This Arnold Hoyer Esquire 19a is a quite sober guitar compared to the flamboyant jazz/acoustic guitars this brand offered in the 1950s: no special finish, no German carve nor carved top, no complex binding, regular F-holes... No, wait, look at that crazy fretboard with burgundy mother-of-toilet-seat accordion finish! And the scratchplate could have been used on an halberd!
A similar guitar is this alleged Rellog Gitona - I'm not sure that Rellog Gitona was ever a guitar brand, for me it's a pickup brand but it's probably the only label on the guitar, that might be confusing... Anyway, tell me if I'm wrong!
These guitar share the same headstock design but this one has an East-German stoptail where the Hoyer has a West-german one... Well by now you know all about the big mess that was early electric lutherie in Europe, where you couldn't tell here in Fender, here is Gibson, and that's how it all started (if it's true actually...)
Bertram D
These guitar share the same headstock design but this one has an East-German stoptail where the Hoyer has a West-german one... Well by now you know all about the big mess that was early electric lutherie in Europe, where you couldn't tell here in Fender, here is Gibson, and that's how it all started (if it's true actually...)
Bertram D
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The neck joint on the 19a is unlike anything I've seen before? At its most critical point, designers scarfed in a bit of joinery w/ a different species. Then left it an extended fingerboard. You've just got to see it for yourself. The bridge is remarkable too when viewed lengthwise.
ReplyDeleteThe pickguard may double as a weapon but given flimsy standard issue would a few extra mils take the profit out of the deal?
I love acoustic archtops, and this one looks amazing. Wonder how it sounds.
ReplyDeleteBy hook or by crook, Gavin's vision of a more level playing field is taking shape. At breakneck pace. Most avid players own essentially a "Strats From Around the World Collection" ( and have grown rather bored with them? )
ReplyDeleteMany offerings I come across on Craigslist etc. often include; "Will consider trade for an archtop or something interesting" without specifying what constitutes 'interesting'. Most modern rock players don't know the first thing about archtops, or how they're used. But we're so damned BORED, we are willing to learn!
To undertake an entirely foreign genre, is to learn the guitar anew. Or to be young again. So when I see this newfound affection for musty old things we wouldn't have given a second look just a few years prior, I see personal time machines. Not so much for music ( but to transport ourselves ) IMHO