Guitar Info

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Most of us have seen the Wandre Davioli Bikini guitar which has an amp and speaker pod attached to the body of the guitar. The Wandre Meazzi Hollywood (as pictured above), however, is a more conservative looking affair (for a Wandre, that is) and much more practical for playing purposes too than its ungainly sibling.

Unusually for a Wandre it appears to have a wooden neck instead of aluminium with bolted-on headstock. The pickup and pickguard are classic 1960s Italiana, crafted from thick plastic. Actually, if I'm not very much mistaken, the whole of the guitar's top looks to be moulded plastic. I also really like the exaggerated hourglass shape of this guitar.

I expect this was a budget model when compared to the Bikini, but it looks a lot more compact and practical. You wouldn't feel quite so silly with the Meazzi Hollywood strapped on.

G L Wilson

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Guitarz reader, Pelle tells us about his self-built guitar:

My brother's friend lives out in the woods in Sweden, and after the Erwin storm in 2005, the 100 year old oak tree on his farm blew over. Anyway, he sawed the old tree down for firewood, but kept a few large planks. Since he knew of my interest in guitars and guitar building, he gave me a piece of it after it had dried about a year.

I've always loved the shape of Mosrite guitars, so I basically drew up the body shape. Since I'm a university student I haven't got a whole lot of money, so I basically looked in my box of old guitar pieces, and what I found was a Fender singlecoil, an Epiphone humbucker, and a Jackson J-style rail bass pickup.

Since I didn't put a single penny into this project I had nothing to lose with the bass pickup in a guitar, having no idea what it would sound like, especially with the oak body, since it's not the ideal wood to make guitars out of.

I knicked the BMW logo from an abandoned car, and the Heineken logo from the beer bottle I was drinking at the time mounting the tuners!

The sound? The singlecoil sounds quite bright and crisp, the HB is very warm and very loud. The bass pickup sounds (much to my surprise) incredible!, Nice warm tones, very jazzy-sounding!

I wish I could give you an audio example, but right now I'm not in possession of a worthy recording utility! sorry.

Oh, and the neck is like a baseball bat, when I have time I probably will reshape it.

Out of my collection of 25 guitars, this one ugly duckling is my main baby!

Pelle

Thanks for that! If any other readers have an interesting guitars they'd like to share with us (preferably unique instruments rather than off-the-shelf jobbies), then please email.

G L Wilson

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guitarz.blogspot.com:

Isn't it?

It's a Vox Starstream V269 (check the photos on the eBay page - he's got the wrong model name in the text of the listing) and was made in 1967 by Eko in Italy. The guitar features two Ferro Sonic pick-ups, tremelo, built in E-tuner, distortion booster, treble and bass boost, Wah-Wah, and repeat, plus a padded cushion on the back.

The example pictured above is in NOS (new old stock) condition, having been discovered in its original case unopened in a warehouse in California.

The Buy It Now price is a staggering $9,995.00 (approximately £6,272.16), but then this is a vintage guitar in pristine "as new" condition.

Mind that kind of price makes the Kawai copies look all the more affordable.

Now, does anyone know what model Vox guitar it is that Fleagle plays?

G L Wilson

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guitarz.blogspot.com:

Last month we looked at an Art Deco finished Orfeus Hebros Bass and now I'd like to present for your viewing pleasure the Bulgarian take on the much imitated violin bass in the shape of this other Orfeus Bass.

Personally I am not usually a particular fan of violin-shaped guitar and basses, but this one I do find more appealing (aesthetically at least, I can't comment on what it might actually sound like). I like the pronounced lower bout, it lends the design an almost sci-fi element. No attempt to replicate a scroll-style headstock has been made, possibly just a stock neck was used, so we have a 4-in-a-line headstock style which further dilutes the violin aspect.

G L Wilson

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guitarz.blogspot.com:

Apologies for the quality of this photo. I have enhanced it because the original picture from the eBay auction page looked as if it was taken through a fog of pea soup.

