5 Weird Guitars from Craigslist!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Hi there. My name is Billy and I’m a writer with Guitartricks.com, where we teach people how to play guitar online! I’m a huge fan of looking for weird, interesting guitars, and one of the best places to do it is on Craigslist.

Craigslist is home to a number of interesting guitars. Here are some that I came across that are entirely unique and unlike anything I’ve ever seen in person. Some of these guitars are custom-built, others aren’t guitars at all but instead, use leftover guitar bodies and parts. Check them out!

Steampunk Telecaster- $350

This telecaster was “Made like a Tele.” According to the sales post. I’m not sure how anyone is supposed to play this, or even hold it. The parts seem pretty sharp but if you really want if you’re playing in a steampunk rock band, then maybe this is a match made in heaven. 

The Roasting PanResonator - $250

Apparently, the seller has listed this as a “3-string, acoustic/electric, roasting-pan resonator guitar.” If you want to know what this instrument really sounds like, the seller even posted a video of him playing it! Check it out here: https://youtu.be/BNLiMz7Lucs

Budweiser CollectibleGuitars - $6100 (for all 4)

Who knew Budweiser made guitars? Looks like this seller has a handful of Gibson and PRS guitars with custom Budweiser paint on them. One of these is a “very rare” Les Paul Custom shop! I’m more of a Guinness kind of guy myself though.

Homemade ElectricGuitar - $110

This guitar caught my eye simply because it looks very sharp! Just look at that thing. You can slice a cake with this guy. Otherwise, it looks like a pretty clean custom-built number with mahogany and maple. 

Custom Hand MadeBluetooth Speaker Guitar - $220

This seller has taken broken guitars and turned them into speakers. There are three different guitar/speakers for sale. I wonder if these sound any good!

Scorpion Bass Guitar- $245

This is the only bass on this list but it looked so darn interesting, I couldn’t help but put it on the list. It’s a custom made guitar and looks like it started life originally as a Maestro.

And that’s it! There are so many interesting guitars out there, don’t forget to check them all out. 

Billy has also written for Guitar World and if you want to read more from him, visit Guitar Tricks, the #1 online guitar lessons website!

© 2019, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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Rayco ResNick Resophonic Banjo

guitarz.blogspot.com:

As a struggling Dobro and Banjo player the thought of adding a hybrid of the two to my arsenal is both appealing and daunting.
Perhaps this Rayco ResNick Resophonic Banjo designed by Ross Nickerson could be a replacement for the other two.

Less gear to carry is always a good thing, right?

Currently listed for $2200 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.

Rare Canadian Made Slivatone Resonator Guitar from 1935

guitarz.blogspot.com:

When I first saw the ad for this 1925 Silvatone Resonator, I just assumed that it was a misspelling of Silvertone. But wait, was Silvertone around in 1935? Did they make resonators?

As it turns out, Silvatone is the name of guitars built by Charles Edward Brasher in Toronto in the time before WWII. It sounds like there wasn't many made and even fewer that still exist.

If it's as rare as that, it'll likely not last long at $1500.

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.

The Golden Guitar of Tampa Red - guest post by Kevin Clinton

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Despite the change in popular music over the last 100 years, one thing remains constant: we all crave a loud and flashy guitar. In the 1920s the loudest and flashiest guitars on earth came from the National String Instrument Corporation. National pioneered what is known as a ‘resonator guitar’, which utilizes a metal cone that sits under the strings and acts very much like a stereo speaker. The strings connect to the cone via a bridge. When the strings are played, the metal cone vibrates, moving air and amplifying the sound. The result is more volume, but also a completely distinct tone and timbre. In the days before amplifiers, the resonator was the only way for a guitarist to compete with horns and drums in a jazz or brass band and get a piece of the spotlight.

National made not only the loudest, but the most beautiful and elegant guitars of the day. Their metal body guitars were plated in brilliant chrome and nickel and inlaid with extravagant scrolls and floral patterns. Amongst these visual juggurants, one guitar stood out above all the rest: the Gold Plated Style 4 Spanish Tricone made for blues guitarist Tampa Red.

