Weird vintage Bulgarian acoustic guitar with secondary soundhole

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With an exaggerated body shape incorporating a secondary soundhole, this Bulgarian-made acoustic guitar looks as if it should have been a harp guitar, however it only seems to have the usual single set of six strings. Unfortunately the seller seems to know little about, despite posting quite a few pictures and measurements on its eBay auction page, and guesstimating that it is from the 1960s/early 1970s. I'm afraid I can add nothing more. If anyone reading this can tell us any more about this bizarre acoustic, please leave a comment below. Thanks.

Currently being auctioned on eBay UK with a starting price of £0.01.

G L Wilson

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1980s Ned Steinberger-designed Gibson 20/20 Bass

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Ned Steinberger's later guitars and basses whilst still being full of innovation never quite had the same impact as his now legendary minimalist headless L-series bass guitars, originally produced in 1979 in Brooklyn, New York. Here is one of his later 1980s' bass designs for Gibson, a model that has sunk almost without trace into obscurity. I remember a more youthful version of me seeing some of these instruments at a Music Show in Kensington, London, back in the day and am ashamed to say that I said rather loudly something along the lines of, "Oh look, Steinberger have invented the headstock!" I also remember all too well the dirty look I received from the guy on the booth. He'd probably heard the same thing 100 times already that day.

Currently being auctioned on eBay, with bidding at $510 at the time of writing. (Item located in Waterloo, Illinois).

G L Wilson

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A very pointy one-off guitar surely aimed at the heavy metal player

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This pointy pointy guitar looking somewhat like a mutated B.C.Rich Mockingbird is a one-off creation (sorry, I don't know who made it) and is currently being offered for sale on eBay UK, although the seller isn't willing to post - the guitar must be picked up from Stamford, Lincolnshire, UK. The guitar looks to be very competently built judging by the photos (obviously you'd need to get your hands on it to pass better judgement) and features and oak body, walnut neck, with an African ebony fretboard, 24 frets, and a metallic graphite finish.

This is a guitar that screams loud and clear that it is intended for a specific type of music. It's not one you'd expect a country picker to play, although I'd love to see that.

Currently listed on eBay UK with a Buy It Now price of £350.

G L Wilson

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Zero Sette / JG Italian-made paisley hollow body electric

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Here's another bizarre vintage guitar that Bertram spotted on eBay, this time located in Canada. I'll let the eBay seller tell you about it:

Made in Italy in the mid 1960s by Zero Sette Accordian. Julio Giulietti (JG) was the owner of the company at the time.

Hollowbody with awesome paisley fabric (not paper) finish under clear lacquer finish. Bolt-on neck with bound rosewood fretboard, two single-coil pickups. We sourced and installed a 1960s Goya replacement neck pickup to replace the modern one that was on it when we acquired it.

A super rare guitar! We believe they called it the 1092P model and have only seen one other one sold over the years and it was in Europe.

History

Many Euro accordion manufacturers were branching out into the exploding electric guitar market in the early 1960s and it was a period of creative, complicated and distinct (some might say ugly) hollow-body designs coming from companies such as Eko, Polverini, Galanti and Zero Sette. Some were rebadged and sold as part of the Goya catalogue, while others such as the JG models, were marketed under their own trade names.

When Kustom bought Goya in 1970 most production moved to Japan.

This guitar is the sister model to the Goya Rangemaster Paisley hollow-body that is played by Jimi Hendrix backstage in a black and white photo that has been circulating for years.

The body is amazingly resonant (especially since Grandma's couch is wrapped around it!) and it is in great condition. It plays very well... the staff love playing it. It is not just a collectible, show piece guitar – it is a player.

Please excuse me for borrowing so extensively from the eBay listing, but it tells a lot more about the guitar than I could.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of US$2,195 (and with free shipping offered to USA, Canada and Europe).

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.

Weird "Azor" singlecut offset-waist guitar from 1950s/1960s Europe (possibly)

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Bertram has alerted my attention to this peculiar vintage guitar on eBay.de (with the item actually being located in The Netherlands), the only distinguishing name on it being "AZOR" on the pickups. Here's what the eBay seller has to say about it:

50s/60s Electric hollow body guitar with original case

This must have been a very spectacular and futuristic guitar in its time!
It has a very unique combination of features:

First of all it's completely hollow. That makes it very light and very nice to play (even unplugged!).

It has asymmetrical body shape, reminiscent of a Fender Jazzmaster.

It has 2 single coil pickups. The neck pickup gives a very warm and vintage jazzy sound. The combination of the two pickups make it sound twangy, like a surf guitar. It has a 3-way selector. Two volume and two tone knobs.

