Highly "customized" Martin D-16GT makes me feel more than a little blue.

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I'm just going to leave this here, along with a few quotes from the seller.

"I'm just the type of person that always has to customize things and this production came out of that"

" Most stock guitars I've found have thicker than necessary soundboards that don't resonate as well as if it were thinner, so I thinned the top so that the guitar could respond and resonate better with a lighter softer touch"

" The neck was also thinned down a bit to make it more easier to play, and the fretboard slightly scalloped ( not yngwie malmsteen type scallop as you can tell) giving every note more air/openness and better control over bending and vibrato"

"So if you are crazy left brained perfectionistic about things please go buy yourself a stock whatever"

This custom Martin was listed at $1999 U.S. but see now that the listing has ended.

Did it sell?

The link is still active if you want a complete description from the seller.

R.W. Haller

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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

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Blake's 12-string solidbody electric Frankenstein

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's an email we received from Blake:

This guitar was created in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The bolt on neck came from a 70s Epiphone acoustic 12 with broken bracing and poor tone. The body originated as an unidentified 60s Japanese Jazzmaster style guitar that was rescued from a dumpster. In order to combine these instruments, the neck pocket was slightly enlarged, the bridge and tailpiece were modified and relocated for proper intonation, and I designed and fashioned a pickguard from a 12" vinyl record. There are no volume or tone controls to weaken the signal output, just a Lace Alumitone wired straight to the output jack. Two barely playable guitars have been combined to form one highly playable electric 12 string. A recording of it can be heard on my bandcamp page: https://secretgeometry.bandcamp.com/

Rock on!
Blake Mandrayk

Nice job, Blake. It looks very cool and sounds great too.

Keep those readers guitars pictures coming in, folks!

G L Wilson

© 2015, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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Vox Phantom bass - rare left-handed model

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's something you don't see very often, a left-handed Vox Phantom Bass. This particular instrument has been custom built from original 1960s New Old Stock vintage parts. Like the doubleneck Eko we looked at a few days ago, I'd wager that this Vox was pieced together by Brandoni Guitars. Remember that the Eko factory in Italy also produced Vox guitars in the 1960s after production was outsourced, Vox guitars having previously been built in Dartford, Kent, in the UK.

This bass is currently listed on eBay and has a Buy It Now price of £1,500.

G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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Batman "Ker Pow" knock-off Precision Bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This Bat bass features quite a neatly executed home-made finish, with a decoupage of Batman comic strips on the body itself. It's a bit of a pity about the counterfeit decal applied to the headstock when the bass isn't actually a Fender but consists of a Squier body married to a no-name copy neck. Yes, I appreciate the details are fun what with the wholly appropriate serial number and the "Made in Gotham City" legend, it's just a pity that the Fender logo was used. The etching (if that's what it is) of the Batman logo on the pickguard is a nice touch though.

Currently being auctioned on eBay UK with a low starting price.

G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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Eko doubleneck guitar / mandolin solidbody

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Whilst it's neither as cool nor as radical as this other Eko doubleneck, the above-pictured Eko guitar / mandolin doubleneck does at least seem to be of practical proportions and shouldn't break your back having to gig with it. However, of course, Eko of Italy never made such a doubleneck guitar/mando combination. This is a Brandoni creation. Roberto Brandoni acquired Eko's remaining stock when they closed down back in 1987. Stock included bodies and necks and other assorted parts from vintage 1960s Eko and Vox guitars and from Eko models produced into the 1980s. Eko in the early 1980s produced two solidbody mandolins - an 8-string and a 12-string "mandoguitar" model. This Brandoni-customised Eko doubleneck would appear to have been made by joining together two separate mandolin bodies.

Currently listed on eBay UK with a Buy It Now price of £635.

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.

Vintage 1960s True Tone round-bodied guitar (very unlikely UN-original)

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Despite having an original 1960s Truetone neck, this electric banjo-like round-bodied guitar is almost certainly a Frankenstein job pieced together from parts rather than a forgotten vintage gem. The modern Tele-style bridge with 6 individual saddles is a dead giveaway, and those plates on the front and back of the body look suspiciously as if they're hiding something - most like the joining together of the centre section of an old Truetone guitar with the new(-er) body wings. We can see from the photos that the neck section was originally from a glued-in neck guitar, and the joins are all too obvious. Nevertheless it's an interesting curiosity of a guitar in its own right and with a starting bid of US $19.99 it'll be interesting to see what a true pawn shop guitar like this might sell for.

