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1980 MB Himmelschlüssel

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Another of these crazy German luthiers, like Basslab, Auerswald or Teuffel, MB was a short lived 80s small guitar company about which I cannot find much information - but that MB stands for Christian Müller and Roland Bauer, and that's it!

They conceived and released a few models based on this astounding design, and the main one was the Himmelschüssel (that you can translate by 'primrose' but means exactly 'key to heaven'). This guitar is not only rare because it's the first of the only 13 ever built, but for being issued from some designer's fantasy gone wild on the drawing board, and not being ridiculous once built! How many smart ideas in experimental guitar design went wrong? This design was actually made possible by the new technology of carbon fiber that arose in the early 80s - in this case combined with mahogany. 

This model was built for a famous German blues guitarist, and I always wonder why do people want new instruments to play old music! Look at all the demos on YouTube for high tech guitars like the Teuffel, the XOX or the Backlund, the players always go for old rock blues riffs and scales! Do Franck Zappa, Robert Fripp or Adrian Belew have no legacy?

Bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

12:50 AM | Labels: , , ,

Hagstrom Impala

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guitarz.blogspot.com:

Courtesy of John Beach via our Facebook page, this is a 1965 Hagstrom Impala, which together with the Corvette/Condor made up Hagstrom's professional series guitars. A total of 1039 Impalas were manufactured in Sweden between 63 and 67. A Corvette/Condor was recently listed for sale on E-bay for $5000.00.

More about vintage Hagstrom guitars here.

Additional: Just by chance, after I had made the above post, one of these just came up for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now of $1,195. I'll add some more photos to the comments below.

Additional #2: Now relisted with a starting price of $899.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

4:45 AM | Labels: ,

Fernandes Rieko and Maki Tele

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guitarz.blogspot.com:

Of the weird and wonderful guitars we showcase here on Guitarz, some which I enjoy the most are the often surreal (to us Westerners anyway) instruments associated with Japanese bands. This left-handed Tele-style guitar from Fernandes is adorned with photos of Rieko Miura and Maki Miyamae from J-Pop group Coco, who were active from 1989-1994.

I'm guessing this guitar was a souvenir item for sale to fans. I can't imagine it being used by the group in a live situation. I mean, who'd play a guitar with a picture of themself on it? It does beg the question, why are only two of the group featured on the guitar and were the other members represented on a different guitar? Also, as it is left-handed, was there also a right-handed guitar (surely?) and if so, how did the artwork differ or was it merely a mirror image?

Granted, this is an extremely cheesy guitar but one that I find fascinating.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

4:06 AM | Labels: , , , ,

Crimson 8-string fanned-fret guitar

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guitarz.blogspot.com:

I've been meaning to write about Crimson Guitars for ever. The guitars are painstakingly handcrafted by Ben Crowe and his trusty assistant Igor, and if you've ever had any interest in the construction procress then I recommend you follow the Crimson Guitars workshop diary on the website or alternatively on Facebook as Ben seemingly documents every step of the build for each guitar. They also produce their own hardware including tremolos, headless tuning systems, control knobs, bridges, etc, whilst pickups are often by Wizard, but of course they can be whatever the customer requires.

Past instruments have included those made from exquisite tonewoods with highly controured ergonomic bodies, touch style instruments, carved perspex guitars and basses, and clients include (appropriately enough) King Crimson's Robert Fripp and Charlie Jones, bassist with Robert Plant, Goldfrapp and Siouxsie Sioux.

This particular instrument is a fanned-fret multi-scale 8-string guitar which is suitable for touch-style playing. Crimson guitars are bespoke instruments built specifically to a customer's requirements, but they do produce the occasional stock instrument. I'm sure Ben won't mind me saying that this guitar, now being offered on eBay, only became available as a stock instrument because the customer changed his mind and decided he didn't like the slanted pickups. Unperterbed, Ben began the whole process again and built a second 8-string fan-fretted instrument for the customer. I have to say, the original that we see here with the slanted pickups looks much much better, but if the customer wants straight-aligned pickups that's what he gets!

