Bartolini red glitter finish 1960's Italian-made "cheesy" guitar

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Guitars like this 1960s-era Italian-made Bartonlini may be perceived by many to be "cheesy", but I just love them. Maybe I'm easily impressed by the glitter and pearloid celluloid finishes, the rows of pushbutton switches, the perspex fingerboards, the unusual choice of FOUR pickups. Maybe I should be more concerned with what these guitars actually sound like. However, Hubert Sumlin, guitarist with Howlin' Wolf, was known to play a very similar Bartolini, and hey, if it was good enough for the likes of him...

Currently listed on eBay.de with a Buy It Now price of €1,499.

G L Wilson

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Ivy Thinline Stratocaster with P-90 pickups and Jaguar trem

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It seems that I'm still in a pink strat mood today! 

This Ivy thinline stratocaster in light pink finish shows me once again that strats feel much better with a Jaguar trem and P-90s! I never got the 3 single-coils thing... 

I know nothing about Ivy Guitars company but what I found on their website - that is very little: they build custom guitars, are located in Maryland and make very bizarre models... But this one is definitely cool!

Bertram D

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Fender Custom Shop Gold over Paisley Heavy Relic Stratocaster

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I've always been clear about the fact that I don't like strats and that I loathe so-called relic finishes. Once in a while though, it's good to have one's certainties shaken, and I really enjoy this Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster with its improbable gold over pink paisley relic paint job. 

Maybe it's because it reminds me of my first guitar, a lake placid blue Kawai Aquarius that I once poorly refinished with hand golden paisley, but it's more than that, if I ever had to play a strat or a relic'ed guitar, it would be this one!

Bertram D

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Another rarity from Semi Moseley of Mosrite fame - Moseley "The Sooner"

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I've lost count of the number of times I've seen a rare guitar from the Mosrite stable being sold as one of the rarest ever. Here, dating back to 1973, is another contender for that title, although "The Sooner" actually was branded under the Moseley name rather than Mosrite. Still it has a few Mosrite-style touches, including that duck bill-shaped headstock which also appeared on several of Mosrite's acoustics, and it even appears to feature a brass rail in the fingerboard, although on closer inspection this appears to be a strip of rosewood in the centre of a maple fingerboard. Stylistically, the slab-bodied design seem to owe something to the erstwhile Fender Telecaster.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $1790.

G L Wilson

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Wunderschöne Framus "Studio" 5/51 Jazz-Gitarre von 1969

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Here's a cool archtop acoustic from 1960s Germany, namely a Framus Studio 5/51. It has a number of idiosyncratic features, such as the bolt-on neck (not uncommon on European-made acoustics of this era, see for instance the Italian-made Eko Ranger series and the Eros-branded copies of the same). More noticeably, and perhaps quite oddly, it features only a single f-hole, giving it a strangely asymmetrical appearance. The seller claims that "the model is known and loved for its super easy playability and clear, twangy tone." It certainly appears to be in very nice condition judging by these photographs.

Currently listed on eBay.de with a very reasonable-sounding Buy It Now price of €199.

G L Wilson

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Mathias shows us his minimalist Fender Bass VI to baritone conversion and minimalist Jazzmaster

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Mathias writes:

Longtime (years) reader here. I've put together a minimalist baritone take on the Fender VI, with good results. Tuned A E A D F# B, huge sound, like the bottom of a piano. I use it a lot solo for melodies and chords with a bass drone, it really extends the harmonic range of the guitar. That's a Seymour Duncan '59 straight to output. Custom pickguard by Pickguardian. Including a shot of my similarly minimalist Jazzmaster. I use these with my group Sportsman's Paradise in New York City.

Thanks for sharing, Mathias. As you probably know, I'm a big fan of the Bass VI (although I do like to keep it tuned one octave below regular guitar tuning - I can always use a capo for those "baritone" tunings - but, hey, each to their own). I do like your minimalistic approach though. I never did like guitars with too many control knobs on them (and I see your baritone has none); it's so much better to let your fingers and way in which you play dictate the tone rather than farting around with pickup selector switches, separate tone controls for each pickup, etc. I remember the time I tried one of those Line 6 Variax guitars. There's just TOO MUCH choice and you end auditioning different sounds for ages rather than getting on with the creative stuff. But again, that's just me, I'm sure other people will swear by them.

