Guitar Info

guitarz.blogspot.com:
We've not looked at any basses recently on Guitarz, so I thought it was high time we tried redressing the balance a little. I find myself looking more and more at semi-hollowbody and thinline basses. There is something very elegant about the design that lends itself quite nicely to the bass, giving it a distinct retro look.

The Russian-built thinline bass we see pictured here has been listed and re-listed on eBay several times over the last month or so. It's certainly a very intriguing looking instrument; whether it's really worth the Buy It Now price of £450, I couldn't comment with any authority, other than to say that my gut instinct is that perhaps the seller is being a tad optimistic. Having said that, the seller claims that it plays well, has a low action, and sounds great either plugged-in or acoustically (which can't be said for all thinlines).

The bass is absolutely huge, and the body is - unusually for a thinline - constructed from fibreglass. One of the features that really stands out for me is the size of the f-holes. Have you ever seen such fat f-holes?

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

We've often talked about Wandre guitars on this blog. Here's Buddy Lee telling the story of how he found his and why he likes it so much.

Thanks to Andy Stone for bringing this video to my attention.

G L Wilson

guitarz.blogspot.com:
There are a number of hand-crafted guitars on eBay right now built by a luthier called Tony Rincon. They remind me slightly of the instruments built by Steve Wishnevsky, for they all have a somewhat "rustic" charm to them. One guitar in particular, a full-size semi-hollowbodied guitar (pictured) caught my eye. Something about the simplicity of design of non-cutaway electrics and semis has always appealed to me, although I realise for the lead player who likes playing at the top of the neck they are a no-go.

Curiously, the neck/body join occurs inbetween the 10th and 11th frets on this guitar, and then the fretboard continues on the body for quite some distance up to the 22nd fret. I could understand this if the guitar was intended for slide-playing, lap-style, but judging by Rincon's demo videos this isn't the case.

Rincon cuts and mills his own timbers, in this case he's used Eastern Red Cedar for the top, back and sides, and maple for the neck and centre section. I particularly like the choice of timber with knots in it, and the woodworking and finish are of a high quality.

All in all, it's a very nice guitar, but if I was buying one I'd prefer a neck/body join at the 14th fret.

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Here's a Tele-style guitar which has had a multi-coloured swirl finish applied to it, similar to the swirls found on some Ibanez JEM series guitars. From what I can gather from the eBay listing, it's a "bits-o-caster" featuring a contoured T-style body, reverse banana headstock on a Warmoth neck, Steinberger machineheads and a pair of dual-rail pickups.

The seller claims that these swirl finishes are fragile. (Perhaps some of you guys from the JEM forums can confirm this?) To quote the listing:

"There is always a delicate bonding issue between the oil-based swirl colour paints and the synthetic lacquer used to seal it. If you knock it too hard, scratch it, leave it to get to cold for too long, it WILL crack or separate. It happens on the old Ibanezs as well. They do take looking after and careful handling. So, no big belt buckles and Pete Townshend antics!"

(Uh-oh! "Pete Townshend antics"... don't even go there! I opened up a whole can of worms with that discussion yesterday.)

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:
One of only 200 made by Fender Japan in 2008-2009, at first I thought this Fender Telecaster TL-MINNIE was a Tele equivalent to the polka dot Buddy Guy Stratocaster, but then I looked closer and got the reference in the name. For a Disney-themed guitar, it's quite subtle (if polka dots can ever be said to be subtle).

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:
This custom-built Telecaster-style guitar by luthier Al Reid features some quite surreal artwork by artist Eddie Breen. This is what he says about himself:

"Taking flea market and yard-sale paintings that I consider 'incomplete', I spiff 'em up by adding elements which will invigorate the works. Several years ago I toiled away in utter obscurity - yet - today I am perhaps one of the most prolific and well known painters today in the genre I call 'piggyback art'. I take standard themes of god, demons, ministers, nuns, aliens, flame people, skull ladies and sex, and tweak them. I've sold paintings to collectors all over the United States and Europe. Articles about my art have appeared in major US newspapers and magazines as well as internationally in Vogue Italia, The Guardian and Lufthansa in-flight magazine(weird!)."

He goes on to tell us that:

"I call it Frying Flying Fingers, or FFF for short, pronounced phhfffff. I always thought the sunburst style was kind of dull so I breened it into a supernova, and laced in burning, impossibly long fingers."

I'm with him there on sunburst finishes. They never did float my boat.

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This NFL Football themed Gibson Les Paul is topped off with real leather used for making footballs, and also includes lace binding and detail. It's the creation of the Gibson Custom Shop in conjuction with Wilson Sporting Goods.

Apparently Hank Williams Jr. was presented with the prototype.

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Nine Inch Nails have created an eBay account especially to sell off their old stage gear - guitars, keyboards, amplifiers, drums, staging, anvil cases, cables, rack/outboard gear, guitar effects, pedal boards, etc. Some items are in working condition and some items, such as this Epiphone Les Paul Gothic, are trashed.