This Strat-type guitar is a one-off featuring a top created using marquetry, which, if you don't know, is the craft of covering a structural carcass with pieces of veneer forming decorative patterns, designs or pictures (Wikipedia). It's similar to a mosaic, but in wood.

It was crafted by UK luthier Martin Dixon and you will see other marquetry guitars at his website. His guitar prices start at £950 ($1,425) so if this guitar appeals you could get a very good deal in this eBay auction.

G L Wilson

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I've been looking for this almost surreal clip ever since I first saw it on The Jack Docherty Show back in 1997. It's David Bowie performing "Scary Monsters" in a stripped down 4-piece band situation.

Kudos to Reeves Gabrels for being able to play the guitar in that mouse mask! As I remember it, the mouse costume had been featured in an un-related item earlier in the programme.

Anyone know what Parker Fly model it is that Gabrels is playing? Looks custom to me.

Watch the video here (embedding has been disabled so I can't link in the usual way).

G L Wilson

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This may not be a Vox original, but it's still quite a beauty. Made in Japan in the 1960s, this vintage Kawai teardrop copy carries the Winston brandname. This particular example has the rarer blonde finish as opposed to the more usual sunburst.

Apologies guys (or should I say "dudes"? I think there's an unwritten rule that guitarists have to address one another as "dude". But I digress...), I was meaning to show you this guitar before the eBay auction finished.

The guitar eventually sold for $537.77 (approximately £334.40) which is probably a fair price for such an instrument. I wonder how much a genuine Vox badged instrument (many of which were made by Eko in Italy) would fetch? Probably at least double that price. But would it be a better quality instrument? I doubt it.

The auction says the guitar is labelled as "Winston Brian Jones Original", but surely Brian Jones played a solid-bodied Vox teardrop finished in white. The only player who immediately springs to mind as someone who played a hollowbodied teardrop 6-string guitar was Drooper from The Banana Splits!

G L Wilson

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guitarz.blogspot.com:
I can't say I've heard of the Murph brand of guitars before, but apparently they were made in San Fernando, California in the 1960s, and this example from 1966, a Murph 12-string "Squire" electric does look very very cool. Note the compact "Rickenbacker-style" 12-string headstock. Other than that, unfortunately, I'm not able to comment further on this guitar as I know nothing about it, but I thought you guys would like the see the pictures.

I guess that the Buy It Now price of US $1,500.00 (approximately £932.75) implies that this is a desirable guitar.

Post Script: Since posting the above I have found out via www.murphguitar.com that Murph Guitars founder Thomas ‘Pat’ Murphy passed away last month. I would like to express my condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.

G L Wilson

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Built by luthier Bob Stiehler, the "Thunder-Backer" features a custom solid mahogany one-piece non-reverse Thunderbird-style body married to a Rickenbacker-style maple neck with ebony fingerboard and pearl inlay. It certainly makes for a very attractive looking bass.

See more at Christian Guitar Works.

Thanks to Jason Land for suggesting we include this bass here on Guitarz.

G L Wilson

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guitarz.blogspot.com:

This aluminium-bodied J-Bass is a one-off featuring a body created by one of the guys who built the Fender Harley Davidson Strat bodies, circa 1993.

The body is slab-style rather than being contoured like regular Jazz Basses, and so the seller refers to it as a JT style - Jazz Bass shaped but with squared edges like a Tele bass or early 50s Fender Precision bass.

The bass features two concentric pots offering volume and tone for each pickup, as on the early Fender Jazz Bass.

The aluminium body is hollow and has the pickups sitting on top of a 1" solid aluminum tuning bar connecting the neck block to the bridge block.

(Before anyone points it out, I'm aware that this is the third bass post in a row. Let's have no complaints - no-one minds when we post six or seven guitar posts in sequence.)

G L Wilson

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guitarz.blogspot.com:

I've received an email from Vladimir which included the two photographs I have reproduced in this post. He wants to know what is the identity of one of the basses and says that the other is an Apex bass.

