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Martinez Daytona Series DS-W

November 16, 2013, 10:00 am
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I have very scarce information about this Martinez Daytona DS-W - the brand seems to be the German distribution brand of a Chinese or Korean company, and though they mostly produce the usual copies of the 4 same models (like anybody else, also in Europe and the US, even the high-end brands), they happen to also release some rather eccentric models, though without any marketing support that would help their customers to pick their guitars over more secure brands... 

Don't get me wrong, I already stated here that the current Chinese clone cheapos are 100 times better than the plywood planks people bought in supermarkets in the 1960s/1970s, they are playable and sound something, and anyway a guitar is not a smartphone, you shouldn't get one if you're not ready to learn how to maintain and upgrade it like you'd do for a bicycle… A guitar always has something to teach you, believe me.


Anyway, this one is on the bizarre side, since it seems to be a hybrid acoustic/electric model with a piezo bridge pickup, probably thinline flat body, a blade humbucker in almost central position and a strange blobby pickguard (at first glimpse I thought it was an Egmond) with controls on the upper horn. The outline is nice, simple and balanced, with the minimum of personality needed, but the frontplate kind of spoils the guitar and makes wonder if the guys understand anything about guitar design... But then who would let such an instrument leave the factory if it's unplayable - these people know about business, don't they? 

Well I don't know about you, and what you think about this guitar, but I'm still waiting for the day when a Korean factory won't have to copy or hide behind a historical western company, they'll have the machines, the knowledge, the practice, the spirit, the designs, the entrepreneurial skills and we'll happily buy their instruments without any questions - or play on 2-strings cigar-boxes appalachian dulcimers...


Bertram D

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Unusual shaped 1930s Richter acoustic guitar offered for sale on Craiglist

November 17, 2013, 2:20 pm
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1970s LOTOS bass - made in Poland and styled after Hagstrom

November 18, 2013, 2:28 pm
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
You'd be forgiven for thinking on first sight that this was a Swedish-made Hagstrom bass, but it's actually a LOTOS made in Poland. Actually, the logo does look a little like "LOTOR" but I guess that could be a stylized lowercase letter "s". The seller tells us:
LOTOS 1972

Lotos was produced in Lubin (Poland) since 1968.

Before 1968 in Bydgoszcz (poland) since 1966.

This is first polish bass

Inspirated from HAGSTROM KENT
For more see: www.defil-vintage.pl/2013/10/lotos.html

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $349.

G L Wilson

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Kay Montclair Apollo

November 19, 2013, 8:54 am
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For a guitar lover, it's not unusual to be attracted to a vintage guitar for its mere cultural, historical or collectable value. Cult of the past is a trait shared by most human cultures, and all that is left to postmodernity is to finally exhaust itself by celebrating its own short history… 

But to me this Kay Montclair Apollo is appealing for its own sake, for its beautiful outline and the way all its elements balance each other. I don't know if the people who designed this kind of guitar were just brilliant or if my taste has been shaped by such instruments, but as an art and design enthusiast, I have no problem comparing it to most refined furniture one can admire in museums. It is based on the same feeling of pure outline - though this guitars's beauty doesn't come from sophisticated delicacy but honesty, ergonomics, constructivism and an acute sense of proportions and unity. I'd be curious to know where the anonymous guy who designed this curved pickguard got his skills.

Sometimes we're so used to these vintage guitars we enjoy so much that we don't really look at them, we're just reacting to their presence, but thanks to this good old Kay, I feel like watching again carefully every guitars I've been probably overlooking lately.

Bertram D

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Mystery semi-hollowbody electric guitar... Can anyone help identify?

November 20, 2013, 12:20 pm
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
Greetings,

I hope I'm not being too bothersome with this request, but I've come across your huge blogspot guitar repository and I'm having a bit of trouble identifying a particular guitar. I know these photos aren't much to go by; I was hoping you could perhaps shed some light about the make/model of the guitar. I would greatly appreciate any info.

