Hotflush Spaceking - Chinese Stratty thing from Aliexpress.com

guitarz.blogspot.com:


Here's another find from Aliexpress.com, something that the seller is calling a "Firebird" but which surely owes much more to the ever popular Fender Stratocaster. It's as if they've taken the design of the Strat, flipped it over, then started cutting bits out. Almost. When I first saw a thumbnail photo, I thought the guitar had an incorrect and far too large pickguard on it; I didn't appreciate the shape until I took a closer look.

You know what? I think I quite like it. Of course, the proof of the pudding will be in how it actually handles and plays. This example is listed at a price that equates to ￡131.32 here in the UK. However, it's always worth checking other sellers prices on Aliexpress because they can vary wildly.

The name on the headstock here, by the way, is Hotflush Spaceking, but I wouldn't be surprised if the same guitar was also being branded with different names elsewhere,

G L Wilson

© 2016, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

1977 Burns "Jubilee" Flyte with faded UK Union Flag finish

guitarz.blogspot.com:

As I have mentioned many times in the past on this blog, I am a big fan of the Burns Flyte guitar, even though the only time I have actually seen one up close and personal was last year when my band was playing a psychedelic festival and Nick Saloman of The Bevis Frond, who were also playing, let me have a look at his.

However, I'm not so sure about the patriotic finish on this "Jubilee" example from 1977. (1977 was the year of Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee, i.e. she'd been monarch for 25 years). Even though this is the original factory finish, the Union Flag - popularly known as the Union Jack but technically speaking it shouldn't be referred to as such unless flown from a ship - has been poorly rendered with very thin crosses and not enough of a pinwheel effect on the diagonals. It's made to look all the more bizarre by the process of ageing which has turned the blue background to green and the white to yellow - in fact when I first saw this I was trying to decide if it was supposed to be the Union Flag or not. If you didn't know it was supposed to represent the flag of the United Kingdom, then perhaps it'd be easier to think of it as an abstract design. Still don't think I'd like it.

Like it or not, it's still a very interesting piece. This particular example was being sold by Denmark Street Guitars in London but is marked "Out Of Stock" which implies that it has either been sold or else withdrawn from sale. Unfortunately this means I cannot give you a price or value. However, three years ago, a Burns Flyte with "supposedly" original rare red finish was being offered for sale in Germany with a price of €1444. My feeling is that this Jubilee edition would be more valuable. Burns experts please feel free to correct me!

G L Wilson

© 2016, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Sweet Little Duesenberg 12 String Mandola.

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I'm not sure if calling short scale high strung guitars mandolas is a misnomer or not. They do fall within the range of a mandola pitch but we are still dealing with guitar tuning in fourths.

Lets forget semantics and take a look at this beautiful Duesenberg.

With a 15.5 inch scale and ability to intonate each string individually (instead of the more common pairs intonation ) this little giant must just ring with chimey goodness.

Currently listed on Reverb for $2589

R.W. Haller

© 2015, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Harmony Roy Smeck H73 signature guitar from 1966

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I didn't know who Roy Smeck was until I bought a bunch of parts from 2 Harmony Roy Smeck lapsteels a while back. Born in 1900, Smeck, who was known as the Wizard of Strings died in 1994. He was known for his skills on guitar, lapsteel, banjo, and ukulele. He was even inducted into the Ukulele Hall of Fame.

It seems he had a long affiliation with Harmony and was even somewhat of an inventor. Many Harmony products bear his name.

This H73 is one of those products. I like the profile of this hollow, 2 pickup electric. It has an ample cutaway and an upper bout that is slightly reminiscent of a telecaster's curves.

It looks to be in great shape and comes with the original case. 

The seller is looking for trades, something interesting or unusual.

R.W. Haller

© 2015, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Awesome Vintage 1960s Goya Rangemaster with funky original case.

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I'm not sure i could describe this 1960 Goya Rangmaster with near the enthusiasm of it's seller:

"Wow, FAB, Groovy, Cool, What a Gas, Baby . . .

Dig THIS, Daddy-O~! Far-OUT, Man.

