Zane King plays the Jackson Steel SlideKing Bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I believe that this footage is currently going viral in guitar-related blogs and Facebook pages, but unlike a lot of the viral nonsense, it is worth viewing. Although the Jackson Steel SlideKing Bass looks like a slide guitar or a console guitar (seeing as it's on legs), it really falls under the category of pedal steel as it has four pedals to change the pitch of the strings.

The SlideKing Bass retails for $1,995.00 + $250 for a case (apparently they won't ship it without a case, so I don't know why they have separate pricing as if it's an option).

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.

Acoustic lap steel / Hawaiian guitar is quite a lapfull!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This acoustic lap steel or Hawaiian guitar has been hand-built using a large plywood box. Whether the box was made specifically for the guitar or whether it was an existing box that has been repurposed, I could not tell you. Whatever, with a soundbox that big it ought to have plenty of acoustic volume. I think if it was mine I'd be tempted to put legs on it.

Currently listed on eBay UK with a starting price of £10.

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.

Hand-made coffin-shaped box acoustic guitar - playable or just folk art?

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here at Guitarz we love bizarre home-made oddities. The seller of this particular hand-made coffin-shaped box guitar found at a house clearance sale has "no idea is this is a proper guitar to be played or a piece of folk art". It does indeed look rather crudely made, like some souvenir instruments you see for sale whilst holidaying abroad.

However it does appear to have all its faculties all present and correct... other than the very bizarre frets which do not go right across the neck. The outer strings seem to be just above the fret ends and so it certainly wouldn't be playable in normal "Spanish" fashion. However the height of the nut - and indeed the action - plus the square section neck and those frets which are surely there purely to act as markers would suggest to me that this guitar is meant to be played with a slide. Unfortunately that's about all I can say for it.

Currently listed on eBay UK with an optimistic Buy It Now price of £79.99.

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.

Beautiful minimalist steel and glass guitars from Hungary

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Never mind if you can't speak Hungarian, this video is still well worth checking out. I like that these steel and glass guitars push the boundaries of guitar design to its limits. The irony is, of course, that most of these sophisticated pieces of engineering are actually descendants of that most primitive type of guitar, namely those made from cigar boxes and other recycled parts and played with a slide.

Thanks to Guitarz reader Arpad for bringing these highly individual instruments to my attention.

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.

Ricardo "Duo" antique/vintage doubleneck acoustic guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Unfortunately the eBay seller does not give us even an approximate date for this Ricardo doubleneck acoustic guitar but it does look to be quite old; it's certainly seen better days and had lots of use judging by the wear and tear, plus the cracks in the back.

When I first saw these pictures I thought that because the necks are mounted quite closely together that this would effectively be a harp guitar with the upper neck fitted with sub-bass strings meant for open playing only (i.e. not to be fretted). However, the seller tells us that the upper neck is actually intended for "steel" (or slide) playing and that the nut and bridge are higher on that side of the guitar (see the first photo above), allowing for a slide-friendly high action.

What we do know is that these Ricardo guitars were made by Edward Richardson and that this doubleneck is thought to be one of perhaps 20 such examples built. Richardson apparently claimed these were the first doubleneck guitars to share a single headstock (which, having seen many museum instruments, I can attest is almost definitely untrue). It may however have been the first doubleneck to incorporate a neck exclusively for slide playing.

Currently listed on eBay with a Starting price of US $650 and a Buy It Now price of US $1,250.

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.

Crazy Australian Pioneer tripleneck mandolin / guitar / slide guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

We've shown a few Matons on Guitarz before now, but perhaps we don't feature enough Australian guitars. However, I don't think they come much wilder than this Pioneer tripleneck which has necks for mandolin, 6-string guitar, and slide guitar. I'm not sure how the slide neck is supposed to function, whether the player needs to sit down and play this beastie lap-style whilst on that neck. I love the matching headstocks, especially the mandolin headstock with all eight tuners in-line.

Apparently, it was built by Arthur Bianchi of Pioneer Guitars, Rockhampton in the early 1960s.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of AUS $3,950 (Australian dollars).

G L Wilson

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

Mohan Veena Indian Slide Guitar - hybrid between jazz guitar and sitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

We first looked at Indian slide guitars here on Guitarz back in 2008. The Indian slide guitar is a hyrbid instrument, a musical chimera if you will, where quite literally East meets West and could be considered a cross between jazz guitar, slide guitar and sitar.

This Pro-grade Mohan Veena w Tumba Indian Acoustic Slide Lap Guitar claims to be the first such instrument to be offered for sale via eBay. It appears to have four main playing strings, four drones, and 13 sympathetic strings with machine heads along the length of the neck.

Hear it in the hands of Harry Manx:

Currently listed on eBay with a starting price of $799.99 (plus shipping).

G L Wilson

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

Smith Family 10-string Melobar in white finish built by Mosrite

guitarz.blogspot.com:

The "upside-down Strat" body shape of this bizarre looking guitar may look familiar, especially following from Bertram's recent blog posts featuring Mosrite guitars. This 10-string Melobar is indeed a Mosrite-built instrument, one of a quantity of 500 that Semie Moseley produced circa 1965 for the Smith Family, the company behind the Melobar name. Apparently 500 of this design were built: 50 finished in white, 50 in blue, 100 in black, 100 in red, and the remaining 200 in sunburst finish. We previously looked at a sunburst example here.

One very quirky feature is the out-of-place 10th machine head (see photo, right). Forgetting the fact that the Melobar pictured has been strung with 6 strings, these were originally designed as 9-string instruments, but were then quickly altered at the factory for 10 strings. So, that odd looking extra machine head is factory original, and is not a later addition by some former owner. It's not the most elegant solution, it must be said.

