Hagstrom Deluxe doublecutaway guitar from 1962

guitarz.blogspot.com:

An obvious relation to the glitter-topped singlecut Hagstrom guitars, this doublecut Hagstrom Deluxe is a much rarer beast with only 225 examples having been produced between the years 1962-63. The chrome pickup housing with "grille" and pushbutton switches is shared with the better-known singlecut models, although the top of the guitar is a solid blue rather than glittered, and the fingerboard is timber (rosewood?) as opposed to perspex. [Edit: I'm told it IS perspex, but solid black perspex rather than clear].

Note also the distinctive headstock shape which earnt this model the nicknames of "Batman" and "Duck's foot".

Despite the distinct lack of bling on this model, it's of much more value to collectors as evidenced by the starting bid on this example currently listed on eBay which stands at $6,000 Australian dollars. Alternatively, if you don't want to get into a bidding war, the seller will accept $10,000 Australian dollars as a Buy It Now price.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Vintage & Rare Guitar of the Week: Bellwood acrylic-bodied "Super Swinger" Strat circa 1979

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This 1979 acrylic-bodied Bellwood "Super Swinger" Strat-type guitar caught my eye on Vintage & Rare this week. This is a Japanese-made plexiglass bodied guitar from the late 1970s and other than the colour details is identical to my own Sanox Sound Creator-branded guitar. There are a couple of clues that betray the fact that these are the same guitars, most noticeably the rectangular pickup cavities, the plate behind the pickup selector switch (the narrow body of the guitar, necessitated by the desire to keep the weight down meant that the cavity for the 5-way switch goes right through the body - hence the back cover), and also the back of the machine heads which have a star design on them - dead giveaways.

These guitars seem to have been sold under various different brandnames including Bellwood, Sanox Sound Creator, and Coloursound ("guitar guru" Paul Day has one with a blue pickguard in his collection and which is pictured on page 109 of The Ultimate Guitar Book by Tony Bacon).

This Bellwood version appears to be in supreme condition, although I would hazard a guess that the coloured control knobs and selector switch tip are replacements (also, why not go for coloured pickup covers?). It's certainly in better condition than my own Sanox Sound Creator which has a nasty-looking internal crack beneath the bridge.

Currently being sold by Germany's Wutzdog-Guitars (coincidentally, I bought my Sanox from Germany) via Vintage & Rare and priced at €990.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

refinished Musima Eterna

guitarz.blogspot.com

This is not the first time we see a Musima Eterna on Guitarz since I even presented my own here a few years ago, but this version roughly refinished in blue (usually Musima models are black and Migmas are perloid red) with a replacement wooden pickguard allows to see how well designed this guitar is - it's not just some eccentric East-German guitar interesting for its mere oddity... 

OK, the sound is a little bit raw and the neck is very thick so don't expect to shred on it but it's the perfect garage guitar - it makes me think that I don't play enough on mine (but I never play enough on none of my guitars!)

Bertram D

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Here's one for all you bikers out there: Harley Davidson logo guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Motorcycles and electric guitars seem to irrevocably linked (see here, here and here), and here's another, the Harley Davidson logo guitar handcrafted by luthier Jean-Luc Bouthillier. The guitar features a solid mahogany body, bolt-on maple neck with a scale length of 25.5", a Seymour Duncan SM2 mini-humbucker in the neck position and a Gibson 57+ humbucker at the bridge. Note also the eagle headstock detail.

This guitar is located in Quebec and is being offered for sale on eBay with a starting bid of $4000 Canadian dollars.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Aristides OIO Aluminum Guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I love aluminium guitars. I was after an aluminium Strat body a while back but it fell through. Still, I did manage to snag a nice Tokai Talbo last year (the same actual one, coincidently, featured on these very pages a couple of years ago). It had a worn patch in the shape of Australia right where you rest your forearm.

Anyway... today I stumbled across this lovely music making metal machine. WOW! What a Beaut! It even looks like part of an engine. Air intake and exhaust and all. These guitars are made from "Arium", which sounds like some kind of composite material, which is then given an "Aluminium finish". I shall investigate further and post an update. Truth be told, I'm too excited to wait. What a NICE guitar!

At £1250 smackeroonies, it's a bit rich for me just before Xmas so I'm going to pass it up. If I win the Lottery, I may well change my mind.

The seller says:

It's an innovative new guitar design by Aristedes, the OIO model with an aluminum finish on an arium body and neck. Arium is a special material developed by Aristedes for a guitar with a loud tone with lots of sustain. It's got 22 medium jumbo frets for easy playability, and a push/pull pot so you can split the humbucker.

The specs as follows:

One piece Arium body and neck, ebony fretboard, 25.5" scale length, 10-16" fretboard radius, 22 medium jumbo frets, Seymour Duncan TB-5 humbucker, APS-2RWRP Middle Pickup, APS-2 Neck Pickup, master volume and tone controls, 5-way switch, Graphtech nut, Wilkinson VS100N tremolo bridge by Gotoh, and Sperzel locking tuners.

