Tuesday 28 January 2014

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

guitarz.blogspot.com:
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

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3 comments:

  1. Azor guitars were made in Spain. Maybe in Madrid. They were hand-crafted by carpenters under supervision of musicians and sellers like Leturiaga and others. Dated in the early 60's. Back then it was impossible to get an electric guitar from abroad: first because of the anti-import laws and second, the price: a Fender Stratocaster costed 1000 times what a musician earned per gig. You can see references to that brand of guitars (and others) here:
    http://elpais.com/diario/1998/05/18/madrid/895490668_850215.html
    and here:
    http://www.rockers.es/FORO/tabid/315/forumid/18/postid/235791/scope/posts/Default.aspx

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  2. Sorry! bad maths in my previous comment: a musician in the early sixties earned 1000 pesetas per gig aprox. The cost of a Fender Strato was 30000 pesetas, so it was "only" 30 times more. I'm from Málaga, southern Spain.

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  3. This one is such a bargain. I'm glad to read that it's spanish. I never quite understood why Spain, being the homeland of the guitar, didn't produce more electrics... Almost every electric guitar produced in Spain that I had the opportunity to give a try was a real player but most of them where luthier's products. Could they devellop a proper industrial process? Spanish manufacturers do have the skills! (I'm not spanish, I'm french but I believe in Europe)

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