Flightcase Guitar

This Flightcase Guitar from Chickenbone John on eBay is a modern take on the traditional cigarbox guitar. I'm wondering if the flightcase can still be opened. Just think, inside you could have another similar guitar, only smaller, in the fashion of those Russian nesting dolls.

Weird Gibson "Hybrid" Guitar

Unsurprisingly this unusual Gibson dates back to 1985. I say unsurprisingly because it screams out 1980s to me. I don't know if this was a special order, an experimental model or a prototype guitar, but essentially it is a double-cut Les Paul with an Explorer neck, and is equipped with a Kahler trem and HSS pickup layout.

Does anyone have any more info on this guitar. The seller mentions having seen another one with a red finish, so it sounds like it wasn't a one-off, but was it ever a production model, however limited?

Aria Pro II PE-160 "Dragon Strat"

Remember the Univox Eagle Bass that we looked at last month? Well, here is its six-string counterpart also from the Matsumoko factory in Japan, the Aria Pro II PE-160 "Dragon Strat". This example is owned by Guitarz reader Justyn, who tells us that:

"I bought this guitar about 17 or 18 years ago when I saw an advert in a local paper for £80 and it has been my only electric guitar. The guitar itself is a real workhorse, extremely rugged and produces quite a wide range of sounds for a very basic 3 position switch system. It performs well with effects pedals and like you said, you can get a good approximation of Hendrixy tones especially from the neck pickup which is very good for chordal style rhythm playing like Little Wing, Castles Made Of Sand, etc.

"In all the time I have had this guitar I must admit that I have treated it very roughly, I have only bothered with a guitar stand for it recently and it was often left leaned up against whatever I was closest to when I put it down and as you can see from the pics it has a multitude of scrapes, dents, scratches and bumps, the poor thing has been dropped and knocked over many times but has never been affected by the harsh treatment I lavished upon it. The neck still plays well and because of its ruggedness you can play it as viciously or as tenderly as you like.

"When I first bought it I didn't know what I had got hold of but as I have mellowed with age I began to care more about it and got curious one night and tried to find out a bit about it. You know how it is when you have too much coffee and it's past 2 in the morning, sometimes you think of things you usually wouldn't. Anyway after a bit of digging around I found out that these guitars were only produced in a short run and are quite rare even if they are not that expensive compared to other vintage guitars, they are well worth buying if you get the chance. I really would hate to loose mine as it has bags of character and always seemed to forgive me for the abuse I put it through. I will be replacing the bridge soon though as it is starting to corrode a bit.

"This guitar was made in 1977 and they were made with three designs (two Dragons and an Eagle) from solid Walnut. You can find the original catalogue picture here: http://www.matsumoku.org/models/ariaproii/pe/nptype/nptypes.html and you can also find pics of the other Dragon design here: http://www.matsumoku.org/models/ariaproii/pe/nptype/pe160/pics.html, and the Eagle here: http://www.matsumoku.org/models/ariaproii/pe/nptype/eagle/pics.html.

"I'm pretty sure the Univox Eagle Bass Guitar was made in the same factory. There were also Ibanez carved strats. The Cornucopia (http://www.ibanezcollectors.com/forum/replicas-and40ibanez-brand-only!and41/got-a-carved-strat!!!!/), Dragon and Eagle designs (sorry no links for these two).

"These were made in the Matsumoku factory and if you are interested you can find out more about the guitars they made by looking here: http://www.matsumoku.org/guitars.html. They produced Univox, Aria, Aria Pro 2, Washburn and many other brands. The site has got an amazing amount of information and the forum is full of very knowledgeable people who like you and I love the weird and wonderful guitars that are often overlooked."

Thanks for that, Justyn! This is the exact same guitar that my mate Phil had many years ago (I hope that he still has it), although his had a single coil-sized stacked humbucker in the middle pickup position (not a pickup combination you usually come across) and that gave it some fantastic sounds.

One thing that always struck me about Phil's guitar was that the dragon was effectively upside-down. I wondered if this was so as to give the guitar a Hendrix vibe as the dragon would have been the right-way up if played upside down, a la Jimi.

