Molded and contoured top guitar Switch Stein IV by Trev Wilkinson

guitarz.blogspot.com

At the first sight, this Switch Stein IV has a 1980s look that probably repels the average vintage cultist  who thinks that electric guitar history stopped the day Fender subcontracted its guitar making to Greco (all these angles! - though in one extra decade that will be probably sooooo cool).

But if you look closer, you will figure that this guitar has something special - first of all it is a recent model (2000s but I cannot tell more - because as often with Trev Wilkinson products, short lived guitar company Switch has a visibility deficiency - their website is no more, no fan page, very little reviews...). You will notice right away its ergonomically contoured top that is supposed to provide a more comfortable access to the strings and knobs, and the Parker Fly-esque upper horn (they enjoyed radical designs, GL has already posted about a Burns Flytesque model a couple of years ago).

But the very special thing about this guitar, is that it's one-piece, molded out of a composite material called Vibracell, supposed to have the best resonance and sustain one can expect from a guitar - that you can get from wood only if you are lucky or put a lot of money... For me that makes sense - I love wood for the feel and the look, but I'm far from being convinced that it's the ultimate material for an electric guitar! Vibracell allows one-piece construction, easy chambering, design freedom and low price... Unfortunately early XXIst century is not the right time to be innovative in guitar making, so no surprise these guitars didn't take in spite of the unanimous positive reviews I could read...

I wonder if this material will ever find its proper use - maybe for other instruments aimed at less conservative crowds...

Bertram

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

Lego guitars from Foster's Brothers

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This photo was posted on the Guitarz Facebook page. Clicking through to the Foster's Brothers page, we find out the following info:

Foster's Brothers Guitars builds fine, quality instruments. Designer/Builder Keith has been building Lego-bodied guitars for 14 years now. In that time he has completed 13 Lego builds. His build process and the quality of the instrument has significantly increased over that time.

Keith's designs - whether in Lego, or whatever medium he tackles, ALWAYS push the limits. They are some of the most radical designs out there.

They are certainly distinctive-looking instruments and well worthy of a Guitarz blog post. I can't imagine that the body is completely Lego - it'd need some kind of solid core or foundation, I would have thought. Anyway, great, fun designs! Love it!

G L Wilson

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

EGC alu and lucite guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

(c) AE|2011, http://photography.fuzz-wire.net

Kevin Burkett of the Electrical Guitar Company creates boutique-quality aluminium guitars and basses. This particular example is a one-off, inspired by the now legendary Dan Armstrong plexiglass guitar, and which marries a lucite body to an aluminium Travis Bean-style neck. Unlike the Dan Armstrong which had such a deep-set neck that there was only room to accommodate a single pickup, the EGC has two P90s. Indeed, from what I can make out in the photographs, the neck/body interface looks to be one of its most interesting features. It appears that the neck and the plate at the rear of the body are formed from a single billet of aluminium, allowing the end of the neck to be flush with the top-end of the body with no need for neck pocket or deepset tenon.

(c) AE|2011, http://photography.fuzz-wire.net

More here: http://digital.premierguitar.com/premierguitar/201003_1/#pg193

Thanks to Dirk Lubbe for bringing this beauty to my attention.

G L Wilson

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

3-string Biscuit Tin Guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This 3-stringed biscuit tin guitar is yet another variation on the cigar box guitar theme, and illustrates nicely the spirit of inventiveness.

This seller has been listing such homemade instruments on eBay for several months now and has assembled a number of rustic-looking resonator guitars. It's a pity his eBay listings are let down by a lack of attention to detail in the areas of spelling, grammar, punctuation, use of capital letters (i.e. total disregard for), and even basic sentence construction.

G L Wilson

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

1970s Renaissance plexiglass guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Wow! A rare Renaissance plexiglass guitar listed on eBay with a starting price of $249. Is that too good to be true?

Errrrmmm... yes, it seems it is.

The problem with plexiglass-bodied guitars is that they tend to be somewhat on the heavy side, and it seems that the owner of this USA-built 1978 Renaissance guitar decided to do something about the weight and has carved away material from the back of the body and absolutely peppered it with holes.

