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Proof that it really exists! The LaBaye 2x4 LONGSCALE bass...

July 12, 2013, 11:42 am
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
Now here's a bass that was only ever rumoured to exist; it's a longscale version of the now legendary LaBaye 2x4 bass. I'm so excited to have found proof that it actually does exist. Legend has it that one "one or two" were made, most of the 2x4 basses being very short scale.

We've previously looked at the LaBaye shortscale bass here and the six string guitar here and here.

The LaBaye 2x4 guitars and basses were a relation of the Wurlitzer-branded guitars, built in the same Holman-Woodell factory in Neodesha, Kansas in 1967, .

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $4,500.

EDIT: Re-listed with a Buy It Now price of $3,500 (14 July 2013)

G L Wilson

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So... the LaBaye 2x4 longscale bass - is it really as rare as we thought?

July 12, 2013, 2:06 pm
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Well, that was a pretty weird coincidence... Earlier today I posted about the supposedly super-rare LaBaye 2x4 longscale bass, then today I check eBay and - Lo! and behold! There'sanother onefor sale on there! This example, in natural finish, has a Buy It Now price of $2,500 which is $2,000 less than the first example we looked at. In this instance the seller claims that there were only 45 examples made, which although a low quantity is considerably more than the lone two examples that we have previously been led to believe were built. Having said that, the seller of THIS 2x4 bass does not say if those 45 were all long scale (31" apparently) or if that figure includes the more commonly seen short scale basses. However, IF the latter were true, and there were only TWO of these basses made in longscale format, how weird would that be if BOTH of them were listed on eBay within days of one another?

Does anyone out there have a more complete and accurate picture of what the truth was regarding how many LaBaye 2x4s were made?

G L Wilson

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1960s vintage Hungarian-made Moni Bassus bass guitar with tremolo!

July 13, 2013, 2:03 am
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
This 1960s vintage Moni Bassus bass guitar is an exceedingly interesting piece - I swear I performed a silent movie style double take when I first saw it on eBay last night. The seller tells us that:
The bass is from 1960s years, manufactured in the late communist Hungary, made by the Instrument Factory of Szeged /Szegedi Hangszergyár/.

This bass is truly rare, even in Hungary there are only a few, and those by real collectors, because this bass and the very similar Moni Solo guitar were made only in the 60s years, and since then many of them were destroyed. Some are on the opinion that the Moni guitars aren't that good quality, but I don't think that's true. Indeed, these guitars don't reach the quality of the Gibson and Fender guitars of the same age, but these are very unique sounding instruments that should have their place in people's collections, who appreciate the old guitars that were made in low quantity.

The bass looks like a solid body, but in reality it's a hollow, you can see it in the photos where the inside of the guitar is visible. The original label is inside the guitar, too, it's the number 74 bass, so it means it was one of the first basses made.
However, the seller manages to somehow neglect to mention the one major thing that makes this bass so interesting (well, to me at least). That is, it has a tremolo arm! Outside of the Fender Bass VIand its imitators such as the Teisco TB-64, I am not aware of any conventional (i.e. FOUR-string) bass guitar to feature a tremolo before Kahler introduced a bass trem system in the 1980s. If any Guitarz readers know of any other examples, please let us know via the comments below!



Here we see a close-up of the tremolo - it all looks very hand-made.

As the seller points out, what looks like a solidbody instrument is actually quite hollow. Note also the unusual layout of the tuners on the headstock - the way they are spaced it looks like there's room for two more nearer the top of the headstock. Perhaps the same neck blank was used on six string guitars. (I'm not certain of the scale length, but it does look quite short).

The design does seem to ape certain Italian-made Eko instruments of the same era, what with the rear cutaway and the MOTO pickguard.

This bass is currently being auctioned on eBay with a starting price of $169.

G L Wilson

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Jef shows us his self-built Thinline

July 14, 2013, 12:14 pm
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Here's an email I received this morning:
My name is Jef, I live in south west of France, near Toulouse. Here are some pictures of a guitar that I made with many parts recovered: neck, pickups, Japanese (Teisco?) I think. The "hand-made"body (sort of "thinline") is made of plywood (I assume!), the neck being in poor condition, so I began my first refrettage and a first attempt, it's not so bad ...

