Becker Retro - a contemporary ergonomic guitar handmade in the USA

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This Becker Retro guitar reminded me of some of Bertram's original drawings for his guitar designs as seen on his Guitarren blog.

Here's what the eBay seller tells us about the guitar:

Becker Guitars began in 1995 as a repair shop in the basement of founder Dan Becker. After its first years of operation, Becker Guitars moved to a new shop in Stoughton, Massachusetts. While the company grew into a full service guitar repair and restoration center, Becker began venturing into guitar making.

In the spring of 2006 Dan Becker, brought on Maine guitar luthier Ryan Martin and began to focus on designing and producing custom instruments. Becker soon moved from its smaller shop in Stoughton, Massachusetts to a larger space in Attleboro, Massachusetts in order to accommodate a growing production line.

In 2007 Becker unveiled their first prototype, an Imperial model, to the public at the first annual Premier Guitar Festival. 2008 saw the release of Becker Guitars' flagship production line, The Retro Series. First introduced in 2008, The Retro Series is our flagship guitar line.

This model features a mahogany body which is contoured to maximise comfort and ease playability. The neck is also mahogany, with a Flamed Maple fretboard, 16 inch radius, 22 stainless steel fret. Gotoh machine heads.

An interesting feature is an additional “zero” fret (see photo) to allow closer control of string tension and also allows for much lower action. The action on this model is very low, making it an incredibly fast neck indeed. The neck is topped off with a bone nut.

The Pickups are incredible - Lindy Fralin Hot Humbuckers, each of which is coil tapped (separate switch controlling each), to make a huge range of tones available. Pickups are selected via a three-way toggle switch (Neck, Neck/Bridge combined and Bridge). There is also a “kill-switch”, so cancel all output when required.

All-in-all, this is a top specification guitar, hand-crafted using the best materials available, extremely flexible with great playability.

The body colour is Kiwi Green and it has a Satin Nitrocellulose Lacquer Finish. The wooden pickguard is made from the same flamed maple as the fingerboard, so there is no “plastic” feel to this instrument whatsoever.

(Text probably originally from Becker Guitars themselves).

Currently listed on eBay UK with a Buy It Now price of £1,450.

G L Wilson

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Gamble Guitars Rocketfire Junior handmade in Germany

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Aesthetically-speaking I am not the biggest fan of singlecut guitar designs such as th almost Univerally loved Les Paul, but occasionally a singlecut design will do it for me. For example I've always had a soft spot for the Dano U2-style singlecuts, and here is another I spied on eBay that appeals to me, namely the Gamble Rocketfire Junior.

Gamble Guitars are lovingly handcrafted in Germany by the two-man team of Sascha Proske and Robby Rybol. Their Rockfire Junior model features a Mahogany body with either cream binding or fake binding; choice of finish (Nitro satin or matt, black, vintage white, shell pink, surf green, sonic blue and open pore nitro satin or gold), oil-finished back, Mahognay neck with ebony or rosewood fingerboard with dot inlays and 12" radius, 25"(635 mm) scale length, bone nut, ABM Wraparound bridge, choice of Harry Häussel P90, humbucker or Filtertron pickups, Gotoh SD 510 tuners, and controls consisting of volume, tone with push-pull for coil tap, and 3-way pickup selector.

The guitar new is priced at €2,100.00 (which includes a SCC Canada case), but this example on eBay is listed with a Buy It Now price of €1,250. Condition is said to be almost as new but with one minor ding on the back.

I do like the almost offset design which can be seen a lot clearer on this photo taken from the Gamble Guitars website.

G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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Rob O Reilly Guitars - innovative electric and MIDI guitar from Ireland

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No-one could accuse Ireland's Rob O Reilly Guitars of pointlessly churning out the same old tried and tested guitar designs that we've all seen before. Instead they've gone for cutting edge innovation and originality with their guitar designs, the ROR BE and MIDI guitars.

Their latest model is a variant of their BE guitar and is is equipped with built-in Fishman TriplePlay wireless MIDI controller.

The standard guitar features a high grade maple fingerboard with ultra-tough white lacquer and non-chip binding and black edge fingerboard position dots; Maple bolt-on neck with smooth easy-slide matt black finish; 6 rear locking die-cast tuners for quick string change and stable tuning.  Most notably, the middle section of each guitar where the pickups and bridge are mounted is made from see-through perspex. A second perspex plate on rear of the guitar allows the owner to customise the guitar by inserting their own artwork. Upgrade options include an Apple iOS interface to allows the guitar to be played through an iPhone or iPad, and an "Infinity Mirror" which is essentially a cool lighting effect with LEDs inside the perspex sandwich of the body.

Other features include an integrated pick holder and a balance bar to ensure the guitar hangs nicely on a strap and doesn't neck dive.

It does look very cool even if it is reminiscent of half a pair of spectacles. I am also reminded of the Swinger Tennis Racket Guitars which also featured wooden bodies with a perspex centre section.

Furthermore these innovative guitars are affordable with the basic BE model priced at €399 and the Roland GK-3-equipped MIDI guitar at €599.

A bass model is also in the works!

