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This guitar is currently being advertised for sale, and the seller is asking €2300 for it.
Thanks to Dirk for bringing this fine guitar to our attention.
G L Wilson
© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
Showing posts with label French guitar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label French guitar. Show all posts
1971 Jacobacci Studio II from France
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This guitar is currently being advertised for sale, and the seller is asking €2300 for it.
Thanks to Dirk for bringing this fine guitar to our attention.
G L Wilson
© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
Custom 77 Roxy - a new classic?
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I know that I probably spend much too much time ranting here about how unimaginative guitar making became in the last decades, so let's cut the crap and rejoice over creative luthiers and small companies that can still produce guitars such as the Custom 77 Roxy, an original yet sober, timeless and classy semi-hollow wonder that has everything it takes to become a new classic.
I love this guitar, firstly for its beautiful bevelled outline, both sensual and dynamic, and the fact that it's a semi-hollow that doesn't have to be a copy of an ES-335 to have credibility. I also appreciate the Duesenberg-style bridge humbucker + neck P90 combination, the simple pickguard, the wraparound bridge, the old-school F-hole on this radical body, and the controls positions seem to be well thought - not just placed where tradition tells... I just wish it was bigger but it's just because I'm big and I'm still looking for my dream semi-hollow guitar!
Custom 77 is an interesting French guitar company that released nice original models, on top of producing the inevitable Fender/Gibson copies (it's probably necessary to generate basic income, but that's the buyers's fault, isn't it?) - all with Iggy/Ramones/Clash inspired names - plus basses and acoustic guitars, also drums and cymbals and they just started an effects boutique line. I will keep an eye on this company because I'm sure that they will keep releasing new cool stuff and one day I will want some of it...
Bertram
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
Gérard Audirac "Cathedrale" 10-string classical guitar
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The Guitarz blog is supposed to cover all kinds of guitars, but there are certain guitars that I don't blog about very frequently simply because I don't know a lot about them. These include resonators, lap-steels, pedal steels, antique guitars, and classical guitars.
Here we see a classical 10-string by French luthier Gérard Audirac, currently being offered for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $7,350. This model is known as the Cathedrale and is known for its powerful projection, rich tone and long sustain. As you can see from the photos, this is quite a contemporary design with its distinctive headstock and elongated soundhole, which is positively conservative compared with the soundholes on Audirac's Conservatoire double bouche model.
For those wanting more information, there's an interview with Gérard Audirac here, and for French-speakers, the first installment of an interview on YouTube here.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
Exclusive: Tantra electric guitars brochure
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
Hervé Le Garsmeur, one of the founders of French guitar manufacturers Tantra, has kindly shared with us this Tantra catalogue, the original of which is apparently disintegrating and, he suspects, may be the last one on the planet. So, here it is for prosperity:
G L Wilson
Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
Unusual antique guitar
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Apologies, but here is yet another guitar about which I know nothing! It is being sold on eBay by a French seller who tells us:
Rare ancienne guitare, forme peu courante, usures et petits manques d'usage....which doesn't tell us much more other than its supposed rarity and its length.
Longueur de la caisse 435 mm longueur totale 900 mm.
Usures d'usages et du temps.
Still, it's an interesting piece and worth recording for posterity on this blog.
G L Wilson
Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
The truth about the Tantra Suryah guitar
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
Here's a follow-up to last September's blog post about the Tantra Suryah guitar. The following email should explain all:
I saw this guitar on "guitarz" and since I'm trying to send you some words about it.Thanks for the information, Hervé. It's very much appreciated.
My name is Hervé Le Garsmeur, Iive in Britanny and was one of the founders of "Tantra guitars". At the very beginning Tantra was a rock band that decided to build its own guitars and P.A equipment. We ended by building a little factory in Bréhant-Loudéac (Morbihan). We worked very hard during 3 years (1 for settling down and designing the guitars an 2 to product them) and had to quit in 1984 (thanks George Orwell!) because being very young at that time (the youngest was 19 , the oldest 23) we had some difficulties to find a bank that would follow us. We sold a little les than a hundred insruments so they are very rare and I'm glad to see that some of them survived.
The model "Suryah" presented on "guitarz" is one of the first we ever made. Suryah means "the sun" and the first idea is an egg shape (very symbolic). Those "beasts" were made to last forever. I've got one of those at home and I play it daily since all these years and it's still a very reliable and sounding instrument. Body and neck are carved in the same piece of very old oak (yes!) reinforced by a central piece of amarante (very hard wood from Brazil). The fretboard is also in amarante that turned from purple to brown with time. The pickguard is in stainless steel (cut with a laser) and NOT ALUMINIUM.
Pickups are home made (Huge alnico 12 wrapped with 10 000 turns of thread) we wanted very large single coils. It explains the steel pickguard that shields perfectly the electronic devices. It's indeed a very quiet instrument when plugged.No truss rod in the neck, just a hollow square stainless steel bar all through very much like old Martins.
There's a true connection with singer Johnny Halliday as we made him a special model (axe shape) for his show "Le survivant" at "Le palais des sports" in Paris 1982. This guitar in by now on sale for about 10 000€. You can see it on internet if you type "Johnny Halliday guitare tantra". We also made electric harps for Alan Stivell and many other strange instruments.