There's also a cheap "badass wraparound" find on ebay, and copies of Kluson tuners...

She's not very easy to play, but it's my guitar!

Thanks for your great blog...and sorry for my bad english....

Jef
Thanks for sharing with us. We always like to see readers' original guitars. That's quite a classic look you've got there. It has a vintage Kay/Danelectro vibe but with the modern twist of an upsidedown headstock.

G L Wilson

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Python-shaped guitar for snake lovers

July 15, 2013, 2:49 pm
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Whilst this python guitar isn't something that appeals to me personally, even I have to admit that the creators, Xentric guitars, have done a first class finishing job on it. As to how it actually plays, I couldn't comment. And at least the snake theme isn't such an appalling cliché in hobnailed boots as a guitar with skulls all over it.

As you can see it's very smooth and shiny... possibly a little too glossy?

It's a pity about the generic Strat-type neck. It would have been nice if the headstock design could have continued the snake motif in some way. Also, as such a lot of work has obviously been put into this guitar, it amazes me that the string ends haven't been clipped up at the tuners. They've gone to the bother of fitting coloured strings, so I'd have thought that presentation was an issue.

Currently listed on eBay with a starting price of $999.95.

Why've I got that Motörhead song "Love Me Like A Reptile" going through my head?

G L Wilson

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Jansen Victor (Black Swan?) electric guitar from New Zealand circa 1960-61

July 16, 2013, 2:59 pm
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
Here's an email I received earlier today from Steve:
Hi Gavin, I was doing some research on Jansen electric guitars because my Father owns one and saw your post on Jansen Invaders - then I spent too much time reading random interesting posts on other guitars - you have a great blog.

Anyway - I thought this might interest some of your readers:

Dad passed away recently from a rare cancer, and while cleaning out his garage I came across the old Jansen again. I remember stripping the electrics from it for him about 25 years ago so he could have it repainted so I know he's owned it at least that long - of its previous history though, I don't know anything unfortunately.

I found it in the garage in the condition you see it in now - the paint job was a shocker and it is all lifting off again. But it looks to pre-date the Invader series of guitars (My friend has a 12-string Invader which I used to play it when I was younger).

Anyway, I have a lot of his stuff to work through, and I really only play acoustic myself. I'm also not really skilled enough to restore this to the condition it really should be in so I have decided to put it up for sale, and hopefully someone who has the time, patience and skill can do it justice.

Anyway, thanks for a great blog - I'm looking forward to reading more of it

Cheers

Steve D
New Zealand
Hi Steve, thanks for sharing your photos of your father's Jansen with us. On theJansen Guitars fan page on FaceBook there are plenty of photos of various Jansens including a Jansen White Swan II from 1961 which looks very much like your guitar. Actually, the name given on the FaceBook fan page is "Jansen White Swan II (Victor)", so maybe Victor is the actual model name and "White Swan" may refer to the the finish on that particular example. They also have photos of a similar guitar in a blue finish (Victor "Blue Swan") with comments that it is from 1960 and is the first of the Jansen range. Perhaps you should get in touch with these guys for some further info. It looks like you may have quite a rare guitar there!

G L Wilson

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Soviet-era Russian-made vintage Odessa electric guitar

July 18, 2013, 1:42 pm
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
Design-wise I really like this vintage Russian Odessa electric guitar. (Unfortunately the design is all I can comment on, because without actually buying it I have no way of telling how it sounds or what it plays like.) The outline owes more than a little to Fender's Jazzmaster and Jaguar guitars, whilst the angular pickguard allows for a touch of originality. As for the finish, that has to be one of the severest sunburst finishes I've ever seen having no gradual fade between the constituent colours. Note that the sunburst finish is also applied to the headstock.

The pickup switching looks to be quite comprehensive, although it's hard to tell here whether these switches are all original - I'm thinking that the innermost 5-way toggle may be a later add-on even though the seller claims that "All parts are original". If all parts are original including those exposed coil zebra humbuckers, then I'd say that the guitar has a very 1980s vibe to it.