G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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Red Rock M1 - Like the guitar? Then get on-board with Kickstarter

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Here's an email I received from a (quite rightfully) frustrated guitar designer:

Hi Gavin

My name is Sean Mara, from North Vancouver BC. I love the blog, have looked over the past while and seen some weird stuff. But I have to be careful because… I am a guitar designer/builder. I love weird but as a designer I have to be careful what influences me. I hate copies. If I see yet another "new" guitar that looks like a Strat or Les Paul, I'm going to get a chainsaw and do a few mercy headstock decapitations.

Just spent a frustrating time trying to get major manufacturers to accept some of my creations. They are sssooo conservative, selling the same 2 designs for 60+ years. So I decided to take them on and have just launch a Kickstarter page to launch my designs.

The reason I am contacting you is to show you a few designs. Here's one I just finished. It is a one piece solid cedar 2 1/2" thick body with a 3 piece set neck and a fresh headstock for the others to copy. I'd really appreciate knowing what you think and if you would want other pics to mention it to your follower.

Cheers from Canada,

Sean Mara
RedRock Guitars
www.redrockguitars.com

Be sure to check out this Kickstarter project to see Sean's other designs. You've got to admit, he's succeeded nicely in avoiding all the the usual design clichés! I particularly love the sculptured contours of the golden M1 pictured above. It has a very organic look to it. The headstock layout also looks particularly novel.

G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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Gibson 2013 EB Bass

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These days I mainly play bass gigs. If I do pick up a 6-string more often than not it's my Fender Bass VI. But I'm quite happy in the bass department with the four basses I have in my collection. However, had I been seen this beauty when on the lookout for a bass, I think I would have been very tempted.

It's a Gibson EB bass from 2013, a model that I admit I was hitherto totally unaware of. It bears little relation to the various vintage Gibson basses in the EB series, in fact stylistically it seems to owe more to Fender and Music Man.


However, in tried and trusted Gibson style it does feature a set neck. Note the heel-less neck join, which is made all the more apparent for having a maple neck set into the black finish of the body. For more info, full specs, etc, see Gibson's own EB page.

This particular example was recently listed on eBay UK and sold for under £550. I'm thinking someone got themselves a bargain there.

G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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Can you help identify this contemporary-looking Jaguar-like guitar?

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Casey writes:

What is this guitar? Some fellas and I are having a conversation about it at the tapeop forum, and we cannot figure it out. Some think it is a Fernandez, but the logo is wrong as well as the headstock and the location of the controls...

Any ideas, guys? I'm sure I've seen something like this myself, but can't pin a brand/model name on it.

G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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Von Mir Pintail 6 and Boxtail - all original design guitars from the USA

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Von Mir Pintail 6

I was quite taken by the design of this Von Mir Pintail 6 guitar as listed recently on eBay UK; its slim hour-glass shape is almost reminiscent of certain lap steel designs. It's an original design that - for me - actually works nicely. This guitar was listed with a Buy It Now price of £499 but failed to sell. It's possible it may be re-listed at some point. I thought it was interesting that a little known American-made guitar had found its way into the United Kingdom.

Von Mir Boxtail

Von Mir Guitars were (are?) built in the USA by Steve Campos. Whether it is still a going concern, I don't know, but I don't believe very many were built. As well as the Pintail 6 there is also a Pintail Bass and another design with a bound body giving it an almost Les Paul aesthetic, the Von Mir Boxtail.

G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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KOZM VDC (Voodoo Child) series ergonomic acoustic guitars

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Jeff Kosmoski of KOZM Guitars, located outside of Portland, OR in the Pacific Northwest of the USA, has made it his mission to single-handedly shake-up the guitar-making industry and bring it into the modern age. He specialises in guitars which are ergonomic, organic, curvaceous, and three-dimensional with bodies that resonate, howl, scream and sing.

KOZM VDC-1 and VDC-2 acoustic guitars

Witness the KOZM VDC series guitars shown here. Forger your flat-tops and never mind your archtop guitars, did you ever see any acoustics that were as three-dimensionally curvy as these?

Jeff tells us that:

These guitars are similar to my Heresy 1 series, in terms of scale length and general body size. However, the VDC series (VooDoo Child) has these major differences:

1. An inclination to use voodoo-rich swamp ash in the front half of the guitar body. The VDC 1 has a figured-maple center area, with swamp ash in the outer areas. I used Doug Fir in the VDC 2 because I wanted to see how it affected the sound. (The VDC 1 has a well balanced sound with a surprising amount of low end, whereas the VDC 2 is a bit brighter. FYI, the actual cubic-inch volume of the VDC body is only about 57% of a conventional dreadnaught.)


2. A modified hard tail bridge. This is basically a conventional, off-the-shelf hard tail bridge, with several key modifications to enhance the flow of acoustic energy into the East Indian rosewood base - and the body of the guitar. (See photos 1-3 below).


3. The lower waist has been moved towards the bridge a tad. Although this gives the guitar a subtle non-symmetric appearance, the purpose was to force the guitar towards the player's left (at least when sitting down), which in turn tends to lower the right elbow and shoulder - resulting in a more comfortable and natural playing position.