Tampa Red was one of the most prolific early blues artists of the 20s and 30s, recording over 300 tracks throughout his career. In 1928, the first year that Nationals were available, he bought the gold plated guitar. He soon became known as ‘The Man with the Golden Guitar’. The Style 4 was the most intricate and elaborate model that National produced, hand engraved with chrysanthemum carvings, a celluloid mother-of-pearl headstock and diamond shaped fret markers.

photo credit: Oklahoma Gazette

The tri-cone design featured three smaller resonator cones that were linked by a ‘T’ shaped bar, rather than the more popular and lower priced single cone models. The tri-cone was more difficult and expensive to build, but produced a more sophisticated tone with richer sustain. Apparently only one other golden Style 4 National was ever produced.

Unfortunately, Tampa Red’s career slowed down in the 1950s, he turned to drinking, and died destitute in Chicago in 1981. Rumor has it the guitar was stolen decades before and resided for half a century in a chicken coop. One day, in 1994, a woman walked into a Ray Clemon’s guitar store in Belleville, Illinois looking to sell a beat up and corroded old metal guitar that had the words ‘Tampa Red’ legible on it. After a cleanup and confirmation of its authenticity, the guitar eventually sold to the Experience Music Project in Seattle for $85,000.

While today resonator guitars are synonymous with the blues, in the 1920s and 30s they were the province of sophisticated big bands and far beyond the reach of most African American musicians. Tampa Red became the first black artist to record with a National guitar, and more or less invented the style of ‘bottleneck’ slide guitar that has shaped modern rock and roll. His Style 4 National has been called one of the most influential guitars in American history.

About the Author: Kevin Clinton writes for ResonatorGuitarGuide.com, an online hub run by musicians that covers information, reviews and tips and tricks for purchasing and playing a National, Dobro, Regal or other resonator guitars.

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

Bizarro so-called resonator guitar being offered for sale on eBay

guitarz.blogspot.com:

The eBay listing for this Highway Key supposed "resonator guitar" starts as follows:

You are bidding [No, I'm not, I'm just looking] on a one of a kind, custom made acoustic/electric resonator from Highway Key Guitars. This model is # 29 in a limited series. Vintage blonde Sprucetop classical body. Comfortable red stained neck and back.Unique steel "cakepan" floating resonator pan houses hotrodded single coil pickup wired to vol/tone & 1/4in jack covertly placed on back. Blacked out reso pan and knobs compliment the custom headstock. This is a Blonde Bombshell!

Excuse me, but a true resonator guitar features a spun steel cone which has the BRIDGE of the guitar floating at its centre point. I can't believe that the same sound can be achieved by someone cutting a large hole in the top of a cheap acoustic guitar and shoving a cake tin into it. If this thing pictured here has any kind of mojo or idiosyncratic sound (most likely some subjectively "interesting" rattling noises), it must be purely accidental.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It now price of $269.

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 one-off prototype brass-bodied resonator guitar - possibly by Charles Brasher

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's a potential interesting piece of history if only it could be conclusively identified. The seller believes that this prototype brass-bodied resonator may be the work of Charles Brasher.

Charles E Brasher was a Canadian inventor, metalworker and maker of stringed instruments in the early to mid 1930s. Inventions include a novel cone for the resonator guitar, patented in Canada in 1935.

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

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.

1940 Penetro-branded lap-style resonator guitar from John Dopyera

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Although the name "Dobro" is often applied generically to resonator guitars, the name should of course more accurately only be used when referring to specific resonator instruments bearing the Dobro brandname (the trademark currently being owned by Gibson Guitar Corporation). The name "Dobro" originated in 1928 when the the Dobro Manufacturing Company was formed by the Dopyera brothers, being a contraction of "Dopyera brothers" and, conveniently, also meaning "goodness" in the brothers' native Slovak tongue. The history of the resonator guitar, the Dobro, National and Regal brands is all quite complicated and convoluted, but if you'd like to know more there are plenty of sources elsewhere on the web and in print.

