Guitar Blog

When Relics Go Bad ... (again)

gl.wilson@ntlworld.com (G L Wilson) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 18:02:00 +0000

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

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Bartoli!

realdancesupersentai@gmail.com (Bertram) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:55:00 +0000

guitarz.blogspot.com

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

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Vox Marauder

gl.wilson@ntlworld.com (G L Wilson) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:42:00 +0000

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

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Screaming Leaming Scorpion

gl.wilson@ntlworld.com (G L Wilson) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:37:00 +0000

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:

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ESP Devil Girl (slight return)

gl.wilson@ntlworld.com (G L Wilson) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 15:23:00 +0000

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

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ESP Star Turtle

gl.wilson@ntlworld.com (G L Wilson) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 19:41:00 +0000

guitarz.blogspot.com:
I guess you could call that a tortoiseshell finish!

It's an ESP Star Turtle Les Paul-style guitar and is apparently the signature guitar for Takamizawa of the Alfee (another Japanese band I've never heard of before).

G L Wilson

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Alvarez Dana Scoop

gl.wilson@ntlworld.com (G L Wilson) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 16:10:00 +0000

guitarz.blogspot.com:
I was beginning to think I'd dreamt this guitar years ago, because I've been trying to find a photo of one for years to put on this blog and could not find a trace of it. OK, it would have helped if I could have remembered the name of the instrument. I had it in mind it was something like an Aria; it seems that I got the initial letter correct, for it's an Alvarez Dana Scoop with a Modulus graphite neck, and was a model made between 1992 and 1995.

At the time this design was being hailed as the next big innovation in the world of guitars. And then it was never heard of again.

The lower cutaway of this could be described as extreme. The "scoop" cutaway actually extends beneath the strings at the top of the neck. (No room for a neck pickup, you'll notice.) It supposedly enhances the guitar's sustain and resonance properties, and eliminated phase cancellation between the neck and body resonance.

Personally, I would have thought a lot of those qualities could have been enhanced by the use of a graphite neck, rather than the eccentric body design.

I'd like to know where these guitars have been since the mid 1990s? Were they so embarrassing in appearance that they were hidden away never to be seen again?

G L Wilson

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Wandre Meazzi Hollywood - vintage Italian guitar with built-in amp

gl.wilson@ntlworld.com (G L Wilson) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:36:00 +0000

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Most of us have seen the Wandre Davioli Bikini guitar which has an amp and speaker pod attached to the body of the guitar. The Wandre Meazzi Hollywood (as pictured above), however, is a more conservative looking affair (for a Wandre, that is) and much more practical for playing purposes too than its ungainly sibling.

Unusually for a Wandre it appears to have a wooden neck instead of aluminium with bolted-on headstock. The pickup and pickguard are classic 1960s Italiana, crafted from thick plastic. Actually, if I'm not very much mistaken, the whole of the guitar's top looks to be moulded plastic. I also really like the exaggerated hourglass shape of this guitar.

I expect this was a budget model when compared to the Bikini, but it looks a lot more compact and practical. You wouldn't feel quite so silly with the Meazzi Hollywood strapped on.

G L Wilson

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500 Guitars now available for order on amazon.co.uk

gl.wilson@ntlworld.com (G L Wilson) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:41:00 +0000

guitarz.blogspot.com:

It's now available to order in the United Kingdom.

Here's the link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/500-Guitars-Sean-Egan/dp/0785826181/

If Sean Egan is a real person and not just a pseudonym, I hope he's feeling really ashamed of himself for having his name on something that he did not write. I don't see why he should get the credit for my hard work. I knew from the start I wasn't going to get any royalties for this work - it was a contracted job with a single payment, but I was still the writer of the piece and would like to have been acknowledged as such. I was never told that someone else was going to be getting the credit.

Sean - if you're looking in, would you like to explain yourself?

As to the publishers - if they're reading: thanks a bundle. How am I supposed to get myself further writing assignments off the back of this if it doesn't even have my name on it?

Perhaps I should just change my name to Sean Egan by deed poll.

G L Wilson

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Pelle's self-built oak guitar

gl.wilson@ntlworld.com (G L Wilson) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 13:18:00 +0000

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Guitarz reader, Pelle tells us about his self-built guitar:

My brother's friend lives out in the woods in Sweden, and after the Erwin storm in 2005, the 100 year old oak tree on his farm blew over. Anyway, he sawed the old tree down for firewood, but kept a few large planks. Since he knew of my interest in guitars and guitar building, he gave me a piece of it after it had dried about a year.