I'm pretty sure the rather individual tuners are original though - note the cover for all six gears on the back of the headstock.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $299. Item located in Ukraine.

G L Wilson

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Supposedly ultra-rare Burns Flyte guitar in red finish... original or refinish?

July 19, 2013, 2:43 pm
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
I hope that regular readers will forgive me for returning yet again to one of my favourite guitars. Of course we all have our favourites; mine include the Ovation Breadwinner, the Yamaha SG-2 and SG-3, and - the guitar we are looking at here - the Burns Flyte.

In 1965 Jim Burns sold the original Burns guitar line, that is Burns London Ltd, to the Baldwin Piano and Organ Company of Cincinnati who soon re-branded the guitars with the Baldwin name before discontinuing the line in 1970. Jim Burns bounced back in 1974 with Burns UK, and one of this company's most recognisable guitars was the futuristic looking Burns Flyte, styled after the British/French supersonic airliner Concorde and originally to have been named the same.

I've seen Flytes in silver and natural finishes before, but never before a red example like this Flyte currently listed on eBay in Germany. The lack of a Burns logo or Flyte legend do make me wonder if this red Flyte may be a refinish job, but the eBay seller seems to be implying that it is original when making the statement:
one of a kind, 1975 handmade in England for guitar trade show
...which isn't to say that it hasn't been re-finished. I should imagine that it would be important for any guitar made for a tradeshow to have the company logo on it at least.

Whilst I'm in a questioning frame of mind, I often see quoted that the Burns Flyte was played by Marc Bolan of T Rex and Dave Hill of Slade; we know that Bolan did indeed play a Flyte - there is plenty of photographic evidence - however, I have never seen a photo or footage of Slade with such a guitar. I remember going through a rather exhaustive (now defunct) website detailing all the guitars used by Slade and never saw the Flyte listed there either. Do any of our readers know if Dave Hill or ANY of the members of Slade ever played a Flyte?

Anyway, the red Burns Flyte pictured above is currently listed on eBay Germany with a Buy It Now price of €1444.

G L Wilson

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RP Custom Guitars Roach-o-caster acrylic-bodied guitar complete with entombed cockroach

July 21, 2013, 3:19 am
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
I think the photos of this acrylic-bodied "Roach-o-caster" electric guitar from RP Custom Guitars of Los Angeles say it all. We've looked at a number of see-thru acrylic-bodied guitars before, but the big difference with the Roach-o-caster is that it comes with its own entombed insect cast inside the acrylic body. I don't know about you, but I can't say that I'm too comfortable with the morality or ethics of putting dead bodies of living creatures into a musical instrument, even if it is something as frequently reviled as a cockroach (although I am told that they make very nice pets). The question is, was it already dead when it was put in? I certainly hope so. Even then, there's something quite ghoulish about it.

This guitar, currently located in Berlin, is now listed on eBay.de with a But It Now price of €899.

G L Wilson

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A gumby-shaped DIY furry guitar currently listed on eBay UK

July 22, 2013, 1:59 pm
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
I'm trying to work out quite what the original body shape is beneath all that fur fabric on this self-made fluffy guitar currently listed on eBay UK. Despite the Telecaster hardware, the shape now appears to be "gumby"-like.

I'm not really sure who it's supposed to appeal to. Perhaps a glam-rock covers party band? Or a Wombles or Banana Splits tribute band maybe?

Currently listed on eBay UK with a Buy It Now price of £220.

G L Wilson

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"The Handle" (rough) copy guitar on a Dutch auction site

July 23, 2013, 1:50 pm
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Now here's quite a curious guitar currently listed on a Dutch auction site priced at €250,00. Of course, the holey shape makes much more sense when you realise that the entire design has been copied from the fantastic XOX Audio Tools "The Handle" which is a guitar I have been coveting now for several years. Bear in mind, of course, that the XOX Handle is a cutting edge technologically advanced guitar made from carbon fibre with a hollow tube body, whereas this guitar on the Dutch site is merely a cheap approximation of the same shape made in Taiwan. Oh, and it has Wilkinson pickups too and dolphin inlays on the fingerboard (quite what the relevance is, I do not know). The body finish is unusual, I'm guessing it's supposed to suggest that the body is made from marble but even without seeing this guitar in the flesh I can 99.9% guarantee that it's made entirely from wood. If the body were made from stone, you think the seller might mention it. And can you imagine how heavy such a guitar would be, even with the holes in the body?