Who in their right mind would pay over $400 for a broken Epiphone Les Paul? Oh... Nine Inch Nails fans. Without the NIN connection, it's worth just a fraction of that. Looking through their past sales there are broken Gibson and Epiphone Les Pauls that have sold for thousands. Crazy!

It's sad really. People are bidding on this (admittedly, not very exciting) guitar, not so they can repair it and make it playable again, but as a NIN souvenir.

I can feel a rant coming on. Isn't trashing your instruments on stage a bit of hoary old cliché now? I find it incredible that bands insist on resorting to such tired worn-out "shock tactics". Even Pete Townshend seems embarrassed by it these days.

I can understand bands want to put on an incredible show, to create a spectacle, but come on... use your imaginations!!! Let's see something NEW and different and exciting. Hell, you could even amaze and excite us with some incredible musicianship! Ever thought of that?

Trashing instruments is up there alongside on-stage nudity and self-abuse as the tired old clichés designed to shock which any self-respecting artists should avoid. Is that really the best they can do?

G L Wilson

ADDITIONAL: If you don't agree with me, fine. You are welcome to air your views in the comments so long as you do so in an CIVILISED manner. Personal insults and bad language are unacceptable and will not be tolerated. If you want to make childishly inane and abusive comments then please go back to YouTube.

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Before you all shout "You're fired!", let us consider the facts at our disposal.

It can't be easy trying to design an original shape for a guitar. Let's face it, most shapes have been tried and tested countless times. Anything totally original usually ends up being off-the-wall in looks and style.

Which is why I love seeing self-built guitars, and I'm not talking about the guys who slavishly copy classic designs such as the Telecaster and Stratocaster. I'm talking about those who want to do their own thing.

The guitar pictured above was built by an apprentice woodworker, and whilst - obviously - the body shape is to his own unique design, the measurements and layout are based on the Gibson Les Paul. The body shape is not to my personal taste, but I applaud the guy for his originality. The one criticism I would level at this guitar is that the solid mahogany body does look quite large, and although it is apparently hollow so as to reduce weight, it looks cumbersome and the shape probably wouldn't allow for the best access to the higher frets.

The same guy has also built this Tele-style guitar (hedging his bets, perhaps) and again it has a hollow body built from Mahogany and utilises a Les Paul scale. It's difficult to tell from a photograph, but to my eyes this reduced scale results in a slightly diminutive Tele, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The guy's obviously got some good woodworking skills going on, and this looks to be very nicely executed.

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:
I always feel like it's cheating a little to post on this blog yet another Stratocaster. I worry that half the audience will click away and look for something - anything - elsewhere on the www.

The Stratocaster, more than any other guitar, seems to be almost omnipresent; but one of the things I enjoy about it is seeing it in various radically different guises, so that it can be familiar yet very different at the same time. It's probably why I personally have five (yes, FIVE) Strats in my collection, each one totally different from the others.

Above we see a Stratocaster that I, for one, have not seen before. This Strat, manufactured in 1995, comes from the Fender Custom Shop and is allegedly one of only 25. Body and headstock are resplendent in a blue abalone finish which is evocative of certain pearloid-covered guitars from 1960s Italy, as well as Fender's own paisley and "bowling ball" finishes. (Mention not the Mexican-made Fender "Splattercasters" - it was a nice idea but in reality most of them looked absolutely dreadful).

I can't quite decide whether I like it or not. I think perhaps the pickguard (or scratchplate as we like to say in the UK) shouldn't have the same finish as the rest of the body. It would look better if it contrasted against the guitar finish - perhaps a white pearloid would have been more aesthetically pleasing.

To be perfectly honest, I far prefer the looks of my Fender Japan blue flower Stratocaster from the late 1980s, and that didn't cost $4,999 either.

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Stephen McSwain of Mc Swain Guitars builds custom guitars for the likes of Slash, Tommy Lee, and Vernon Reid, and they are always highly individual pieces of what he likes to call "functional art". Some might feature intricate carved bodies, or representations of Frankenstein's Monster or the Wicked Witch of the West, whilst others - such as the Starlingear pictured here - have metal-encased bodies with rivetted panels and aircraft gauges.

Electric Playground have filmed a video interview with Stephen McSwain which you can see here: http://www.elecplay.com/watch/19/340/4/17

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Those jolly decent chaps and chapesses over at Guitar Edge magazine have just published a favourable review of Guitarz blog in the Digital Edge column in their latest edtion, cover-dated March 2010.

You can read a digital version here.

G L Wilson

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I do like this guitar display coffee table. It's an elegant but very simple idea, and surely a legitimate way to get a guitar out of your "den" or music room and into the lounge!

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This St George guitar, model EJ-2-T, is almost certainly a re-branded Teisco. It has a number of Teisco-like features inlcuding the highly-sought after and now legendary gold foil pickups, the attributes of which were brought to the world's attention by guitarist Ry Cooder.

