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Showing posts with label Bartolini. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bartolini. Show all posts

1960s Italian Dega Safari bass by Bartolini

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guitarz.blogspot.com:

Following on from our previous post, here is another example of 1960s Italian luthiery.

From what I am able to work out, Bartolini produced guitars under the brandname Dega on behalf of Alberto Morbidoni, accordion-makers of Castelfidardo, for export into the USA.

This Dega Safari Bass appears to be a model that not even Fetish Guitars have pictured on their excellent website. In fact, stylistically it is more similar to the Eko Cobra than any of the other Bartolini guitars pictured.

This particular bass, still located into Italy, is currently listed on eBay with a starting price of €499.

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Bartolini / Morbidoni / Diamond Ranger 3 - more glitter and pushbuttons from 1960s Italy

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guitarz.blogspot.com:

This guitar serves as a convenient reminder that you can't believe what an eBay seller tells you, even if they are someone who supposedly knows a thing or two about guitars, a guitar dealer or a guitar shop for example.

This glittery orange beast festooned with pushbutton pickup selectors is currently listed on eBay with the title:
(sic)
There seems to be a tendency to proclaim any vintage guitar coming out of Italy as being an "Eko", much as vintage Japanese guitars will get labelled "Teisco" or "Matsumoku" without any foundation whatsoever.

So, having said that it should come as no surprise that this guitar is NOT an Eko and neither is it a model named "Panther" despite the Panther picture on the nameplate on the headstock. The major giveaway as to its true name is the actual NAME on the nameplate. (D'Oh!)

It's a Diamond Ranger 3 (the number denoting number of pickups), and from what I can ascertain is actually a guitar Alberto Morbidoni Castelfidardo produced by Bartolini. The Diamond brandname was applied for export to the United States and in particular Washington. Other brandnames such as Dega and Samferri were used for guitars supplied to distributors in other states.

Follow that? It is all rather convoluted and I think I got it correct. Italian speakers can check for themselves here. Anyway, it's currently being offered for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $1,195.

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Vintage Bartolini

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I really love switch buttons on vintage Italian guitars like this Bartolini - with its 4 pickups, there are quite some combinations to set... The scroll potentiometers are quite cool too, I sometimes wonder why knobs became standard on guitars in the last 40 years.

And look at that nice Jaguar-like vibrato, not to mention the shape that seems to be the morphing of 4 different guitars with some saw action on the top, all of this still simple and coherent... The curve in the back must be quite comfortable when you have a classical guitar background and want to play sitting with a high neck...