Hohner/Bartell Black Widow Fretless Bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:
OK, this is my eBay tip of the week and the auction finishes in two days - unless someone snaps it up on Buy It Now. I must admit I was sorely tempted to "hit that BIN" myself, especially at this price (starting bid: $459.00 / Buy It Now: $539.00).

For the uninitiated, this is an early 1970s Hohner-branded Bartell semi-solid fretless bass and was designed by Paul Barth, a former employee of Rickenbacker, Magnatone and National. It is a close relation of the Acoustic Corporation Black Widow (one of the guitars listed in my 500 Guitars book and which we also looked at here, some examples of which were built in Japan whilst others were built by Mosrite in the USA). We also looked at another Hohner-branded fretless bass - this time in natural finish - here.

For more information see the Acoustic Black Widow Fanpage.

G L Wilson

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

Squier '51 - stock and customised examples

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Fender's subsiduary Squier are mainly known for producing budget-conscious versions of Fender guitars such as the Stratocaster, Telecaster, Precision and Jazz Basses. Occasionally they have been known to do something more adventurous and issue an original model guitar not based directly on any Fender design.

The Squier '51 is one such guitar, and whilst I say it is "original" it very clearly borrows and combines elements from three Fender designs, namely the Strat, the Tele and the original '51 Precision Bass.

Essentially you could say that it has a hardtail basswood Strat body married to a Tele neck, with a '51 P-Bass pickguard. It has a single coil pickup in the neck position and a humbucker at the bridge. There is no tone control but a rotary pickup selector and a coil tap option for a range of sounds.

Judging by comments I have read about this guitar on the net, it seems it was a very popular instrument. Such a pity that it was only in production from 2004-2006. Of course, it was a guitar very popular with tinkerers and guitar modders, and judging by the number of photos I've seen on eBay and elsewhere I wonder how many stock examples are left in the world, because so many seem to have been upgraded.

Pictured above we see two examples in Vintage Blonde. On the left is an untouched stock Squier '51, and in the middle and on the right a customised example featuring upgraded pickups including a P90-style in the neck position, and a Dynamic Fender Vibrato as found on certain other Fender guitars such as the Mustang. (Finally, an S-type guitar with a tremolo that might actually work nicely!)

The Squier '51 was one of the guitars in my "500 Guitars" book, but the publishers unfortunately used an incorrect photo of a Squier Strat.

See the Squier '51 Modders Forum for more customisations!

G L Wilson

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

Early Rickenbacker electric tenor guitar with vibrola

guitarz.blogspot.com:
The Rickenbacker Model B lapsteel from the 1930s is one of the guitars I listed in the "500 Guitars" book; alas there was no accompanying photo published. The guitar was typified by its bakelite body inset with five chrome plates. In 1935 a "Spanish" version was introduced with a regular round-backed detachable neck.

The example pictured above is even more of a rarity, for this is the 4-string tenor guitar version. This well-played example is currently for sale on eBay with a starting price of $2,000.

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

BC Glass Studios Fused Glass Guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

We've all seen see-through acrylic-bodied guitars before. However, I want to stress that is NOT what we are looking at here.

Back in June 2007 I made a one-line entry on this blog with a link to BC Glass Studio. My comment at the time was that:

"BC Glass Studio make custom handmade one-of-a-kind fused glass guitars. Which you can't play - these are sculptures."

Well, all that has changed!

Brian Chivers, the guy behind BC Glass Studio of Weukesha, Wisconsin, accepted a challenge from the legendary, and now sadly departed, Les Paul to "build one you can play". Pictured here is the result.

This is another of the 500 Guitars listed in the book of the same name. Whilst that sounds like a deliberate plug, I mention it because about a month ago I received the photo opposite in an email asking if it wasn't too late to make it into the book.

Unfortunately the book had already gone to print, but I promised I'd show the picture here on the blog.

Actually, I think that's rather a good idea.

I'm going to go through 500 Guitars and find guitars listed which do not have pictures printed in the book and, where possible, post them on this blog. Some guitars, of course, we've already looked at one this blog and will be in the archives somewhere. (Perhaps it's time to enlarge on our keywords - as displayed at the bottom of each post and listed in their entirety at the foot of the page - and include ALL manufacturers, so as to make this blog easier to search).

I already started with yesterday's post on the Hagstrom/Goya guitar. I won't be copying the text out of the book as that is now copyrighted and the property of the publishers, but I'll still tell you what you're looking at!

There were also a handful of guitars that I wrote about that didn't make it into the book at all, and so I'll be featuring these on the blog soon too.

But for now, let's take another look at that Brian Chivers fused glass guitar:


G L Wilson

NB: Please make sure you are reading this Guitarz post at guitarz.blogspot.com and not on a Scraper blog that copies posts without permission (and steals bandwidth) so as to profit from advertising. Please support original bloggers!

Hagstrom/Goya - blue glitter, pearloid and perspex

guitarz.blogspot.com:
This early 1960s' blue glitter-topped Hagstrom bears the Goya brandname as it is an example of this guitar that was produced for the US market. I believe it's a Deluxe EDP 80 as used by Bryan Ferry in Roxy Music, but the exact names and model numbers can be confusing.

All the quirky features are there: the metal plate surrounding the pickups; the pushbutton selector switches; the radio-style grill between the pickups; the perspex fingerboard and headstock with pearloid backing. Although you can't see it in the photos here, the back and sides are also finished in pearloid. It's definitely a guitar that makes a statement!

This guitar is one of the 500 listed in the "500 Guitars" book, but alas the publisher was unable to turn up a photo of it, so I'm making up for it here!

G L Wilson

NB: Please make sure you are reading this Guitarz post at guitarz.blogspot.com and not on a Scraper blog that copies posts without permission (and steals bandwidth) so as to profit from advertising. Please support original bloggers!

500 Guitars - the latest

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I have been told categorically by the publisher that the book does indeed carry my name, which is supported by this image (left) that I found on an Australian book distributors website here.

I'm not so sure about it being a "definitive A-Z guide", that sounds like pure marketing spin to me, but I'm not going to take issue with that.

Once again I'd like to point out that Sean Egan was erroneously credited as the author of this book on the Amazon listings through no fault of his own. Please see my apology below.

The Amazon.co.uk listing does not currently show a price and says that this title is "currently unavailable". (I believe it is being released on the 20th of this month).

I am now going to delete my previous recent posts about the book and the whole debacle of who the credited author is, because I do not see any point in keeping such negative-toned material in the blog archive.

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

Acoustic Corporation Black Widow Guitars

This is a follow-up to Tuesday's post about a certain Hollowbody Fretless bass. What I hadn't realised from the original eBay listing was that where it said "Acoustic" was that was a brand name and not a description! (I thought it was a reference to the bass being a hollowbody!). The Acoustic in question was Acoustic Control Corporation who - while they were better known for their solid state amplifier range - produced a range of guitars known as the Black Widow. These were originally designed and built by Paul Barth and his Bartell company in the USA, but production moved several times, to the Matsumoko factory in Japan, back to Mosrite in the USA and then finally to the Hohner company. So, now the eBay listing makes sense!

For the full story and lots more pictures, see the Acoustic Black Widow Fan Page. Pictured above is probably the most famous guitarist to have played an Acoustic Black Widow, supposedly in the studio only. Does anyone have any idea on which recordings Jimi Hendrix may have played this guitar?

Disclaimer: I'm not sure where this photo originally came from and cannot make out the small print in the bottom right hand corner. Apologies in advance if I am using your picture without permission.