I've always loved the shape of Mosrite guitars, so I basically drew up the body shape. Since I'm a university student I haven't got a whole lot of money, so I basically looked in my box of old guitar pieces, and what I found was a Fender singlecoil, an Epiphone humbucker, and a Jackson J-style rail bass pickup.

Since I didn't put a single penny into this project I had nothing to lose with the bass pickup in a guitar, having no idea what it would sound like, especially with the oak body, since it's not the ideal wood to make guitars out of.

I knicked the BMW logo from an abandoned car, and the Heineken logo from the beer bottle I was drinking at the time mounting the tuners!

The sound? The singlecoil sounds quite bright and crisp, the HB is very warm and very loud. The bass pickup sounds (much to my surprise) incredible!, Nice warm tones, very jazzy-sounding!

I wish I could give you an audio example, but right now I'm not in possession of a worthy recording utility! sorry.

Oh, and the neck is like a baseball bat, when I have time I probably will reshape it.

Out of my collection of 25 guitars, this one ugly duckling is my main baby!

Pelle

Thanks for that! If any other readers have an interesting guitars they'd like to share with us (preferably unique instruments rather than off-the-shelf jobbies), then please email.

G L Wilson

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Esteban Bojorquez's The Vase

realdancesupersentai@gmail.com (Bertram) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 21:09:00 +0000

guitarz.blogspot.com

An other metal guitar - this one made of brass! - and another guitar about which I don't have much more to say than: 'waow!'

All I know about it is that it was made by californian artist Esteban Bojorquez and that he made many other ones - mostly lap-steels - as original as this one.

Really wonder how it sounds!

Guitar making is an endless creative quest for true believers!

bertram

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Loïc Le Pape Steelwave & Steel Falcon

realdancesupersentai@gmail.com (Bertram) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 10:20:00 +0000

guitarz.blogspot.com

Is it France's fate to provide guitars made of steel to baffled guitarists?

After the famous James Trussard , Loïc Le Pape now builds - or should I say forges? - shining monsters such as this Steelwave... When Trussard focuses on the same few standard models (like everybody else, actually), Le Pape proposes several classic guitars that really deserved to exist in steel version, a.o. the whole Gibson line with Explorer, Flying V, Firebird, SG, also different semi-hollow models like this Steel Falcon, or a beautifully engraved Rickenbacker 4001 (couldn't show everything here...)...

Not enough original models unfortunately, and too much of these outrageously relicked finishes, but most of these guitars are custom orders I guess, so Le Pape has to follow the trend, but I can imagine that his work will mature over time and the future promises even better guitars... Scary!

Steel guitars not only look cool, they're supposed to provide a terrific sound with ultimate rigidity and perfect sustain, resonance, and a very detailed sound... I hope that one day I can put my fingers on one of these!

Aaah, la France, ses camemberts, ses philosophes morts, ses guitares en acier...

bertram

Sanox!

realdancesupersentai@gmail.com (Bertram) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 00:19:00 +0000

guitarz.blogspot.com

A very short title indeed, since apart a few pics, I can find nothing about Sanox Sound Creator guitars on the Internet. When I google Sanox, the main information I can find is that our blogmaster here is the happy owner of a lucite Sanox and knows nothing about it - and that's more or less it...

Still, the two models here are quite noticeable - on basic Stratocaster and P-bass configurations, they show a proper combination of sobriety and creativity - I like them a lot I must say (though I'm more a humbucker guy).

bertram

THE UNBELIEVABLE TRUTH!!!

realdancesupersentai@gmail.com (Bertram) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 00:20:00 +0000

guitarz.blogspot.com

I couldn't believe my ears!

On the post about the Vox Starstream, you could see this scary photo of the Banana Splits (I was told that it's taken from a 70s children program, no wonder why the Brits ended up 30 years later having Tony Blair take them to war).

It reminded me of my favorite rock/children program (that I didn't see when I was a child, but later, as a support for diverse psychotropic investigations), Japanese anime Ai Shite Knight, so I searched YouTube to check if it was as bad as in my memory, and I found this video...

And what do you hear in the first seconds of the title song? The infamous riff Joe Satriani and Coldplay have been fighting about a few months ago!

