Vintage 1960s Mark in Dartford Kent, Vox Clubman Bass for South Paws

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A guilty secret of mine is that I do actually quite desire one of these: a original 1960s Vox Clubman Bass, "Made in Dartford, Kent" (England) by Jennings Musical Industries (JMI).

Pre-dating the Italian-built Vox guitars of the later 1960s, the short-scale Clubman Bass was part of Vox's range of "student" instruments. The body was made of plywood, and whilst the neck had no adjustable trussrod it did have a steel bar embedded beneath the fingerboard. [EDIT: According to the Vox Showroom website, it had TWO non-adjustable steel rods embedded in the neck.]

So, if it's such a cheap, crudely made instrument, why should I be interested?

Well, it's just that the Vox Clubman Bass has quite a reputation for playability and versatility. It has that particular sound that typifies an era but yet still manages to sound relevant today. I also quite like the design and used to own a similar Clubman II guitar that was my 2nd electric guitar (I've lost count of how many have followed - I'm sure it's in three figures) so it's partly a nostalgia thing, I guess.

This particular example, currently being offered for sale on eBay UK with a Buy It Now price of £320, is the rarer left-handed version. Whether it sells is another matter; a right-handed example in the more common red finish failed to sell earlier today with a Buy It Now of £399.  I know these instruments are quite desirable amongst collectors and people like me, but I do wonder if perhaps they are being priced a little too highly in today's market.

Note that this example has a jack output socket which is probably a later conversion as from the factory it would have been equipped with a television-aerial type co-axial socket.

G L Wilson

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Pure Salem Sad Fester Left-Handed guitar with beautiful top wood

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I've never played a Pure Salem guitar but I'm well aware of them. And I've heard that they are great for their price range. I've always associated them with Eastwood guitars in that they take familiar guitars and put a nice twist on them, or take less familiar guitars and re-introduce them to the masses.

I love the top on this Left-Handed Sad Fester. Is that walnut? Or something more exotic? I've checked their website quickly and could not find one like this to find out.

At $400 it would be a great guitar for any lefty. Or I could buy it and string it backwards.

R.W. Haller





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1984 Roland G-700 Guitar Synth with LEFT-HANDED GR-707 Guitar Controller

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Here's something special for our left-handed guitar-slinging friends out there. It's a 1984 Roland G-700 Guitar Synth with GR-707 Guitar Controller which not only is in the cooler black finish (silver was standard, red was another option) but is also left-handed. I don't think I've seen a left-handed example of one of these before; unfortunately I am unable to tell you how many were made, but you can bet it wasn't very many.

Isn't it crazy to think that this gear is now 30 years old and in the guitar world that seems to qualify as "vintage"? I remember when these first came out and we all thought "What the hell are Roland doing putting out such a crazy design?" But then, along came the SynthAxe and we thought the Roland controller was relatively normal. Today it has a retro-futuristic vintage charm, but it does feel very strange to be getting nostalgic about stuff like this.

Whilst the synth unit looks rather bulky by today's standards, I'll say this for it: at least it is labelled with LARGE numbers and has LARGE easy to read displays. I can't be dealing with the teeny tiny display screens on modern-day equipment. It's like, excuse me whilst I get a magnifying glass out so I can read this.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of US $1,999.

G L Wilson (with thanks to David from Barcelona who posted it first on Facebook)

© 2015, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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Arbiter 12+6 Doubleneck leftie conversion

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As I already mentioned recently, I'm on something of a doubleneck kick lately. I'll explain more in a forthcoming blog post, but in the meantime here's a doublenck Arbiter 12+6 based on the now legendary Gibson EDS-1275, which has been very comptently converted into a left-handed guitar. It's got to be a better leftie doubleneck than some of the Chinese-made cheapies being sold on eBay.

Currently listed on eBay with a starting bid of £299.

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.