Unfortunately for me, I don't know which is which. I recognise the picture of the strange green-bodied fretless bass (I think the now sadly defunct Bunny Bass website had it in their gallery of amusing basses a few years ago), but I couldn't tell you anything about either of these basses.

Anyone out there got any ideas?

G L Wilson


Additional - Vladimir writes again:

"Second bass it is Apex by Kamel Chenaouy, made in Nasshville, in 1979-1986.
In photo may bass it 12.12.83

Kamel Chenaouy is well known for his Apex guitars and other creations in the guitar world. He also has a forum where he advises budding luthiers on how to build one's own guitars. Its here: http://kamelchenaouy.forumactif.com/."

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guitarz.blogspot.com:
In the 1980s Westone guitars and basses seemed to be everywhere. Built in the now legendary Matsumoko factory in Japan, these instruments offered high quality at an affordable price. Another factor in their favour was that they had their own original designs and were not merely copies of the same old Fender and Gibson models. I remember when I was looking for a bass guitar on a budget, I ended up buying a new Westone Thunder I-A fretless for £175. There was no way that I was going to buy a "copy", that would not have been cool. Even though I thought the Westone was ugly (and to be honest, I think a lot of their designs were) I could see that it was a well-made instrument.

It's nice to see that these old Westones have kept their value. If I'd kept my old Thunder I-A fretless, I could probably sell it now for over £200. Bearing that in mind, the above-pictured top of the line Westone X900TPR Super Headless Bass seems a mere snip at a Buy It Now price of £299. It is of through-neck construction, as were Westone's higher-end instruments, and features an active EQ. Unlike many Westones, this isn't ugly at all. The curves of the body are quite attractive, to my eyes at least. Note the interesting contouring with a lower-levelled area around the lower horn. This was probably designed to aid the slap and popping style of playing that was popular in the 1980s, but we won't let that detract from the beauty of this bass.

It's nice also to see a headless bass from this period with a full-size body instead of being another minimalist rectangular-shaped Steinberger rip-off.

G L Wilson

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The graphics on this Japanese-made custom shop ESP-400 Strat-a-like look to have been inspired by the likes of Eric Clapton's "Crash" Stratocasters. It's a shame that this guy has to sell this guitar, as it must be quite personal to him, featuring as it does a picture of a dog he used to own. But we've all had to part with items we didn't want to; I know I have.

G L Wilson

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Can you imagine the shame of having to play this thing made by Dean Guitars?

Not only does it look absolutely awful, but I'd be so embarrassed that people might think I'd advocate drinking such an appalling and tasteless brand of "beer".

G L Wilson

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Christmas will soon be upon us and if you are unsure what to buy the guitarist in your life, or alternatively don't know what to ask for for yourself, you could do a lot worse than to get one of these little gizmos. The HandyTab looks to be quite a cool little accessory. C'mon, we've all tried playing guitar whilst following music or lyrics on scraps of paper lying on the floor and perched on top of an awkward surface. Having the music on a flexible gooseneck attached to the guitar head looks like the perfect solution. It's a simple idea, but then the best ideas often are!

Buy it now from: http://www.handytab.co.uk/

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Hailing from Czechoslovakia in the early 1970s the Jolana Basso IX (this example for sale on eBay right now) is known as a cheaply-made poorly balanced instrument. It's a short-scale bass, so add this to its already none too impressive pedigree and I think it's unlikely that you're going to get a good sound out of it. It's main attraction its craziness, and is probably one for the collectors of weird and wacky guitars such as those coming out of Eastern Europe and Russia.

The poorly-cut plate carrying the volume and tone controls on this example is not original. To see how this bass should look and to read more about it, see Cheesy Guitars (plus more about the Jolana brand).

Seeing as this bass is not entirely original and is only really of value to collectors I think that the seller is being rather optimistic with the listed Buy It Now price of US $808.00 (approximately £497.17).

G L Wilson

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bertram


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I was going to ask whether you thought that the design for this 1960s Eko solidbody was the inspiration for the Charvel/Jackson Surfcaster (see previous post) but on reflection both were probably inspired by the offset-bodied Fender Jazzmaster and Jaguar guitars.

