1969 Gibson SG with striped refinish

guitarz.blogspot.com:

We seem to have been having a bit of a SG fixation on this blog recently, don't we?

Do you think this refinished striped 1969 Gibson SG outdoes the silver glitter SG that Bertam posted about earlier? This one, again, would probably be best suited to a glam rock band. I have to confess I secretly quite like it. Hey, it's even complete with the Gibson Lyre vibrola.

Via Vince Gotera on our Facebook page.

G L Wilson

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

Custom glam SG

guitarz.blogspot.com

SG time! Sparkling SG! Glam for the people!

One out of 18 SGs by Gibson custom shop in silver sparkling finish, with 3 humbuckers and everything needed to fight the Emperor Ming on planet Mongo!

Bertram

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

Racy Gibson SG GT

guitarz.blogspot.com

So we have to get used to it, Gibson will never create a new guitar any more, the best they can do is to release endless variations of their classics - once brilliant innovations ahead of their time and setting the standards for those who followed.

Unfortunately they are not even good at their current trend and get easily lost in these high-tech gadgets they're busy with lately - the worst being the Firebird X (the non-reverse body is everything but cool, you have to remember that it has been issued first  in 1965 when Gibson was in its worst phase and didn't have the guts to stand for the radical reverse body design of the original Firebird).

OK, enough ranting now, maybe I should have started my post with a more positive tone, like: 'waow, look at this cool and racy SG!' The 2006 limited edition Gibson SG GT is one of the good Gibsons of the last years (for some reason, the SG has been inspirational, I also find the Zoot extremely interesting  (I finally saw one at my local guitar shop but guys were queuing in front to try it). 

Its design (racing stripes and lots of chromes) is inspired by some sport car (I'm French, the only car I can identify is the Citroën 2CV) - this kind of idea had worked too when the Firebird was conceived by car designer Ray Dietrich. I love the big shiny stoptail aerodynamic cover and fitting pickup rings, and amongst the technical improvements, you'll find super hot splitable humbuckers (activated by push-pull knobs), high pass tone filter, locking jack output and dual truss rod.

Bertram

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

April Fool?

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's a Gibson SG that has been painted in a psychedelic fashion to resemble Eric Clapton's "The Fool" SG that he played back in his Cream days. The original is now in the hands of Todd Rundgren, but along with George Harrison's "Rocky" and Jimi Hendrix's Monterey sacrificial Strat, hand painted replicas of varying levels of artistic competence regularly turn up for sale on eBay.

The example pictured here has a Buy It Now price of $1,199.99. For the Clapton fan who desires such a replica, a cheaper option would be to seek out the John Hornby Skewes Vintage-branded replica which we already looked at in my London Guitar Show 2008 review.

G L Wilson

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

Gibson RD Artist

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's an email I received earlier from Guitarz reader Karl:

I recently found an interesting guitar on German eBay. It's said to be a 1977 Gibson RD Artist.

The RD series were produced between 1977 and 1979. According to www.vintageguitarz.org it contained three six-string guitars and two four-string basses.

The six-strings have a 25.5" scale and 2 humbuckers (active and passive, depending on the model). Body and neck are both made of laminated marple, the fretboard of ebony.

Actually I've never heard about this before (but before I starded reading Guitarz I didn't know Gibson's Kalamazoo and Corvus either) and I wonder whether it's a collectable item, quality instrument or just some kind of student model made to close a gap in Gibson's price list.

Karl Dreyer

Hi Karl, as far as I remember the RD series were top of the line Gibsons at the time, but have vanished into near obscurity as have many other models including the relatively recent Blueshawk and Nighthawk models which were said to be fantastic guitars but just didn't capture the public's imagination (basically they weren't Les Pauls!). The RD Artist was the top model in the series and featured active electronics courtesy of Bob Moog - yes, the now legendary Moog synthesizer guy. That's why there's such a large access panel on the back of the guitar pictured here. However, from what my memory is telling me, these active electronics weren't too popular with guitarists and were a major contributing factor to the downfall of this model.

No doubt other Guitarz readers will be able to name players who used the Gibson RD (Artist or otherwise) but the only one that springs to my mind is Bram Tchaikovsky of The Motors (who remembers their hit "Airport"?) and also his own eponymously-named band, and who endorsed the RD Artist back in the day.