G L Wilson

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Trevor Gordon Hall plays the Kalimbatar

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Now this is really cool. This is Trevor Gordon Hall and he's playing this piece on his kalimbatar - which in essence is an acoustic guitar with a kalimba (thumb piano) surface mounted to it. The tone of the kalimba perfectly matches his guitar, but then it is sharing the guitar's soundbox. Check him out on Candyrat Records.

Gavin Wilson

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Zerberus Poledancer #001 - an unusual original design guitar from Germany

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Here's an intriguing design from German boutique guitar manufacturer Zerberus. Named the Poledancer, it's a full-scale length solidbodied electric guitar with a diminutive body which appears to have been involved in a nasty collision with a piece of aluminium tubing. Although it's not to my own persoanl tastes, I have to admit that it does look very distinctive and I'm sure there'll be guitarists out there who love it.

Currently listed on eBay with a rather hefty price tag of $4,783.73.

G L Wilson

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Kustom K200D Bass - very cool American-made semi-hollowbody bass circa 1968-69

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Last year we took a look at a gorgeous vintage Kustom K200 guitar, and here we see its bass counterpart, the Kustom K200D Bass, this example being currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $1,800.

It's a real pity that someone has sanded the finish from the back of the neck to get a modern "satin-feel" neck. I say if you want a modern neck, get a modern instrument and leave the vintage guitars and basses alone! (I don't see what's wrong with a finished neck anyway, but let's not get into an argument about personal preferences).

G L Wilson

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1966/67 vintage Yamaha SB-2 bass guitar in sunburst finish

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Here's a rare beastie currently being auctioned on eBay. It's a Yamaha SB-2 bass, and dating from 1966/67 this is a very nice example of the first ever bass guitar that Yamaha produced. Regular readers will know that I have a fondness for these early Yamaha solidbodies, and indeed this example in a very handsome sunburst finish looks like the long lost bass sibling of my own most highly prized possession, my Yamaha SG-3 guitar.

With a starting bid price of $650 it'll be interesting to see what this sells for.

G L Wilson

Relisted with a Buy It Now price of $595.

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Blue box acoustic guitar is most likely a wall hanger

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This one-off self-built guitar has echoes of cigar box guitar building, although with a much bigger box. The seller readily admits that it is most likely just a "wall hanger" and a "conversation piece" rather than a player - I mean, take a look at that wonkily fitted neck - but I wonder how it would perform inthe hands of someone like Seasick Steve.

Currently listed on eBay with just over a day left to go before the auction ends, and still at the starting bid price of $25 at the time of writing.

G L Wilson

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Review: The D&A Guitar Gear Icestand

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I'm only an amateur musician but even I find that whenever I'm going out to practice, to guitar clubs, open mic sessions, or whatever, I inevitably have to cart around a whole bunch of gear with me: there are usually two or three guitars (acoustic, electric, sometimes a bass VI); amplifiers; my pedal board and various effects pedals; my song books; and of course all sorts of accessories, capos, tuners, leads, etc. This usually involves a lot of trudging back and forth, to and from the car at either end of the journey and having to carry large, heavy, and often awkward-shaped pieces of gear. So, I'm all for anything that helps minimise this kind of baggage.

I've been really impressed with the D&A Guitar Gear Icestand. The Icestand is a very conveniently-sized portable guitar stand which, although made from plastic, utilises lattice ribbing and reinforced joints so that it is able to support even the very heaviest of guitars. The manufacturers claim that it has an "insane strength" and indeed are so confident in this product that they guarantee it for a lifetime. The Icestand itself weighs approx 20 ounces (that's less than 0.6 kg) and in its folded-up state is small enough to fit inside your guitar case. Other guitar stands are often very awkward shapes to be carrying around, and are one of those items that because of their inconvenient shape that I personally find I overlook and end up forgetting because they don't fit nicely into my box of accessories.