This guitar is remarkably restrained for a 1960s-era Italian guitar. It has just a single pickup instead of the usual four, and where is all the pearloid and glitter?

The volume and tone are rollers mounted on a panel on the bass-side of the strings. I think I'd find it very weird not having the volume (I rarely touch tone controls) in the usual place on the lower bout. This guitar almost looks as if something is missing.

G L Wilson

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I wish all eBay sellers were as honest in their opinions about the items they are selling as this guy. However, he'd never get a job in marketing with this approach.

His listing reads:

Crappy junk New Surfcaster Guitar, I hate this thing

Yes, I still have this piece of garbage. It's still new even though it's a few years old because it sucks too bad to play. So it just sits and acts ugly. Why won't someone relieve me of my burden? I hate this thing. This piece of junk was made by Jackson around '04 I think. Why they made it is anyone's guess. I'd love to interview the guy that made the decision at Jackson though. It is called a "Jackson Surfcaster" but it is just an ugly slab of wood masquerading as a Surf. It doesn't have the soundhole, neck shape, inlays, heft, sound or looks of the original surfs or the later nicer Jackson Surfs that were all made in Japan. This was made in India. While they do a lot of great things in India, making guitars, evidently, is not one of them. Jackson ruined the most beautiful guitar in the world with this monstrosity. I bought it thinking all Surfs must be great. Not So! Only the Charvels and early Jackson's made in Japan are great. This thing is bland sounding and bland looking. No tremolo or cool C tailpiece. Just lazy strings through the body. This one is an ugly metallic red. It has a small neck, but it's round, not flat like classic surfs. I don't have anything good to say about it. This thing is so ugly that even though I get 12 pictures for the price of 10 with ebay, it's not worth any more pictures. There is no other angle to try to get it to look good. If you buy it, you're going to hate it, but please, please, do buy it so I can get it out of my house. Free shipping to entice you. No returns. Once you buy it you're stuck. You're it. And I promise you my handling time will be less than a day. I'll have it out of here and on it's way to you in 20 minutes.

Thanks for looking, and happy bidding.

Good luck to him! Perhaps if he lowered the price a little someone would buy it to smash it up. (Actually, no, don't do that. It's the most appalling cliché.) It really is a bad copy of a "proper" Surfcaster, that much is apparent from the photo.

G L Wilson

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guitarz.blogspot.com:
I have a bit of a soft-spot for parlour guitars. Perhaps, being mainly an electric player, I just prefer something with a smaller body. I do find large body acoustics rather ungainly; it can be a struggle having to cradle this huge thing and wrap your right arm around and over the top so as to reach the strings. In contrast, parlours I have played are not only much more conveniently-sized but are ofter very pleasant players with quite a sweet tone.

The above-pictured Hamilton parlour guitar is believed to be from the early 20th Century and probably made in America. It is currently for sale on eBay and the seller claims that it "plays really well". (Yeah, well s/he would say that, I suppose, but we have no-one else's word to go on. Sometimes we just have to take someone's word. It can be a gamble, I know.)

Unsurprisingly, it is fitted with light strings. On a guitar that may be perhaps 70, 80 or more years old, you don't want to fit it with heavy strings and then watch it implode in on itself.

It's hard to say what timbers have been used in its construction as the woodwork is completely finished in black cellulose. The top of the guitar has been decorated at some point with a couple of still life oil paintings which remind me of the kind of designs that my old Nana used to have on her cake and biscuit tins when I was a young 'un.

Whereas I personally could live without the kitschy oil paintings, one feature that I really like is the pearloid-backed perspex fingerboard and headstock facing. Of course, I'm reminded of Hagstrom/Goya 60s-period electrics which had the same feature.

This is another guitar I'd be seriously tempted to bid on if I wasn't trying to be careful with my finances at the moment.

G L Wilson

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Recently we looked at a homemade guitar with a clear Les Paul influence, and today I present you with what you could call its Stratocaster counterpart.