When Relics Go Bad

To quote from the eBay listing for this poor Thinline Tele:

"I 'modified' this guitar by dragging the body (without the neck and hardware obviously) down my driveway behind my 66 Mustang and then I set it on fire for a while."

I think that says it all.

Thanks to Rich for emailing me this one.

Kay K45 travel guitar

This Kay-branded travel guitar, the K45 is currently for sale on eBay, and looks to be a pretty clean example. In the USA this guitar was known as the Austin Hatchet. Built in the early 80s, this guitar features a laminated through-neck construction, and has nut, bridge and fingerboard dot inlays all made of brass. The humbucking pickups are "DiMarzio designed" and the controls include a coil tap. The strap is integral to the design and doubles as a carrying strap when the guitar is cased up.

I own one of these guitars, although mine appears to have been very well used (and abused) over the years (not by me, I hasten to add - it was an eBay purchase last year). It also lacks the case. The construction is incredibly solid; the neck is like a baseball bat with a deep V shape in section. However, it needs some work doing to it. The electrics aren't great and it needs a good set-up. One of these days I'm going to get around to sorting it out properly.

The John Mitten Bulletproof Plexiglass Guitar

I'm not sure if John Mitten's plexiglass guitars actually pre-date the Dan Armstrong designed plexiglass guitars that Ampeg produced, but they certainly didn't go into major production. I don't think there's very many of these bulletproof beasties in circulation.


(Sorry, I have no links for this item. Photos from John Mitten, plus a couple I found online.)

Garish and gaudy monstrosity from a manufacturer who ought to know better

For a well-respected and much revered guitar manufacturer, C.F. Martin and Company don't half take the mickey sometimes. I mean, just look at this awful hippie-themed guitar.

Simply horrible.

self playing robot band

Hey its Ben from All About Guitars again
The Trons is New Zealand's band made of four robots who play guitars, drums and keyboard to convincing effect.
Ham is the frontman (vocals, rhythm guitar), Wiggy is the lead guitarist, Swamp is the drummer & Fifi is the keyboard player.

Hohner "The Prinz" Tele

What was once a budget "copy" guitar has now become a desirable and much sought after instrument. Much like Paul McCartney's Hofner violin bass which was styled after a Gibson instrument, this Hohner "The Prinz" guitar - styled after the Fender Telecaster - has become desirable mainly through celebrity useage, being Prince's guitar of choice alongside several other more flamboyantly-styled instruments.

By all accounts these are excellent guitars, and although based on the Fender Telecaster, many of the accoutrements are Hohner's own: the sandwiched maple body, the binding, the walnut (?) central stripe, the tortoiseshell pickguard and similar plate surrounding the bridge...

The seller tells us that this is an "original issue with Telecaster headstock not to be confused with the later and lesser value TE series", although it can't be one of the very first as the "Prinz" appellation was given to this guitar after Prince had been using one for quite a while. In a way, it was a case of Hohner cashing in. As far as I am aware Prince never officially endorsed any Hohner guitar models.

Teisco Del Ray TB-64 Bass VI guitar

Here's a Japanese Teisco Del Ray guitar from the 1960s, featuring a 4 + 2 headstock (way before Musicman thought of it) and a handle in the body (way before Ibanez thought of putting the monkey grip in the Jem range of guitars). It just goes to show, there aren't that many original ideas out there. Someone has almost always thought of it first a long time ago.

Actually, looking at the close-up pictures of this one on the eBay listing I'd say that this example is actually a six-string bass that someone who doesn't know any better has strung up with regular guitar strings. Check out the huge machine heads and the size of the slots in the nut. The scale length also looks longer than that of a regular guitar (for instance, look at the huge amount of space between each of the three pickups). I'd wager good money that this is a bass VI.

Additional: A quick check at the ID Parade over on the Teisco Twangers website tells me that this is TB-64 from 1965, and that it is indeed a bass. Pity the trem is missing on this example.