For a guitar that is going on for 50 years old it appears to be in amazing condition - it's practically as new, and all the parts are there.

The St George brand was created for the St George music stores which had branches in Hollywood and New York in the 1960s, and this guitar would have been original stock that had been kept by the St George family all these years.

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

The seller of this Squier Showmaster currently for sale on eBay tells us that:

I did the distressed green finish myself - I can guarantee there is only one like it in the world

You don't say?

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Isn't it crazy that certain guitars, which 10 or 20 years ago would have been considered junk, these days command such ridiculously high prices? In the past most "collectors" wouldn't have looked twice at some of these kooky old pieces. Some of them, it turns out, are in fact good players with a fantastic tone that can't be replicated using modern gear. Others might still play like a dog, but their eccentric design (by modern day standards) makes them desireable, if only to hang on the wall.

This Wandre Roby Gold from 1963 is quite a stunning-looking piece of vintage Italiana. The plastic control module set into the lower bout of the body is a particularly eccentric touch. Wandres are known for their peculiarities of design such as metal necks with bolted on headstocks and unusual body materials such as fibreglass. This example is quite conservative compared to some models.

However, it hasn't gone un-noticed that artists like Buddy Miller and T-Bone Burnett were playing Wandre guitars and getting an amazing sound, and the price of these instruments has sky-rocketed.

The seller of this particular guitar is asking $14,500 for it! He says that:

This auction is reserved for COLLECTORS ONLY simply because they will truly
appreciate its unique position in the ART and MUSIC MARKETPLACES.

What is he talking about? Would players not appreciate a guitar like this more than someone who simply has enough cash to fling about and buy something like this on a whim? Who are these "collectors" he is referring to? I myself have a "collection" but something at this price is way out of my league.


G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Another "bass-shaped" Rickenbacker guitar has turned up on eBay, this time it's a Rickenbacker 481.

The differences between this and the Rickenbacker 480 we looked at the other day are subtle. The 481 does not have the contoured edges of the 480, instead it has a bound body. You'll also observe that it has different pickups (humbuckers) mounted on a larger pickguard.

The pickups, in fact, are set at an angle. Look closer and you'll see that the bridge, nut and the frets themselves are also angled, but not like on a modern "fanned fret" guitar (such as the Novax system); these frets are angled whilst remaining parallel with each other. (In other words, the scale-length is contant for each string, unlike on fanned-fret instruments).

I believe (at least I'm pretty sure I read somewhere) that this was an early attempt a left-hand ergonomics. In reality, it didn't play any better or worse than regular "straight" frets, and so the idea was abandoned. At least, that's how I remember the story. If you know differently, then - as ever - please let us know with a note in the comments below.

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:


The Misa digital guitar is an Aussie MIDI synth-controller and which - at first glance - reminds me of a more professional Yamaha EZ-EG combined with a KAOSS-pad type controller, although to say that is probably to do it a dis-service.

It is powered by the Linux operating system and software is open-source, allowing individuals the flexibility to modify it to their own requirements and to share their innovations with others. Sounds a bit too much like rocket science to me, I'm afraid.

Read all about it at: misadigital.com

Thanks to Dave Brown for submitting this to Guitarz.

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

"French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot creates works by drawing on the rhythms of daily life to produce sound in unexpected ways.

For his installation in The Curve, Boursier-Mougenot creates a walk-though aviary for a flock of zebra finches, furnished with electric guitars and other musical instruments. As the birds go about their routine activities, perching on or feeding from the various pieces of equipment, they create a captivating, live soundscape."

See the video here.

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Whilst at risk of alienating the anti-Strat contingent out there, today I want to talk about the background to this particular little-known instrument, the DiMarzio Cellophane Strat. It's just a little footnote at the bottom of the history of the Strat, the DiMarzio corporation, and Japanese guitars in general, but it's footnotes like these that I find particularly fascinating.

I originally saw this guitar for sale on eBay in March 2008 and instantly fell in love with it. In the late 1970s/early 1980s, DiMarzio - known for their pickups - branched out into a whole range of guitar parts - not just pickups and hardware but bodies and necks too. You could build a whole guitar exclusively from DiMarzio-branded parts. I remember this well as I used to have one of their catalogues from the period and in my mind's eye I was putting together various combinations of parts to create my dream axe.

The seller of this particular guitar claimed that it was put together from DiMarzio parts as a showpiece for the 1984 NAMM trade show. Unfortunately I have nothing but his word to either confirm or refute this, but it does at least sound plausible.

He also mentioned that the body and neck were made for DiMarzio by Charvel during their now legendary San Dimas era, so as far as I was aware this red Strat was, despite not being a Fender, an American guitar.

The auction finished without anyone bidding on the guitar, and I was so annoyed at myself for not bidding as I could have bought it for the starting price. However, soon after it was re-listed, and this time I made sure to put a bid or two in. However, I was up against a competing bidder this time around, but they didn't put up a fight and I won the auction at a little over the starting price.

