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Solo II - USSR Soviet-era guitar

August 4, 2013, 1:44 pm
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
Email from Will:
Here's an item worthy of a place of honor in the Schlock Hall of Fame. It is a Soviet era "Solo II" solid body with 3 pick-ups and a reasonable attempt at a "Daphne Blue" finish.

By my reckoning, the guitar comes equipped with three rather squared-off pickups, 5 white plastic toggles of indeterminate function, 5 revolving round control knobs, and no strings. The main treasure of this listing, however must surely be the tortured description of the guitar, found just under the photographs. There you will encounter some rather confusing prose advising the reader that, "the guitar is made of fine wood, in fact it is the same Soviet sandwich," (is the seller trying to say that it is laminated?), and that, "the guitars were painted black polyester painted matt color options dirt paint over black polyester," (multi-coat paint-job???) and also that, "convenient to most Soviet vultures," (you're on your own-I am unable to decipher this particular part of the hieroglyphic!).

Of course, it is "rare." Who would want to part with 199 of the best that America has to offer to own something like this?

Enjoy!

~will~
Thanks Will, for sharing this eBay find with us. This guitar is currently listed on eBay with a starting bid of $199 and is located in Belarus so there would be shipping charges to also take into account. We have actually featured one of these on Guitarz before, a black example complete with strings this time! Note how the rear strap button unscrews to reveal an integral screwdriver!

G L Wilson

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12-string soviet plastic body Maria Rhythm

August 6, 2013, 12:41 pm
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MIJ Charvel Jackson Spectrum in Desert Crackle finish

August 7, 2013, 1:40 pm
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Dear readers of The Guitar Blog, it's been above 35° C here in Vienna in the last 10 days, my brain is cooked in my skull, it must be why I have an improbable interest in this 1980s hair metal Charvel Jackson Spectrum. And since the slightest effort is painful, I will just copy-paste here what I found about it in Wikipedia:
The Spectrum guitar was inspired by a Jackson guitar custom built for Jeff Beck, and was based on a Stratocaster style body, but with a reversed pointed headstock, an early 50s Fender P-Bass-inspired pickguard, wild colors, and an active tone circuit that produced a wah effect. The three single-coil pickups were in fact stacked humbucking coils. Most of the guitars at the time were equipped with Schaller hardware, including a licensed Floyd Rose locking tremolo.
That's it for today!

 Bertram D

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Roger Standard Cutaway

August 8, 2013, 2:40 pm
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It's summer, the time of crappy pictures...

Anyway, this Roger Standard Cutaway may look dusty and beaten,  but it's a fine schlaggitarre by German luthier Wenzel Rossmeisl, father of the famous Roger Rossmeisl who brought German guitar making craftsmanship to US companies Rickenbacker and Fender - including the German carve named after him - and was very influential in the creation of Mosrite guitars.

This Standard Cutaway is a 1960s model, as one can tell from its large headstock - and after reading the necessary Jazzgitarren blog.

Bertram D

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Musima Deluxe 25B - German bass in need of a little TLC

August 10, 2013, 2:14 pm
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
This vintage Musisma Deluxe 25B bass guitar I'd estimate to be from the 1970s. Seems like the Germans had the idea to make an offset waist Jaguar-like bass guitar a very long time before Fender did.

Sadly this example does need a little attention. Th existing pickguard has shattered, so here's hoping that whoever buys this will be able to repair, maybe have a new guard made for it. It's a great looking bass and surely needs a little love and attention lavished upon it.

Currently being offered for sale in Ukraine on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $267.89 plus shipping.

G L Wilson

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A rather eccentric Art Deco square-soundholed acoustic guitar on eBay France

August 11, 2013, 2:30 pm
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
      
Here's a rather eccentric acoustic guitar currently listed on eBay in France. The seller tells us that:
Ayant retrouvé ma vieille guitare Harmony cassé au niveau de la table, je l'ai refaite et me suis laché. La table est en spruce avec le milieu en ébène, les renforts ont été recollés, le chevalet est de type jazz manouche en bois exotique, les pickuards sont en ébènes comme la tête de la guitare. Les mécaniques sont de type gibson. L' instrument est électrifié avec un pièzo placé sous la table à l emplacement du chevalet et une sortie jack et le réglage du volume sur la table. Malheureusement le piézo vient de me lacher, a réparer donc.

