Defil Jowita Thinline style guitar from the 1980s

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I'd only ever heard of Defil guitars on this blog as Betram had posted a few great examples in the past. Imagine my surprise when one shows up in my own proverbial back yard.

I love the styling of this Defil Jowita. It's unique but familiar at the same time. Defil was a Polish guitar company that started in the 1960s. This example is from the 1980's and as the seller states "The neck is quite hefty and large". This puts it on my radar even more as I'm a fan of baseball bat necks.

Currently listed at $300. 

What's stopping me?  Bloody children and their desire to eat, like everyday.

R.W. Haller

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Defil Kosmos - a 1980s Polish take on the Gibson Moderne

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I've always liked the story behind the Defil Kosmos. As you can see its body copies the mythical Gibson Moderne, a model conceived in 1958 together with the Flying V and the Explorer, but discarded as too radical...

It's not clear if the Kosmos was released before or after the 1982 Moderne limited reissue (or first issue, it depends on if the 3 Modernes built in 1958 and lost since can be considered as a first edition) - information I could find are contradictory, but if they were pre-1982 they are the first real incarnation in the real world of this cool design!

If they were post-1982, since there was no chance for a 1980s eastern-european musician to put his hands on a Gibson limited edition, copying it was no real infringement, more an homage! And the Kosmos was a really successful model amongst communist metalheads!

Bertram D

EDIT: A contemporary or even earlier copy by Ibanez released in the mid 1970s was brought to my attention by our knowledgeable readers - not the only Gibson copy of the time as you can see here... 

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1960s Defil Malwa thinline

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Like many instrument of this vintage Polish company, the Defil Malwa is a strange mix of elegance and crudeness: it has a subtle outline and Framus-like cats-eyes sound holes always look cool, but the gear and the finish feel rough - though the knobs and trapeze stoptail are without doubt replacements parts. These guitars have often bad reputation but I heard some demos on YouTube that are not that bad.

BTW, did you know that Defil stands for Dolnoslaska Fabryka Instrumentow Lutniczych (Instruments Factory of Lower Silesia)? And that Malwa refers to a plant genus that includes hollyhocks - those tall and beautiful flowers that grow all over Amsterdam in summer when girls are shortly dressed, air is perfumed with suave cannabis fragrance and life is light - and mallows - with which marshmallows are made?

Bertram

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Defil Jowita 12-string

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A vintage semi-hollow body Polish Defil Jowita 12-string with flat top, cat's eyes soundholes, undefined pickups - some reviews I read say it sounds bizarre but not bad... 

I like the very modernist feel of this kind of design - simple, sharp, elegant -, it has something optimistic from a time you could still believe in human and guitar progress.

Bertram


Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Defil Melodia 2

Another interesting communist era guitar, this late 70s vintage Polish Defil Melodia has the rare particularity of having a nice large pickguard on its ES-335 type semi-hollow body. Also I of course really like the sliding potentiometers!

bertram