The bass guitar on which Smiths bass player Andy Rourke played on all the band’s records is being sold.

The 20-year-old Yamaha bb200 is currently listed on ebay for a starting bid of USD$2,400 (approximately £1,444).

According to the item description, Rourke bought the bass guitar in 1983 and subsequently used it on all the Smiths recorded output, as well as on session work for artists including The Pretenders, Badly Drawn Boy and Sinead O'Connor. It also appeared on the gatefold cover of the Smiths’ 1984 rarities compilation ‘Hatful Of Hollow’.

The bass, which comes in its original case with a letter from Rourke, is up for bids until 2pm on Friday (October 10). To bid, click here.
Via: www.nme.com

EBay air guitar gets bid of £25,000
Ha! There's always some joker on eBay who thinks that it is the height of wit to offer for sale an "air guitar" ... as if no-one had ever thought of that "joke" before. It's absolutely pointless. Well, now the joke's on the latest air guitar selling prankster - just think of the fees he's going to have to pay eBay! Serves the stupid bastard right.

Pick an investment: Collectors see electric returns from playing guitar market  The Seattle Times - Business & Technology

The Fender Discussion Page - I must admit that I'm vaguely interested, but have decided that I am very much an ex-Fender user (other than my Jazz Bass, that is). I just don't see the point in playing a Strat or a Tele anymore because everyone else plays them. The word "boring" springs to mind, especially where the Stratocaster is concerned.

"Oh, but you've assembled a couple of Fender-style projects yourself..." you may well say. This is true; let's face it building a Strat-type guitar from parts has to be the easiest because the parts are so easily available and you can mix and match to your heart's content. So, yeah, I have put together a couple of Strat type guitars, and a Tele style guitar too, but at least I tried to inject a bit of originality into them (especially the Tele!).

However, for those of you who can't get enough of the Fender Stratocaster, there's this site: All Things Strat

The Blues Blog

Present at the creation: The Electric Guitar - a recommended site for all of you who are interested in the history of the solid body electric guitar.

We have another guitarist birthday today, namely a Mr Mike Rutherford, of Genesis and Mike and the Mechanics fame, who is 53 years old today.

Click here for a nice pic of one of his wacky doubleneck guitars, this one being a twelve-string guitar and six-string bass pairing.

Click here to find out more about his more celebrated Shergold doubleneck instruments.

Raise a glass - or a mug of cocoa if you will - in honour of Sting who is celebrating his 52nd birthday today.

At last, that seems to be a believable age for the ex-Police frontman. I recall that years back he must have stayed at age 32 for at least a decade.

Strat Central - Fender Stratocasters galore! A whole website devoted to the World's most popular (and arguably most boring) guitar.

How about these Kona Walkingstick Basses? They must certainly be a lot less ungainly than a standard upright.