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.

Dean Z-X Fake leopard fur fabric-covered Explorer

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Some crazy crazy dude - very possibly inspired by ZZ Top - has covered this Dean Z-X Explorer type guitar in fake leopard fur fabric. Need I comment any more? Other than to say that I hope whoever plays this guitar doesn't get too hot and sweaty on stage as it could end up being really stinky, and it's not like you can just bung it in the washing machine.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of US $475.

Thanks to Tony E for bringing this guitar to my attention.

G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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1971 Gibson Les Paul Custom with MSA Pedal Attachment

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Never mind your Tele with B-Bender, this 1971 Gibson Les Paul can do all that and more. It does look a bit cumbersome with all those cables coming out of it though. Anyway, here's the story from the eBay seller:

The Les Paul [Serial #686339] is in real nice shape and before all you vintage freaks, freak out, the MSA mod was done in 1979 before this instrument was considered vintage and/or important. So take a deep breath and read about this very unique piece of guitar history.

The guitar belongs to a prominent Los Angeles studio session player from Dallas, Texas. He is retiring and selling many of the instruments that he no longer has a call for. Being in Texas put him in the circle of players that were doing a wide range of commercial music and Steel Guitar was one of the more prominent flavors in the air. Maurice Anderson and Tom Morell (of Dallas) created MSA Steel Guitars and were crazy enough to develop this pedal system for six-string guitar. Phil Baugh was an early adopter and can be heard on George Jones “HE STOPPED LOVING HER TODAY” and “IF DRINKING DON'T KILL ME, HER MEMORY WILL” playing his modified instrument. Here is a link that features Phil playing his MSA modified Peavey.

This Gibson Les Paul Custom is the only one like it in the world that has this MSA attachment, that Maurice Anderson personally installed in 1979 [may've been 1980]. There were 24 more installed on Peavey guitars, but only the first one of those was sold [for $10,000] to the Austin, Texas friend of Reese who coerced him into developing this MSA unit. The others were never sold, because they were locked up in a warehouse in receivership,as MSA went bankrupt, & the Peavey's were never seen again as far as I know [this might have changed, since MSA re-emerged from bankruptcy about a decade ago]. There was also a Gibson L-5s modified for Phil Baugh.

Here is a link to a discussion about this instrument.

The only other mods on this Les Paul are coil taps & a phase switch, for more sound variety, since it was never gonna sell as "original" anyway.

The MSA attachment comes off or goes on in ten seconds with thumb screws, & it stays in tune, unlike the permanently attached precursor that Reese made for Phil Baugh, 40 some odd years ago, for his fender Jazzmaster. The six pedals can be adjusted to vary pitch on each string, individually, anywhere from a half step to 6 half steps up or down, depending on which end of the levers on back of the guitar you attach the string to [pretty ingenious].

The winning bidder can specify the type of strings and other parameters for a complete professional (no charge) set-up before the guitar is shipped.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now this of US $10,650.

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.

Custom "rifle stock" bass guitar with stainless steel appointments

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's a gun-inspired guitar that actually doesn't come across as too offensive. It's actually a custom-made bass in mahogany with stainless steel trim. The neck is apparently a Velvet Hammer (whatever that means) with an open headstock with inward mounted tuners reminscent of the Ampeg scroll bass design. Controls are mounted on the upper edge of the body, and the general design reminds me of Eko's "rifle butt" travel guitar, only scaled up in size.

Thanks to Sean who posted this on our Facebook page.

Currently listed on eBay with a starting bid of $1,200.

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

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

guitarz.blogspot.com:

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

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Trevor Gordon Hall plays the Kalimbatar

guitarz.blogspot.com:



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

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

A rather eccentric Art Deco square-soundholed acoustic guitar on eBay France

guitarz.blogspot.com:

      

Here's a rather eccentric acoustic guitar currently listed on eBay in France. The seller tells us that:

Ayant retrouvé ma vieille guitare Harmony cassé au niveau de la table, je l'ai refaite et me suis laché. La table est en spruce avec le milieu en ébène, les renforts ont été recollés, le chevalet est de type jazz manouche en bois exotique, les pickuards sont en ébènes comme la tête de la guitare. Les mécaniques sont de type gibson. L' instrument est électrifié avec un pièzo placé sous la table à l emplacement du chevalet et une sortie jack et le réglage du volume sur la table. Malheureusement le piézo vient de me lacher, a réparer donc.

