Guitar Info

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This is a Burns Magpie guitar from 1980. Apparently this is quite a rare model, and this one seems to be even rarer with its 6-on-one-side "Magpie" headstock; others I've seen pictured have the same 3+3 headstock design as the Burns Steer.

The seller tells us that:

The guitar sounds amazing. [The pickups] completely scream. So much attack, yet very full sounding. Great clarity and power.

Unfortunately I can't find out much else about this guitar. If anyone reading this has more info, please don't be shy in letting us know!

This guitar is currently up for auction on eBay. It had a starting price of £0.99 and the bidding has already begun. It'll be interesting to see what it sells for (so long as the reserve price is met).

For more about Burns see the excellent Burns Guitar Museum blog.

G L Wilson

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

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's an oddity that I've not seen before. It's a Gibson HG-20 from 1929, a 3/4 scale acoustic guitar with five soundholes. Apparently each of the four f-holes has its own chamber constructed within the guitar's body, giving the guitar its own unique voice. This guitar is currently being offered for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $1,900.

G L Wilson

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

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Guitarz reader Patrick Foss sent me these pictures of what looks like a Telecaster that has been assimilated and upgraded by the Borg from Star Trek. It's an Axxx Hotrod complete with both a B-Bender and a G-Bender, so should be able to manage comfortably with some decidedly non-futuristic country music, and is the product of veteran motorcycle builder Donnie Tate and infamous guitar guru Tim Wallis of Timara String Benders.

G L Wilson

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

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's a National Bel Aire from 1959 which may look strangely familiar to Gibson enthusiasts. Never mind the smokescreen provided by the triple pickups and myriad of controls, the body itself is identical to that of the Gibson ES-175 of the same era and indeed was made by Gibson for National.

This guitar is indeed a beauty, and is currently being offered for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $2,995.95. The seller has provided some very nice photos on the auction page, but I only wish there was one of the whole length of the instrument in one shot.

G L Wilson

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

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Ahhhh... now this one brings back some memories. It's a shortscale Shaftesbury bass, roughly modelled on the original slab-bodied Fender Precision/Fender Telecaster bass, and I guess it's from the mid 1970s.

I remember back in the early 1980s when I was first getting into starting bands with my mates and doing a spot of home recording on the then-new Fostex X15 multitrack cassette recorder; one day a couple of my friends came round wanting to record a demo. They brought a couple of cheap guitars with them. I don't remember what the six string was, but the bass was one of these. It was bad. I remember thinking it how dreadful it was. It was boomy, as you'd expect from a short-scale bass but I've played many that were streets ahead of this. I don't think the flat wound strings helped (I've never liked them and never will). I can't explain exactly what was wrong with it, just that it felt bad and it played bad. It was a cheap and nasty bass and performed accordingly.

This one on eBay UK has a starting price of £199. That is what I'd call seriously optimistic. Don't be fooled by the fact that this was "Made in Italy". It's not one of their finer moments.

G L Wilson

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

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Hello,

I love your blog. Here are some pictures of my Gibson Victory MVX guitar. It is from 1980. It weighs a ton but has a beautiful resonance to it. I think the shape is amazing and these could be reissued (probably in mahogany rather than solid hard rock maple (every part of it).

I changed the knobs to chicken-heads because I like those best—but it came with the usual Gibson speed knobs.

If you are interested there is more info and links on these at this site:
http://www.vintageguitars.org.uk/gibsonVictoryMVX.php

Thanks,

Erik in New York

Thanks Erik. We were recently discussing the Fender-esque designs of Gibson and its offshoot companies and I guess that the Victory series could be said to fall into this category, the doublecut body with offset horns being reminiscent of the Stratocaster. Also the pickguard shape, pickguard-mounted pickups and controls, triple pickups (even if the outer two are humbuckers allowing for more tonal options), headstock layout, etc. Of course the guitar has Gibson attributes too, most notably the 24 3/4" scale and the set neck. (Interestingly, the Victory basses were more Fender-like with bolt-on necks).

G L Wilson

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

guitarz.blogspot.com:

You only have to take one look at this guitar and you know straightaway that it's 1960s Japanese. It's a Kingston Swinger from 1967, and is currently being offered for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $499.95. I personally feel that's a tad optimistic for an old Teisco. Kingston was a brandname often applied to Teisco guitars, and the striped metal pickguard seen here is a dead giveaway as to the guitar's Teisco origins.

The seller comments that it "Has an unusual whammy/vibrato bar." Now, I'm not too well up on my old-fangled guitar hardware, so am not quite sure what the deal is here. To my eyes it looks as if there's something missing and perhaps there ought to be an arm and a spring maybe beneath that furled knob sticking out of the tailplate. Does anyone out there know what it should look like? I'd be surprised if that knob itself was the tremolo as the seller seems to be suggesting. Please forgive the gaping holes in my guitar knowledge here; as I've said before, I do not claim to be an expert and am learning all the time.

G L Wilson

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