A ma grande surprise le son est fantastique et très bluesy. Du coups je m en sépare car j ai d'autres projet de guitare custom en cours.
Did you understand that? My French isn't very good but from what I can gather, the guitar is a re-built Harmony with a new top of spruce with ebony inserts. Ebony is also used for the pickguards (which together with the rectangular sound hole contrive to give the guitar an almost Art Deco look) and the headstock inlay. The guitar also features Gibson tuners, a Gyspy Jazz style bridge with a piezo (now non-functioning?) pickup beneath it. Oh, and the photos show us it has a sound port on the upper rim.

I'm not quite sure that it is really a prototype as claimed in the eBay listing title, but it's certainly a head turner.

Currently listed on eBay.fr with a Buy It Now price of €270.

G L Wilson

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Mystery vintage guitar, possibly Italian, possibly German

August 12, 2013, 2:24 pm
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guitarz.blogspot.com:

Miguel writes:
Dear Gavin,

I usually read your blog, thank you very much for keeping it.

Last sunday I found this guitar on a flea market near Madrid, Spain.

I've been searching the net but could not find any information about a similar model. It seems Italian but is too classic for this. German?

Could you help me find the brand and model?

Best regards!

Miguel Angel
I will readily admit that it's not a guitar that I recognise, and without trawling through each and every guitar on Fetish Guitars, Cheesy Guitars and other similarly fascinating websites, I don't think I can put a name to it. I suggest you use those sites as a starting point in your search. I would do so myself, only once I start looking at one of those sites that's the whole day gone and I have a busy week ahead of me and simply can't afford the time.

Of course if any of our helpful readers recognize the guitar, perhaps they could let us know via the comments below! I agree, it does look Italian in style, but then things like the neck with its Hofner-like block position markers and the type of pickups used do look a bit Musisma/Migma-like, so maybe it is German.

G L Wilson

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Very cool retro-styled Opal guitar by Joseph Kraut

August 13, 2013, 3:09 pm
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
Now here's a really cool piece. It looks for all the world like it's some bizarre vintage guitar but it is actually relatively modern, namely a 2008 Opal by Joseph Kraut. Design-wise it's a mash-up between Danelectro and cigar-box guitar; it even has a metal forearm rest as you might find on a banjo. I'm not sure what materials are used but they have a vinyl-like appearance, maybe even the top and back are made of Formica. I'm guessing the construction is like that of a Danelectro - certainly the body appears to be hollow with that soundhole grille on the upper bout. (If anyone has any further info, I'd love to know more).

This guitar is currently being offered for sale on reverb.com with a $450 Buy It Now price tag.

G L Wilson



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1930s vintage Vega electric tenor banjo, made in the USA

August 14, 2013, 1:46 pm
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
I love bizarro vintage stuff like this. This isn't a round electric guitar, it's an electric tenor banjo bearing the Vega brandname and can be dated to the late 1930s thanks to a pencil inscription on the inside of the removable back.

I shall copy from the seller's eBay listing, just for the sake of preserving some of this information:
Description: 1930s / 40s Very Rare Vintage Vega Electric 4-String Tenor Banjo made in USA.

Condition: Super cool vintage vibe - various minor nicks, chips, dents & dings; surface scratches, finish wear & light weather checking. Overall the banjo has a great look to it with a gorgeous patina. This is an exceptionally rare instrument and is the first of its kind we’ve had in the shop.

Body: Double bound 11 7/8” diameter body with maple top, back and sides in natural finish. There’s some really pretty flame figuring in the top & back. Nickel trapeze tailpiece with height-adjustable rosewood bridge; single-ply tortoise pickguard. There are no cracks in the pickguard. A hand written note on the inside of the back panel reads: “Purchased new in 1939 Pruneau Music Studio Worcester Mass”.

