Vintage Bartolini

I really love switch buttons on vintage Italian guitars like this Bartolini - with its 4 pickups, there are quite some combinations to set... The scroll potentiometers are quite cool too, I sometimes wonder why knobs became standard on guitars in the last 40 years.

And look at that nice Jaguar-like vibrato, not to mention the shape that seems to be the morphing of 4 different guitars with some saw action on the top, all of this still simple and coherent... The curve in the back must be quite comfortable when you have a classical guitar background and want to play sitting with a high neck...

Bertram

Roter Custom Extended Range Guitar

There are plenty of guitars to talk about, the historical ones from famous pioneering brands and makers, the cool vintage ones with all their anecdotes, the brand new phenomenons, the limited editions for chosen fews, the bizarre one-offs, the last unexpected cheap wonder from China...

Today I will present this guitar made by Roter Custom Guitars, a custom shop somewhere in Poland (until I checked I didn't know it was in Poland, their website is in English, they could have been in New Jersey like Krappy Guitars, another local shop I found on the Internet).

First when you go to Roter's website and check their custom gallery, they have like anybody else 90% of stratocaster or superstrat clones, plus a couple of SGs and a few copies of BC Rich models (and not the good ones) - same in the bass section. But if you click on Extended Range Guitars, you will find more interesting things, such as this 7-string Wintersun.

The design is on the edge of ugly, but on the good side, where it's called daring... The beveled body is made of Wenge with a beautiful slightly sunburst black transparent finish, and it looks like it's going to bite! That's the guitar of Riddick!

Bertram

Unknown "egg-shaped" acoustic guitar

The seller describes this as an egg-shaped guitar but seems to know little else about, and I confess, neither do I. I'd guess it was early 20th Century but other than that I have not a clue. The neck appears to be very thick depth-wise and features a rather ornate carved headstock. A very interesting-looking instrument.

semi-hollow Musima/Migma bass

My host here at Guitarz stated several times how much he appreciates semi-hollow body bass, and so do I. And even better if it's some East-european vintage beauty like this incredibly elegant Musima/Migma bass from the sixties (from he same eBay shop than on my previous post).

Couldn't find any information about it on Cheesy Guitars, the reference site for communist era electric guitars. I can just precise that Musima was the main guitar company in DDR - and one of the best in East-europe - and Migma being a sub-brand that used many similar parts, it's difficult to identify the precise brand on early instruments. It's still always good to have a check on Cheesy Guitars though.

Usually I don't like the idea that a specific design is supposed to fit to a musical style (remember that Gibson's Flying V and Explorer where designed in the 50s and then used by bluesmen like Albert King), but I can't help imagining what music should be made on this bass. I propose No Wave (don't remember No Wave?), I can see it in the hands of some elegant experimental jazz punk player with a raw sound in a smoky underground club in New York in 1980...

Bertram

unidentified 60s Kawai

Hello, I'm Bertram from gUitarREN, I was invited to post on Guitarz, and I'm honored to answer to this invitation.

There is a German eBay shop that offers some good vintage guitars, mainly East-european and Japanese ones. For now I selected this beautiful Kawai from the 60s - there is no more information about it, but just from its look you can see it's special (and also it's in a very good state for such an old lady). Kawai is an unfairly underestimated guitar brand, probably because they stopped making guitars before Japanese production was rehabilitated and Japan acknowledged as a great guitar nation - now Kawai is a respected piano company.

I like everything on this guitar, the one neck pick-up (mini humbucker?), the bridge cover, the solid neck joint, the strong headstock, the metal pick-guard, the shape that is classic without cloning any famous design... I wish I could hear its sound! (I also like the typically Berlin wooden floor on which the guitar is photographed).

Burns Flyte Guitar

Further to my recent post about a Burns Flyte Bass that had turned up on eBay, now I see that a Japanese seller has put up for sale its 6-string counterpart, the Burns Flyte Guitar. This one has the silver finish that I previously mentioned I preferred to the other option of a natural finish, and it looks to be in very nice nick generally. The scratchplate has been cut at the rear that suggests the bridge has been changed perhaps. Whatever, I'd love to own one of these babies but simply don't have that sort of money.

Additional (Saturday 16 May): Why are all these Burns Flytes suddenly coming out of the woodwork all of a sudden? Here's another one!

2009 is turning out to be a very difficult year...

Guys, I'm going through rather a difficult time right now and might not be able to post blog items as often as I'd like under ordinairy circumstances. Please bear with me. If I don't blog for a few days, it doesn't mean I've thrown in the towel.

Alternatively, if you ever fancied a spot of guest blogging, NOW is the time to volunteer.

Andy demonstrates his home-made rotary speaker

This is genius! Regular Guitarz reader, Andy Stone - he who built the "Les Pew" guitar, the Pew Bass, and this rather tasty 12-string electric amongst other guitars - has built this home-made rotary speaker as demonstrated in the above YouTube clip. Andy's a very resourceful chap, often building his various projects from whatever bits and pieces he has to hand. The rotary speaker includes parts made from Roses chocolate tins and an old school chair! That's some very inspired recycling going on there.

Holey lucite guitar from the 1970s

Just when I was beginning to think that there were no more truly weird guitars being put up for sale on eBay, along comes this one-off weird-shapped acrylic guitar from the 1970s.

Hey, it's see-thru, it's full of holes (regular readers will get the reference), what's not to like?

It's rather a weird shape though. Slightly reminiscent of the 1960s-era budget Vox Apache model.

To my mind, it resembles a jellyfish.

Les Paul Six String Bass? Surely Not?

Remember the "rare four string electric guitar"? Well, I've just found the perfect partner for it, namely this New 6 String Bass black electric guitar excellent (allegedly).
Funny that. It looks like a cheap Chinese counterfeit Epiphone to me. (Why did they think it was a bass?)