This intriguing instrument - I'd love to have a go on one but never really got on with slide guitar - is currently being auctioned on eBay with a starting price of $875.

G L Wilson

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

1990s Melobar doubleneck with Telecaster neck and angled Melobar neck for slide playing

guitarz.blogspot.com:

We've looked at Melobar guitars here before several times. For those new to the concept they allow the steel guitar player to stand up and move around the stage by having a 45-degree angled neck mounted onto a slab body.

However, here we see a doubleneck with regular 6-string Tele-style neck at the top and a 6-string Melobar steel at the bottom. Note the way in which the necks are angled to allow the player unhindered access to the slide neck.

This particular pearloid-covered example has been listed on eBay UK (although the item for sale is actually located in The Netherlands) and has a But It Now price of £2,500.

Why do I feel that someone is about to mention Junior Brown and his Guit-Steel in the comments?

G L Wilson

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

Vega console guitar from the 1930s

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This 8-string Vega console guitar (basically a lap steel with legs!) has more than a touch of the Art Deco about it, with decorative chrome accents and bakelite knobs. The feature that I find most intriguing, though, is the tuning apparatus. I've not seen anything quite like that on a guitar before. Compact, it isn't!

The five bakelite-topped tone controls are labelled "Contra", "Bass", "Normal", "Treble" and "High".

A fascinating instrument; I'm sure you could make a whole blog on the subject of slide guitars alone. Unfortunately I know precious little about them.

G L Wilson

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

Ed Ricco - Come Together solo slide guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Guitarz reader Greg Haehl says: "I thought you might enjoy this Berklee grad slide player I came across while surfing."

And why not? Thanks for sending that, Greg, it's an impressive performance.

G L Wilson

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

Interesting 'slide' technique with fingers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This is Ronnie from Botswama who has a really interesting playing technique! I'll let the video do the talking, just click "play" already!

Thanks to Marty Jensen for recommending this clip.

Thanks also to Paul Bob for pointing me in the direction of a better quality version of the video than the one I posted pre-edit.

G L Wilson

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

3-string Biscuit Tin Guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This 3-stringed biscuit tin guitar is yet another variation on the cigar box guitar theme, and illustrates nicely the spirit of inventiveness.

This seller has been listing such homemade instruments on eBay for several months now and has assembled a number of rustic-looking resonator guitars. It's a pity his eBay listings are let down by a lack of attention to detail in the areas of spelling, grammar, punctuation, use of capital letters (i.e. total disregard for), and even basic sentence construction.

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!

Captain Beefheart RIP

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This is sad news indeed...

Don Van Vliet, aka 'Captain Beefheart', has died aged 69 from complications from multiple sclerosis.

(I know it's not necessarily directly guitar-related, but look out for the Melobar in the above clip.)

G L Wilson

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

Paul's homemade 3-string slide guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Paul Hammersley has sent us these photos of a 3-string electric slide guitar, built - very much in the tradition of cigar box guitars - from 1/2" alloy plate, P-bass pickup, and a few bits and pieces found in his garage.

I'd love to know how it sounds.

G L Wilson

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

A late 30's Harmony made 'Ball McIntire' slide guitar

First of all I want to make an UNRESERVED APOLOGY to Gavin for turning his blog into a circus with an ill considered and childish remark which upset quite a few people.
I feel like the guy who gets invited to someone's party and proceeds to pee in the plant pot.
I hope this entry goes some way to make up for the stress I caused and restores some harmony to these pages. Sorry Gavin.

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Talking of harmony: This very nice looking Ball McIntire guitar on ebay caught my eye as much for it's own intrinsic beauty as for the lengthy and detailed description, not to mention almost enough photos to crash eBay's servers. The seller of this instrument obviously has a great deal of knowledge and interest in guitars. Definitely not one of those who are "selling it for a friend and don't have anything to plug it in to so can't say if works or not". Did I mention the sound clips? Seven (count em) nicely recorded little pieces which showcase the great tone of this, more than seventy year old, guitar. It's worth checking the listing just to read his description while listening to him play.

David in Barcelona

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

10-string electric-acoustic Melobar slide guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's another Melobar - or at least a Melobar-styled guitar with an angled playing surface so as to facilitate slide playing whilst wearing the guitar on a strap. I don't know for sure if this is an actual Melobar-branded instrument. I have only been aware of solid-bodied Melobars previously.

If anyone can read the Japanese of the auction listing, or can tell me any more, please get in touch!

Thanks to Ken Shima for bringing this unusual guitar to my attention.

G L Wilson

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

1965 Mosrite Melobar

guitarz.blogspot.com

This Mosrite Melobar is one of the most exciting instrument I've posted here.

I was aware that something such existed but (thanks one more time to David B. who regularly send us his Internet finds) I've made some research lately about it and I discovered a cool hybrid guitar, allowing a musician to play lap steel style while standing / moving / dancing - that makes it a great instrument for the kind garage blues I particularly like lately (that's also the kind of instrument that was played in Captain Beefheart's Magic Band).

The instrument was conceived by Melobar in the 60s and built by different brands - this one by Mosrite with its classic design that fits particularly well (there is also a Flying V version with accurate ergonomics but ill-looking in my humble opinion). It has a neck with 70° angle to the body, that is then almost horizontal when the body hangs from the strap in a standard guitar position (the strap is connected to the headstock to allow uncompensated pressure on the neck). You play it like a regular lapsteel, though probably with more energy!

This is the 9-string version of the Melobar - they existed also in 6 and up to 10. For some obscure and un-understandable reasons, the Melobar was short-lived and never reissued (I have a doubt though, there's been a Melobar.com website that is now closed, so I can't tell if it was a vintage fan site or a new company one - like Jolana...). So who will resuscitate this little marvel?

bertram

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!