Check out the Hammer Jammer from Big Walnut Music

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The Hammer Jammer from Big Walnut Music is certainly one of the most interesting guitar add-ons I've seen in a while. As to what it does, the clue is in the name; it more or less converts your guitar into a hammer dulcimer, adding a whole new palette of sounds to the instrument. I think the above video illustrates quite nicely what it's all about.

G L Wilson

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1976 Guild Model B-50 NT acoustic bass guitar

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I've pondered before as to what may have been the earliest production model of an acoustic bass guitar. This Guild Model B-50 NT probably comes close as being one of the first. This example was built in 1976 so it is certainly contemporaneous to the Ernie Ball Earthwood acoustic bass which was in production from 1975 to 1985. Modern bass players who like playing high up the neck might not be too impressed that the neck meets the body at the 14th fret, but the Ernie Ball was worse with the neck/body junction at the 12th fret. Like the Ernie Ball, the Guild B-50 NT has a huge body ideal for recreating those string bass tones; the body depth is a whopping six inches! These earliest of acoustic basses were built purely as acoustic instruments and did not require on-board electronics so as to be heard above other acoustic instruments, unlike the majority of acoustic basses in production today.

Currently listed on eBay, this is a whopping bass with a whopping Buy It Now price of $2,295.

G L Wilson

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Objects of Desire: 1968 Hagstrom Viking II - just like Elvis's

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I'm not a particular fan of Elvis Presley, but the Hagstrom Viking II in bold red finish and with the Fender-style 6-in-a-line headstock is a guitar that I would love to own; it's just one of those really iconic guitars.

Although famous as the guitar Elvis played in his '68 Comeback Special, the guitar didn't even belong to Elvis. It actually was the property of Al Casey, guitarist in the orchestra working on the TV show for N.B.C. Television, and it was chosen more or less as a prop for Presley because it looked cool.

This particular example pictured above is currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $999, although it would benefit from with some restoration as it has various cracks, and places where the binding and fingerboard position markers are missing.

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.

Very cool Millimetric Bass inspired by Travis Bean

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Florian Schneider (not to be confused with the other Florian Schneider) is a luthier currently living in Montreal, who builds really beautifully designed and handmade guitars and basses under the Millimetric name (we previously looked at a couple of examples in this blog post). Here we see pictures of one of his very latest builds: it's a bass guitar which incorporates an unusual method of construction in that the neck is mounted and bolted into a neck pocket on the rear of the body and which extends beneath the pickups and the bridge.

You'll notice that the strings are mounted through the body and that they pass through the tongue of the neck which must increase the tension in the neck pocket and, I'd imagine, the sustain of the instrument. Schneider readily admits that he borrowed this construction method from the now legendary Travis Bean guitars and basses, although of course his necks are carved from wood rather than being cast in aluminium.

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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An inexplicably Stratty Explorery thing

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Did you ever stop to wonder what the bastard offspring arising from the union of a Fender Stratocaster and a Gibson Explorer might look like? No, I can't say that I did either. However, if this is a question you have pondered upon, then ponder no more and feast your eyes upon this Field Unique Metal Axe... at least that's the name that Cologne's now legendary (for all the wrong reasons) Music Outlet Shop have listed it under. Knowing their inflated prices it is worth a fraction of the Buy It Now price of €550.

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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The Golden Guitar of Tampa Red - guest post by Kevin Clinton

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Despite the change in popular music over the last 100 years, one thing remains constant: we all crave a loud and flashy guitar. In the 1920s the loudest and flashiest guitars on earth came from the National String Instrument Corporation. National pioneered what is known as a ‘resonator guitar’, which utilizes a metal cone that sits under the strings and acts very much like a stereo speaker. The strings connect to the cone via a bridge. When the strings are played, the metal cone vibrates, moving air and amplifying the sound. The result is more volume, but also a completely distinct tone and timbre. In the days before amplifiers, the resonator was the only way for a guitarist to compete with horns and drums in a jazz or brass band and get a piece of the spotlight.

National made not only the loudest, but the most beautiful and elegant guitars of the day. Their metal body guitars were plated in brilliant chrome and nickel and inlaid with extravagant scrolls and floral patterns. Amongst these visual juggurants, one guitar stood out above all the rest: the Gold Plated Style 4 Spanish Tricone made for blues guitarist Tampa Red.