The bridge is a solid ebony movable bridge, the type you mostly see on acoustic gypsy jazz guitars

It has a black plastic fingerboard(!!!!!!!) with large fret markers and white binding and zero-fret (again mostly found on vintage gypsy jazz guitars).

The finish is a amazing metallic brown sunburst. The scale is 65 cm.

It only has a few repaired cracks at the bottom (see last picture) but it's all solid and stable.

The guitar was sold by 'Casa Garrido' in Madrid. There's a label in the case and a stick on the headstock.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to find any info on the guitar nor the 'AZOR' brand. But in my opinion this is a very unique instrument in a great condition.

Does anyone out there seen anything similiar or have any more information on this guitar? Personally I wouldn't have likened it to a Fender Jazzmaster, other than to say it has an offset waist. If anything the design is more proto-Ovation Breadwinner LTD.

Currently listed on eBay with a starting price of £350.00 / €424,23.

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.

1980s Schecter Jimi Hendrix Strat

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If - as the eBay seller claims - this Schecter Jimi Hendrix Strat was made in the 1980s, then it predates Fender's Voodoo Strat by at least a decade what with its upside-down headstock and reverse angled bridge pickup (to make it sound that bit more Hendrix-y!). It's a really cool looking Strat finished all in black. I guess the use of the "Jimi Hendrix" name on the scratchplate was unauthorised. The seller says that these guitars were only in production for something like six months because of the legal issues surrounding the use of the Hendrix name.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $1,500.

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.

Bo-Diddley inspired plank-like electric guitar

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Here's a custom-made electric guitar that, according to the eBay listing, is a Bo Diddley influenced design. Which is all very commendable; it appears to be a very nicely made instrument.

But... I do find the design of rear of the instrument rather perplexing with its externally-mounted tone chamber and electronics cavity plus the reinforcing blocks of timber in the centre of the back. For myself I'd have preferred these to have been integral to the body, but maybe the construction method dictated the design.

It also reminds me of Bertram's plank guitars.

Currently listed on eBay with a starting bid of $335 or a Buy It Now price of $436.

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.

1931 Gibson L-0 acoustic guitar - a pre-war 12-fret beauty

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Back to guitars again now after our double bass detour of the last few days...

Here's an old Gibson for you... it's a 1931 Gibson L-0 in gorgeous condition.

The neck joins the body at the 12th fret as was popular at the time, and I guess some might call this a "parlour guitar" although I always believed that parlour guitars had a much narrower body shape whereas this Gibson has some quite exaggerated curves.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $3,995.

G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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1962 Ampeg Baby Bass from the original generation of EUBs

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Derek writes:

Hello Gavin,

I'm enjoying the EUB detour and thought you might like this, my circa 1962 Ampeg Baby Bass, the forerunner of a lot of today's EUBs. Looks kinda like wood? It's not. It's UVEX, a type of plastic that continually (to this day) outgasses a strong (and not pleasant) odor, which has absolutely permeated its wool gig bag to the point that the bag cannot be kept indoors. Check out the fancy bridge which is also serves as the pickup; here's a short description of the pickup from Steve Azola (maker of Azola EUBs):

"It's sort of a primitive yet complicated little system based on technology available when Jess Oliver devised it. He used parts and materials that were readily available at that time, which included discs and coils used in telephones of that era. The original Ampeg Baby Bass pickup concept was that the flexible diaphragm discs beneath the bridge feet are meant to mimic the vibrating top of an acoustic bass. There are magnetic coils beneath the discs which capture the vibratory action of the strings/bridge/diaphragms. Not what you would normally expect at all from anything called a "magnetic pickup" (like a P bass or Jazz bass type)"

(from http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f101/baby-bass-megathread-26190/index16.html).

Best,

Derek

Thanks Derek. The diaphragm pickup system is similar to that which Ampeg used in its early AEB-1 and AUB-1 "Scroll" basses.

I think we'd better feature a guitar next post, just in case the readership is getting restless.

Gavin Wilson

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Please read our photo and content policy.

Bassix upright travel bass IS its own case!

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Please excuse me showing another double bass, but I couldn resist showing this bass (with what looks like a sawn-off body) just for the sheer inventiveness factor. The neck, strings, bridge and tailpiece are detachable whilst the body has a hinged lid and serves as carry case for all the other components. The inside of the body / carry case even has a pink fluffy lining so as to protect the neck, etc, whilst in transit. Apparently it's a UK-made bass from a company called Bassix, although this example currently listed on eBay UK with a starting bid of £200 is being sold as a project because it is in need of a little 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.