Thanks, Tadej
Thanks for your email. The guitar looks to be a generic semi-hollowbody electric, although not styled too closely on the legendary Gibson 335 and similar models. Unfortunately I can't make out the name in red on the headstock. The headstock also has the "open book" silhouette which would have certain guitar aficionados screaming out "Law suit!" That ought to help someone out there to identify this guitar. Other than that, I'm afraid I cannot be any more help, but perhaps a reader out there might have some more information to share with us.
G L Wilson

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The Golden Guitar of Tampa Red - guest post by Kevin Clinton

November 22, 2013, 9:23 am
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guitarz.blogspot.com:

Despite the change in popular music over the last 100 years, one thing remains constant: we all crave a loud and flashy guitar. In the 1920s the loudest and flashiest guitars on earth came from the National String Instrument Corporation. National pioneered what is known as a ‘resonator guitar’, which utilizes a metal cone that sits under the strings and acts very much like a stereo speaker. The strings connect to the cone via a bridge. When the strings are played, the metal cone vibrates, moving air and amplifying the sound. The result is more volume, but also a completely distinct tone and timbre. In the days before amplifiers, the resonator was the only way for a guitarist to compete with horns and drums in a jazz or brass band and get a piece of the spotlight.

National made not only the loudest, but the most beautiful and elegant guitars of the day. Their metal body guitars were plated in brilliant chrome and nickel and inlaid with extravagant scrolls and floral patterns. Amongst these visual juggurants, one guitar stood out above all the rest: the Gold Plated Style 4 Spanish Tricone made for blues guitarist Tampa Red.

Tampa Red was one of the most prolific early blues artists of the 20s and 30s, recording over 300 tracks throughout his career. In 1928, the first year that Nationals were available, he bought the gold plated guitar. He soon became known as ‘The Man with the Golden Guitar’. The Style 4 was the most intricate and elaborate model that National produced, hand engraved with chrysanthemum carvings, a celluloid mother-of-pearl headstock and diamond shaped fret markers.
photo credit: Oklahoma Gazette
The tri-cone design featured three smaller resonator cones that were linked by a ‘T’ shaped bar, rather than the more popular and lower priced single cone models. The tri-cone was more difficult and expensive to build, but produced a more sophisticated tone with richer sustain. Apparently only one other golden Style 4 National was ever produced.

Unfortunately, Tampa Red’s career slowed down in the 1950s, he turned to drinking, and died destitute in Chicago in 1981. Rumor has it the guitar was stolen decades before and resided for half a century in a chicken coop. One day, in 1994, a woman walked into a Ray Clemon’s guitar store in Belleville, Illinois looking to sell a beat up and corroded old metal guitar that had the words ‘Tampa Red’ legible on it. After a cleanup and confirmation of its authenticity, the guitar eventually sold to the Experience Music Project in Seattle for $85,000.

While today resonator guitars are synonymous with the blues, in the 1920s and 30s they were the province of sophisticated big bands and far beyond the reach of most African American musicians. Tampa Red became the first black artist to record with a National guitar, and more or less invented the style of ‘bottleneck’ slide guitar that has shaped modern rock and roll. His Style 4 National has been called one of the most influential guitars in American history.

About the Author: Kevin Clinton writes for ResonatorGuitarGuide.com, an online hub run by musicians that covers information, reviews and tips and tricks for purchasing and playing a National, Dobro, Regal or other resonator guitars.

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An inexplicably Stratty Explorery thing

November 24, 2013, 12:18 pm
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Did you ever stop to wonder what the bastard offspring arising from the union of a Fender Stratocaster and a Gibson Explorer might look like? No, I can't say that I did either. However, if this is a question you have pondered upon, then ponder no more and feast your eyes upon this Field Unique Metal Axe... at least that's the name that Cologne's now legendary (for all the wrong reasons) Music Outlet Shop have listed it under. Knowing their inflated prices it is worth a fraction of the Buy It Now price of €550.

G L Wilson

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Very cool Millimetric Bass inspired by Travis Bean

November 25, 2013, 3:45 pm
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
Florian Schneider (not to be confused with the other Florian Schneider) is a luthier currently living in Montreal, who builds really beautifully designed and handmade guitars and basses under the Millimetric name (we previously looked at a couple of examples in this blog post). Here we see pictures of one of his very latest builds: it's a bass guitar which incorporates an unusual method of construction in that the neck is mounted and bolted into a neck pocket on the rear of the body and which extends beneath the pickups and the bridge.

You'll notice that the strings are mounted through the body and that they pass through the tongue of the neck which must increase the tension in the neck pocket and, I'd imagine, the sustain of the instrument. Schneider readily admits that he borrowed this construction method from the now legendary Travis Bean guitars and basses, although of course his necks are carved from wood rather than being cast in aluminium.