Tampa Red was one of the most prolific early blues artists of the 20s and 30s, recording over 300 tracks throughout his career. In 1928, the first year that Nationals were available, he bought the gold plated guitar. He soon became known as ‘The Man with the Golden Guitar’. The Style 4 was the most intricate and elaborate model that National produced, hand engraved with chrysanthemum carvings, a celluloid mother-of-pearl headstock and diamond shaped fret markers.

photo credit: Oklahoma Gazette

The tri-cone design featured three smaller resonator cones that were linked by a ‘T’ shaped bar, rather than the more popular and lower priced single cone models. The tri-cone was more difficult and expensive to build, but produced a more sophisticated tone with richer sustain. Apparently only one other golden Style 4 National was ever produced.

Unfortunately, Tampa Red’s career slowed down in the 1950s, he turned to drinking, and died destitute in Chicago in 1981. Rumor has it the guitar was stolen decades before and resided for half a century in a chicken coop. One day, in 1994, a woman walked into a Ray Clemon’s guitar store in Belleville, Illinois looking to sell a beat up and corroded old metal guitar that had the words ‘Tampa Red’ legible on it. After a cleanup and confirmation of its authenticity, the guitar eventually sold to the Experience Music Project in Seattle for $85,000.

While today resonator guitars are synonymous with the blues, in the 1920s and 30s they were the province of sophisticated big bands and far beyond the reach of most African American musicians. Tampa Red became the first black artist to record with a National guitar, and more or less invented the style of ‘bottleneck’ slide guitar that has shaped modern rock and roll. His Style 4 National has been called one of the most influential guitars in American history.

About the Author: Kevin Clinton writes for ResonatorGuitarGuide.com, an online hub run by musicians that covers information, reviews and tips and tricks for purchasing and playing a National, Dobro, Regal or other resonator guitars.

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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Mystery semi-hollowbody electric guitar... Can anyone help identify?

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Greetings,

I hope I'm not being too bothersome with this request, but I've come across your huge blogspot guitar repository and I'm having a bit of trouble identifying a particular guitar. I know these photos aren't much to go by; I was hoping you could perhaps shed some light about the make/model of the guitar. I would greatly appreciate any info.

Thanks, Tadej

Thanks for your email. The guitar looks to be a generic semi-hollowbody electric, although not styled too closely on the legendary Gibson 335 and similar models. Unfortunately I can't make out the name in red on the headstock. The headstock also has the "open book" silhouette which would have certain guitar aficionados screaming out "Law suit!" That ought to help someone out there to identify this guitar. Other than that, I'm afraid I cannot be any more help, but perhaps a reader out there might have some more information to share with us.

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.

Kay Montclair Apollo

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For a guitar lover, it's not unusual to be attracted to a vintage guitar for its mere cultural, historical or collectable value. Cult of the past is a trait shared by most human cultures, and all that is left to postmodernity is to finally exhaust itself by celebrating its own short history… 

But to me this Kay Montclair Apollo is appealing for its own sake, for its beautiful outline and the way all its elements balance each other. I don't know if the people who designed this kind of guitar were just brilliant or if my taste has been shaped by such instruments, but as an art and design enthusiast, I have no problem comparing it to most refined furniture one can admire in museums. It is based on the same feeling of pure outline - though this guitars's beauty doesn't come from sophisticated delicacy but honesty, ergonomics, constructivism and an acute sense of proportions and unity. I'd be curious to know where the anonymous guy who designed this curved pickguard got his skills.

Sometimes we're so used to these vintage guitars we enjoy so much that we don't really look at them, we're just reacting to their presence, but thanks to this good old Kay, I feel like watching again carefully every guitars I've been probably overlooking lately.

Bertram D

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Please read our photo and content policy.

1970s LOTOS bass - made in Poland and styled after Hagstrom

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You'd be forgiven for thinking on first sight that this was a Swedish-made Hagstrom bass, but it's actually a LOTOS made in Poland. Actually, the logo does look a little like "LOTOR" but I guess that could be a stylized lowercase letter "s". The seller tells us:

LOTOS 1972

Lotos was produced in Lubin (Poland) since 1968.

Before 1968 in Bydgoszcz (poland) since 1966.

This is first polish bass

Inspirated from HAGSTROM KENT

For more see: www.defil-vintage.pl/2013/10/lotos.html

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $349.

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.

Unusual shaped 1930s Richter acoustic guitar offered for sale on Craiglist

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Guitarz reader Paul saw this guitar listed for sale on Craigslist, priced at $100. All the info we have on it is given in the listing. We're told that it's a 1930s Richter, made in Chicago. If anyone has any further info, please let us know in the usual way!

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.