G L Wilson
Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
Marcel Dadi's Princess
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After posting about the Ibanez Marcel Dadi, I figured that most people probably don't know who Marcel Dadi is - I can understand that, he was supposedly a genius picking player (the picking is a finger technic used mostly for country music and acoustic ballads) so I thought that I should propose a video of Dadi playing his Princess. I've never been interested in him or his music, but when I started guitar is the early 80s, his name was everywhere in France, he had his signature strings that were extremely popular, as were his teaching method books. Anyway, he was also associated with Chet Atkins (and several other country musicians whose name trigger nothing in me), so American readers probably know him better than people from the rest of the world...
Dadi plays here this one-off guitar made by French Luthier Franck Cheval: the Princess. I'm not a fan of heavy abalone inlays but the rolled upper horn à la Gibson Mandolin is quite impressive. Some people call it the best guitar in the world... Ah, ces Français !
Bertram
Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!
Tantra Surya from 1983
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
For the guitar enthusiast such as I, there is always something "new" to discover. Yes, the guitar world is extremely conservative and set in its ways, but that doesn't mean there have never been any mavericks. You just have to look a bit harder to find the more unusual stuff.
This French seller currently has this Tantra Surya guitar from 1983 on eBay. It looks for all the world like a very curvy Flying V, and has an almost Sci-Fi/flying saucer feel to it. The pickguard appears to be made from alumunium and has an integral bridge with the saddles attached to an up-turned lip at the rear end of the plate.
Unfortunately I can tell you very little else about this model, and the seller doesn't seem to know much about it either, but mentions a possible connection with French superstar Johnny Hallyday.As ever, if anyone has any more info, please use the comments below!
G L Wilson
Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!
French luthier Paul Lairat
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It's been a while since I last posted about a luthier, but I found here a pretty fine one, a French guy called Paul Lairat. Just look at these guitars!I of course selected his most noticeable guitars that also fit my taste! First on the right you can see a semi-hollow model with F-holes, a Benedetti (high end French brand) humbucker in neck position, a piezo pickup under the bridge and a bizarre finish - it looks like wood trying to imitate Formica!
On the left is a very smart combination of ergonomics and classicism, a model with a beautiful woodwork reducing matter to the minimum... This very peculiar construction makes even more sense when applied to Lairat's astonishing long scale double 6-string bass, a huge instrument that is not heavier than a regular Les Paul...
bertram
Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!
The Billigcaster - at last, a guitar you can make pancakes on!
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
Christophe writes:
This instrument is made by a friend in Brittany (France), and this iron plate is traditionnaly used here to make pancakes. This is called a "billig" in Breton language. It weighs... 8,5 kg! Sometimes he plays with a ladle, used for pancakes too...I bet you never realised there was a connection between the guitar and pancakes before! The "Billigcaster" is the creation of Atelier de jean Vincent who also plays in Les Breihzozaures, a Celtic/Folk Rock/Electro band.
G L Wilson
Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!
Lag Collection Thinline: atrocious or beautiful?
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But I understand that this Lag Collection Thinline is a quality guitar with its specific aesthetics that probably appeals to some people, otherwise it wouldn't be built and sold (though I never saw anybody play on such an instrument).
Brua semi-solid headless guitar
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
Here's an interesting guitar being sold by a French seller on eBay. Now, my French is not very good but Bertram tells me that the listing says:
Incredible guitar made by Pierrick BRUA, who is a great French luthier. The shape and comfort are amazing and the woods are beautiful. The string block system allows mounting any string gauge - here 12-52 flat wound strings. It is very versatile and is suitable for all styles. Mini switches allow multiple sound combinations. The body is semi-hollow and gives much sustain. The guitar is perfect for guitarists who travel and who always want to have the best sound anywhere. Those who know KLEIN guitars and especially their demented prices will understand the value of this guitar.This looks to be a one-off guitar from another guy who isn't afraid to push the boundaries and experiment with guitar design.
Perrick Brua seems to mainly concentrate on Jazz guitars, and has some very interesting and attractive examples on dislay at his website. His Millenium jazzer is particularly eye-catching.
G L Wilson
Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!
Jacobacci Tenor Guitar
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Here at the Guitar Blog we love tenor guitars, because they only have 4 strings so they are easy to play, but you don't look silly like with a ukulele (OK uke fans, you can start the bashing!)
Look at this beautiful Jacobacci tenor guitar and its very special headstock. I don't have any details about it, but it looks pretty old, so it's probably Jacobacci's pre-electric era, also it's not a catalogue model but probably a one-off. These are only computations, anybody's information is welcome.
I found it on djazic.com, a French e-shop with some nice vintage stuff that's worth looking at. And if you want to know more about famous French luthier Jacobacci, you can check here.
NB: Please make sure you are reading this Guitarz post at guitarz.blogspot.com and not on a Scraper blog that copies posts without permission (and steals bandwidth) so as to profit from advertising. Please support original bloggers!
Vigier Marilyn
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A few posts ago we were shortly debating about our respective national guitars, so here comes one of the most noticeable French Guitars, the Vigier Marilyn (sorry for the bad picture).
Behind its obviously pointy look, associated with playing plenty of notes fast and loud, but with an elegance that you don't usually expect from hairy players, the Marilyn has a quite ergonomic design that makes it more than anecdotic.
Another guitar that I'd love to see in natural oiled finish!
Another guitar that I'd love to see in natural oiled finish!
bertram
NB: Please make sure you are reading this Guitarz post at guitarz.blogspot.com and not on a Scraper blog that copies posts without permission (and steals bandwidth) so as to profit from advertising. Please support original bloggers!
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