The guitar appears to be made from a single piece of timber, probably mahogany judging by the colouring, and whilst the maker has not got the shape correct, it's quite obvious what guitar this has been inspired by. You could say that it was an approximation of a Strat.

Interestingly, despite its Fender influences, the maker has opted to make it a through-neck and seems to have borrowed other more Gibson-esque features in the number and layout of the volume and tone controls, and the use of a tune-o-matic style bridge and tailpiece.

The seller claims that it is well-made and sounds good with a nice tone and resonation. It's not surprising because the woodwork would appear to be perfectly competent; it just appears that any plans of what a Strat should look like were in the maker's head.

The tuners that the seller mentions, with a star on the back of each, are - I believe - from a Univox guitar. I have seen similar on Univox branded Strat-a-likes.

G L Wilson

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Here's my eBay tip of the week, if not the whole month! This Ovation Breadwinner Limited is not only in fantastic condition but it's also a quite a rare find, and is currently listed on eBay with a low Buy It Now price of $895.00 (which is approximately £541.28 in my money).

Trust me, this is an absolute steal. Buy it now before one of the Ovation Fan Club members snaps it up - some of those guys have huge collections of Ovations - they don't need any more.

Believe me, if I was in full-time employment right now and had the necessary readies coming in, I would only be telling you about this guitar once it was mine!

The Limited was the final incarnation of the Ovation Breadwinner and features a natural finish and a slightly modified body shape.

G L Wilson

P.S. If you do buy it, please let us know!

Additional (9 December 2009): SOLD. The seller accepted an offer of US $700.00 (approximately £429.41) which was much less than the Buy It Now price. I can't understand this - it's a highly desireable guitar.

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Of course most Stray Cats fans would be more interested in a Gretsch hollowbody, but nevertheless the unique artwork on this Squier Stratocaster is very nicely executed.

G L Wilson

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This guitar was for sale on eBay recently. At first glance it appears to be a 70s-era Gibson Les Paul Recording model, but closer inspection reveals several distinct differences from that guitar.

This is in fact a Gibson Les Paul Personal circa 1970 and the main differentiating feature is the XLR microphone input on the upper bout (see photo below).

I remember seeing Les Paul himself on television many years ago playing one of these complete with microphone, and I had always previously thought that it was a Recording model. Obviously it requires a mic with a rigid stem!

To borrow shamelessy from the eBay listing for the guitar offered for sale, the features of the model inlcude:

Low impedance electronics and pickups. Clear grain British Honduras Mahogany body with center crossband. Three piece laminated British Honduras Mahagony neck construction. The laminations are quarter sawn for maximum strength. Buffed and polished clear walnut finish reveals all the fine grain-line features of the basic wood. Ebony fingerboard with "fretless wonder" frets, mother of pearl block inlays, Gold Plated Deluxe design machine tuning heads with sealed gears, Gold Plated Tune-O-Matic Bridge, 18 1/4 inch long, 14 inches wide, 2 inches deep, 24 3/4 scale, 22 frets, neck joins body at 16th fret. XLR Microphone Input Jack, Microphone volume control next to pickup selector switch. Also Bass, Treble, Decade and Volume Knobs (with 0-10 levels each) and Tone Selector and Phase Switches.

It is believed that only 146 examples of this guitar were built.

G L Wilson



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guitarz.blogspot.com: In February we took an all-too brief look at a Roberts RotoNeck guitar. I don't think we really knew quite what we were looking at at the time. Such is the beauty of the internet, that one of the guitar's creators has been in touch.

Lou Bonkowski writes:

"I am the co-inventor of the RotoNeck and it has evolved quite far from the version you have there on the blog. Our very first RotoNeck was four sided with four 6-string guitars on one neck. Looked like a table leg. [pictured above]

"The evolution of RotoNeck started back in the late 70s while Curt Roberts and Lou 'Lubani' Bonkowski were living in the San Bernardino Mountains. Lake Arrowhead to be exact. The first concept model was cut out of a 4x4 piece of pine wood which later became the 'Roberts RotoNeck', a 4 sided guitar on one neck which each neck had its own tuning and you could rotate the guitar on two lexan discs. I have since then built approximately a dozen other concept models in search of the right model to manufacture. There are so many different models that this whole invention has gotten way too out of hand. The versions of RotoNeck are ENDLESS!!!