When the guitar arrived in May 2008 I was surprised that the deep red colour looked a lot more salmon-pink in real life, although it seemed to change depending on the lighting conditions. It turns out that there are no identifying names or marks on the guitar anywhere, other than the bridge saddles being stamped "DiMarzio".

The body and neck - as you can see - are coated in a see-through red plastic-like finish, this being known as the "cellophane" finish. The grain of the wood beneath is quite clearly visible, despite the vivid colour. I have seen one or two other examples, but these have been "super-Strat" types rather than the traditional Strat-layout. Some guitars just featured the cellophane red neck on non-cellophane bodies, such as played by guitarist Earl Slick (who of course is known for his work with David Bowie). This is understandable, as DiMarzio parts would have beed used in various mix and match combinations. As far as I am aware, they were never sold as completed guitars. (But if you know differently...)

Recently, a guy named Steven Beall contacted me via the comments of this blog. He had this to say:

I have one of these red necks I bought in 1985 and love it. A few years back I heard rumors they were made for Dimarzio by Charvel and did some investigating. I contacted Steve Blutcher at DiMarzio and he said these cellophane necks were made in Japan by a small company called Harayama (now defunct) not Charvel. I would assume that the matching bodies were also made by that company because of the finish.

Charvel did indeed start making bodies for DiMarzio in the late 70s - early 80s to fill a gap in cash flow until Grover Jackson could get his own line of guitars under production but that agreement ended prior to 1984 when the first of these cellophane necks and bodies were made because Charvel was well into the production of its own Charvel brand and had no need or available resources to sub-contract parts manufacturing out to other companies.

Sadly, as I found out too, not only is this guitar not USA made, it's not a Charvel either. I hope this helps clear up any questions.

Far from being disappointed, I think this makes the story even more interesting. I have no problem with this being a Japanese guitar - I'm a big fan of Japanese-made guitars. They are often finely-crafted instruments with top-notch attention to detail. However, I'm not aware of the name Harayama - very possibly this was another factory that built guitars for other brands.

If anyone reading this has any DiMarzio or Harayama-built guitars, with cellophane-finish or otherwise, please get in touch!

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:
ESP Guitars do seem to feature on these pages more and more as I search for the weird and the wacky. I'm sure they've only got themselves to blame with their outrageous designs and demented finishes.

I used to play a pair of pink paisley Fenders, a Strat and a Tele, and I thought that they were - how shall we say? - rather eye-catching, but they were nothing compared to this visually loud ESP Mirage Deluxe M2 allegedly from the ESP Custom Shop in Japan and as played by Vernon Reid of Living Colour.

If you can live with the day-glo finish, underneath which lies a body of swamp ash, then it does look to be a very nicely crafted guitar, although with its EMG pickups and Floyd Rose-licensed trem it wouldn't be my first choice of guitar.

Of course, to the collector of ESP guitars (someone must collect them, surely?) this guitar would represent a must-have purchase.

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

There's a very nice example of a Rickenbacker 480 on eBay right now. Yes, this is the guitar that looks like a diminutive bass, for it was modelled after the Rickenbacker 4000 series. It's funny, but whenever I see one of these I can't get it out of my head that there's something wrong about it, despite the guitar's obvious coolness. It's just that in my mind I immediately associate that shape with the bass guitar.

Considering they were in production for 10 years (1973-1983), these guitars are relatively rare and this particular example is rarer than most in that it has black pickguard and Rickenbacker nameplate as opposed to white.

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:
I'm pleased that a number of readers are getting involved and sending their guitar pictures in, which means of course we have more than simply eBay to go on in our search for weird and wonderful guitars. Here's another email I received recently:

My name is Micha, and I'm from Belgrade Serbia.

I stumbled at your Guitarz blog couple of days ago, and I must say, I love it :D
Since you feature so many unique guitars, I was wondering if perhaps you can help me to determine which guitar I own :)

Please find images of guitar attached. [See above]

Now the story, I saw this body shape at one of the local gutar builders, and instantly fell in love with it (all those curves :)), and so he built me one.

Neck is also hand made Ibanez, with reversed headstock, so it's not from original model.

When I asked him what model of guitar it is, he couldn't tell me, only thing he told me, that this guitar is made by some small company in UK.

So if you now what make or model this guitar can be, I would be very thankful for any info :)

Guitar spec:

Body: Solid Walnut
Neck: Mapple with African rosewood (i thing)
Tuners: Schaller
Bridge: Schaller Floyd Rose
Pickup: Shadow eq 5 active humbucker
Controls: one push-pull (active/passive state) volume

Thanks in advance,

Micha

I think what Micha is asking (please forgive me if I misunderstand), is for the identity of the guitar that Misha's own guitar was modelled on.

Any ideas, anyone?