Quite a few of the RD Artists that come up for sale on eBay have the Moog electronics removed and/or doctored. They seem hard to come by in their original condition. Personally, I've always liked the guitar visually; unfortunately I've never had the opportunity to try one for myself. I'd call it a quality instrument, but obviously with the original active electronics it's not going to be to everyone's tastes.

G L Wilson

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

1997 Gibson ES 295 reissue with Bigsby, P90s, antique golden finish and little flowers (not to mention the florentine cutaway)

guitarz.blogspot.com

This Gibson ES 295 is supposed to be the guitar of many prestigious guitarists, including Scotty Moore who played for Elvis Presley, then in my head I see a fat pompadoured guy in white embroidered fringe suit singing Hawaiian ballads and I feel like running away.

Super cool guitar though!

Bertram

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

Memories of a 1959 Gibson EB0 Bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Gary writes:

I just discovered your blog site about this Gibson bass tonight. My first bass I ever bought, Jan 1967, 44 years ago yesterday as I write this, was a 1959 EBO. I had no idea of the history of the EBO, I just bought it because it was $75 and the bass player of the Nomads, the hot band at my high school in Kansas City, Mo. had traded it in on an EB-2, I was just starting to play bass, and it was available. Had I had any idea of the history of the EBO I would still own it. Naturally, not knowing I traded it in for an EB-2 in 1972.

I loved that old EBO in spite of the fact that playing it was like driving a big truck without power steering. It was the only bass I'd ever really played at that time so I didn't know any better. I did fine with it but other players had a hell of a time with it. At a battle of the bands one night in 1971 the band that was up after us broke a string on his bass. True to the times he didn't carry spare strings so he asked to borrow my bass. In the end, our band won...his didn't. He was really angry with me because he said my bass was so hard to play he couldn't play well & that cost them the battle. Like I said I was used to it so it played fine for me.

I don't really know how it sounded. There weren't the bass amps availavble then that are around now. I had a 23 watt Silvertone head with a home made cabinet with 2-15" cheap speakers...who knew about good speakers. I would love to hear it thru my SWR SM-400 & Goliath cabinet I have today. Oh well.

I wish I hadn't gotten rid of it, it would have been a real collectors item. I have only ever seen one other one & that was back in the early 70's. Seeing the pictures on your blog brought on the pang in the heart that seeing an old girlfriend years later would bring.

Thanks for the blog page on it. It brought back a lot of memories I'm surprised I can still muster up.

Gary Snow

Hey Gary, thanks for writing to us with your reminiscences. As much as we love our guitars and basses here at Guitarz, a lot of what we write is gleaned via the internet rather than from personal experience. Unfortunately, it's not possible to try everything out! It's good to hear how some of these vintage instruments handled back in the day from someone who actually played them.

G L Wilson

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

Gibson Explorer XPL

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I was quite surprised to learn that this angular pointy-looking thing was a genuine Gibson guitar, namely a Gibson Explorer XPL, rather than an Explorer-esque knock-off from some other manufacturer. It's from 1985 - what other decade could it have been from? - and features Dirty Fingers pickups described by Gibson as "the critical union between power and dirt".

G L Wilson

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

1974 Gibson Les Paul Signature Sunburst

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's another Les Paul, and one of my own personal favourites - but you know me - it most probably appeals because within the sphere of Les Pauls its a bit of an oddity. Looking for all the world like a hybrid  a Gibson 335/Les Paul, the Gibson Les Paul Signature - produced between 1973 and 1978 - is a semi-hollowbody guitar. Now, some would say a semi-hollowbody Les Paul was an oxymoron because a Les Paul by definition should be a solidbody guitar. I think it's this breaking the rules attitude that appeals to me. However, it could have been even more bizarre. I seem to remember seeing pictured in a guitar book many years ago, a Gibson Les Paul Jumbo acoustic guitar with cutaway and pickup (single, I think). Now surely that couldn't be further away from the Les Paul ethos? (And I need to find a picture of one of these!)

The Signature differs also in that its controls consist of volume, treble tone, midrange tone, and in/out phase switch, and it has two output jack sockets - high-impedance on the guitar's top, and low-impedance for recording on the rim.