Great for Light Metal
David in Barcelona

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Another Orfeus thinline electric guitar from Communist-era Eastern Europe

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's a Communist-era East-European Orfeus Thinline electric guitar currently being offered for sale on eBay, with bidding currently at $58 at the time of writing this blog post.

We've looked at similar Orfeus guitars before on Guitarz, but judging by the photos on the eBay listing this example has a glosssy black finish and what appears to be a lacquered fingerboard - which wouldn't be to everyone's tastes but that never stopped Rickenbacker! The radius of the fingerboard looks to be similar to that of my Jolana Disco (another Communist-era East-European guitar) and is something that takes a bit of getting used to. If you'd like any more info, last year Guitarz reader Martin Cater kindly supplied a review of his own similar Orfeus Thinline.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

1960s Selmer Freshman

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Now this is a Guitarz guitar if ever there was.

After doing a bit of research, I found out this is 1964(ish) Japanese built, Selmer imported, Freshman. Despite what the seller says (and previous owners' "doing up"), it seems pretty much original including the bridge. Not surprisingly, this was a budget guitar among budget guitars in it's day, selling for the princely sum of £15.

It does have it's charm, two tone scratchplate and wood covered pickups being especially groovy. I don't image it plays well all that well but I'm sure it could be induced to cough up some sweet chunky funk in the hands of someone like Jamie Hince.

It's attracted some attention already and, as it's quite a pretty and desirable collectors piece, I think there'll be a bit of a scramble at the end, which is just 13 hours away, as I write.

Here's what the seller says:
This is an old late 1950's or early 1960's solid electric guitar.
I would say a collectors item, not for playing.
It is marked FRESHMAN and also Foreign.
When purchased at the car boot the previous owner said he had "Done it up".
He had given up when he had tried to modify the rhythm solo switch to a pick up selector and got in a mess.
He says both pick ups work but it needs sorting out.
I have tried it on a little amp and the only thing that works is one volume control.
The other volume, tone and solo/rhythm switch do nothing to the sound at all.
The paintwork is all original as are all the other parts except the bridge looks odd to me for an electric guitar.
A rough little guitar needing a lot of cleaning and sorting out. All beyond me.

By the way, I found this scan of a Selmer catalogue, thanks to Laszlo ℅ the indispensable Vintage Hofner web site.

David in Barcelona

  © 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

the jaguaro-bisonesque Antoria 993

guitarz.blogspot.com

Here is a 1960s Antoria 993 that seems to combine the body of a Jaguar with the horns of a Bison (something that might interest also cryptozoologists, mythologists and readers of Jorge Luis Borges) for a unique feel. Antoria was an early British guitar company that started in the 1950s before shifting production to the FujiGen Gakki factory where they shared some models with Ibanez, as much as their cloning policy actually!  

Their guitars have been made visible by then by musicians such as Hank Marvin (I swear I will not make jokes about the Shadows on this blog anymore!) Since 2007 a new company took over the brand but they just produce Fender/Gibson copies (what's the point, really?)

Almost the same model was presented on Guitarz a couple of years ago, it was not a 993 model but a 994 - I assume the difference amounts to 0,01%...

Bertram D

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Squier goes Superstrat: the Stagemaster

guitarz.blogspot.com

This Squier Stagemaster is quite an unusual guitar, for it is both a strat and a superstrat: it has a classic Fender Stratocaster body (just a little but thiner though), but all the attributes of the superstrat - no pickguard, H/S/H pickups configuration, Floyd Rose tremelo, reduced electronics, 24-fret neck, contoured heel, neck-through-body construction, and even a reversed headstock...

The Stagemaster was shortly released in the early 2000s and is based on the mid-1980s Fender HM Strat (HM stands for Heavy Metal), a previous attempt at the shredding market of the post-CBS era, poorly received at the time. But it is different enough from the HM to be considered as an original Squier model. And the colour is unique!

Bertram D

Edit: a comment allows me to precise that this model is actually the Stagemaster HSH Deluxe - the regular Stagemaster had a bolt-on neck a just 2 humbuckers. A 7-string version of this guitar was also available. 

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

plastic semi-hollow body Lunacharki Maria Leader

guitarz.blogspot.com

When I first saw this semi-hollow Lunacharki Maria Leader (Луначарки Мария Лидер), I was stricken by how much its body looks like plastic - and in a pretty good shape for a 40-year old instrument... Well, it is made of plastic, in a typical modernist attempt in Soviet guitar making to shatter any tradition and create all new instruments like the famous and excellent Tonika (and contrarily to East-German or Czechoslovakian electric guitars that relaid on centuries old luthiery craft). 

When it comes to East-Europen guitars, cheesyguitars.com is an inevitable starting point, but they make a terrible reputation for this guitar as being the ultimate crap - and I found other sources that are a little bit more positive about it - though my Russian is quite rusted (I gave up studying Russian at the fall of Soviet Union when I realised that there was no future in becoming a KGB spy).

There was a 12-string version of this model, and also a bass one, that have been showed on Guitarz a couple of years ago...

Bertram D

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!