"Almost immediately the three-sided and two-sided versions became dreams. We built the two-sided version first. I wanted to put it in a body and Curt wanted to continue using the lexan discs. You have the version just mentioned [on the blog - pictured above] and it is called 'Roberts RotoNeck' I believe there might be as many as 12 to 15 of these. I have one and my son has another plus the very first 10 in the series never even got built. I believe the serial numbers started at 010.

"Anyway soon there after and at our first NAMM Show, we did another run of 13 RotoNecks that were spun in the body, not on the discs. This line was a combination of 6x6 and 6x12 [i.e. 6 and 12-strings]. I think only a few 12-6s, not sure.

"I wanted a line of guitars named after my father 'Lou Bonnie', studio musician and guitar great of the 30s, 40s and 50s. I came up with the name while living in Hawaii and spelled the name Hawaiian style: 'Lubani'.

"While living in Hawaii in the early 90s I came up with the concept of just using four strings on the thumb side of the guitar and putting those strings in a tuning so at any given moment during the use of the six string side the notes on the open four string side could be easily accessed or by just using a thumb-over as a capo, compliment the adjacent cord formed on the six string side. Also each side of the guitar is amplified seperately and can be either played separately or together sounding like almost three different instruments. I am calling this version/model 'Lubani Tener' and have another nine string version with only 5 strings on the bottom side and 4 on the thumb side. This is called 'Lubani Niner' and has a very slim neck and feel. The 'Niner' is my favorite because of the thinness of feel. At present Curt Roberts is playing this guitar. He won't give it back to me he likes it so much. He would be the person to demonstrate how to play RotoNeck guitars. Your hand has to reform itself to play certain models which makes the early versions of RotoNeck not very desireable to play. The 'Tener' and the 'Niner' are very much more desireable.

"I have two 'Teners' here with me in Port Orchard, WA and would love to find a couple of shredders to try and learn this instrument. Got any suggestions?"

Lou Bonkowski

Lou demonstrates a few RotoNeck chords:

I'd like to thank Lou for taking the time to answer questions about the RotoNeck guitars and for supplying photos from his archive for this article. If any shredders want to take Lou up on his offer, you can contact him via us here at Guitarz.

All photos courtesy of Lou Bonkowski. Please do not copy without permission.

G L Wilson

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Ralph Jones founded Micro-Frets Inc in Maryland in the 1960s. Coming from an engineering background he was an enthusiastic inventor and incorporated several innovations into the company's guitar designs. One such innovation was the "Micro-nut" which allowed for perfect intonation at both ends of the strings. This was DECADES before anyone had ever heard the names Earvana or Buzz Feiten.

This particular guitar currently being offered for sale on eBay, the Micro-Frets Orbiter, is one of the more eye-catching designs. It dates from 1970 and was designed to be wireless. It would originally have had a radio transmitter fitted into the extended upper body horn.

Other interesting features are the discreet volume and tone controls hidden between the two-layer pickguard, and Micro-Frets' own vibrato, the "Calibrato", which was designed to keep the strings in tune whilst the pitch was being altered.

G L Wilson

Additional: I just want to include this photo before the auction ends and the pictures are lost forever. This shows the upper horn of the guitar and the recess into which the radio transmitter would have been installed. GLWilson

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I like the design of this Lowry Custom headless guitar. It is very neat, and cunningly incorporates regular guitar machine heads in cutouts in the body's top behind the bridge. This means the guitar doesn't have the ridiculously small minimalistic body that many headless guitars suffer from. It has a nice amount of body mass - including behind the bridge - thus ensuring a good tone and sustain.

Apparently, Lowry Guitars produced hand-crafted guitars in Concord, CA from 1975 to the early 1990s.

