1960s Melody Guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Hey, it's got a triple cutaway design, a bank of pushbutton switches, a pearlescent celluloid finish, four pickups... it's GOT to be 1960s Italian, hasn't it?

And indeed it is. It's a Melody, which for a while, operated as a subsiduary to Eko. For the full story, check this article on the always brilliant Fetish Guitars website. This particular example (pictured above) sold on eBay just recently for what seems like a very fair price of €412.

G L Wilson

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

Kay semi-hollow

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I'm afraid that there's nothing I can tell about this Kay semi-hollow guitar (Kay is a complicated topic), but that I love semi-hollow body guitars with double florentine cutaway, the sliding pots are really cool, the F-hole is quite special, and the pickguard looks like the batwing ones you find on some vintage Höfners.

Bertram

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

1960s Fenton Weill Twistmaster (we think)

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There's something awfully "homemade" looking about these vintage British guitars from Fenton Weill. This model, which the seller suspects is a Fenton Weill Twistmaster (I don't know enough about the brand to contradict that claim) is typical in that it looks as if it was assembled in someone's garden shed. Note the interesting double pickguard. Another odd feature is that although the guitar is finished in blonde, the back of the neck is inexplicably picked out in black.

There must surely have been some connection with Vox and/or Jennings Musical Industries of Dartford, Kent. The headstock is exactly the same as that I had on my old Vox Clubman II. The Fenton Weill neck looks to be glued in, by the way; it's not a simple bolt-on job.

G L Wilson

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

1980s mirrored Erlewine Lazer travel guitar

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This Erlewine Lazer travel guitar - made famous by Johnny Winter - has been modified to become a lefty, hence the knobs moved from the front to what is now the top (but actually with the back cutaway, it's still usable as a righty).  

With its single splitable DiMarzio humbucker, it's the early version of the Lazer - the IMC. The big tuning bridge with its fanned tuners is extremely cool - I'm surprised that it's not more common for headless guitars, because it seems to be a pretty good solution - but one should try it to be sure...

Bertram

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

Hamer Miller beer promotional guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This USA-made Miller beer promotional guitar by Hamer with a quilted maple top has quite an attractive shape - obviously derived from the Miller logo - but I wonder if there would be any way of removing the lettering?...

G L Wilson

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

Fender Mustang bass and guitar in Competition burgundy

guitarz.blogspot.com:

With a Buy It Now price of $3,190 each, it seems a shame that this Fender Mustang guitar and bass pair are being sold in separate eBay auctions. It seems only right, somehow, that they should be kept together and it would be a pity if they went to separate buyers. They both have the Competition stripe and are finished in burgundy which has faded over the years into a glorious blue/mauve burst.

G L Wilson

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!

Goldentone from 1964

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's another Japanese-made Burns-influenced guitar, this one carrying the Goldentone brandname. You might want to compare and contrast with the Ibanez/Montclair guitar in the previous post. They are not identical, but very very similar.

Currently being offered for sale on eBay in the UK with a possibly optimistic Buy It Now price of £889.

G L Wilson

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

1960s Ibanez 3904 Montclair

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This rather wild looking guitar with four pickups, a bank of selector switches, multi-pickguards, metal control and output panel, and original vibrato carries the Montclair brandname but is - apparently - a 1960s-era Ibanez 3904 made at the Hoshino/Tama factory in Japan.

It's obviously heavily influenced by Burns, although I don't think it's a direct copy of any one Burns guitar. If anything, it's taken the Burns design and gone even wilder with it. It's a pity they resorted to using such a generic looking headstock on this - it's probably a stock Ibanez neck from that era - but it rather lets the side down.

Currently for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $849.50.

G L Wilson

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

Gordon Smith GS1 doubleneck

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Doublenecks can be ungainly, cumbersome beasts. They can be seen by some as a little ridiculous, displaying all the excesses of the pretentious prog rock era. You didn't see too many punk bands playing doublenecks, did you?

But if you have to have one, how about this beautiful Gordon Smith GS1 12+6 doubleneck with set necks and an understated natural satin finish on mahogany, and with two pairs of coil-tappable humbuckers for a wide range of tones? This auction is finishing in two days time; it has a starting price of £550 and no-one has bid yet.

Gordon Smith guitars, handcrafted in the UK, have a solid reputation for producing high quality instruments at very reasonable prices. The designs are, in the main, reminiscent of those of Gibson with the GS series having a LP Jr influence. They have the feel of bespoke handmade guitars, whilst also making excellent workhorse instuments.

G L Wilson

Edit: Looks like it sold for the starting price of £550. Someone got a bargain!

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