Upgraded 1983 Gibson Challenger II + I

guitarz.blogspot.com

A short-lived budget LP-shaped guitar from the early 80s, the Gibson Challenger II (there is a Challenger I with only the bridge pickup) has a bolt-on neck, a Schaller wrap-around bridge and supposedly cheap noisy humbuckers (but it feels like a mere rumor because I never found this information first-hand). The standard silver finish is very 80s (like the electric blue one I pointed out here).

Anyway, this one has been upgraded with 3 new chrome Gibson humbuckers and a Marauder pickguard - and the result looks quite good. I like these cheap flat Les Paul variations that Gibson released at some point - much more than the recent luxury Dark Fire or Dusk Tiger targeted at bankers or TV guitarists.

bertram

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Guild X79 with scary 80s paintjob

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Guillaume writes:

Hi GL

This is Guillaume over at the Iconic Guitars blog.

I'm always looking for guitars to feature on the blog and stumbled upon this shocking though captivating Guild X79 with the oddest 80's paintjob. I think it belongs to your blog.

The X79 is an all mahogany guitar and neck with a rosewood fingerboard and 24 frets. The shape is out of nowhere, like if 4 people had decided to pull the body of an SG or a Guild S300 in different directions. As I said, the paint job, with its blue and white lines and curves is so 80's that this guitar belongs to a modern art musem (I wouldn't be surprised if Zakk Wylde put a bid on this one). And as any good 80's shredding board, the Floyd Rose tremolo is de rigueur.

Have a good week end,
Guillaume
http://iconicguitars.blogspot.com/

Ah yes, the dreaded Music Outlet Shop of Cologne. You can usually halve the prices that they give on eBay to get a better idea of a guitar's true value. However, nice find!

G L Wilson

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Ibanez "lawsuit" Tele from the early 1970s

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Here's a little tip: if you're wanting a Tele at a budget price, you could do a lot worse than go for one of these vintage Japanese-made models that crop up for time to time on eBay. This particular example bears the Ibanez name and apparently was designated the model 2352. I had one that was just about identical to this but wasn't labelled Ibanez (I don't recall it having any name, but I shall have to search through my old photos to check). I believe, as was common practice, these guitars appeared under various different brand names, but they would have all come off the same production line in Japan's FujiGen factory.

Admittedly, it's not the most accurate Tele copy (it has quite a few idiosyncratic features of its own, e.g. the metal-cased pickup in the bridge position, the output jack situated on the control panel, the laminated maple neck, the slightly oversized headstock, etc) but for my money one of these would beat a cheap modern Chinese copy or - dare I say it - an entry-level Squier.

The one I owned looked and sounded great. It definitely had that raunchy Tele ballsyness. I bought it off eBay about seven years ago as project fodder - something to play around with and "upgrade" - but when the guitar arrived I decided it was way too nice to mess with. (See Bertram's recent post on this whole topic!) I bought it cheaply for £52 and later sold it on for about £120 (no doubt to fund another guitar purchase) to a girl in France who said she used to own a guitar just like it, really missed it and wanted another. Which has surely got to be some kind of commendation.



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I think it's high time we had a Quiz...

guitarz.blogspot.com:

We've not had a quiz for quite a while, so I thought it was about time.

It's quite simple - just identify the thing here in the photo.

And yes, it is relevant to the topic of this blog.

Answers in the comments please. There's no prize except for the warm feeling you'll get inside for knowing the right answer. (Actually, I'd love to give away prizes if any corporate PR types are looking in and would like to donate some. Hint hint!)

G L Wilson

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Vox Spitfire MkVI

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Latvis from Finland writes:

Hi,
just found your site and like to tell that I own rather rare??? (at least here in Finland) Vox Spitfire MK VI I bougth it in 70s and it was in bad condition and somebody has put not-original gibson style bridge to it (and I later change this to roller bridge)

I like to know
- is this italian or english
- what year model?
- is it possible to find original style bridge?

many thanks

btw. My Vox sounds good old vintage... listen to my one-man-band home demo
http://thebandofnoreturn.com/music/moe-velvetin_hyva_rumpali.mp3

- Latvis
rockdata.org

Where to start? This is a bit of a tricky one. According to the official Vox Showroom website, the Spitfire was a solid-body looking like it had been modelled on the Strat. It also insists on referring to the above-pictured guitar as the Starfire Mk VI. However, a close-up photo of the headstock shows the name is indeed Spitfire.