Thanks to Eric for bringing this guitar to my attention.

G L Wilson

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One-off handmade guitar with a Love and Rockets theme

July 24, 2013, 2:05 pm
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Far be it for me to decry the handiwork of those who are talented enough to build their own guitars from scratch - I'm quite sure I couldn't do it - but even having said that, I have to comment that this strangely-shaped hand-built Love and Rockets-themed guitar is quite an oddity. The set neck construction, inlay work, and high quality of the finish are all evidence that this guitar was built by someone comfortable with working with wood (apparently one Stephen Sidney Johnson, brother of the eBay seller). However, the design of the guitar is quite curious in places, particularly the almost buttock-like rear-end and one of the very weirdest headstock shapes I have ever seen - rocket-shaped, I presume. The neck is also bizarre in that it appears to be parallel along its length in these photos. It also has no volume and tone controls - just a jack output from the lone humbucker. Whether this guitar is homage to Love and Rockets the comic or the band (or even some other reference that I am unaware of), I do not know.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of £4,000, which, sadly, I think may be optimistic. I am sure that this may have been a real labour of love for its creator, but I cannot imagine it selling for anything remotely approaching this sum.

G L Wilson

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From Germany of the 1970s - the Hoyer 50603

July 25, 2013, 1:46 pm
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
This 1970s German-made Hoyer 50603 has a body shape strangely reminiscent of certain Guild guitars (e.g. this one), and is one of those designs that I look at and say to myself, "Is it ugly? Is it attractive? I can't decide!"

The guitar features a pair of DiMarzio Super Distortion humbuckers (as was fashionable at the time) with a volume and tone control for each and a pair of switches, one of which will be the pickup selector, but as for the other... Anyone out there know? Coil top or phase inversion, maybe?

This guitar is currently located in Berlin, and is listed on eBay.de with a Buy It Now price of €799.

G L Wilson

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Born Custom Guitars OG-Drop solidbody electric guitar with Pistachio top

July 26, 2013, 1:58 pm
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
Of course, here at Guitarz we don't just focus on weird and wonderful guitar finds on the auction sites. We're guitar aficionados and besides all the weird and wonderful guitars, vintage instruments, beautiful - or even occasionally horrendous - guitars, we are very keen to celebrate contemporary guitar design, and we have a particular fondness for the "little guy", i.e. the small guitar companies out there who are keeping the spirit of experimentation and guitar design alive. The guitar pictured here is a case in point, an experimentation in the use of an alternative and rather unusual tonewood. I'll allow Campbell Davis of Born Custom Guitars to explain:
We (Born Custom Guitars) are a new and small company located in Colorado. We're all big fans (all three of us!) of your blog, and we wanted to share a guitar that we recently completed that we feel is pretty unique. As a company, we love traditional tone woods, but we also really like experimenting with and promoting alternative tone woods. In either case, we use only salvaged, reclaimed, or sustainably sourced woods.

The guitar seen in the attached photos and video is our "OG-Drop" model. This particular guitar sports a Port Orford Cedar body and neck, Granadillo fretboard, and a Pistachio top…that's right, Pistachio! Pistachio trees are grown commercially for their nuts, but are only commercially productive for 50-80 years. After that point, they are usually chipped/scrapped, despite the fact that they can often live up to 200 years. The Pistachio top on this guitar was salvaged from a farm in California before it was scrapped. Pistachio is very heavy, hard, and dense and pairs very well with the lightweight and airy Port Orford Cedar (POC). The POC neck and body originate from a southern Oregon forest that was almost completely destroyed by a 500,000 acre fire a little more than a decade ago. The fire left many dead but harvestable trees. POC is really lightweight but incredibly straight grained and stable and we've found it to be an excellent alternative for Maple necks.
Thanks to the guys at Born Custom Guitars for showing us this beauty. I personally think it looks quite stunning, and as the video demonstrates it sounds sweet too!

