80s-tastic Hondo Model 781 Explorer-style guitar with bizarro graphics

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Hondo guitars seem to invoke either a love 'em or loathe 'em response from most guitarists, with some proclaiming that they were always worthless pieces of unplayable junk whilst others argue to the contrary that they were - and continue to be - excellent workhorse instruments. The above pictured is a deluxe Hondo Model 781, a 1980s guitar that wouldn't look out of place in the obligatory hair metal bands of that era, and which marries together design elements from Gibson (obviously, the Explorer body shape) and Fender (the bolt-on maple neck, Strat-style trem, and Tele-like control plate), and then finishes it all off with graphics that look to be inspired partly by Eddie Van Halen and partly by Spiderman.

Currently being offered for sale on eBay with a not unreasonable Buy It Now price of $199.95.

G L Wilson

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Musicvox MI-5 12-string bass in sea foam green

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This Musicvox MI-5 12-string bass in a glorious all-over sea foam green finish is one seriously cool bass. It's the sort of instrument to make me start salivating Homer Simpson-style. Musicvox are known for their 12-string basses but previously examples have been based on the singlecut Space Cadet model rather than this twin-cutaway MI-5 design. Features include: 34 inch scale, neck through body construction, twin double truss rods, Grover Octave tuners, locking bass tuners, active and passive electronics, dual output jacks, custom cast and machined eight saddle 12 string bass bridge, special design active and passive Musicvox bass humbucking pickups. String tuning configuration: eeE aaA ddD ggG

Musicvox have recently been making available various guitars and basses in strict limited edition finishes and I believe that this MI-5 12-string basses may be another such limited edition, so if it appeals to you, snap it up fast!

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $1,499.

For further information, Musicvox's Matt Eichen talks us through the 12-string bass (in this instance a Space Cadet) in this video:


G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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One-off cast aluminium-bodied guitar

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Here's another one-off made aluminium-bodied guitar, although this time instead of the body having been milled out of an aluminium billet, it has actually been cast, liquid metal being poured into a wooden mold, the resultant body sandblasted and finally powder coated.

The holes in the latice-like body have a three-fold purpose: (1) they are decorative, (2) they keep the weight down, and (3) they provide an instant cavity into which to install the guitars electronics. The shape also features some quite enormous almost Burns-esque body horns. The guitar has a Fender-like 25.5" scale length, a wooden neck and coil tapping circuitry for the pickups.

Currently listed on eBay UK with a Buy It Now price of £1,399.99 - sale set to finish in just over 14 hours from the time of writing.

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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Jerry Jones Danelectro Longhorn 6-string bass replica circa 1990-93

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Here's a Jerry Jones 6-string bass, circa 1990-93, based on the original Danelectro Bass VI model as orignally issued in 1956. Jerry Jones guitars are much sought after and are known not to be simply replicas or instruments inspired by the Danelectros of old, but to be improvements on the originals. This lyre-shaped Longhorn - a cousin of the Guitarlin - features a copperburst finish, two lipstick pickups and a 24-fret neck.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $1,595.

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Fender TLAC100 Japanese-made hybrid acoustic/electric Thinline Tele

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I've quite fancied getting myself a Fender Acoustisonic Telecaster, a hybrid electric/acoustic Telecaster launched in 2010 and already discontinued (and which is NOT the guitar pictured here), but which still fetches quite high prices on eBay... certainly more than I can afford anyway. They also seem quite scarce; it's unlikely that Fender produced these in large numbers.

An alternative - that may or may not work out as a cheaper option - would be to track down Fender's earlier hybrid Tele, the TLAC100, as pictured above. On this Crafted In Japan Tele, Fender haven't tried to disguise it as a regular Tele, and so we have no pickguard, a slanted neck pickup (a Lace Burton Silver USA) and a Thinline-style body with f-hole. It has an undersaddle piezo pickup in the acoustic-style bridge, while the three controls take care of volume, balance and TBX Blend which blends the single coil and Piezo. I believe that the more contemporary Acoustisonic can produce more convincing acoustic tones, but the TLAC100 can't be that bad, after all it was good enough for the likes of Stevie Winwood and Richie Blackmore.

Currently listed on eBay UK with a Buy It Now price of £650, although take note, the seller would prefer the buyer to collect from Cornwall!

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Another of Höfner's less celebrated guitars, the S3N

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Following on from this post, here's another of Höfner's less celebrated guitars. The seller says this Höfner S3N dates to the 1970s or 1980s - my guess would be the 1980s simply because of the presence of Shadow pickups on this particular example. The seller also likens it to a Les Paul, which is a pretty lazy analogy because the only thing Les Paul like about it really is the single cut body design (and I'm guessing scale length too). The slab body, bolt-on neck, pickup types and control layout are all decidedly un-Les Paul like. Other than this, I am afraid I don't have much to tell you about this guitar. It certainly looks nice enough, and knowing Höfner I'd imagine it plays well; I could see using this as a general workhorse of an instrument - it's nothing too flashy or over-the-top but it looks like the kind of instrument that would get the job done without any fuss.