Neck: Soft “V” shaped maple neck with ivoroid binding & red side-dots. Ebony fingerboard with pearloid star & dot inlays. Nickel machine tuners with ivoroid buttons in perfect working condition. 1/8” nut width, 23” scale length. There is a 9-digit number pressed into the back of the headstock, which appears to be a social security number.

Pickups/Electronics: Original single coil pickup with master volume and 3-way rotary tone control with settings for bass, normal and treble.

Playability/Sound: This banjo produces some exceptionally good tones both acoustically as well as plugged in. The pickup provides excellent output (2.03 Ohms) and a sound that is full, rich and has the utmost in ringing clarity. The three-way tone control allows the player to dial in highly useful sounds. The hollow maple body creates an overall “openness” to the sound that still retains plenty of snap and attack. The neck is exceptionally comfortable and is set up with perfect action.

Case: Includes equally rare hardshell case with multiple stripes in the tolex & two vintage screen prints of dancing women.
Currently listed on eBay by Cream City Music in Brookfield, Wisconsin, with bidding currently nearly at $600 and just under a day left on the auction at the time of writing.

G L Wilson

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refinished probable Teisco

August 15, 2013, 2:00 pm
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1964 Crucianelli Elite G-502V

August 17, 2013, 12:11 am
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Crucianelli has been building guitars distributed all over the world under different brands. This Elite G-502V was distributed by Hagstrom, but Vox had exactly the same model named Challenger.  It's a rather high-end model, meant for rock as well as jazz, with a sober SG-inspired double florentine cutaway, and a crazy batwing scratchplate and a looooong trem arm.

Bertram D

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1965 Baldwin Virginian

August 17, 2013, 1:25 pm
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Once in a while, an eBay seller seems to know what he's selling - lucky me because I couldn't have found better about this astonishing Baldwin Virginian:
"While appearing initially to be an amplified flat top round-hole acoustic, the Virginian is really a fully electric semi-hollow guitar with a laminated mahogany body and flamed sycamore top. The two Bar-O-Matik pickups are mated to the patented fully adjustable Rezo-Tube bridge, used without a vibrato only on this model. The full-scroll neck is shared with the Marvin guitar, anthough the Virginian has a shorter scale. The unusal three-knob density tone circuit was one of Jim Burns' latest creations at the time, consisting of a stacked pickup with a blendable second coil in the neck position combined with a single-coil at the bridge. The heavily braced cutaway mahogany body was called the Controlled Resonance design, developed from the slightly earlier GB65. Jim Burns himself was extremely proud of this instrument, which was completely unlike most guitars in existance in 1965. Despite its hybrid appearance the guitar handles very well and the sound is extremely bright and clear for a full-size hollow instrument."
We've seen another model of Virginianbefore, but it's such an interesting guitar that it's worth coming back to it.

Bertram D

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Hopf Saturn 63 in crème brûlée finish

August 19, 2013, 6:17 am
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Ultra-rare and über-cool golden Dynacord Cora on eBay now!

August 21, 2013, 1:48 pm
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
I've seen pics of these babies online and in books, but I've not seen an example come up for sale on eBay before. For posterity I am going to copy and paste the description from the eBay listing:
For sale is this vintage 1965 Dynacord Cora electric guitar. This particular example, serial number 2720184, is in very nice 100% all original condition. This impossibly rare Golden Dynacord Cora features incredibly stylized gold-plated tube metal tube body frame with matching gold hardware, and a colored body finish that best resembles Fender's Fiesta Red. According to several sources, the total production of this particular variant (1965-1966) was estimated at less than 30. The more common version, which is highly relative considering it was also produced in extremely limited numbers, less than 100 total, is that which displays the less striking color configuration of a chrome body frame and black finish. This German-made (West Germany) sculptural guitar pre-dates the majority of Wandre influenced wacky instruments with regard to innovative and artistic electric guitar design, and is perhaps one of the most iconic. I decided to sell this rare gem to the highest bidder, regardless of price, so take advantage of this No Reserve auction with Free Worldwide shipping, because chances are you will never find another!