G L Wilson

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Morbidoni Diamond Wildcat

July 28, 2013, 8:28 am
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Diamond was an US export brand of Italian guitar company Morbidoni, one of many companies based in Castelfidardo in central Italia near the Adriatic sea, once the world capital of accordion making, that turned to guitar making in the 1960s (we heard this story already, it happened also in Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands...) 

The Wildcat model is less known and less well designed than the Ranger, but it still has big square plastic switches, and that's what we love in Italian vintage guitars!

Bertram D

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Can you identify the mysterious Outlook guitar?

July 28, 2013, 1:22 pm
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
Guitarz reader Julian writes:
Ok, so curiosity has gotten the better of me here. For a few days I saw the guitar on the Hotmail login page and wondered what it was but didn't attempt to find out, but now I can no longer hold in that desire. So I was wondering whether you or any of the viewers of the blog might be able identify the guitar (photo attached)?

Many thanks, and keep up the great work on the ever interesting blog!
Thanks for that, Julian. That guitar does look strangely familiar; I have the sneaking suspicion that we may even have featured it on the blog at some point, but short of trawling our entire archives nothing is jogging the old memory, I'm afraid.

Do any of our other readers have any clues as to what this mystery guitar might be?

G L Wilson

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Westone Corsair Classic - a Sid Poole-designed beauty

July 30, 2013, 2:59 pm
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guitarz.blogspot.com:

I really like the design of this Westone Corsair Classic, it looks almost as if a Fender Stratocaster has been given the Gibson Junior treatment. Or perhaps a slightly offset version of Fender's Lead series guitars.

Of course this is one of the Sid Poole designed Prestige-series Westones built in the UK by the makers of the Status Graphite bass. It's virtually identical to the Westone Cutlass which differs only in pickup configuration.

This guitar is currently listed on eBay UK with a wholly reasonable Buy It Now price of £400. Alas, the seller specifies collection in person, which is quite a bummer if the prospective buyer is not within easy travelling distance of Swindon in Wiltshire, and is also peculiar given that the guitar comes in a hard case which looks like it'd easily provide adequate protection against the rigours of being sent by courier.

G L Wilson

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1966/67 Kalamazoo KB1 entry-level bass guitar made by Gibson

July 31, 2013, 2:37 pm
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
Blake writes:
I came across this on a local craig's list post in Michigan. I thought you might be interested. Keep up the good work!

http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/msg/3964178634.html
Thanks for that, Blake. I'll just borrow some text from the listing that is quite informative about these instruments:
The Kalamazoo bass, or KB (sometimes referred to as KB1), arrived in 1966, as a companion model to two Kalamazoo KG guitars that had been launched a year earlier.

Modern styling in solid-body 4-string bass that offers full, true bass tones in a sleek, rugged economically priced instrument. With one pickup of extremely powerful design and full volume and tone control, the Kalamazoo Bass creates the full driving bass sound that sells a combo.

The vintage Kalamazoo-brand bass guitars are perhaps not that well known outside the United States, due to their short production time (just a few years in the mid 1960s) and the lack of endorsement by well known musicians; however being made by Gibson, in the USA, out of genuine Gibson parts meant that they were better instruments than many in the same price range. Good condition examples can change hands for reasonable sums amongst vintage guitar enthusiasts, and players alike.