In addition, the VDC 2 has a set of K&K Pure Mini transducers.

It's heartening in these days of the "same old, same old" cookie cutter guitar designs to see someone doing something completely different and original in guitar design, and particularly within the field of acoustic guitar. How many of us have despaired of our acoustic guitar bridges and wished that we could set up the intonation as easily as on an electric?

G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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Gibson Les Paul Vixen, a real guitar for women!

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The now discontinued Gibson Les Paul Vixen was introduced in 2006 and was marketed as "A real guitar for women".

It was basically a stripped down Les Paul with a lightweight mahogany body, narrow string spacing with slim-taper neck, 490R and 498T humbuckers, and was available in Caribbean Blue, Corona Yellow, Coral, Ebony, and Red Metallic finishes. And yes, "Coral" is just another name for "pink".

It followed in the footsteps of other "girl guitars" with brands like Daisy Rock, Halo Guitars, and even Fender getting in on the action, although is it my imagination or are Fender's "Hello Kitty" Stratocasters most popular with punk acts trying to be ironic?

Some thought that the simplified control layout (just one volume and one tone) on the Vixen was somewhat insulting to women in that they weren't being given the same tonal options as on a regular Les Paul. Personally, I thought it was simply a more sensible arrangement. I never could get on with those separate volumes and tones for each pickup.

The Corona Yellow example pictured here is currently listed on eBay in Italy with a starting bid of €510.

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.

Moniker Guitars auctioning guitars to benefit Austin Music Foundation

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Moniker Guitars of Austin, Texas, are auctioning a whole bunch of their guitars featuring artwork by various locally-based artists in order to raise money for the Austin Music Foundation (AMF). Auctions end December 15. For further information and to see the guitars being auctioned, see here.

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.

Hallmark Stradette Custom - the lovechild of Stradivarius and Mosrite!

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Damn! This guitar is just so cool. We've featured Hallmark guitars before, and they are always worth a good look at because their designs are rather eye-catching. This one is a Hallmark Stradette Custom and it looks like the lovechild of a Stradivarius violin and a Mosrite electric guitar. It features a thinline double-cutaway body with an arched maple top and back; a solid center block of seasoned hardwood to minimize feedback and provides sustain; and two wide range high output pickups with individual volume and tone controls. Available from Hallmark Guitars for $1199.

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.

MotorAve Fastback - gorgeous contemporary American guitar design

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We've previously looked at another guitar from MotorAve, namely their BelAire model (as used by Queens Of The Stone Age's Josh Homme). The above pictured guitar, however, looking like nothing else on Earth is a MotorAve Fastback. The guitar was designed and built from solid mahogany by Mark Fuqua in Los Angeles and is one of the earliest that he made with a serial number of 0004.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of £2,000.

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.

Musicvox MI-5 12-string bass in sea foam green

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This Musicvox MI-5 12-string bass in a glorious all-over sea foam green finish is one seriously cool bass. It's the sort of instrument to make me start salivating Homer Simpson-style. Musicvox are known for their 12-string basses but previously examples have been based on the singlecut Space Cadet model rather than this twin-cutaway MI-5 design. Features include: 34 inch scale, neck through body construction, twin double truss rods, Grover Octave tuners, locking bass tuners, active and passive electronics, dual output jacks, custom cast and machined eight saddle 12 string bass bridge, special design active and passive Musicvox bass humbucking pickups. String tuning configuration: eeE aaA ddD ggG

Musicvox have recently been making available various guitars and basses in strict limited edition finishes and I believe that this MI-5 12-string basses may be another such limited edition, so if it appeals to you, snap it up fast!

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $1,499.

For further information, Musicvox's Matt Eichen talks us through the 12-string bass (in this instance a Space Cadet) in this video:


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.

Very cool retro-styled Opal guitar by Joseph Kraut

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Now here's a really cool piece. It looks for all the world like it's some bizarre vintage guitar but it is actually relatively modern, namely a 2008 Opal by Joseph Kraut. Design-wise it's a mash-up between Danelectro and cigar-box guitar; it even has a metal forearm rest as you might find on a banjo. I'm not sure what materials are used but they have a vinyl-like appearance, maybe even the top and back are made of Formica. I'm guessing the construction is like that of a Danelectro - certainly the body appears to be hollow with that soundhole grille on the upper bout. (If anyone has any further info, I'd love to know more).

This guitar is currently being offered for sale on reverb.com with a $450 Buy It Now price tag.

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.

Vintage & Rare Guitar of the Week: Katar Popmaster Thinline Kustom 2012

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Here at Guitarz we don't just celebrate only vintage guitars, we also take an interest in contemporary instruments. Katar Kustom Kuitars (their spelling!) are a boutique maker from Finland specializing in Custom Shop instruments. As well as guitars obviously styled after certain famous Fender and Gibson models, Katar also offer some original designs such as the Popmaster which is delightfully retro in its design having the vibe of some of those old Danelectro and Kay guitars, but obviously with much higher production values.

This particular guitar is being sold by Amplisonic Ltd of Finland via Vintage & Rare and is priced at €3800.

G L Wilson

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