While the guitar's electronic components were made by Dynacord, and the hardware was designed by Schaller, the neck and the body could have been constructed by either Hopf or Welson, both of which had built other guitars for the primarily pro audio-oriented Dynacord company. To attest to this guitar's scarcity, upon Googling this make and model, it is likely that only 3 different examples will be discovered. Not surprisingly, this is the one found in the photo alongside a black and chrome version, with the GuitarCrazy website watermark. According to some this guitar was manufactured as more of a marketing gimmick, to attract attention at trade shows, hence the model's under-produced nature. Extremely rare is an understatement considering the infinitesimal total production, so for those who have always desired this mythical model, which has been featured in several vintage guitar books, this may be your only opportunity.

This '65 Dynacord Cora features: a gold-plated tube metal body design silhouette, an angular maple slab body, a large-profile laminated maple neck with a Fender-style headstock, 6-on-a-side individual tuning machines, a bolt-on neck construction, a rosewood fingerboard with offset dot inlays and zero fret, (3) Dynacord GTA 3 single coil pickups with individual on/off/tone/volume controls, a printed circuit board (PCB), a Schaller vibrato tailpiece with original tailpiece cover and original tremolo arm/whammy bar. It includes a hard plastic case, and though oversized, was apparently originally paired with the guitar. This may be due to the fact that a case order was never placed to satisfy such a limited run.

Interestingly, though this guitar appears to be more of a novelty instrument, it actually plays great and sounds fantastic. Hence the evidence of serious playing wear through the finish on the back of the body. Even the gold tubing has wear through the plating wear it would rest atop your leg. This guitar displays evidence of having been drawn on with marker, which was later removed. Even though it is barely visible, the ghost of the original design still remains.

I have seen a dealer sell the less rare Black & Chrome version for over $5,000.00, so place a bid, because with No Reserve this is bound to be a great bargain.
Currently listed on eBay with bidding currently at $720 at the time of writing.

G L Wilson

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One-off 7-string acoustic with massive 23"-wide lower body bout

August 23, 2013, 1:16 pm
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Here's what the eBay seller describes as a 7-String Non Archtop Acoustic Guitar, as if to suggest that archtop 7-string acoustics are reasonably commonplace. It is apparently a one-off luthier-built instrument, its most astonishing feature being that the lower boust is a mammoth 23" in width, which is longer than the scale length of certain classic guitars. The seller claims that the guitar fits comfortably on the lap; I'd imagine that with a body width like that the bass response would be fantastic.

Item is located in Hamden, Connecticut, United States, and is currently being offered for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $375.

G L Wilson

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Century custom acoustic guitar, allegedly built as a wall hanger

August 24, 2013, 1:13 pm
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This guitar, currently listed on eBay, was allegedly:
ordered and designed as a wall hanger, for a wealthy man who gave the rep Taylor specs to build his one of a kind dream guitar
Built by Century Guitars, you'd be forgiven for not realising that it was built to Taylor specs what with all the bling on display: witness that octagonal soundhole and the lashings of pearloid material. That has to be the thickest piece of binding I have ever seen on a guitar! Note how the string anchors are spread out behind the bridge saddle - I think they must have been inspired by Babicz Guitars here.

It's too ostentatious for my own tastes, I prefer my acoustics to be good honest workhorses. I'm more interested in how they play rather than how they look, but then again this is a very visual blog and so this guitar is well at home on Guitarz.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $2999.

G L Wilson

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Klira hollow body

August 25, 2013, 11:28 am
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Unfortunately Klira guitars are poorly documented on the internet, though this West-German company has been making music instruments for one century - stopping in the 1980s. Though at the time they started to build electric guitars they were located in Bavaria, the company was originated in Saxony,  next to the Czech border, like many German music instruments manufacturers based in Markneukirche and around.

