H.S. Anderson Kite - pointy 1970s Japanese guitar made by Morris

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This pointy guitar looks like it could have so easily have come from the 1980s, but perhaps the lack of a locking trem - or actually a trem of any kind - gives the game away that it is actually an earlier creation from 1970s Japan. It's actually an H.S. Anderson Kite, H.S. Anderson being a brand name of Morris who also made guitars with other brandnames such as Hurricane.

Other H.S. Anderson guitars included the "Houston" (a.k.a. The Beatles Apple, although it was never played by any of The Beatles, Abba's Björn Ulvaeus was known to use one) and the "Madcat" Telecaster-style guitar favoured by Prince (before they were re-branded with the Hohner name).

The Kite looks as if it could be quite an ergonomic guitar; although not quite so curvy, its shape is not a million miles away from that of the Ovation Breadwinner and Deacon guitars. This example looks as if it has seen a lot of action over the years, bearing a lot of battle scars. It is currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $1,200.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

The Fender Custom Shop gets weirder: Crash Strat, Pro Junior amp and canvas set

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Here we have a Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster, masterbuilt by by Todd Krause, with matching Pro Junior amp and a large art canvass all painted by renowned graffitti artist John "Crash" Matos. The canvass features white silhouettes where the Strat and the amp were supposedly sitting when the painting was made. Strats with artwork by John Matos have been favoured by Eric Clapton in particular, and are often referred to as Crashocasters.

Apparently this is one of two such sets made circa 2007, but because of the nature of the original artwork each set could be said to be unique. I'm guessing such items are aimed squarely at the collectors' market rather than at players, although of course this are fully functioning musical instruments. It does seem very far removed from Leo's original vision of "everyman" production line guitars, but I guess that's the nature of the "art".

I'm not sure how it is supposed to be displayed. Would you just have the whole shebang lying on the floor or would you have to somehow fix the guitar and amp to the wall behind the canvas?

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $12,999.95.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Sakai Mustang with competition stripe

guitarz.blogspot.com:  

Adrián writes:

I have bought a Sakai Mustang and, looking for some info, I stumbled upon your blog (http://guitarz.blogspot.com.es/2011/08/japanese-mustang-wannabe-with.html)

The most relevant thing is that it looks shortscale, but it is not. It has very light thin body and an big ugly head. The tremolo seems to be mounted like a Stratocaster one, and it works perfecly. It came to me also with a bridge cover, but it looks ugly on it.

I don't know wich year was made... maybe if I unscrew the body from the neck I can find something... Unlike the original Mustang, it has only two positions for each pickup. It doesn't look like it, but it's a great guitar :)

Thanks for that, Adrián. We have looked at similar guitars before on the blog, but had dismissed them as being merely not terribly accurate copies.  Thanks for setting the record straight, although I wouldn't personally liken the trem on the guitar in the photos to one on a Strat. The Stratocaster has a block under the bridge through which the strings are threaded and the spring mechanism is inside the body in a cavity behind the pickups. Compare this with the trem on your guitar which has an external spring mechanism at the tailpiece.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Technical problems...

guitarz.blogspot.com:  

Whoops... It seems that in updating the blog template last night I managed to lose the Echo/JS-Kit comments. I do have them saved in an XML file but so far I have been unsuccessful in loading them into Blogger's own comments system.

The thing is, even if I hadn't updated the template, we cannot go on using the  Echo/JS-Kit comments as they are being discontinued soon.  I know it's annoying - we had some really good discussions going on in the comments under many of the blog posts, and as I say, I do have the XML file containing all the comments so perhaps we'll be able to work out a way of somehow re-integrating them into the blog (any technical wizards - please get in touch!).

Another technical hitch I am having is with PhotoBucket which is currently not working. I use a PhotoBucket Pro Account to host photographs rather than Blogger's own photo hosting because of the sheer number of posts - the space allocated by Blogger would simply not be enough.

So, please accept my apologies and be patient - I'll try posting a "proper" guitar post later on tonight.

In the meantime, please get using the new Blogger commenting system - we may as well get started on it!