Most Gibson Les Paul Signatures were finished as gold tops - this is one of the rarer sunburst models, of which there were only 84 produced, and this example is currently being offered for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of £2,995.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

1955 Gibson Les Paul Custom

guitarz.blogspot.com

This  Gibson Les Paul Custom (aka the Black Beauty, aka the Tuxedo since Mister Les Paul himself allegedly requested a black guitar that could be played wearing a tuxedo - that were other times) is some serious vintage stuff since it's a 1955 model - just 3 years after the Les Paul was first released...

And as you can see it has lived a long and active life and grew old honestly and harmoniously, not like these stupid sandpaper relicked fakes that some soulless ignoramuses think are cool.

It's a pre-humbucker model - the Gibson PAF humbucker is from 1955 also - with a bridge P90 and a neck Alnico V. Like the Custom models of the time, it's a full mahogany body, without the usual maple archtop - it makes it lighter with a darker tone.

I always enjoyed showing some ultraclassic guitars here sometimes, hard to do better than this one, isn't it?

Bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Heavy Metal Mandolin?

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This is a Gibson solidbody mandolin based on the Futura body design (an early variation of the more familiar Explorer). Made from Korina as were early Vs and Explorers, it's a prototype pre-production instrument built in the 1990s by Roger Giffin.

Note that it is a 4-string as were Fender's solidbody mandolins.

This mandolin is currently being offered for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price just shy of £5,000. Note that the eBay seller is musicgroundinc. I believe I have seen this very instrument when I was buying my Yamaha SG-3 in the Music Ground shop in London's Denmark Street earlier this year and I wished I'd taken a photograph at the time. (I know the listing says "Item location: Doncaster", but surely it couldn't be that much of a coincidence?)

More photos here.

Thanks to Karl for bringing this mandolin to my attention.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

The Gibson harp guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This circa 1920 Gibson harp guitar is of a completely different design to the Knutsen Dyer replica we saw in the previous blog post. Instead of having a hollow body extension to support the sub-bass strings, it has a solid support which is almost equivalent to a second neck. You'll notice that this example, currently being offered for sale on eBay, does not have the full complement of sub-bass strings. The neck is also currently strung left-handed, which must have severely limited its playability given the body shape (open chords and some barre chords at the lower reaches of the neck would have been about its limit).

For more fascinating variations on a theme - and there are many - take a look at the excellent harpguitars.net.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

1965 Firebird V Kerry Green

guitarz.blogspot.com

We showed a series of Firebirds here last spring, and I noted then that there's been very few variations in the model over its six decades of existence - I rule out the non reversed body, that was just a temporary erring by Gibson in a bad phase, as is the current Firebird X - that leaves the number of pickups, the tremolo, the finish and that's it. 

So finding a Firebird to show here is mostly about colour, and to me this sweet pop Kerry green finish is enough to redefine the guitar! That's the instrument I would play if I would join an all-girl Japanese neo-psychedelic J-pop band in Yves Saint-Laurent's Mondrian mini dresses (I know that it is quite unlikely but life is full of surprises...) Makes me feel like eating a raspberry-pistachio ice cream (though it's snowing here).

Bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Gibson ES335 12-string

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's one you don't see very often: a rare 12-string variant of the Gibson ES335. This example is currently being offered for sale on eBay with a starting price of £5,499. The ES335 was first introduced in 1958 as the first commercially produced semi-hollowbody electric guitar having a solid centre section to the body beneath the strings and pickups.

The 12-string version of the 335 is rarely seen but has been used by artists such as Carl Wilson of The Beach Boys and Julian Cope.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Gibson Trini Lopez

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I remember seeing Trini Lopez on TV when I was a kid but never really got the music as this "Latin stuff" was definitely for the mums so this post is by way of making up a little for my youthful callowness. A beautiful 1967 Gibson Trini Lopez on eBay. I thought the headstock was reminiscent of a Firebird and a little Googling brought up this image of a Trini Lopez deluxe with reversed neck courtesy www.vintageguitars.org.uk



At the risk of sounding cynical (Moi?), this was a period when guitar manufacturer's marketing departments were working overtime to get us buying their products. It's hard to believe now but the guitar market was in decline at the end of the sixties and there were a lot of businesses trying to get a share of the pie. So, we have a Gibson 335 with diamond sound holes and a Firebird neck being promoted by a big star. It's notable that the Deluxe has florentine cutaways as opposed to the roundy ones. It's great that even something as cold as hard commerce can come up with something as beautiful as this.