G L Wilson
NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's another classic vintage guitar being offered for sale on eBay. The Hagstrom Futurama with three pickups is obviously that Swedish manufacturer's take on the Stratocaster, but it has become a classic in its own right. (See here for more).

Many will think of it being the Ziggy-period David Bowie guitar - he certainly did a few photo sessions with a similar Kent-branded guitar, but I can't say for sure if he actually ever genuinely played it.

We also get to see a brief glimpse of Daniel Ash playing one in the promo video for Love and Rockets' "So Alive" whilst wearing gloves for crying out loud!

The example for sale here on eBay probably dates back to the early 1960s - 1963-1965 perhaps - and is in exceedingly good condition for a guitar of its age. It looks like it has been much used but still has all the original parts save for one replaced tuner and a Burns Tri-Sonic pickup in the centre postion.

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's another fantastic original design Japanese guitar to feast your eyes upon.

The seller of this vintage Greco Shrike in redburst from 1968 claims that his primary reason for listing it on eBay isn't to sell it (although he would be willing to do so if you wanted to shell out the readies) but to try to find a compatible pickup for the one that is so obviously missing, so allowing him to complete the resoration of this guitar.

However, I doubt that V-shaped pickups are too easy to come by. When did you last see one? (I expect that each pickup is composed of two coils. I can't imagine how the maker would be able to wind it otherwise). Possibly, the only way he's going to get a new pickup for this is to get one custom-made. But you never know...

If you can help, click through to the auction page and contact the seller.

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I'm not normally very keen to reproduce press releases sent to me by guitar companies but Liquid Metal Guitars are a small company with a really interesting product and are the sort of company that I like to support.

Here is their latest news:

The Liquid Metal Guitar Company has shipped the first lot of hard tail LMG “T” guitars with our new exclusive Seymour Duncan® Custom Shop pick up set.

"This is again, for us, was one of those wonderful serendipities where Seymour ended up with our guitar in his private shop” says Phil Cook. “He (Seymour) was intrigued by the warmth of the tone, by the sustain and note bloom and by the way we construct our guitars."

Still being the curious craftsman, that started making picks ups years ago, he set about designing a pick up set for our LMG "T" guitar just to see what he could do to make it better.

And better it is. The pickups he designed take full advantage of all the tone enhancing qualities our guitars have, while retaining the traditional sound coloring of this style of guitar.

The bridge ¼lb magnets wrapped to a strong 15k, that can perform exceptionally well at the level because of the proprietary way the guitar is built. It is not brittle at all, clean and clear.

The neck is a "Phat Cat™", but wound with a little more heat.

This set gives the player a great range to play with.

"For us it is fantastic to have someone of Seymour’s stature to work with," says Phil Cook.

Liquid Metal Guitars are precision-machined from a solid block of aircraft aluminum, resulting in a clear, pure, ultra-sustaining tone and our hallmark stunning visuals.

Each line of guitars has a custom pick up set made exclusively for that guitar by some of the best boutique pickup men in the business – Seymour Duncan, T.V. Jones and Lindy Fralin.

LMG guitars are visually stunning. The company mandate is to finish the guitars in a process unique to metal, nothing that can be duplicated in wood or plastic is done. The offered finishes are: Chrome, 18k Gold, Harley Davidson baked on motorcycle paint or industrial machine markings.

The guitars are metal–machined, hard, cool metal - with soothing curves and sinful cuts, whose luminescence sizzles and shimmers as only metal can. LMG is a celebration of noise, cars and rock and roll.

The Liquid Metal Guitar Company is based in Vancouver, B.C.

For more information:
Contact Phil Cook
604-719-1403

phil@liquidmetalguitars.com

http://liquidmetalguitars.com

Seymour Duncan is a registered trademark and Phat Cat is a trademark of Seymour Duncan Pickups with which Liquid Guitars is not affiliated.

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Now this one is absolutely fantastic! This is the kind of eBay find that I get a sense of excitement from - something that is unusual and kooky but which - given its provenance - ought not to play like a dog. I would defintely buy it immediately if only I could justify such a purchase.

Almost certainly hailing from the 1960s, it's a Japanese-made Hy-Lo brand guitar. It appears to be in very good nick, aside from the odd inevitable battlescar here and there, and has all its original parts including vibrato, which is surely the most likely piece to go missing on these period pieces.

The solid body on this guitar is delightfully enormous, with its dimensions being close to that of a Gibson 335, and which gives the guitar a cartoonish caricature of a guitar quality. The styling puts me in mind of certain wide-bodied Rickenbackers. It has a bit of a German carve around the body's top edge and base of the instrument and with a whole area scooped away in the right forearm region, whilst the angled front pickup is reminiscent of Mosrite guitars. Two of the three large rocker switches mounted near the upper horn select pickups (labelled MIC I and MIC II as on Teisco guitars - possibly related?), whilst the third is a tone on/off switch which is a bit of a peculiarity in itself. The split pickguards put me in mind of Burns. This guitar would seem to be a melting pot of influences.