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Vintage & Rare guitar of the week: Wandre Brigitte Bardot model in rare multicolour finish

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here at Guitarz we last looked at a Wandre Brigitte Bardot guitar almost two years ago, but for me this multicoloured example from 1958/59 is even more striking. It's a typically (considering it's a Wandre) idiosyncratic instrument: basically an acoustic archtop hollobody bizarrely juxtaposed with a metal neck, and with pickups and bridge mounted in a floating pickguard whilst volume and tone controls sit in their own little box that looks like it could have been made from a tobacco tin. This side view (below) illustrates quite nicely the unusual construction:

Why Brigitte Bardot? Well, it seems Wandre just liked naming their guitars after glamourous fashion models of the day. I think it was something to do with the curvy body.

This particular beauty is currently for sale, via our friends at Vintage & Rare, priced at €4950.

G L Wilson 

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

1981 Gibson Flying V Bass in transparent blue

guitarz.blogspot.com:  

I always felt that the Gibson Flying V Bass was so much more impressive than its six-string guitar counterpart. Probably mainly because it is just so enormous. I remember seeing John Entwistle playing a Flying V Bass with The Who backing Elton John performing Pinball Wizard in the film of Townshend's rock opera "Tommy", and I just thought "Whoah! That's one helluva bass!"  Imagine the stage presence you could command with one of those.

This transparent blue example from 1981 is being sold by the always excellent Olivia's Vintage eBay seller and has a Buy It Now price of $4,590.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Patrick Robert Strats with unique Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix artwork

guitarz.blogspot.com:  

David Kerchove has sent in these photos and specs of his S-style guitars, built by luthier Patrick Robert of France. 

The Eric Clapton S-type guitar seen here features a one-piece swamp ash body, a birdseye maple neck, Kinman Blues pickups with Eric Clapton electronics, vintage style hardware, and unique airbrush work.

The handmade Steve Ray Vaughan Tribute S-type guitar (below) features a one-piece swamp ash body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, binding on top of body plus neck and head, Van Zandt Blues pickups, Schaller tremolo with roller, Sperzel tuners, and unique airbrushed artwork.

The handmade Jimi Hendrix Tribute S-type guitar (below) is not owned by David, but comes from the same luthier. It features an alder body with maple top, maple neck, vintage style hardware, Kinman Woodstock pickups,  CTS / Swichcraft  electronics, and  - you've guessed it - original airbushed artwork!

Thanks David, for sharing these with us!

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Guild X-79 - a 1980s pointy guitar with black hologram sparkle finish

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Guild are, I believe, another maker of fine American guitar that are all too often overlooked. Their guitars are of high quality and whilst often considered as reliable workhorses they did have some wilder moments too. Here we have a Guild X-79 in black hologram sparkle finish. This particular model did seem to be a candidate for OTT paintjobs, witness this example we looked at a couple of years ago. (I think I prefer the hologram sparkle version, although you would feel the need to form a glam rock band with a guitar like that!)

I do wonder about how practical that body shape is. Whilst I can believe it might hang well on a strap with that elongated upper horn, I don't think it'd fare too well ergonomically without much right forearm support. In fact, ergonomically, I think the design would work much better if it were flipped over, but then perhaps that might make it look too Explorer-derived?

This guitar is listed on eBay UK with a not unreasonable starting price of £595 and - currently - with no bids.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Screamin' Red! Link Wray plays "Rumble" on the Conan O'Brian Show in 1998

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Just because it's a fantastic clip (which I've not seen before) and you know how I love those early Yamahas!

Via Marky Rocknroll.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Never mind the paisleys, here's a 1960s Julio Giulietti/Goya psychedelic flower-power guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

We've all seen Fender's pink paisley and blue floral finishes from the late 1960s (and various Japanese-made re-issues since the 1980s) but Fender were not the only guitar manufacturer to produce a psychedelically-finished guitar for the flower power generation.

This is an Italian-made Julio Giulietti semi-hollowbody electric with a particularly striking floral finish. If anything, the finish is ahead of that of Fender's paisley/floral designs; note that the edges of the material under the lacquer are not hidden with a bursting effect of a solid colour, not to mention the fact that this is no slab bodied Tele, and that the material has to fit snugly around the contours of an archtop design. The flower power print is on fabric applied to the body (unlike Fender's which were basically wallpaper), sealed beneath a clear coat.

Whether or not you'd be comfortable playing a flowery guitar (I can imagine the "real men don't play guitars covered in flowers" comments), I think this is quite a stunning vintage piece. I'm not saying I'd play it myself; it's perhaps a little overly "festive" for my tastes, but you can't deny that it's eye-catching!

Currently being offered for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $2,499.99.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!