David in Barcelona

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

The Gibson Moderne. A 1982 reissue of the guitar that never existed.

guitarz.blogspot.com:

The Moderne was the other guitar in the trilogy that included the Explorer and the Flying V but the evidence is that it never made it into production. It's been claimed that a handful were made and either destroyed or somehow "lost". That makes a great story and one that will probably never be truly authenticated as it was fifty odd years ago and most of the people involved are now pushing up daisies. A quick look at the article linked in this sellers text reveals that a few copies have been made, notably Ibanez's recreation of the trilogy in 1975 and Epiphone's (re)issue in 2000. Even this Gibson example at just over £3000 (BIN) is one of just 183 made (that number isn't verified either so even the reissue is continuing the tradition of vagueness and speculation).

The article also talks about Glenn Miller (not the famous bandleader) and his reconstructions of the '82 Modernes at Wrona's House of Violins in New York, from a stock of parts he bought from Gibson in 1984. It seems he is still producing them today from those Gibson parts though it's not clear if they're 100% original. These "made from Gibson parts but not BY Gibson" Modernes are certainly going to cloud the already muddy waters for the future and further enhance the mythology of the Moderne.

David in Barcelona

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

1959 Gibson ES 125 with Bigsby

guitarz.blogspot.com:

For me there is something very appealing about a hollowbody electric with a non-cutaway body design. Yes, I know access to the top of the fingerboard is restricted - perhaps it's the anti-shredder in me that finds this desireable.

Most people associate such non-cutaway body designs with fully acoustic guitars but the Gibson ES 125 was clearly designed to be electrically amplified - just check out the depth of the body in the image above right. This particular example, currently for sale on eBay, comes complete with its original Bigsby vibrato.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Julian Cope and The Beast

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Julian Cope is one of my all-time favourite artists and is also quite the guitar collector. One time at a gig I attended in Oxford, between songs he swapped a white Gibson SG Junior for another almost identical just because he fancied changing guitars.

Anyway, I've always wondered about his doublenecked non-reverse Firebird/Thunderbird nicknamed "The Beast" (not that I've personally seen it in action) and whether or not it was an actual Gibson or a custom build.

Earlier I stumbled upon this interview in which Cope reveals that "The guitar was made by Valdez in Los Angeles in 1971, from a 1967 non reverse Thunderbird IV and a 1968 non reverse Firebird."

Just thought I'd share that with you.

Photo: Promo shot of Julian Cope wielding the doubleneck Firebird / Thunderbird for his CORNUCOPEA festival at the South Bank Centre, April 2000.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Teddybears play Bo Diddley-esque Gibsons

guitarz.blogspot.com:
I'm not sure if you've ever heard of the band Teddybears STHLM, or as they are nowadays known as The Teddybears. It's a Swedish band starting out as a hardcore/grindcore band back in the early 90s, but have since then changed their music in a completely different direction. Nowadays they are a lot more electro-influenced, etc, and outside of Sweden they are probably most know for their songs featured in Heineken beer commercials and such, or that they have been working with Iggy Pop a bit.

Anyways, Last night I went to one of their shows in Malmö, Sweden, and I just couldn't happen to notice the two guitars they were playing during the show. One of the guitars was a double neck (Bass+Guitar), and the other one a bass, and they were both wearing the Gibson headstock and logo.

One thing that I noticed was that the "guitar neck" of the double neck had the famous "SG" stamped on the truss rod cover.

Another very obvious thing about these guitars and basses is that they have the bo diddley-shoe box shaped bodies, with a mirror/disco ball finish.

I've tried to contact them via emails and telephone, but I've not gotten any response from them.

Anyways, I know the music is not really for everybody, but their shows are awesome, and I think you should check them out.

Well, I hope I've given you something that you'd might feature on the blog. If you don't find the info I've given you so far blog-worthy enough, I would suggest that you would check them out further. I've been to a few of their shows, and they are always improving more and more.

Sorry to bother you! Take care, and thank you tons and tons for this great blog!

Pelle Rydstern

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

1939 Recording King Model D lap steel

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Whilst we're on a lap steel kick at the moment, I can't help showing you this utterly gorgeous Recording King Model D from 1939 currently being offered for sale on eBay. I particularly like the pear-shaped body, which has a mandolin-quality to the design.

Recording King was a brand name used by American department store Montgomery Ward's in the 1930s, with instruments being made by Gibson.

The brand name has since been revived by San Francisco-based AXL.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!