Very odd that someone has wound the strings on the wrong way. It doesn't exactly allow for a straight string pull. But that's easily remedied.

The volume and tone knobs are very unlikely to be original - they look too modern and out of place on this vintage piece. If I bought this, I'd seek out some replacements from the same period as the guitar itself.

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

It's a long time since we've looked at something genuinely crappy on here, but checking through the eBay listings this morning I was pleased to find this horror with which to share for your amusement.

We've seen kids guitars with built-in amps like this before. Very cheaply made, with incredibly incompetent artwork, and most certainly breaking the copyright ownership of whichever cartoon character it is supposed to resemble.

Imagine someone playing this. You'd look at them and think, "What is that supposed to be?"

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Gil Tancock writes:

Hi

Just wondering if you can recognise this guitar I had it in the early sixties bought it second hand, not a Fender. It had a body like a 335 and a headstock like a Strat but for the life of me cannot remember what make it was.

Sorry not a very good picture.

Thanks
Gil

Blimey. That's not a lot to go on (although it looks like someone has a Hofner in the background). Do you remember any other details? Did it have a vibrato? Was the neck glued-in or was it a bolt-on job? Did it have f-holes and what shape were they? For example, the Gibson Trini Lopez was 335-like with a 6-in-a-line headstock and with diagonal shaped soundholes, although from what I can see of the guitar in the photo, I don't think it is a Gibson. I don't think it's a Vox either, which could have been another contender.

Or - could it have been a Hagstrom guitar, similar to the Viking II that Elvis used in his 68 Comeback Special?

Anyone else? Answers and other thoughts on this in the comments, please.

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Steve Conner writes:

I was reading your Guitarz blog and came across a picture of a Westone Super Headless! I have one too, which I bought second-hand 2 years ago, in McCormack's Music in Glasgow. I couldn't resist the bird's eye maple finish. The frets were badly worn from the previous owner's slapping and popping, but it plays fine, and I used it for quite a few gigs with my old band.

I've attached a pic and would be very happy if you'd feature it.

Steve

Nice one, Steve. I think I prefer that finish to the red and black example we looked at before, as striking as that was.

I notice that this one has different pickups - they were more Jazz Bass-like on the red and black bass (X900TPR). Do you know if yours has a different model designation?

G L Wilson

ADDITIONAL - Steve replies:

Re your question, the Super Headless came in a few different versions:
http://www.westone.info/cats/1985headless/p3.html

The "FS" with single coil pickups and a choice of red or light oak finishes, and the "RC" with humbuckers and birdseye maple, which is the one I've got.

Mine is missing the cover plate with the Westone logo.

Steve

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Continuing in the macabre vein set up by our previous post, the above picture comes courtesy of Guitarz reader ARay who says:

I just finished a soon to be Craigslist guitar paint job. I thought I would let you put your opinion on... I know, I know... you have my permission to put it in the TERRIBLE PAGE. Anywhere you decide or whatever you decide is fine with me...

Blimey, I don't know what to say! And what labels should I attach below? It'd be rude to put it under hideous guitars, surely? I'm going to file it under "cool guitars" AND "hideous guitars" and let YOU lot decide.

I wonder what Jol Dantzig would think?

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This guitar advertised on Craig's List has been brought to my attention by Guitarz reader Ken. I reproduce the text of the listing here unedited in full and without comment:

This singular guitar came into my possession quite by accident, and has spooked me enough that I want to get rid of it. I'm quite confident, however, that this ghoulish guitar would be fine for someone more in tune with the tenebrous forces of the malevolent netherworld. I, however, have little knowledge of such things, and prefer not to meddle with the morbid mysteries of the macabre.

Here's what I know, and what I've been told...

A kid that lived on my street when I was growing up was rumored to be into devil worship, seances, Aleister Crowley, Black Magic, and other dark endeavors of the Spirit World. (Strangely, despite the youth's somewhat dweebish appearance, he was quite popular: Guys in the neighborhood wanted to be him; girls thought they could change him...)

His mother (a propagating practitioner of the Pagan Arts) informed me that the neophyte necromancer was born in June of '66, and died tragically on Halloween, October 31, 1979, when he was just thirteen years old. (His death has never been solved, but the calamitous kid was found lying on his bed with THIS GUITAR draped across him, apparently electrocuted, even though this is an acoustic guitar! Additionally, when the damnable corpse of this soulless stooge of Satan was eventually discovered, a 45 record of Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper" was playing repeatedly on the Mephistophelean moppet's GE Wildcat record changer!! A Swanson TV Dinner--turkey, with all the fixin's--remained uneaten, while the air was thick with the acrid smell of sulfur emanating from some perverse potion the young hellion had been mixing with his Li'l Gilbert Chemistry Set. The licentious lad's Farrah Fawcett Swimsuit Poster mockingly stared down upon the dead boy, as if to say, "See you in hell, Buster!" Somewhere, a dog barked.)