It's also safe to use with any vintage guitars you may have in your collection, for the Icestand has a soft polymer material covering all points of contact between itself and the guitar, ensuring that your guitar’s finish is protected. It is safe for all guitar finishes.

The Icestand comes in two models, one for electric guitars and the other slightly larger version for acoustics.

I ought to point out that the Icestand is not suitable for all guitars; I briefly tried standing my Fender Bass VI on the Icestand and it was immediately apparent that it was going to fall over as soon as I took my hand away from the neck of the instrument. So, I do not recommend it for guitars with offset bodies (e.g. Fender Bass VI, Jaguar, Jazzmaster, Jazz Bass) and I wasn't even going to try it with my Ovation Breadwinner, but of course for the majority of electric guitars and basses it will be fine, e.g. Strat, Tele, Precision Bass, SG, Les Paul, and most other designs that don't feature irregular or offset shaped bodies.

D&A Guitar Gear, by the way, is the brainchild of RKS Design, a research, strategy and design firm. Some of you may recall their sadly discontinued venture into their own line of innovative guitars.

G L Wilson

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Bizarro so-called resonator guitar being offered for sale on eBay

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The eBay listing for this Highway Key supposed "resonator guitar" starts as follows:

You are bidding [No, I'm not, I'm just looking] on a one of a kind, custom made acoustic/electric resonator from Highway Key Guitars. This model is # 29 in a limited series. Vintage blonde Sprucetop classical body. Comfortable red stained neck and back.Unique steel "cakepan" floating resonator pan houses hotrodded single coil pickup wired to vol/tone & 1/4in jack covertly placed on back. Blacked out reso pan and knobs compliment the custom headstock. This is a Blonde Bombshell!

Excuse me, but a true resonator guitar features a spun steel cone which has the BRIDGE of the guitar floating at its centre point. I can't believe that the same sound can be achieved by someone cutting a large hole in the top of a cheap acoustic guitar and shoving a cake tin into it. If this thing pictured here has any kind of mojo or idiosyncratic sound (most likely some subjectively "interesting" rattling noises), it must be purely accidental.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It now price of $269.

G L Wilson

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Oh no, not another bloody guitar with skulls on it! Enough already!

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Just what is the deal with skulls on guitars? As tired old clichés go, it has to be one of the crappiest. I suppose this particular guitar isn't quite as bad as some as the skulls are relatively subtle, but why have the bloody things at all?

It's a one-off design by Squid (apparently), and has a "weird for the sake of it" body shape. Very strangely for a guitar aimed at the Metal and/or Gothic contingent, the single pickup is in the neck position; I would have thought that for those musical styles the bridge position would have been better placement.

Currently listed on eBay UK with a starting price of £100 and no bids at the time of writing.

G L Wilson

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80s-tastic Hondo Model 781 Explorer-style guitar with bizarro graphics

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Hondo guitars seem to invoke either a love 'em or loathe 'em response from most guitarists, with some proclaiming that they were always worthless pieces of unplayable junk whilst others argue to the contrary that they were - and continue to be - excellent workhorse instruments. The above pictured is a deluxe Hondo Model 781, a 1980s guitar that wouldn't look out of place in the obligatory hair metal bands of that era, and which marries together design elements from Gibson (obviously, the Explorer body shape) and Fender (the bolt-on maple neck, Strat-style trem, and Tele-like control plate), and then finishes it all off with graphics that look to be inspired partly by Eddie Van Halen and partly by Spiderman.

Currently being offered for sale on eBay with a not unreasonable Buy It Now price of $199.95.

G L Wilson

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Musicvox MI-5 12-string bass in sea foam green

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This Musicvox MI-5 12-string bass in a glorious all-over sea foam green finish is one seriously cool bass. It's the sort of instrument to make me start salivating Homer Simpson-style. Musicvox are known for their 12-string basses but previously examples have been based on the singlecut Space Cadet model rather than this twin-cutaway MI-5 design. Features include: 34 inch scale, neck through body construction, twin double truss rods, Grover Octave tuners, locking bass tuners, active and passive electronics, dual output jacks, custom cast and machined eight saddle 12 string bass bridge, special design active and passive Musicvox bass humbucking pickups. String tuning configuration: eeE aaA ddD ggG

Musicvox have recently been making available various guitars and basses in strict limited edition finishes and I believe that this MI-5 12-string basses may be another such limited edition, so if it appeals to you, snap it up fast!