G L Wilson

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Objects of Desire: 1968 Hagstrom Viking II - just like Elvis's

November 27, 2013, 3:05 pm
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
I'm not a particular fan of Elvis Presley, but the Hagstrom Viking II in bold red finish and with the Fender-style 6-in-a-line headstock is a guitar that I would love to own; it's just one of those really iconic guitars.

Although famous as the guitar Elvis played in his '68 Comeback Special, the guitar didn't even belong to Elvis. It actually was the property of Al Casey, guitarist in the orchestra working on the TV show for N.B.C. Television, and it was chosen more or less as a prop for Presley because it looked cool.

This particular example pictured above is currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $999, although it would benefit from with some restoration as it has various cracks, and places where the binding and fingerboard position markers are missing.

G L Wilson

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1976 Guild Model B-50 NT acoustic bass guitar

November 28, 2013, 1:35 pm
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guitarz.blogspot.com:

I've pondered before as to what may have been the earliest production model of an acoustic bass guitar. This Guild Model B-50 NT probably comes close as being one of the first. This example was built in 1976 so it is certainly contemporaneous to the Ernie Ball Earthwood acoustic bass which was in production from 1975 to 1985. Modern bass players who like playing high up the neck might not be too impressed that the neck meets the body at the 14th fret, but the Ernie Ball was worse with the neck/body junction at the 12th fret. Like the Ernie Ball, the Guild B-50 NT has a huge body ideal for recreating those string bass tones; the body depth is a whopping six inches! These earliest of acoustic basses were built purely as acoustic instruments and did not require on-board electronics so as to be heard above other acoustic instruments, unlike the majority of acoustic basses in production today.

Currently listed on eBay, this is a whopping bass with a whopping Buy It Now price of $2,295.

G L Wilson

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Check out the Hammer Jammer from Big Walnut Music

November 29, 2013, 10:53 am
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The Hammer Jammer from Big Walnut Music is certainly one of the most interesting guitar add-ons I've seen in a while. As to what it does, the clue is in the name; it more or less converts your guitar into a hammer dulcimer, adding a whole new palette of sounds to the instrument. I think the above video illustrates quite nicely what it's all about.

G L Wilson

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1960s Italian-made Eko doubleneck guitar and bass

December 1, 2013, 3:10 pm
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Our friend Eric Geevers recommended that we take a look at this Eko doubleneck guitar and bass listed on a Dutch auction site. It's not a model I've ever seen before, but then when it comes to manufacturers like Eko, nothing surprises me any more.

I understand that it might well be desirable to have a more compact body on a doublenecked guitar, but I can't help but think that this particular instrument must be ever so neck heavy. Note the positioning of the strap buttons between the necks and below the lower guitar neck - probably an attempt to compensate for the neck heaviness. Also not that because the guitar and bass are of different scale lengths and the headstocks are raked back, that the two headstocks actually overlap one another; the effect isn't displeasing.

From what I can make out the current high bid is €1000.

G L Wilson

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Hallmark Stradette Custom - the lovechild of Stradivarius and Mosrite!

December 2, 2013, 3:31 pm
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
Damn! This guitar is just so cool. We've featured Hallmark guitars before, and they are always worth a good look at because their designs are rather eye-catching. This one is a Hallmark Stradette Custom and it looks like the lovechild of a Stradivarius violin and a Mosrite electric guitar. It features a thinline double-cutaway body with an arched maple top and back; a solid center block of seasoned hardwood to minimize feedback and provides sustain; and two wide range high output pickups with individual volume and tone controls. Available from Hallmark Guitars for $1199.

G L Wilson

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Ibanez Artcore Talman FTM60

December 3, 2013, 10:23 am
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Another Talman variation in a long series, here is the thinline Ibanez Talman FTM60 in sea foam green finish and perloid pickguard, without the trademark Talman control plate but with a massive bridge that I never saw before on this model. The pickups are retrofit P94.

And like usually I this that this guitar is really a classic and I wonder why it's not built anymore… 

Bertram D

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1984 Yamaha SG 1000 XU red & white striped and locking trem equipped

December 4, 2013, 1:49 pm
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
The Yamaha SG1000 features the most familiar guitar body shape to have been produced by that company. The SG1000 was designed as a rockier sibling to the SG2000, a guitar built with sustain uppermost in mind and as used by Carlos Santana. These guitars used the tried and trusted Les Paul recipe of a set neck on a mahogany body with a carved maple top, but aficionados will claim they are Les Paul killers.