So today we have the answer, Coldplay didn't copy Satriani, they both plagiarized this masterpiece of rock music, the title song of Ai Shite Knight (Japanese version)!

Merry Christmas

bertram

500 Guitars - on Amazon at last

gl.wilson@ntlworld.com (G L Wilson) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:33:00 +0000

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Well, this looks like the cover the publishers showed me back in June. The title and the cover are correct so I guess this must be the book that I wrote earlier this year.

I was told later on that my name probably wouldn't appear on the cover; I was contracted to write a book that was someone else's idea. However, I have no idea who this Sean Egan is that Amazon seems to think is the author. I wonder if he's just a made-up person that the publishers use for books written by "unknown" contracted authors. To be honest with you, I'm feeling pretty pissed that someone else's name might be appearing on my work.

Anyway, he didn't write it. I did.

If you enjoy this blog, then you'll most likely really like the book. It features a lot of guitars, many of which we have looked at here over the years, plus others that I've never gotten around to featuring here on the blog.

Pity it wasn't out in time for Christmas.

Buy it on Amazon.com. (Not sure when it's out in the UK yet).

G L Wilson

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Now, THIS ONE is the real "Dear Drooper" guitar!

gl.wilson@ntlworld.com (G L Wilson) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:43:00 +0000

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Isn't it?

It's a Vox Starstream V269 (check the photos on the eBay page - he's got the wrong model name in the text of the listing) and was made in 1967 by Eko in Italy. The guitar features two Ferro Sonic pick-ups, tremelo, built in E-tuner, distortion booster, treble and bass boost, Wah-Wah, and repeat, plus a padded cushion on the back.

The example pictured above is in NOS (new old stock) condition, having been discovered in its original case unopened in a warehouse in California.

The Buy It Now price is a staggering $9,995.00 (approximately £6,272.16), but then this is a vintage guitar in pristine "as new" condition.

Mind that kind of price makes the Kawai copies look all the more affordable.

Now, does anyone know what model Vox guitar it is that Fleagle plays?

G L Wilson

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Orpheus Violin Bass

gl.wilson@ntlworld.com (G L Wilson) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:49:00 +0000

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Last month we looked at an Art Deco finished Orpheus Hebros Bass and now I'd like to present for your viewing pleasure the Bulgarian take on the much imitated violin bass in the shape of this other Orpheus Bass.

Personally I am not usually a particular fan of violin-shaped guitar and basses, but this one I do find more appealing (aesthetically at least, I can't comment on what it might actually sound like). I like the pronounced lower bout, it lends the design an almost sci-fi element. No attempt to replicate a scroll-style headstock has been made, possibly just a stock neck was used, so we have a 4-in-a-line headstock style which further dilutes the violin aspect.

G L Wilson

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Martin Dixon Marquetry Strat

gl.wilson@ntlworld.com (G L Wilson) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:13:00 +0000

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Apologies for the quality of this photo. I have enhanced it because the original picture from the eBay auction page looked as if it was taken through a fog of pea soup.

This Strat-type guitar is a one-off featuring a top created using marquetry, which, if you don't know, is the craft of covering a structural carcass with pieces of veneer forming decorative patterns, designs or pictures (Wikipedia). It's similar to a mosaic, but in wood.

It was crafted by UK luthier Martin Dixon and you will see other marquetry guitars at his website. His guitar prices start at £950 ($1,425) so if this guitar appeals you could get a very good deal in this eBay auction.

G L Wilson

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Play that guitar, mouse man!

gl.wilson@ntlworld.com (G L Wilson) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 20:42:00 +0000

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I've been looking for this almost surreal clip ever since I first saw it on The Jack Docherty Show back in 1997. It's David Bowie performing "Scary Monsters" in a stripped down 4-piece band situation.

Kudos to Reeves Gabrels for being able to play the guitar in that mouse mask! As I remember it, the mouse costume had been featured in an un-related item earlier in the programme.

Anyone know what Parker Fly model it is that Gabrels is playing? Looks custom to me.

Watch the video here (embedding has been disabled so I can't link in the usual way).

G L Wilson

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Winston teardrop guitar

gl.wilson@ntlworld.com (G L Wilson) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:18:00 +0000

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This may not be a Vox original, but it's still quite a beauty. Made in Japan in the 1960s, this vintage Kawai teardrop copy carries the Winston brandname. This particular example has the rarer blonde finish as opposed to the more usual sunburst.