Years later, I ran into the defunct boy's mother, and when I told her that I was a professional guitarist, she offered me her devilish, daisy-pushin' son's git-fiddle.

Since I've owned this guitar I've heard the strings discordantly ring out, despite no one being near the guitar. Further, on three occasions I put the guitar in my bedroom closet, only to find the guitar on my bed when I returned home (and I live alone!). The final straw occurred when I saw the guitar levitate out of the trash can I had somberly placed it in.

So for those of you brave enough to tamper with the Spirit World, I offer you this unique guitar (which appears to date from the late 1950’s to early ’60’s. Satan has apparently stricken the brand name decal from the headstock of the guitar, but it might be a Harmony. My expertise lies more with vintage and custom shop Gibson and Fender instruments, particularly the Les Paul, Telecaster, and Stratocaster models). I've enclosed several frightening representations of this guitar that have appeared in my dreams, as well as a photo of the deceased original owner.

And to the buyer of this ghastly guitar, congratulations, though please use EXTREME CAUTION when conjuring the phantasmic spirits that seem to be channeled through this eerie instrument!

G L Wilson

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I have been told categorically by the publisher that the book does indeed carry my name, which is supported by this image (left) that I found on an Australian book distributors website here.

I'm not so sure about it being a "definitive A-Z guide", that sounds like pure marketing spin to me, but I'm not going to take issue with that.

Once again I'd like to point out that Sean Egan was erroneously credited as the author of this book on the Amazon listings through no fault of his own. Please see my apology below.

The Amazon.co.uk listing does not currently show a price and says that this title is "currently unavailable". (I believe it is being released on the 20th of this month).

I am now going to delete my previous recent posts about the book and the whole debacle of who the credited author is, because I do not see any point in keeping such negative-toned material in the blog archive.

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

I would like to apologise to the author Sean Egan (yes, he is a real person), whose name was attached to the "500 Guitars" book on Amazon's listings through no fault of his own.

It seems that the incorrect details were supplied to Amazon.

He was never part of any "conspiracy", and again I apologise if my comments may have suggested otherwise.

I am now going to delete my previous recent posts about the book and the whole debacle of who the credited author is, because I do not see any point in keeping such negative-toned material in the blog archive.

G L Wilson

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I've been looking at some of the contemporary budget-priced instruments (other than the usual suspects) currently available and was quite impressed with some of the designs offered by Spear Guitars (which are available in the UK via http://www.spear-guitars.co.uk/).

I was quite struck by some of the models in the TC series which feature bodies made of embossed luthite, a composite material. The silver and bronze models are particularly eye-catching.

However, the guitar pictured here, the Spear RT-ST, is a real head-turner. If you've been hankering after a Trussart Steelcaster but could never hope of raising the kind of money required to buy one, then the Spear RT-ST is the guitar for you. It doesn't have a steel body like the Trussart, but has a chambered American Alder body topped off with a steel plate so providing the necessary asthetics. Similarly the headstock has a similar inlaid steel plate. It's the kind of guitar that would look amazing under lights on stage, and should appeal to fans of Telecaster Deluxe and Custom models. More importantly, it is a mere fraction of the cost of a Trussart.

It is, however, very very shiny. If you require the "rusty" Trussart look, you may have to arrange this yourself!

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

In the mid-1980s Wilkes Guitars came up with a guitar known as "The Answer" which featured what seemed like a novel idea, namely sliding pickups allowing for a whole spectrum of tones*. A couple of years later, Westone issued the Rail bass which also featured a sliding pickup. It was my belief that the precedent for this idea was the 1970s-era Gibson Grabber bass which featured a sliding pickup and which was so named because you literally grabbed hold of the pickup and moved it to the desired position (although admittedly it didn't travel very far).

Imagine my surprise to find for sale on eBay this Guyatone guitar from the 1960s (pictured above) which not only has two pickups biased towards the bridge position but also has a swivelling neck pickup and accompanying "Cool/Hot" switch. Guyatone were of course a Japanese brand and many examples of their guitars were built at the now legendary Matsumoko factory.

But is this the earliest example of a sliding/swivelling pickup? I expect that Guitarz readers will know of others, so please respond in the comments below.

I'm reminded, of course, of Rick Turner Guitars (which surely must be at the other end of the quality scale from Guyatone) and the Model 1 which has a pickup mounted on a rotating plate.

G L Wilson

* Wilkes "The Answer" actually featured two coils that could be moved independently of one another and which could function separately as single coils or together as a humbucker. It really was a clever idea, the only downside was the appearance of the guitar itself that had a great big swimming pool cavity in the middle of the body.

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

To prevent abuse of the system, i.e. people making snide comments under the cowardly veil of anonymity, "guest" comments will no longer be allowed in the comments.

Please do not let this discourage you from posting your thoughts about a particular blog posting. The new Echo commenting system allows several ways of logging in using login details from several different platforms, so really it couldn't be much easier.