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $1,499.

For further information, Musicvox's Matt Eichen talks us through the 12-string bass (in this instance a Space Cadet) in this video:


G L Wilson

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One-off cast aluminium-bodied guitar

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Here's another one-off made aluminium-bodied guitar, although this time instead of the body having been milled out of an aluminium billet, it has actually been cast, liquid metal being poured into a wooden mold, the resultant body sandblasted and finally powder coated.

The holes in the latice-like body have a three-fold purpose: (1) they are decorative, (2) they keep the weight down, and (3) they provide an instant cavity into which to install the guitars electronics. The shape also features some quite enormous almost Burns-esque body horns. The guitar has a Fender-like 25.5" scale length, a wooden neck and coil tapping circuitry for the pickups.

Currently listed on eBay UK with a Buy It Now price of £1,399.99 - sale set to finish in just over 14 hours from the time of writing.

G L Wilson

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Jerry Jones Danelectro Longhorn 6-string bass replica circa 1990-93

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Here's a Jerry Jones 6-string bass, circa 1990-93, based on the original Danelectro Bass VI model as orignally issued in 1956. Jerry Jones guitars are much sought after and are known not to be simply replicas or instruments inspired by the Danelectros of old, but to be improvements on the originals. This lyre-shaped Longhorn - a cousin of the Guitarlin - features a copperburst finish, two lipstick pickups and a 24-fret neck.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $1,595.

G L Wilson

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Fender TLAC100 Japanese-made hybrid acoustic/electric Thinline Tele

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I've quite fancied getting myself a Fender Acoustisonic Telecaster, a hybrid electric/acoustic Telecaster launched in 2010 and already discontinued (and which is NOT the guitar pictured here), but which still fetches quite high prices on eBay... certainly more than I can afford anyway. They also seem quite scarce; it's unlikely that Fender produced these in large numbers.

An alternative - that may or may not work out as a cheaper option - would be to track down Fender's earlier hybrid Tele, the TLAC100, as pictured above. On this Crafted In Japan Tele, Fender haven't tried to disguise it as a regular Tele, and so we have no pickguard, a slanted neck pickup (a Lace Burton Silver USA) and a Thinline-style body with f-hole. It has an undersaddle piezo pickup in the acoustic-style bridge, while the three controls take care of volume, balance and TBX Blend which blends the single coil and Piezo. I believe that the more contemporary Acoustisonic can produce more convincing acoustic tones, but the TLAC100 can't be that bad, after all it was good enough for the likes of Stevie Winwood and Richie Blackmore.

Currently listed on eBay UK with a Buy It Now price of £650, although take note, the seller would prefer the buyer to collect from Cornwall!

G L Wilson

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Another of Höfner's less celebrated guitars, the S3N

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Following on from this post, here's another of Höfner's less celebrated guitars. The seller says this Höfner S3N dates to the 1970s or 1980s - my guess would be the 1980s simply because of the presence of Shadow pickups on this particular example. The seller also likens it to a Les Paul, which is a pretty lazy analogy because the only thing Les Paul like about it really is the single cut body design (and I'm guessing scale length too). The slab body, bolt-on neck, pickup types and control layout are all decidedly un-Les Paul like. Other than this, I am afraid I don't have much to tell you about this guitar. It certainly looks nice enough, and knowing Höfner I'd imagine it plays well; I could see using this as a general workhorse of an instrument - it's nothing too flashy or over-the-top but it looks like the kind of instrument that would get the job done without any fuss.

But maybe you know differently?

Currently listed on eBay UK with a Buy It Now price of £425.

G L Wilson

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Fender Custom Shop Telecaster Bass gets the Deluxe treatment

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This Dennis Galuszka masterbuilt Fender Custom Shop re-interpretation of the Fender Telecaster Bass (a model itself derived from the original slab-bodied Precision Bass) is quite interesting. The pickguard and control layout has quite obviously been based on that of the Fender Telecaster Custom and Deluxe guitars; I guess because the bass sports a pair of humbuckers then technically it should be a Telecaster Bass Deluxe rather than a Custom, although if the Custom Shop had wanted to take the analogy further they should have given in a larger Precision-style headstock so as to mirror the Tele Deluxe guitar's CBS-era Strat-like head.