Freaky Flower Child, Pop Art, Jazzy & Right On.

This Gorgeous Vintage '60's Axe WILL Bring YOU

Right back to the Hip Psychedelic '60's . . .

Sock It To Me, this Bad Ass Git is Outta Sight~!

Crazy multiple switching pickups selectors & tone controls.

Artsy faux wood pickguard, neato neck dot inlays, PRIMO~!

This beauty plays as good as her awesome Italian looks.

Great, semi-chunky neck, wonderful frets, smooth action.

Several minor battle scars as expected of a 50 plus year old instrument.

Original Italian Art Goya Case, everything operational (missing trem arm).

This is one fabulous piece of music art history and plays like a mo-fo...

Dig it, man, this jive axe can be YOURS right now. Freaky… "

Freaky, man. Freaky indeed.

Currently listed for $850.

R.W. Haller

© 2015, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

1967-68 Messenger hollow body fretless electric bass with aluminum neck

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Previously on Guitarz we've taken an all-too brief look at a vintage 1960s Musicraft Inc. Messenger guitar (as famously played by Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad) and the more recent Eastwood reissue (which is itself a discontinued model... for the time being).

I've not previously seen a bass model of the Messenger, but this is what we have here now being offered for sale on eBay with a starting bid of US $1,500. The bass is a hollowbody and features an aluminium neck.

Intriguingly the neck is fretless (obviously with markers in this instance). The seller does not mention if its fretlessness is an original feature or whether this is a later conversion. In all other areas the bass does seem to be original - it even has the original hardcase.

It would be interesting if, like the Ampeg AUB-1, this was another pre-Jaco Pastorius fretless bass. Jaco famously claimed to have invented the fretless bass, but then again when you are a genius I think you are allowed to make such claims. He certainly invented that whole style of playing. Just look at the flatwound strings on this Messenger in the headstock photo. NOT good for lyrical playing with vibrato, swoops and slides. The best this is going to do is to emulate an upright bass thump.

The eBay seller also provides a few scans of Messenger brochures and sales literature from back in the day, and which I reproduce here for posterity.

If you wondered about that body design:

The perfectly contoured, arrow-straight neck remains thin and fast throughout its entire length. And the fingerboard begins where the soundbox ends, thereby eliminating the need for unsightly cutaways and making possible unobstructed access to all frets.

Regarding that metal neck:

Guaranteed not to bow or warp under normal usage, Messenger's rigid, patented alloy neck grows even stronger with age. Because of its strength, no truss rod is needed. Moreover, the neck requires neither a massive buildup at the heel nor a body support. Backbone of the Messenger is a single-piece alloy structure combining the head, neck and a "fork" extension passing through the sound chamber. The extension is tuned to a frequency of 440 cycles per second. Its constant response controls the tonal quality, reduces "?????" [sorry, can't decipher this word] to an absolute minimum and helps keep strings in motion to produce longer sustained notes.

The price list lists Messenger bass models as follows:

MESSENGER BASS GUITAR

Features: Dual pick-ups with separate tone and volume controls for maximum tone range and versatility. Semi-acoustic body with short scale neck. Available with the Messer tone distortion unit built in the body.

MB50    Morning Sunburst    325.00
MB52    Rojo Red    325.00
MBS60   Morning Sunburst with messer distortion unit    362.00
MBS62   Rojo Red with messer distortion unit    362.00

Note that no mention is made of a fretless model.

G L Wilson

© 2015, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Nechville Meteor 5 String Electric Banjo with Fleximount Neck design.

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I must have missed Bertram's post about the Nechville Meteor Electric Banjo from a few years ago because until today I didn't know that this incredible beast existed.

This Nechville Meteor is apparently the only electric banjo that they have made with the Fleximount neck design. It allows you to easily swap out necks.

The listing does not say, but since i see 2 volume pots I can assume that there is some kind of acoustic pickup under the bridge which with the EMG81 would make for a nice hybrid instrument. ( please note that the pictures with the single coil are from Nechville to further illustrate the design of the Fleximount )

I'd love to see how closely the smaller head sounds compared to typically larger banjo heads. I suspect with the right tension it would be pretty close.