This particular Modaire model, with styling reminiscent of the Gibson Moderne - even the model names are similar - dates to 1994 and is one of the last instruments built by this maker.

G L Wilson

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Christmas is coming - there's deals to be had...

If you're on a budget, one-day only deals like this one for a Behringer guitar starter pack from e-buyer.com in the UK look too good to pass by.

For just £68.99 you get a Behringer Vintager guitar, a Behringer AC108 Vintager 15 watt amp, gig bag, strap, guitar lead, 3 picks, instruction books and chord chart. Oh, and free delivery in the UK.

These are available at this price now, as I type this, and for the next 10 hours.

"So, is it any good?", you may well ask.

I bought one of these last week in a similar promotion. The guitar is so-so, to be honest. More or less what I'd expect from a budget guitar. It's the typical Strat-layout although the makers have tried to go with their own body shape. It looks OK, vaguely PRS-ish in shape.

The guitar is solid enough, although it's quite certainly not made from any quality timber. However, I don't think it's mega-cheap and nasty plywood either. I'd guess it was a low-grade basswood or similar. The neck is maple with a maple fingerboard and feels as if it's not been finished too well. In fact, up near the headstock end of the neck it feels quite uneven in its cross section like a wonky V. However, like the body, it's perfectly solid and - more importantly - straight. The action is quite acceptable. (People will insist on calling cheap guitars like this "junk", but they are fantastic when compared to the budget guitars of yesteryear!)

The pickups aren't so hot, as you may expect on a guitar of this price, but the guitar is perfectly playable although it does require a good setting up first. On my example, the strings hadn't even been wound on properly. I was tuning it up having had just taken it out of the box and the high E string boinnnged right off. As I was winding the machine head, the tension felt all wrong - I thought the string was going to break. Let's face it, it was probably put on by some poor kid in a Chinese sweatshop.

Speaking of the machine heads, they are not great. Obviously cheapies, but what else would we seriously expect? They do the job for now.

Another thing that bugs me about budget guitars which are obviously aimed at beginners is why oh why do they always insist on copying the Strat styling complete with "vintage style tremolo"? A tremolo is the very last thing you want on a guitar for beginners, especially if the guitar has not been set-up in the first place. All it is going to do is to confuse the beginner guitarist and - most likely - send the guitar out of tune.

What I'd like to see on starter guitars would be a simple hardtail bridge, perhaps with the intonation pre-set as on some of the wrap-around bridges you see on student model Gibsons and the like. It is the logical thing to do.

However, I'm sticking the guitar on eBay and am going to get a few quid back on my initial investment of £68.99. And if no-one buys it, it's going down one of the local charity shops and they can make some money from it. I simply have no need of a cheap Behringer guitar. The reason I bought this package was for the amplifier.

The Behringer AC108 Vintager 15 watt amp, according to the blurb, has "a hand-selected vacuum tube, vintage-tuned 8" guitar speaker, 2-band EQ plus mid-shift, dedicated headphone output and CD input".

Blimey! It's a real tube amp for peanuts!

I had to buy it, just to check it out. Forget the guitar, that's going on eBay.

Just read through some of the reviews on Harmony Central - folks are rating this little cheapie quite highly. Several of the reviewers have recommended swapping out the vacuum tube for something of better quality and even doing the same for the speaker, but to my ears straight out of the box this amp sounds streets ahead of any practice amp I've tried before. It doesn't have the smoothest distortion in the world when turning up the gain, but it certainly beats the horrible fizz from transistor practice amps. Plugging my Fernandes Sustainer guitar into this baby, it just sings. I don't think I've ever been able to drive any other small amp with a sustainer before, they just can't manage the level of gain to allow the sustainer unit to function properly.

So, my advice is, snap one of these packages up whilst they are nice and cheap. Keep the amp, sell the guitar or give it as a Christmas present to someone who might appreciate it (you might want to give them your old practice amp too!).

Apologies to those outside the UK, but the above still applies as there are deals to be found on these packages.

G L Wilson

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