big fan of the Ovation Breadwinner, and I wanted to check out Eastwood's re-issue. So, I tried it out and you know what? It gets the thumbs up - it feels exactly like my 1976 Breadwinner - only newer and without the dents! Eastwood president Mike Robinson, who was on hand to talk about the guitars (what a thoroughly decent chap), tells me that the pickups are hotter than the originals, which I can well believe as that's one area where the Ovation originals are lacking.

Fret King guitars are the baby of a guy you may have heard of by the name of Trev Wilkinson. These I do like. The influences are there to see on these vintage styles with a twist. They also have two ranges - the UK hand-built Green Label series, and more budget conscious Blue Label series featuring the same designs produced in Korea.




I'm not normally a fan of guitars with a "relic" or road-worn finish, but I did like this S and T-type pair from Fret King (below). I like the way the pickups and control knobs are deliberately mismatched, especially on the S-type guitar with has a nice mix of Strat and Tele features.

Now here's a sight to behold, these beautiful hand-built aluminium guitars from Goulding Guitars. Anthony Goulding, who builds these fine instruments, also makes all the hardware, the bridges, pickup surrounds and knobs. There are also many finish options: the purple example on the left in the below picture has been anodized, whilst the one on the right has a chrome finish.

Each guitar is custom-built to a customer's requirements, but all share the same basic shape. And what a great shape it is too! Anthony, who, it turns out,is a Guitarz reader (we had a good old chin wag) mentioned that I had once likened it to the shape of the Acoustic-branded Black Widow.

The guitar in the next picture takes design inspiration from the cut-out details on the cone covers of resonator guitars, although obviously this isn't a resonator. The finish is ... (what did you call it again? I should have made better notes...) splash anodized (?).

I had a great time talking to all the guys and girls on the booths. I also met Tom of Inky Hollow who creates custom artwork for guitars and basses, and seemingly any other instruments you care to throw his way such as drums, and also other items, e.g. motorbike helmets and surfboards. Check out the website because my photo here really does not do this particular example justice.


What else was there? Some of the big names were absent: Fender, Gibson, Rickenbacker... Did we miss them? No, not really.

Music Man were present, as ever, on the Ernie Ball stand and this doubleneck caught my eye for a couple of reasons. For one, I was intrigued at the layout of tuners on the 12-string headstock, and also I thought that the body was quite nice and compact for a doubleneck which are often such cumbersome beasts.

Peavey guitars (below):

And then there was, a whole display of Paul McCartney-esque Hofner Violin Basses...


...and a whole rack of Hofner Verithin guitars. You can see where the name comes from. Very elegant looking, these.

Now, I know nothing about these Faith acoustics (they were on the Shadow pickups stand) but I really liked the little 12-fret parlour guitar in the middle. I think this is what I want from an acoustic guitar, just for playing around the house.

These Atlas guitars were quite beautifully made instruments...

... I especially liked their take on the classic Strat design with its bound-edge flamed top. Very tasty!


The only thing that caught my eye on the Yamaha stand was this retro-styled semi. Saying which is doing them a dis-service, as they do produce some quality gear.

There were no Gretsch guitars to be seen (as part of the Fender empire, I guess they were absent for the same reasons as their parent company), but lovers of big-bodied archtop guitars would have been kept happy not only by Sparrow guitars as we have already seen, but also by these immaculate-looking Peerless guitars. These guys have been in the industry since 1970 and have built guitars for the likes of Gretsch, Fender and Gibson, so they ought to be well worth checking out in their own right.


I liked this line of ukuleles from Ashbury, especially the 8-string tenor. It had a sound that was reminiscent of a mandolin.

...and while we're talking of ukes, there was a fantastic selection over at the Sutherland Trading Co Ltd stand, including something I'd never seen before, a bass ukulele (the Kala uBass - pictured below). At first I thought it was a uke fitted with the silicon strings from a Ashbory bass, but I'm told these are actually polyurethane. What's more, it sounded great. It had a double bass quality to it. Very easy and fun to play - it's tuned just like a bass guitar - I really liked it.

Now before I finish, I want to put in writing here a couple of reminders for myself for next year.

1. Check the dates carefully to avoid turning up a week early. (Yes, I did go last Saturday, to find no music show. Did I feel stupid or what?)
2. Charge the batteries in your camera the night before.

Things I didn't manage to photograph included:

The XOX Audio Tools "The Handle" guitar on the PROEL (International) Ltd stand. What an absolutely beautiful guitar in terms of looks, sound and playabilty. Being made of hollow-sectioned carbon fibre it's as light as a feather. If only I had two and a half grand to spare...

Vintage Guitars - the brand "Vintage" from John Hornby Skewes, that is. Someone once commented on this blog that I had judged them too harshly and that they were pretty decent instruments, and that I should do my homework. Now, I'm always one to put my hand up when I'm wrong, so I thought I'd try out a couple. I tried a relic Strat-a-like from the Icon series. It was a little unsubstantial feeling for my tastes (for a Strat, that is), but it was certainly a very nice player, certainly better than many Squiers I have tried. I then tried an LP type guitar. I've never been a Les Paul player but I was almost sold. It played beautifully and it sounded great. Dare I say it even sounded authentic?

Dudley Ross, a very talented fretless guitar player was demonstrating the Vigier Excaliber guitar with delta-metal fingerboard, and which I featured in last year's report. He was very kindly letting people try out the guitar for themselves, including Yours Truly. What a beautiful player. I've experimented with fretless guitar in the past, but never imagined it could sound as good as this - even on the unwound strings (which was where my own customised fretless used to fall down).

I also noodled for a while on a Roland-equipped Fender Strat over at the Roland / Boss booth. It was plugged into a device called the Roland GR20 Guitar Synth. Most the sounds were pretty farty and perhaps someone had screwed up the settings as I could only really get it to track on the D and A strings. However, I discovered that I absolutely loved the Hammond organ patch, and spent ages playing Hammond solos (complete with Leslie rotating speaker effect) on two strings! It sounded very Steve Winwood.

And there - for now - I shall leave it. It's been a long day and I've been up all night typing this lot out and need bed! Until next year, then. (And we'll look at lots of curious guitars from eBay in the meantime!)

PLEASE NOTE: The photos in this article are all my own so if you do want to use one on a forum or a blog or whatever, that's fine, but please credit me and link back here. Thanks.