GuitarThai Message Board

I wish I could read what these guys were saying about this blog.

http://www.guitarthai.com/webboard/question.asp?QID=186663

Can anyone translate?

Student Constructs Loud Speaking Electric Guitar (Jun, 1938)

Student Constructs Loud Speaking Electric Guitar (Jun, 1938)

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Epiphone Scroll Guitar

The eBay seller is listing this as an Epiphone Les Paul, but this Epiphone Scroll guitar dates back to the mid 1970s - long before Epiphone were resigned to becoming the Gibson equivalent of Fender's Squier brand.

For a 1970s guitar it has a couple of features not often seen on guitars of that era, i.e. a coil tap and a 24-fret neck. Check out some of the reviews on Harmony Central - people seem to really love these guitars, and reportedly - like the Les Paul - they are quite weighty.

I'm not 100% on this, but my guess is these guitars were Japanese-built, which is a good thing as Japanese guitars are often excellent and attention to detail is second to none.

There was also a bass model - last year I saw a girl band called Ipso Facto supporting Siouxsie Sioux, and the bassist was playing a black Epiphone Scroll - the first time I'd ever seen one in fact.

All in all, very nice!

Jolana Disco Bass

Continuing our theme of cheesy guitars - and we've seen some beauties from Italy, Russia and the former Eastern Germany - I'd now like to present this Jolana Disco Bass which was made in the country formerly known as Czechoslovakia.

It dates to the early 1980s and it seems to be styled after Gibson's RD series.

Westone Rail Bass

Following the introduction of the revolutionary Steinberger bass in the mid-80s the market was soon flooded with cheap copies and clones of these minimalistic small-bodied headless basses.

One of the more unusual was Westone's Rail Bass, as seen here.

The minimalist body looks especially peculiar as it is divided into two sections connected only by two metal rods - the "rails" in the bass's name - upon which sits a sliding pickup. This is a very cunning way of getting a whole bunch of different tones out of a single pickup.

Of course, sliding pickups have been done before - Gibson's Ripper Bass, and Wilkes Guitars "The Answer", but the Westone Rail must be the oddest looking. There was also a Rail 6-string guitar, although this may have been a prototype only, I don't think it ever went into production.

Musima/Migma semi-acoustic

Bertram from Guitarren has brought this lovely old Musima/Migma semi-acoustic to my attention.

I know next to nothing about these guitars. I think it's a Russian instrument, but I'm not sure. (Unfortunately I do not read German so cannot translate the eBay listing).

If anyone has any further info, please feel free to pass it on!

Additional: it is East German. See the comments.

The Vootar

The 8-string Vootar - another interesting instrument from Cassandra Elk Design - is described as being guitar and bass all in one.

From what I can work out from the German-language description on the eBay selling page, it looks like this instrument was designed by German record producer and musician (and record sleeve designer) Klaus Voorman.

I wonder what tuning it uses across its eight strings?

Colt Peacemaker

Terrible cliché aside, there's something quite tasteless and almost offensive about guitars shaped like guns. But then I'm speaking as someone who finds guns abhorrent. Members of the NRA in America would probably love such guitars. And imbeciles like Ted Nugent.

You might expect that this is an American guitar but that is not the case. It was made in England circa 1970 by Jim Cairns (who also made pickups for Burns Guitars).

Irrespective of whether you love or hate it, this Colt Peacemaker Mark II, one of the earlier guitars shaped like guns, has some interesting attention-to-detail features.

The hammer of the gun is the pickup selector, the trigger is the volume control, and the ejector rod is a push/pull tone control.

Apparently Joe Walsh has (had?) one. I'm not sure what that says about him.

Going, Going... (soon to be) Gone...

Four pickups. Push-button pickup selectors. Triple cutaway body design.

Yes, it's even more guitar cheese from 1960s Italy.

As I write this, this Elli Sound triple cutaway from 1964 has less than 6 hours before the hammer falls on this auction.

This 45-year old axe might play like a beauty or it could be a dog. It's so difficult to tell from photos alone and the very briefest of descriptions from the seller.

Probably one for the collectors.

Update: It didn't sell - reserve not met. The seller would stand a better chance if he described it in greater detail, let people know how it plays and how it sounds.

Eko Elite Bass

Now you know I just love these cheesy Italian guitars from the 1960s, don't you? Last week we looked at an Eko violin bass and today I am bringing you another bass made by Eko, this time it's the Elite model. The shape may look familar - every now and again the guitar version crops up on eBay (I've previously featured a Crucianelli-branded Elite 6-string on this blog), but I haven't seen the bass before now.