There were two body shapes - later models are SG shaped (have a closer look at a 1967 KB bass), but the majority are more like a Fender Mustang (see a 1966 KB bass). They have a bolt-on maple neck; something that Gibson (up until this point) didn't do, rosewood fingerboard, and were short scale. There were two subtley different headstock shapes, the first again suggests Fender, though a bit rounded off - the second has the characteristic 'beak' and is almost identical to that of the non-reverse Thunderbird (see images below). The Kalamazoo logo is engraved on the headstock. This bass used some standard Gibson components; a typical EB series humbucker right up at the neck, as used in the EB0, EB2, EB3, Melody Maker bass and Epiphone Newport This pickup in this position, has more affect on the sound than anything else. This bass does sound quite a lot like an EB0. Tuning keys are the Japanese-made closed keys that were also used on the Melody Maker bass and a few EB0s. The bar bridge had been in use on all bass models, but around 1966/67 this was replaced by the two-point intonatable bridge. From this point, the KB bass was the only one using these bridges - likewise the only one using the old-style (and position) chrome handrest. The scratchplate is almost identical (except some minor screw hole differences) to the Melody Maker bass, but the fingerrest is not rosewood as on all Gibsons, but actually plastic. The body material is not specified in Kalamazoo literature, but is supposedly a wood-laminate of one or more unspecified species, produced by a toilet-seat manufacturer in Wisconsin. There were three colours: Flame Red, Glacier White, and Las Vegas Blue. These were not the expensive nitrocellulose finishes applied to Gibsons, but again catalogue descriptions are not specific, perhaps some form of polyurethane?

Kalamazoo, rather than Epiphone was Gibsons Budget brand. A common misconception about Epiphone is that its 1960s guitars and basses were cheaper imitations of the Gibson lines. This is simply not true. From the late 1950s until 1969 Gibson and Epiphone instruments were made side by side at the Kalamazoo factory in Michigan, using the same woods, techniques and components. The purpose of the Epiphone range was to continue to provide Epiphones high-end instruments; those that had been Gibsons competition, and to circumvent certain supply agreements (Gibsons protective territorial policy). There was actually a waiting list to become a Gibson dealer, and to avoid upsetting existing dealers, Gibson was able to offer its (almost identical) Epiphone models to newcomers.
Currently being offered for sale on Craigslist in Michigan for $650.

G L Wilson

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Squier steps up their game with cool new additions to the Vintage Modified series

August 1, 2013, 3:06 pm
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Squier Vintage Modified Cabronita Telecaster
Squier Vintage Modified Cabronita Telecaster with Bigsby
Squier Vintage Modified Cabronita Precision Bass
Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar Bass V
Squier Vintage Modified Bass VI
It looks like this is a long-overdue bid for Squier to be taken seriously with these latest guitar and bass offerings, and showing that they are not just about entry-level instruments.

Me, I'm a little peeved that they brought out this new version of the Bass VI which is far more faithful to the original than the Fender Pawn Shop Bass VI released earlier this year. The Squier also retails for under half of what I paid for the Pawn Shop version here in the UK.

I'm also very interested in the Cabronita Tele with Bigsby - at last an affordable Tele... WITH a Bigsby. How cool is that?

G L Wilson

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From Germany: vintage Pfaff / Willy Dreier archtop jazz guitar

August 2, 2013, 3:11 pm
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guitarz.blogspot.com:Pfaff Willy Dreier archtop photo WillyDreierPfaffarchtop2_zps61e26575.jpgPfaff Willy Dreier archtop photo WillyDreierPfaffarchtop1_zps944bddc4.jpgPfaff Willy Dreier archtop photo WillyDreierPfaffarchtop3_zpsb8ed4fb0.jpgPfaff Willy Dreier archtop photo WillyDreierPfaffarchtop4_zps967864e3.jpgPfaff Willy Dreier archtop photo WillyDreierPfaffarchtop5_zps1276fbd2.jpgPfaff Willy Dreier archtop photo WillyDreierPfaffarchtop6_zpsd7ed6e59.jpg I'm not quite sure why this Pfaff archtop jazz guitar has a Willy Dreier label inside. Friedrich Pfaff produced guitars from 1947 - 1955 for MIGMA, whereas Willy Dreier was a Berlin luthier working in the early to mid 20th Century. Maybe he worked on this particular guitar at some point, performing renovations or repairs perhaps? Whatever the case it is surely an instrument worthy of inclusion here on Guitarz. Just check the (quite appropriate) German carve, the Art Deco headstock and inlays, and that Melos Belton pickup which looks like an extension of the fingerboard itself.

Currently listed on eBay.de with a flurry of bidding at the time of writing. The auction ends tomorrow, so I'll list the final price later.

G L Wilson

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