But maybe you know differently?

Currently listed on eBay UK with a Buy It Now price of £425.

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Fender Custom Shop Telecaster Bass gets the Deluxe treatment

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This Dennis Galuszka masterbuilt Fender Custom Shop re-interpretation of the Fender Telecaster Bass (a model itself derived from the original slab-bodied Precision Bass) is quite interesting. The pickguard and control layout has quite obviously been based on that of the Fender Telecaster Custom and Deluxe guitars; I guess because the bass sports a pair of humbuckers then technically it should be a Telecaster Bass Deluxe rather than a Custom, although if the Custom Shop had wanted to take the analogy further they should have given in a larger Precision-style headstock so as to mirror the Tele Deluxe guitar's CBS-era Strat-like head.

Currently listed on eBay Germany with a Buy It Now price of €3,990.

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

The Terminator custom stainless steel electric guitar and illuminating case!

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It's probably easiest if I just quote liberally from the eBay listing for this particular custom guitar:

Nicknamed "The Terminator", this is a RAM-JAM Music one-of-a-kind. You'll be the envy of all other with this baby! This custom 100% 316 stainless steel guitar and all stainless steel body has 2 necks, one with stainless steel frets, and one fretless. It also had custom turned stainless steel knobs and a kick ass design and case. This guitar plays and sounds as awesome as it looks. Like the stainless steel lightening bolt handle on the case, this guitar has power! With its 1/4" solid stainless steel neck, this guitar feels like no other. The fretless is 3/8 of an inch thick and is slightly scaled down for a lighter weight. You can play all the way up to its double coil stack pick up, when you run out of frets, play the fretless area and if you like the feel of that, change the neck to the 100% stainless steel all fretless neck with adjustable height nut. For a rugged sound, use the same strings. For a smoother sound change to the flat wound strings. For slide guitar without the noise of the slide hitting the neck, simply adjust the screws behind the nut to raise strings up to 3/8 above the fretless neck. It has a Schaller bridge, new 1987 Seymour Duncan Hot Stack Pick-up, O.E.M. tuning pegs, .010-.046 strings, and a set of flat wound .013-.056 strings for the fretless neck.

The case body is made of aluminum mesh with a diamond plate aluminum bottom for light weight yet rugged look and can be hung on the wall as a display case. The top is made of aluminum mesh with an aluminum angle frame. The whole case is polished to a mirror finish and reflects like it's alive. The EL neon light runs on 2 AA batteries and has 2 settings of flashings and one setting of solid light. The Terminator is held captive in its display case with a single lighting bolt handled shackle strapped down tightly on its rubber lifters which hold it in the center of the case! The custom illuminating case has a white fuzzy bottom with a custom made box to store a slide and picks or a pack of smokes! The strap is made of an army green braided 1970s robot main frame computer wire, tough yet comfortable, and is the lifeline of The Terminator.

Now with 3 necks! One ultimate 32 slim frets, one 22 Jumbo fret, the super fretless!

If you like the pictures, you are going to love the real thing!

"The Terminator" was created by Ram-Jam Music

Quite astonishing, I think you'll agree. And it could be yours if you can afford the $8,000 Buy It Now fee on eBay.

Thanks to Joe from Stratoblogster for brining this guitar to my attention.

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Vintage one-off prototype brass-bodied resonator guitar - possibly by Charles Brasher

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Here's a potential interesting piece of history if only it could be conclusively identified. The seller believes that this prototype brass-bodied resonator may be the work of Charles Brasher.

Charles E Brasher was a Canadian inventor, metalworker and maker of stringed instruments in the early to mid 1930s. Inventions include a novel cone for the resonator guitar, patented in Canada in 1935.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $1,499.

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Höfner Alpha - one of their less celebrated guitars

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The name Höfner conjures up images in the mind's eye of such classic German-made guitars as the Höfner "Beatle" violin bass, the Höfner Verithin, and the Höfner President, amongst others. I doubt that the first model ever to spring to mind would be the Höfner Alpha. Take one look at this guitar and you know instantly that it's from the 1980s. However it's a lot more attractive than many of its contemporaries in the era of haair metal. The design could be said to be an unholy alliance between the Gibson Explorer and the Fender Telecaster, with perhaps a few Stratocaster appointments thrown in for good measure! I confess that I quite like it - in fact, I suspect that the shape may well be quite ergonomic.

I'm guessing this is a very rare and/or much sought after model because the seller (located in Siberia) is asking a whopping $1,799.99 for the Buy It Now price.

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.