If I ever come into money, my dream is to commision a Crimson guitar. I think they are so fantastic, I included two in the "500 Guitars" book.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

10:18 AM | Labels: , , , , ,

The Coolest Guitar Ever Built

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Bertram, remember in Crocodile Dundee, when he pulls out a big hunting knife and says "that's not a knife ? THIS is a knife"? Well, I say "That's not a sparkly retro guitar! THIS is a sparkly retro guitar!" In fact this is THE sparkliest retro-est guitar that wasn't made in the golden era of sparkly retro guitars.

This is the holy grail of any vintage guitar collector. This is the COOLEST guitar EVER built - EVER and it's on eBay at this very moment!

We usually think of Guyatone as a typical 60's brand (well, I do) but a quick Google will show that it's still alive and well and selling very expensive effects pedals. And, back in 1982 it was still making guitars.

Hang on, 1982 was the beginning of the era that brought us The SuperStrat, The Parker Fly, The Ibanez PointyThing, The Dean Dime-a-Dozen, The Jackson OMFG! and the original and super-est of SuperStrats - The Charvel. So what was this glittering, glamourous beauty doing being made amidst all those shredder-tastic, testosterone fuelled, dive-bomb-bombastic, cock-rock Phallocasters?

This guitar has an OMG! factor that is measured on the Richter scale. It is sparklier than Elton Johns underpants. It should have a 24 hour armed guard. It will melt your face off if you look at it with an impure heart.

This guitar anticipated the current nostalgia boom spearheaded by the likes of Eastwood and Italia by nearly 30 years and must have looked as out of place as EVH's logo guitar at Yngwie Johann Malmsteen's induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

If you're feeling blue, down in the dumps or just a little moody, get yourself over to eBay right now and scroll through the plethora of wonderful images that barely do justice to the majestic beauty of this oh-so-fine musical instrument and listen very carefully. You will hear, in the distance, the sweet singing of a heavenly choir and a herald of angelic trumpets and you will know you are in the presence of a rare treasure that is a privilege to behold.

Have a very nice day.

David in Heavenly Barcelona

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

9:49 PM | Labels: , , ,

Italia Maranello (lefty)

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Whenever I see an Italia guitar, I have the feeling that Trev Wilkinson who conceived them really did it for his own pleasure, and that it's kind of him to share...

Not a fan of sparkle finish but I have to admit that this lefty Italia Maranello has the chic of vintage Italian guitars from the 60s (even if this one is actually based of an Hagström model) plus for sure the qualities of modern guitar making (plus the innovative contribution of Mr Wilkinson's hardware...)

Or how to be both tinsel and elegant at the same time...

Bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

8:35 AM | Labels: , , ,

First Act Paul Westerberg Signature Guitar

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My second post of the morning - just a quickie.
Not going to say much as this Amazon customer review says it all...
"I first saw this guitar in a guitar magazine advert and thought it looked very cool. As it was an "Artist Signature" model I assumed it would be expensive and forgot about it. Some months later I happened across it on the Amazon site for $159, free shippng and thought it might be a diamond in the rough and ordered it immediately. Was very happy with it out of the box, very well made and a cool looker too! I confess I like this guitar so much I took it to my luthier and had him dress and polish the frets, set up intonation and put high end strings on it adding $60 to my cost. This is now my favorite guitar among several higher end instruments, very easy to play and sounds great through several different amps. Some might question the wisdom of spending $60 to set up a $159 guitar but even without the tweaking she is a sweet ride."
OK, "sweet rides" aside interesting eh? IT IS NOW ON AMAZON.COM at $84.99 NEW! and eBay for $75.99 NEW! That's €54 or £47 (plus shipping)

At the VERY LEAST this could be a nice little base for experimenting. It may even end up being todays Teisco of the future.

David in Chilly Barcelona


Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

1:30 AM | Labels: , , , ,

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