It'd be a shame if the number of comments started dropping off. In the past they've given us some really excellent discussions which all go to contribute to a sense of community.

If anyone has any criticisms to make, then you are free to make them (and I won't as a moderator delete them unless they are downright offensive), but you will be required to put your name to them. If you have a problem with the blog - or with Bertram or me personally - then please have the courage of your convictions and put your name to it.

G L Wilson

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Hear the name "Bigsby" and you automtically think of the now legendary Bigsby vibrato. It seems almost ironic that this "Bigsby" guitar doesn't have a vibrato (or tremolo) at all!

In fact this is a Bigsby-designed Magnatone MkIII. Magnatone were best known for their Hawaiian guitars and amps, but contracted Paul Bigsby to design a "spanish"-style electric. (That always sounds funny to me, because I think of Spanish guitar as being acoustic nylon-string. However, "Spanish" in this instance refers to the playing style familiar to all of us today as opposed to the lap style of playing.)

You can read more about the Bigsby Magnatone MkIII here.

Of course, Paul Bigsby together with Merle Travis developed what is arguably the first solid-bodied electric guitar back in 1947, which in turn influenced a certain Mr Leo Fender. You can see where the influence for the Fender headstock design may have come from (read more about that here).

See also: www.bigsbyguitars.com

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

It's a bit early in the year, but... anyone for tennis?

From the same spirit of mind that creates cigar box guitars, comes the Sonny Daze 2-string Tennis Racquet Guitar.

Note that its creator spells it "racket". Some people unkinder than me would suggest that this is deliberate given the sound it makes, but not I. Obviously you're going to be limited as to what you can play on this, but the following video will give an idea on some of the kind of cigar-boxian slide riffs that are possible.

For an instrument (or "trash art", as its maker calls it) with practically no body mass, it's actually quite impressive. In a diddley bo kinda way.

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

At the risk of being accused of writing yet another blog post which has "content generated by other people" (apparently ALL my content is generated by other people - see the comment by "Guest" here), I'm going to share with you this rather inexpert "relic" job on what apears to be an otherwise perfectly good Squier Strat.

This horror was spotted by Suzanne, who comments that "Heavy relic is putting it mildly. That thing looks as if it belonged to Sloth from The Goonies."

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

To celebrate this brand new year of the tiger, what's better than a glittery Italian vintage guitar like this cool Bartoli... So, as you can see, it's glittery, it's Italian, and, er... I don't know anything more about it!

But I can tell you where I found it, and there's much more where it comes from! Have a look at GuitareCollection.com, a French website particularly ugly but with many Italian vintage treasures, including the biggest collection of Wandre guitars I ever saw (and we love Wandre here!)

Bertram



NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I was aware of the model name Vox Marauder but I don't think I've ever seen one before. Blimey, and I thought that the Telecaster was "slab-bodied"!

My guess is that this is another one of the Eko-built Voxes from the later 1960s. It certainly looks very Italian with all those controls including a row of push-buttons. As with many other Vox guitars of the same era, this guitar features built-in effects. Unfortunately, it seems that on this example the electrics need some attention - it shouldn't be too big a problem for someone who knows what they are doing.

It also appears to be missing the trem arm, and the cover for the switch on the upper horn. The square-edged single coil pickups look to be standard Vox issue, such as on the Vox Harlem that we looked at recently.

G L Wilson

EDIT: So much for my guesses, apparently this Vox was all British!

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

Screaming Leaming claims (and who am I to doubt his word?) to have worked for both B.C. Rich and Hamer and to have created guitars in the 1980s for the likes of KISS, WASP, Rick Derringer, Black Sabbath, Megadeth, Van Halen, Madam X, and others. This particular guitar carries the Gearhead Guitars brandname and is known as the Scorpion. It is a through-neck guitar and features parts handcrafted from steel and aluminium.

A second Screaming Leaming guitar, the Arachni-Goth, is also currently for sale on eBay. Both guitars feature an adjustable strap location for better balance. I'm guessing this is something to do with the threaded rod behind the bridge, although I can't imagine quite how it would function.

G L Wilson

guitarz.blogspot.com:

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

guitarz.blogspot.com:
We've looked and laughed at the ESP Devil Girl previously here on Guitarz, almost to the very day, seven years ago (see here) but seeing that the readership has grown quite a lot since then, I think it's well worth another look, not only for amusement value but also as there is an example for sale on eBay right now.

I've got no problems with the use of alternative materials in guitar making, but with plastics you can end up with something very cool looking indeed such as a whole myriad of plexiglass guitars from Dan Armstrong onwards, or else you can end up with something crappy that looks like it's been molded from the wax from the outside of a Dutch Edam cheese.

No doubt someone will insist that this guitar sounds great, but seeing as it's equipped with a single EMG HZ humbucker, I think that highly unlikely. Never mind, I'm sure someone will enjoy it.

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!