A ma grande surprise le son est fantastique et très bluesy. Du coups je m en sépare car j ai d'autres projet de guitare custom en cours.

Did you understand that? My French isn't very good but from what I can gather, the guitar is a re-built Harmony with a new top of spruce with ebony inserts. Ebony is also used for the pickguards (which together with the rectangular sound hole contrive to give the guitar an almost Art Deco look) and the headstock inlay. The guitar also features Gibson tuners, a Gyspy Jazz style bridge with a piezo (now non-functioning?) pickup beneath it. Oh, and the photos show us it has a sound port on the upper rim.

I'm not quite sure that it is really a prototype as claimed in the eBay listing title, but it's certainly a head turner.

Currently listed on eBay.fr with a Buy It Now price of €270.

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

A gumby-shaped DIY furry guitar currently listed on eBay UK

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I'm trying to work out quite what the original body shape is beneath all that fur fabric on this self-made fluffy guitar currently listed on eBay UK. Despite the Telecaster hardware, the shape now appears to be "gumby"-like.

I'm not really sure who it's supposed to appeal to. Perhaps a glam-rock covers party band? Or a Wombles or Banana Splits tribute band maybe?

Currently listed on eBay UK with a Buy It Now price of £220.

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Jim Rodford's doubleneck behemoth comprising Fender P-Bass and Strat

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I was looking on YouTube for some footage of Argent's Russ Ballard playing his customised Holy Stratocaster (which also featured a cut-down body so that the top horn echoed size and shape of the lower horn), and found an interesting clip of Argent playing "Hold Your Head Up" on The Midnight Special TV Show in 1973 with an introduction from none other than John Denver (see below).

Sure, there was Russ playing his Holy Strat, but I was also intrigued to see bassist Jim Rodford thumping away on an enormous doubleneck seemingly composed of a Fender Precision Bass and a Strat. Alas I've not been able to turn up any better quality close-up photos of the instrument itself and so I though I'd have a little shout out to the faithful Guitarz readership to see if anyone has any more information about this remarkable instrument or knows where we might find some better photographs.

A Google search reveals various guitar and bass forum discussions in which this instrument is mentioned. Apparently the P-Bass making up one half of this doubleneck behemoth previously belonged to Chris White of The Zombies (keyboardist Rod Argent's previous band).

There are other clips of Rodford playing the bass as a single necked instrument (e.g. another performance of "Hold Your Head Up", this time from 1972) where the bass is clearly shown to have an enlarged or secondary pickguard on the upper portion of the body. One forum mentioned something about the doubleneck being convertible into two separate instruments, so possibly this upper pickguard was there to hide the join in the body with the upper horn section of the bass.

This is all conjecture on my part. I just think it's an interesting instrument worthy of further investigation.


G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

A Fender paisley Tele with a difference - it's GREEN!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Although this is a genuine Fender Telecaster, it does feature a custom refinish. You're not going to find an off-the-shelf Tele in green paisley like this one. The seller calls it a "a 7-UP Paisley 'JUDGE' version... direct from Ralph and Sandy's custom shop" (as if I'm supposed to know what that all means) and goes on to list the guitar's specs: Seymour Duncan Tele Hot Neck pickup, Seymour Duncan Tapped Tele bridge pickup, reverse control plate, 5-way switching, series and parallel modes, Vitamin Q Paper in Oil capacitor, No Load Tone control, Electro socket jack holder, Switchcraft jack, Premium CTS controls...

It does indeed sound - and look - like a very fine guitar. And so it should be with an eBay Buy It Now price of $2,299.

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!

Hofner Shorty - the little guitar that is ripe for modding

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This eBay UK seller, impressed with the quality and playability of Hofner's inexpensive little travel guitar, the Hofner Shorty, has modded seven of them installing the Wilkinson WVS50 two-point trem system on each, and made them available for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of £175 a piece.

He makes a very good case for the playability and versatility of these babies, as evidenced in the above video.

Meanwhile, another modder has routed out the body of his Hofner Shorty, reinstalled a new top and bridge, and with the help of piezo pickups and a little technology has converted it into a quite convincing sounding electro-acoustic guitar for busking.

