Made in Italy in the mid 1960s by Zero Sette Accordian. Julio Giulietti (JG) was the owner of the company at the time.Please excuse me for borrowing so extensively from the eBay listing, but it tells a lot more about the guitar than I could.
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.
50s/60s Electric hollow body guitar with original caseDoes 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.
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.
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)"Best,
(from http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f101/baby-bass-megathread-26190/index16.html).
Derek
The world’s first guitar of its kind, the Swinger puts the soul of an electric guitar into a body inspired by vintage tennis rackets. It looks as light as a tennis racket yet has the solid weight and authority of a rich-sounding electric guitar.Thanks to Vincent for bringing these guitars to me attention via our Facebook page.
The Swinger invites you to take a new look at how you play music. Since we were kids we’ve been pretending our tennis rackets were guitars. Now the illusion has become reality.
Handcrafted using select high-end materials and specialty fittings, the Swinger features a semi-fretless neck that invites exploration and musical freedom. Enjoy it as much for the beauty of its form as for its great sound.
The Swinger’s shape, balance, and detailing are a blend of art and craft, while the instrument’s sound qualities are a solid fusion of fine-instrument building and musicianship. It’s an entirely unique instrument, built to give you a lifetime of beauty, play, and creativity.
Hi GavinThanks Rhodri. Of course we have seen a Carl Thompson guitar on this blog before, in the piece about Lou Reed's sad passing. In the comments below the blog post there was some discussion about the guitar Lou is pictured with. I watched a few of Thompson's YouTube videos at the time. He comes over as a bumbling, eccentric, but very knowledgebale man.
You've featured my Andreas Shark and Dagrite guitars before. How about something from New York now? How about featuring a Carl Thompson - not his more well known basses, but a guitar with a little Lou Reed connection too. This would be a god time as Carl will not be taking any more custom orders after 5th Feb 2014
There's alot of CT youtube videos out there, such as these from 2011:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz1JWfRDD8Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tMEwmWHw3Y
Mine has the dots (where the larger wood bridge/tailpiece would have attached before Carl switched to the more simple wood bridge - one of the things he talks about at start of second video). Mine is one from an earlier 2007 batch of four made for Lou Reed. After he had selected two there were two left - of which this is one.
So, what is it like? Very, very light in weight and highly resonant when unplugged! ...and it's not for sale!
Cheers,
Rhodri K
Of course Japanese guitar builders really hit their stride in the 1980s... Here's a Morris Global Sound guitar being offered for sale for €400 on a French website. It features the faux thru-neck body finish popular on Japanese guitars of this era, plus the usual DiMarzio humbuckers and hardware. Morris guitars have been built in Nagano, Japan, since 1967. The company was named after the nickname for company founder Mr Toshio Moridaira, and today concentrate on producing fine acoustic guitars for fingerstyle players.