Currently listed on eBay Germany with a Buy It Now price of €3,990.

G L Wilson

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The Terminator custom stainless steel electric guitar and illuminating case!

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It's probably easiest if I just quote liberally from the eBay listing for this particular custom guitar:

Nicknamed "The Terminator", this is a RAM-JAM Music one-of-a-kind. You'll be the envy of all other with this baby! This custom 100% 316 stainless steel guitar and all stainless steel body has 2 necks, one with stainless steel frets, and one fretless. It also had custom turned stainless steel knobs and a kick ass design and case. This guitar plays and sounds as awesome as it looks. Like the stainless steel lightening bolt handle on the case, this guitar has power! With its 1/4" solid stainless steel neck, this guitar feels like no other. The fretless is 3/8 of an inch thick and is slightly scaled down for a lighter weight. You can play all the way up to its double coil stack pick up, when you run out of frets, play the fretless area and if you like the feel of that, change the neck to the 100% stainless steel all fretless neck with adjustable height nut. For a rugged sound, use the same strings. For a smoother sound change to the flat wound strings. For slide guitar without the noise of the slide hitting the neck, simply adjust the screws behind the nut to raise strings up to 3/8 above the fretless neck. It has a Schaller bridge, new 1987 Seymour Duncan Hot Stack Pick-up, O.E.M. tuning pegs, .010-.046 strings, and a set of flat wound .013-.056 strings for the fretless neck.

The case body is made of aluminum mesh with a diamond plate aluminum bottom for light weight yet rugged look and can be hung on the wall as a display case. The top is made of aluminum mesh with an aluminum angle frame. The whole case is polished to a mirror finish and reflects like it's alive. The EL neon light runs on 2 AA batteries and has 2 settings of flashings and one setting of solid light. The Terminator is held captive in its display case with a single lighting bolt handled shackle strapped down tightly on its rubber lifters which hold it in the center of the case! The custom illuminating case has a white fuzzy bottom with a custom made box to store a slide and picks or a pack of smokes! The strap is made of an army green braided 1970s robot main frame computer wire, tough yet comfortable, and is the lifeline of The Terminator.

Now with 3 necks! One ultimate 32 slim frets, one 22 Jumbo fret, the super fretless!

If you like the pictures, you are going to love the real thing!

"The Terminator" was created by Ram-Jam Music

Quite astonishing, I think you'll agree. And it could be yours if you can afford the $8,000 Buy It Now fee on eBay.

Thanks to Joe from Stratoblogster for brining this guitar to my attention.

G L Wilson

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Vintage one-off prototype brass-bodied resonator guitar - possibly by Charles Brasher

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Here's a potential interesting piece of history if only it could be conclusively identified. The seller believes that this prototype brass-bodied resonator may be the work of Charles Brasher.

Charles E Brasher was a Canadian inventor, metalworker and maker of stringed instruments in the early to mid 1930s. Inventions include a novel cone for the resonator guitar, patented in Canada in 1935.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $1,499.

G L Wilson

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Höfner Alpha - one of their less celebrated guitars

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The name Höfner conjures up images in the mind's eye of such classic German-made guitars as the Höfner "Beatle" violin bass, the Höfner Verithin, and the Höfner President, amongst others. I doubt that the first model ever to spring to mind would be the Höfner Alpha. Take one look at this guitar and you know instantly that it's from the 1980s. However it's a lot more attractive than many of its contemporaries in the era of haair metal. The design could be said to be an unholy alliance between the Gibson Explorer and the Fender Telecaster, with perhaps a few Stratocaster appointments thrown in for good measure! I confess that I quite like it - in fact, I suspect that the shape may well be quite ergonomic.

I'm guessing this is a very rare and/or much sought after model because the seller (located in Siberia) is asking a whopping $1,799.99 for the Buy It Now price.

G L Wilson

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