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!

Custom headless doubleneck guitar and bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Unfortunately I was too slow in getting to feature this headless doubleneck guitar/bass combo before the eBay auction finished. It's not the most elegant of creations but it's certainly a headturner. I'll let the seller describe it for you:

This is a working instrument, built in the early eighties, intended to be part of a Rush covers band. In spite of being a bit rough at the edges, the visual impact of this machine on stage is spectacular.

The necks for this instrument are Japanese, from a company called Westone. Both necks are very well set up with low actions and good intonation. They still feel in very good condition, as this certainly hasn't been played much for a 30 year old axe!

The body is all mahogany [...] The machine heads are all Schaller M4 and M6 chrome [...] The pickups are 80s DiMarzio models [...] The guitar has two Super II humbuckers, made popular by Paul Stanley, the guitarist in Kiss [...] The bass has a "Model G" humbucker, which was the same as the famous Wal bass Model 1, but packaged for a standard guitar pickup mount.

Both sides have their own volume level knobs, which are also coil tap pull switches. The guitar additionally has a 3 position mini-toggle pickup selector switch. There is a single stereo jack output keeping the necks as separate signals...

This instrument eventually sold for £365.76 on eBay UK after 26 bids.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

A rather generic Kent-branded dreadnaught acoustic guitar customised into an 8-string

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I've spent the best part of today converting this unsuspecting acoustic guitar into an 8-string. It's a (possibly 1980s/1990s) Kent-branded acoustic that I bought very cheaply off eBay recently because I wanted a back-up guitar for my main acoustic guitar. However, for one of the songs we are doing at the guitar club I attend, I've been hankering after a 12-string sound. But as I don't currently have a 12-string acoustic (to to be honest I don't really get on with them too well as they can be hard work in a number of ways) and also because I have very limited finances, I decided to make use of bits and pieces that I already had and convert a 6-string into an 8-string. That's an 8-string with 6 courses - octaves accompanying the G and D strings. It's a compromise in some ways, but one which I think will work for what I want.

The Kent's tuners were really rather dreadful, so I swapped them out for a set coming off a donor acoustic I have lying around (on which the bridge has lifted, so I'm just using it for parts now and maybe a future project). From all the screw holes in the back of the Kent's headstock, it seems that someone has previously swapped out the tuners - I'm guessing in that instance they were taking nicer tuners off for another project and replacing with something really quite nasty and ineffective because the ones I had to remove were ghastly.

For the two additional tuners, I used a pair that originally came off a Washburn guitar I used to own. You may notice in the above photo what might at first seem like an odd placement of these tuners. My reasoning was to use the two different tuners for the two octave strings.

Anyway, I've strung it up, tuned it, and it's really quite effective with a sound that's not quite as rich as a fully-fledged 12-string guitar, but which comes close - and that's just from adding octave strings to the G and D.

Hopefully it should be less trouble than a 12-string. Easier to re-string, easier to tune, and what's more it doesn't have that annoying wide fingerboard that many 12ers have. I'm aware that it looks a bit "Heath Robinson" perhaps, but I don't care too much about the aesthetics in this instance. It's the sound that I was after.

This conversion cost me nothing. I used a guitar, parts, strings and tools that I already had.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Thomas shows us his Fender Precision twin humbucker "TomBass"

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Bonjour M. Wilson;

I'm a long time reader of your blog ... Thanks a lot for this daily "Guitarz minute"!! Here is my bass (and its story):

It started as a US Fender PBass of 1989 bougth in 2000 with Seymour Duncan active pickups (PJ configuration) and with a 22 frets neck.

Over the year, the neck started to bend and "twist" up to the point it was unplayable. So I decided to customize it - or to be honest (and wise) to ask a luthier to customize it, M. Leray in Nantes, France - and here is the result:

• neck has been changed for a Mexican Fender PBass "road worn" 50s 2011 with 20 frets
• 2 pickups Rio Grande Pitbull Humbucking (nickel cover) with selector and Push/Pull tone pots
• Bad Ass II bridge

The design is very much inspired from a 2009 Fender Telecaster Bass from the Custom Shop.

Unfortunately, I don't have any record to send you, but trust me, it sounds great!

Musically yours

Thomas

PS: note the "Competition stripes" (which appear on some Mustang Bass) has been replaced by a "Cool Stripe" (better karma)

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!