Despite this confusion with the name, we are told that: "Early British models were produced under the Starfire MkVI Acoustic moniker while later Italian made models were produced as simply The MkVI Acoustic."

I think we have to assume that where they say "Starfire" they actually mean "Spitfire", and seeing that Latvis' guitar has the "Spitfire" name on the headstock it should be British-built and not one of the later Eko-made Italian versions. Production by Eko began in 1965, but as guitars were still being produced at the Dartford factory in the UK at the same time, I cannot say categorically that Latvis' guitar was from before 1965.

It does however seem very odd that they used the Spitfire name for two very different guitars. But I've seen these kind of naming inconsistencies with Vox guitars before, so I shouldn't really be surprised.

As to the subject of finding an original bridge, unfortunately I think this requires trawling through guitar forums, messageboards, and the listings on eBay. I understand the desire to have the guitar as near to 100% original as possible, but if the current replacement bridge does its job - and it doesn't look too out of place - I'd say live with it.

As ever, if anyone else out there has any more info, please let us know via the comments! Thanks!

G L Wilson

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Jolana Alfa

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Here's another fab-looking East-European guitar. It's a Jolana Alfa built in Czechoslovakia in 1965. Possibly it plays like a dog, there's no real way of telling other than by buying it, but I wanted to include it here on the blog so that I could say: Check out those crazy switches!

G L Wilson

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Antique Box/Parlour Guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:
This antique guitar built from a box, in the style of cigar-box guitars, presents us with a wonderful piece of Americana, although little is known of its origins. The seller believe that the box may have originally have been for storing silverware; admittedly it is larger than the average cigar box.

The fingerboard, headstock and top of the body have been inlaid with individually cut pieces of mother of pearl, these describing the hourglass-shaped outline of a parlour guitar on the top of the box.

The seller says that he himself has restored this piece. Apparently, when it first came to him the strings themselves had rusted away leaving lines of rust on the fingerboard. It looks like he's done a great job!

G L Wilson

ADDITIONAL (6 Feb 2010): It's a FAKE. Thanks to Mac Walker for this info.

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Retrofit 60s Framus Strato Deluxe

guitarz.blogspot.com

That's an interesting case: should a vintage guitar be completely renovated like this Framus Strato Deluxe in order to be played in the best conditions and last longer, or should it stay genuine and degraded (similar guitar here) and keep its status of vintage guitar - and paradoxically gain a higher value (sorry but it's now a f*** serious issue for cool guitars).

Anyway I do like this one, refinished in natural blond wood with new pearloid pickguard, shiny chromes and brand new knobs, it probably looks better than when it first saw the light sometimes back in the 60s...

Bertram

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Name that guitar: Steve Albini's doublecut T-type

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Here's another email from a Guitarz reader:

Steve Albini (of the eighties noise rock group Big Black; he's in a band called Shellac now) is a hero of mine, and I was wondering if you could identify this guitar for me. (See photo above)

He used several with the band, but he used that one on certain songs because he would pick behind the bridge (I tell you, Big Black's music is an amusing way to clear a room). He is famous for exclusively using Travis Bean guitars in Shellac now.

Anyway, any help would be appreciated.

Sincerely,
Joe Markus

It looks like a custom doublecut Tele-type guitar. Fender had a similar-looking Korean-made model, the TC-90, in their catalogue in the the early 2000s. However that does not look like a Fender logo on the headstock, so I'm not sure what this guitar is. Is anyone else reading this able to identify it? Answers in the comments, please.

G L Wilson

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Silver Street Taxi

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Silver Street Guitars were small American manufacturer from the mid 1980s. The model pictured here is the small-bodied Silver Street Taxi. The Taxi would appear to be a cut-down version of the larger triangular-bodied Cobra guitar from the same manufacturer. Another model was co-designed by Styx guitarist Tommy Shaw.

For more information on these guitars and lots more photographs please refer to www.silverstreetguitars.com

G L Wilson

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