R.W. Haller


© 2015, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Status custom one-off doubleneck 5-string bass and 6-string guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This particular guitar/bass satisfies both my current obsessions at the moment, namely (1) doublenecked guitar bass combos, and (2) headless guitars and basses. I was pretty sure I'd never seen a doubleneck from Status before, but reading the seller's description on this eBay auction it seems that this beast has been created by customising a Status Series 2000 bass with a graphite through neck and basically adding the whole guitar section. The work was carried out by AC Guitars, who also hand-carved the bolt-on guitar neck from maple and ebony.

The seller had this made for a Genesis tribute band (we'd best gloss over that quickly before I start one of my anti-tribute band rants) but which work obligations meant that he wasn't able to participate in. That's a very specialised instrument and a lot of financial outlay for a project that didn't come to fruition.

Yet again I have to get on my usual hobby horse and say that the necks are the wrong way around. OK, call it "opinion" if you will, but I truly believe that it makes much more sense to have the bass neck BELOW the guitar neck. It's simply a better layout, giving improved access to the strings on each neck ...unless you like a bass slung really high up on your chest. (I don't.) The balance of the instrument should also be improved, although maybe that isn't such an issue when the necks are headless.

Also, think about it, if you wanted a doubleneck guitar/mandolin combo, you wouldn't put the smaller mandolin neck beneath the guitar neck, would you? Illogical.

Despite all that, it's a really interesting piece and showcases some excellent custom work from AC Guitars. Currently listed on eBay UK with a starting price of £725.

G L Wilson

© 2015, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Peavey T-40 Bass - Vintage American-made Coolness

guitarz.blogspot.com:

In more recent times you could pick up one of these all American-made high quality 1970s Peavey guitars or basses for a mere song. I mean why buy a Squier if you can get something as well-made and playable as this, often for less cash, and with that coolness factor that it's a little bit different from what everyone else is playing, a little bit retro.

I mean, this Peavey T-40 is an absolute beaut... with a volume and tone for each of the two pickups, you're not going to get the same variety of sounds out of a bog-standard P or J Bass.

But I think maybe the tide has turned, and with a Buy It Now price of US $599.99 this bass is priced a little higher than most I've seen over the past few years, and to be honest it's a much more realistic price for an instrument of this quality. Grab them while you can and as cheaply as you can because I predict these will be fetching a lot more money in years to come.

G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Merlijn shows us his Welson

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Merlijn writes:

Hello everybody from the Guitarz blog! I love reading your blogs but I want to know something from you. On the photos [above] you can see an old guitar from the brand 'Welson'. It was a famous guitar brand during the 50s and 60s. This guitar belonged to my father. I'd like to get more info about it. Could you help me?

Sincerely, Merlijn.

Hi Merlijn, whilst I can't give you much specific information about your father's old Welson guitar, I can tell you that the Welson brand name belonged to a Castelfidardo-based (i.e. Italian) accordion making company founded by Orlando Quagliardi in 1921. Welson guitars were distibuted in Germany as Dynacord and in the USA under the Wurlitzer and Orpheum brands.

For more information see the always fascinating Fetish Guitars website.

G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Gibson 2013 EB Bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

These days I mainly play bass gigs. If I do pick up a 6-string more often than not it's my Fender Bass VI. But I'm quite happy in the bass department with the four basses I have in my collection. However, had I been seen this beauty when on the lookout for a bass, I think I would have been very tempted.

It's a Gibson EB bass from 2013, a model that I admit I was hitherto totally unaware of. It bears little relation to the various vintage Gibson basses in the EB series, in fact stylistically it seems to owe more to Fender and Music Man.


However, in tried and trusted Gibson style it does feature a set neck. Note the heel-less neck join, which is made all the more apparent for having a maple neck set into the black finish of the body. For more info, full specs, etc, see Gibson's own EB page.

This particular example was recently listed on eBay UK and sold for under £550. I'm thinking someone got themselves a bargain there.

G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.