However, the Yamaha SG1000 XU shown here is a variation on a theme. Note that it dates to 1984 - that is probably very relevant given that it was the era of hair metal and that whole phase of rock music getting widdlier and widdlier. The SG100XU is fitted with a locking tremolo and locking nut - they look to be proprietary units - note that there is a spring cavity on the rear of the guitar, a la Strat, and the trem block is clearly visible.

The other main design departure here is the minimised almost Brian May-like headstock, which to my eyes looks a little out of place on this guitar. Of course the most in-your-face striking feature about the guitar is the red and white striped graphic finish. Note the triangular inlays on the fingerboard which echo the chevron shapes on the body, and also the alternate colours of the pickup bobbins.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $2,995.

G L Wilson

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Rare Augustino LoPrinzi Custom Nova classical guitar with Thurman multi-dimensional sound ports

December 6, 2013, 3:52 pm
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
Here's an intriguing classical guitar design that recently turned up for sale on Craigslist with an asking price of $1650. It's an Augustino LoPrinzi Custom Nova, a model that I had written about fleetingly in the very early days of this blog, but which I can no longer find mentioned on the Augusto LoPrinzi website. (Maybe the website is out of date, or perhaps this guitar is a discontinued model).

Most strikingly the guitar features "Thurman multi-dimnensional sound ports" which allegedly are extremely beneficial to the sound of the guitar and also function as cutaways allowing easier access to the top of the neck. Indeed, from the front, the guitar has a double cutaway appearance, but it actually has a full classical body. The same soundports were also used on Clearport guitars, but their website is no longer available, so I assume the same applies to their guitars.

G L Wilson

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Meazzi Hollywood Old Jazz

December 7, 2013, 4:43 pm
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Very classic or really bizarre? A thinline body with very elegant outline and a big round soundhole combined with two typically Meazzi gold foil pickups, that's the Meazzi Old Jazz.

Belonging to the Hollywood series, it's been built between 1963 and 1960 in Milan, where the company was set, at the difference of most guitar Italian companies in the 1960s like Eko that were in Castelfidardo.

Bertram D

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A couple of (probably) Japanese guitars to identify... Any ideas out there?

December 9, 2013, 3:05 pm
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Hello Gavin! I am Bruno form Valencia (Spain).

I'm a huge fan of your blog, I think that you and the other members are doing a fantastic work. Just wanted to ask you about two guitars which I can't figure the brand or model, first one, I was watching a video of a rather known garage band from Spain, called Doctor Explosion, I recognised the bass as a mustang Fender (I think), but the guitar is completely unknown to me, it kinda looks like a japanese guitar with a Mosrite vibe, but honestly I can't tell, I wonder if you or your mates have ever seen something like this (I find it really cool).
I also wanted to tell you about a guitar I recently bought form ebay, the seller claims it is a 24' scale Teisco, but I can't see no evidence, there is no brand name or serial number on the guitar... I send you a couple of photograph, I don't konw if you can identify the guitar, but if you or any of the blog readers could tell me the year or brand, I would be really grateful.

And that's it, thank you very much!

Bruno.
Hey Bruno, the Doctor Explosion guitar looks like a Mosrite-inspired 1960s-era Japanese guitar, possibly a Tokai Gakki Hummingbird or similar. There were several variants. Mosrite styled guitars were very popular in Japan following the success of instrumental band The Ventures in that country. The bass in the video, by the way, is actually a Fender Musicmaster Bass.

As to your other guitar, I'd say it was 1960s/70s Japanese, possibly Teisco, but also quite possibly another manufacturer. It's not one I personally can identify conclusively; maybe the Guitarz readership will be able to help?

G L Wilson

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Moniker Guitars auctioning guitars to benefit Austin Music Foundation

December 10, 2013, 2:47 pm
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Moniker Guitars of Austin, Texas, are auctioning a whole bunch of their guitars featuring artwork by various locally-based artists in order to raise money for the Austin Music Foundation (AMF). Auctions end December 15. For further information and to see the guitars being auctioned, see here.

G L Wilson

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Joe Pass plays the Fender Jaguar

December 11, 2013, 7:01 am
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When we think of the Fender Jazzmaster and Jaguar guitars we often associate them with surf and "alternative" rock music, the likes of Sonic Youth, etc. But of course, they were originally conceived by Fender as jazz guitars. Perhaps the styling was too modern to appeal to most jazz players, but as you can see and hear in the above video clip Joe Pass certainly gave the Jaguar a good try out.

G L Wilson

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