Apologies guys (or should I say "dudes"? I think there's an unwritten rule that guitarists have to address one another as "dude". But I digress...), I was meaning to show you this guitar before the eBay auction finished.

The guitar eventually sold for $537.77 (approximately £334.40) which is probably a fair price for such an instrument. I wonder how much a genuine Vox badged instrument (many of which were made by Eko in Italy) would fetch? Probably at least double that price. But would it be a better quality instrument? I doubt it.

The auction says the guitar is labelled as "Winston Brian Jones Original", but surely Brian Jones played a solid-bodied Vox teardrop finished in white. The only player who immediately springs to mind as someone who played a hollowbodied teardrop 6-string guitar was Drooper from The Banana Splits!

G L Wilson

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Maton BB1200 and Manson bass mandolin

realdancesupersentai@gmail.com (Bertram) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 05:06:00 +0000

guitarz.blogspot.com

On the previous post I put a link to a video to show Homme's Maton but this video was erased so I replaced it with another one from the same concert but with the BelAire...

So here is the Maton, and even better you can see John paul-Jones playing a Manson bass mandolin (I didn't even know bass mandolins existed until 30 minutes ago... If you'd asked me, I would have thought of the ENORMOUS contrabass balalaika I saw last week played by a Russian street band, not of rock legend playing progressive stoner rock...).

Anyway, you can read a good article about Hugh Manson's guitars making here.

bertram

60s Maton Big Ben Bass

realdancesupersentai@gmail.com (Bertram) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:52:00 +0000

guitarz.blogspot.com

I discovered recently a cool guitar website - for some reason another one from Oz (it seems that down there to is the right place where to combine guitar passion and Internet).

Being Australian, Guitarnerd released a few interesting posts about vintage Maton Guitars, the historical Australian guitar company (I was actually trying to know more about the guitar Josh Homme played with Them Crooked Vultures on a cool concert on French TV (you'll remember that I presented here his other favorite guitar, the BelAire MotorAve)).

The last post of Guitarnerd from which I borrowed this picture is about he Big Ben bass, that is one of the coolest thing I ever saw! I won't copy this post, so the best is that you go there and read it by yourselves...

bertram

1966 Murph "Squire" 12-string electric

gl.wilson@ntlworld.com (G L Wilson) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 00:01:00 +0000

guitarz.blogspot.com:
I can't say I've heard of the Murph brand of guitars before, but apparently they were made in San Fernando, California in the 1960s, and this example from 1966, a Murph 12-string "Squire" electric does look very very cool. Note the compact "Rickenbacker-style" 12-string headstock. Other than that, unfortunately, I'm not able to comment further on this guitar as I know nothing about it, but I thought you guys would like the see the pictures.

I guess that the Buy It Now price of US $1,500.00 (approximately £932.75) implies that this is a desirable guitar.

Post Script: Since posting the above I have found out via www.murphguitar.com that Murph Guitars founder Thomas ‘Pat’ Murphy passed away last month. I would like to express my condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.

G L Wilson

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Stiehler Guitars "Thunder-Backer" bass

gl.wilson@ntlworld.com (G L Wilson) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 19:22:00 +0000

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Built by luthier Bob Stiehler, the "Thunder-Backer" features a custom solid mahogany one-piece non-reverse Thunderbird-style body married to a Rickenbacker-style maple neck with ebony fingerboard and pearl inlay. It certainly makes for a very attractive looking bass.

See more at Christian Guitar Works.

Thanks to Jason Land for suggesting we include this bass here on Guitarz.

G L Wilson

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Jay Wasco's Egotar

realdancesupersentai@gmail.com (Bertram) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:37:00 +0000

guitarz.blogspot.com

I must admit that at first sight, it's difficult to take Jay Wasco's Egotar really serious - it looks like a punk noise prototype that is fun to build and fun to play, but you wouldn't expect from it high versatility and playability.

But then you look at the video down there and you realize that this guy knew what he was doing when he built it - and seriously knows what to do with it!

The Egotar includes an amazing innovation for slide guitar playing. This instrument is not new, and I'm surprise that this idea didn't take and that slide guitar players didn't jump on this system to expand their instruments (OK, when you play slide guitar you mostly want to sound old-timy bluesy but still...).

And there's much more where it comes from. Spend some time of Jay Wasco's site and you will discover some incredible instruments such as the fractal harp... Enjoy!

bertram