All I can tell about this guitar is what I see: originally it had 3 pickups, 2 ones are left and have been slanted. It has the typically Klira strangely shaped control plate and cool tremolo. Its eBay seller says that it sounds good and loud - we'll have to believe him there...

Bertram D

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Klira "Jaguar"-stye 1960s vintage West German-made guitar

August 26, 2013, 3:51 pm
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
Here's another Klira guitar for you, and it couldn't be more different than the example that Bertram posted on the blog yesterday. This particular Klira has obviously been modelled on the Fender Jaguar, but of course it is a much more modest affair without the fancy circuitry and much simpler hardware - check out that bridge for example, it could almost have come off a hollowbody jazz box. On first inspection the finish appears to be finely cracked with age, but it is in fact a vinyl finish with a deliberate snakeskin effect. It's not going to be everyone's taste, that's for sure, but I think it's cool. Note that the chickenhead pickup selector on the upper horn is original, whereas the other two chickenhead knobs for volume and tone are modern day replacements. I did think that was a tad too much in the chickenhead department there, it's like the guitar is trying just a little too hard to be retro.

This guitar is currently being auctioned on eBay UK, with bidding at £21 at the time of writing. Auction ends next Sunday.

G L Wilson

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CMI 1970s Japanese-made Gibson L6S copy

August 27, 2013, 3:05 pm
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guitarz.blogspot.com:
Here's a 1970s Japanese-made guitar bearing the CMI brand (I believe I once read that there were two separate brands known as CMI on guitars of this era, something which causes much confusion amongst guitar aficionados even today). The seller refers to it as an "LP style guitar", but rather than being a Les Paul copy it's actually quite a faithful replica of a Gibson L6S. The original, first introduced in 1973, was Gibson's then budget model guitar and was conceived by the collaboration of Gibson and Bill Lawrence as a the working man's answer to the Gibson L5S jazz guitar. The guitar was known for its versatility and featured a 6-way rotary pickup selector allowing the pickups to be switched in series, in parallel and out of phase. Notable players include Al Di Meola, Carlos Santana, Pat Martino, John McLaughlin, Keith Richards and Mike Oldfield. Most examples featured a set neck, although the Midnight Special series did have a bolt-on neck, as does this Japanese CMI copy (it's not an exact copy, you'll notice, as the Midnight Special also had through-body stringing). This CMI L5S also, sadly, only seems to have the three-way pickup selector switch.

Currently listed on eBay UK with a very reasonable sounding Buy It Now price of £125.

G L Wilson


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1970s JHS copy of a Gibson Marauder

August 28, 2013, 1:47 pm
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This 1970s-era JHS branded guitar is another copy of one of the lesser known - and certainly more unpopular - Gibson solidbodies. I always used to like the Gibson Marauder design back in the day; I think The Buzzcocks used them and to me they were very punk rock. I also liked the use of a Flying V type headstock on an LP shaped body.

The seller of this JHS copy, however, makes some very weird claims about it:
I bought this fantastic guitar off a friend about a year ago, who didn't know a lot about it.

Once I acquired the guitar, I did some research into its history and I was pleasantly surprised!

It turns out that in the late 1970s, there were a lot of Gibson Marauder copies being sold under different brand names such as Avon, Cimar, ESP, Maya, Rose Morris, CSL and finally JHS (now known as Vintage & Encore).

After digging a little deeper I found out on a forum that all of these guitars were made in the same factory where the Gibson Marauders were made in the late 70s.

This leads me to believe that the spec of the guitar is very similar if not completely the same as the Gibson's. This is because it would be very odd for them to have separate production lines because of pricing and tooling etc.
I find it very hard to believe that these copy guitars would be made in the same factory as the Gibson originals. Surely the copies are Japanese in origin, and outside of Gibson's Orville and Orville by Gibson brands, Gibson guitars have always been made in the USA. Can anyone confirm or deny the seller's claims here, or at least explain where his story has gone off the rails?

This guitar is currently listed on eBay UK with a Buy It Now price of £180.

G L Wilson

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