One fact that seems clear is that John Dopyera was the bright spark who came up with the idea of the resonator guitar in the first place. Pictured above we see perhaps one of his rarer instruments. It's a lap-style resonator (hence the non-traditional guitar shape) with a square neck and with fret position markers instead of actual frets on the fingerboard (numbered up to 26). The eBay seller of the guitar in question tells us that:

John Dopyera [..] claims to have built nine of these guitars with the "Penetro" label on the headstock before they were licensed to "Regal" to market under that name. So this appears to be one of the nine Penetros, and it may well be the last one on the planet. I pulled the resonator long ago and inside, scrawled in pencil it says "made by John Dopyera, March 1, 1940, The Guitar House, 3201 W. Florence Ave., Los Angeles, Ca.".

and goes on to say:

I took this guitar to the Antiques Roadshow in Pittsburgh last year. Although the appraiser appreciated my story, and in fact was pretty knowledgeable regarding the Dopyera resonator guitar legacy, he told me exactly what I thought he was going to. The guitar is so rare, nobody even knows what they are and thus has little value except to a resonator guitar afficianado whose collection has everything Dopyera except for this. So I am not going to give this guy away...

Indeed! The guitar is currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $5,000. That's a lot of money but you can't argue with his logic. This is a rare, possibly unique, guitar and an important part of the history of the guitar - and the resonator guitar in particular. It really is a museum piece.

G L Wilson

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

Wayne Resonator guitar from Down Under... any info would be appreciated

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Ozzie Joey posted this photo on our Facebook page, saying:

Wayne Resonator, an Australian guitar circa 1940s. I just got hold of one of these but can find little about them anywhere... Anyone have more info?

If anyone has any info, please let us know via the comments. Thanks!

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!

National Resolectric

guitarz.blogspot.com

A couple of weeks ago we've been having a glimpse at a National Resolectric that appeared on some TV show.

Well if you are looking for one in Europe and have a couple of grands to spare, look no more, you will find one here.

It looks pretty vintage but it's the most recent model, with piezo pickup and stuff! Actually, if I may say, the chickenhead knobs are a little bit overstating!

Bertram

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

1930s Kay Wood Amplifying guitar - weird acoustic with wooden resonator

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here is a early guitar from Chicago's Kay Musical Instrument Company; the seller claims it is from 1929 but this is unlikely seeing as the company wasn't formally established until 1931.

This Kay Wood Amplifying guitar (that's what it says on the headstock) would appear to be some little known species of resonator guitar. Of course, most resonator guitars use one or more spun metal cones to project the sound forward, but this Kay instead has a wooden resonating chamber with a trough that feeds the sound upwards to the dual grille holes. The chamber is covered by a wooden coverplate which helps give it the appearance of a resonator. How well it actually works in practice, I am afraid I cannot tell you.

Currently listed on eBay with a starting price of $995 and no bids at the time of writing. Bear in mind that similar instruments have been listed for over $3,000.

G L Wilson

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

Identifying an electric resonator

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Howdy from the Deep South (in America, in case there's any confusion)! Anyway I was watching the Colbert Report (a late night political news show they have here in the US, I think you guys in the UK get it on Comedy Central too) and TV on the Radio was there with a Malian band, Tinariwen, that they're presumably buddies with (I'm not sure what a Malian band is doing on American late night television but whatever). One of the members of TV on the Radio (the guitar player I guess, I'm not a fan of the band so I wouldn't know) was playing something that caught my eye: an electric resonator that looked totally boss. It'd be nice if someone over at Guitarz could identify it.

-J

Hi J, thanks for your email. The clue to the guitar's identity is actually in the photo you supplied. See the little shield on the pickguard, that's the National logo. It's a National electric resonator, although I'm unsure of a specific model name or designation.

G L Wilson

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

So-called Art Deco resonator guitar with over-the-top finish and baked bean can detail

guitarz.blogspot.com:

There's no denying that the artwork on this old acoustic guitar (a so-called "Customised Resonator Guitar" even) has been beautifully executed. It is supposedly Art Deco inspired, although I think it is rather too busy to fit in faithfully with that genre. The playing cards around the sides of the guitar are really one step too far and lend it a tacky Las Vegas look rather than one of sophistication which I believe was the desired effect.

What really spoils it is the base from a catering-size tin of baked beans that has been inset where the soundhole once inoffensively appeared. I usually try not to sink to lowest common denominators when describing guitars like this, but in this instance all I can think to say is that it looks crap. Pairing this with a second soundhole insert, quite obviously a strainer intended to sit over the plughole in the kitchen sink, does nothing to help matters. Yes, by all means use these elements on cigar box guitars; they seem to make some sense there and indeed are part of the charm of such instruments. But on an instrument that is trying to look sophisticated, such elements could not be more out of place.

Furthermore, shoving the bottom of a baked bean tin into the top of your guitar will not magically transform it into a resonator. The spun aluminium cone of a resonator guitar is a fine piece of precision engineering. Its function cannot be replicated with the bottom of a bean tin with a few holes punched in it. All that is going to do is to create a few more spurious vibrations and cause the guitar to rattle.

You might consider this a nice example of a piece of folk art and that the Buy It Now price of £270 would be money well spent, but personally I'd give it a miss. If it does actually sound any good, it'll be by accident rather than design. Note that in the YouTube video showing the guitar, the video finishes just before the guitar is about to get played. That alone speaks volumes!

G L Wilson

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

Grace Chang sings the Habanera aria from Georges Bizet's "Carmen"

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Ah, I love it when we get contributions from Guitarz readers (please keep 'em coming!). Here's an email I received earlier today:

Interesting use of a resonator guitar

Check out this clip of a 1960 Hong Kong movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqI4h1uODng

The girl starts off playing a resonator in a fancy Hong Kong night club while singing Carmen. I'm not asking for an ID of the guitar - I just thought it was an interesting use of a resonator. I wonder if your blog readers can find other "out of place" guitars in films, etc.

cheers,
Tone Deaf Radio

Thanks Tone! (Do you mind if I call you Tone?) There's a fun challenge for our readers! I can't say I would have expected to see a National Tri-Cone resonator guitar in the hands of Chinese actress/singer Grace Chang whilst singing an aria from the opera "Carmen". Can anyone beat that for a guitar being used in an unusual context?

G L Wilson

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

Dobro Model 66 from the 1930s

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This highly decorated 1930-era Dobro Model 66 seems to be a very appropriate guitar to show during this festive season. It's a wooden-bodied resonator guitar with a square neck for lap steel playing. The decorative design has been applied through the process of sandblasting. The body would have been made from mahogany plywood with a neck of mahogany and an ebonized (i.e. artificially blackened) rosewood fingerboard. In its day this would have been Dobro's top of the line instrument, and was also available as a roundneck guitar for what we nowadays consider to be the more conventional "Spanish" style of playing.

G L Wilson

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

Glen Campbell's electric resonator guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Tone Deaf Radio has written to me asking what guitar Glen Campbell is playing in the above clip?

This red electric resonator guitar is also pictured on the front cover of his album "Hey, Little One".

Anyway, my suspicion was that it might be a Mosrite - I don't know why I thought that - but it's been vindicated by this page here where we see a very similar guitar in black for sale (pictured right). I did wonder if it was it was a genuine collaboration between the Dobro and Mosrite companies, or if the name Dobro is being used to describe the type of guitar, i.e. a resonator. Dobro is one of those brand names, like Biro or Hoover, that has passed into the language and is applied to similar items not of that brand. However, a look at the full-size photo clearly shows both names on the headstock.

G L Wilson

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

Danelectro U2 Resophonic

guitarz.blogspot.com:

The seller of this Danelectro U2 resophonic guitar says that:

"Don't know too much about it but when I took it in to my local music shop they were fascinated by it. Said it was unusual to see a resonator on these guitars and that they were not cheap."

Yes, it is unusual indeed to see a resonator version of this guitar. These were not stock. I had a friend several years ago who had one just like this, and it was my understanding that a number of these Korean-made EVETS corporation Danelectro reiussues from the late 1990s were in fact modified into resonators by Holiday Music in Leytonstone, London.

As well as the original neck lipstick pickup, the guitar also has a piezo pickup fitted beneath the resonator cone allowing the electric and acoustic properties to be mixed. Note the re-located position of the controls on the upper part of the body. I don't suppose there was space left for them anywhere else.

By the way, my friend reported that it sounded fantastic.

G L Wilson

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