Argh! What a crying shame!

For those who are interested, here's the info copied from the listing on eBay:

This is a rare Renaissance guitar made in Pennsylvania in 1978, The founder of the company was John Marshall who trained locally under Eric Schulte, along with Augie LoPrinzi of New Jersey. The company lasted from 1977 to 1980. They are very well made guitars. This one has had some "customizing" done. Due to weight, someone cut out the back and drilled holes into the body. Very cool looking, but rather unfortunate to alter a rare vintage instrument. The weight of the guitar is now a little less than 8.5 lbs. Dimarzio pickups. Active electronics, CTS pots are dated 1377833 which dates the guitar to 1978. Brass hardware. Flame maple two piece neck which is straight. Ebony fingerboard with 24 jumbo frets. Some minor fretwear. Action is excellent. The guitar plays and sounds great. They only made 250 - 300 guitars. Mostly basses. Less than a 100 guitars were produced. This is definitely a rocker and would make a great stage guitar.

Long-term Guitarz readers might remember that we previously featured a Renaissance guitar in smoked plexiglass - this shows what it should look like without the holes.

G L Wilson

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

Woven bamboo archtop from Taiwan

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I can't tell you much about this guitar, but you can see for yourselves photos from the construction process here.

Thanks to Frogleg Che who posted this on the Guitarz Facebook page. Please feel free to post pictures of your own interesting or unusual guitars on our Facebook page - they may even make it onto the main blog.

G L Wilson

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

OMG! Another Mel-O-Bar. But what a Mel-O-Bar!!!! Naugahyde!!!!

guitarz.blogspot.com

We've had a few vintage Mel-O-Bars recently but this one is 1980s, unused with just a couple of small scratches on the neck and a liberal coating of shop dust. That's like fairy dust but more expensive. The sellers say it's been on display in their shop since the 1980s. The body is foam padded "for comfort" and, it's covered in Naugahyde!!!!!!! Sorry, more exclamation marks and bold type, I just can't help it.

It was Tom Waits who introduced me to the subtle, sticky and seductive texture, the clammy and clinging faux leatherette-ishness and the sweet, heady vinylious aroma of Naugahyde and I've been a sucker for it ever since.

I checked out Naugahyde on Google and they are still in business! www.naugahyde.com 

"There is only one Naugahyde and it's proudly made in the USA." Well, for that I'm glad! They do have a somewhat skewed take on eco friendly though, which is kind of fuzzed over with their story that Naugahyde comes from the sloughed skin of naugas - "No naugas were harmed in the production of this material". But as Naugahyde is actually made of PVC, the welfare of cute little fictional critters is the least of our worries. Slight digression... Guitar making is, in the mainstream at least, an industrial process and, even apart from the timbers that are used to build guitars, there are glues, paints, varnishes, plastics and heavy metals (yeah! I'm talking to you Ozzy) used in their manufacture so... Where art thou, eco-guitar?

It also has another interesting though somehow less, well, tactile feature (if you get my drift) which I've never seen before. Along the edge of the neck is a guide bar to help position the slide. I guess you would feel the notches with your finger tips as you play. I tried searching for more info on this but with no luck so far. It may well be an innovation unique to Melobars.

I'm pleased to say, that as it's clearly not everyones cup of tea, I had little opposition in the usual bidding frenzy over there at eBay Towers and it will be winging its way to sunny Barcelona (into the loving arms of the Spanish customs department so they can determine how much to fleece me for this time) very shortly. I stayed up till 4.30 in the morning to bid for this, by the way.

David in Barcelona

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

Crazy Russian guy makes guitars out of shovels

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Micha brought this to my attention - never mind cigar box guitars, these are shovel guitars! (More photos here and see also here). Admittedly, the above video does go on a bit too long, and I guess is supposed to be funny. I suppose it helps if you speak the language.

G L Wilson

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

Pondering on toy guitars

guitarz.blogspot.com:

GL -- Hello from Washington DC USA.

I'm wondering about a pair of "toy" plastic guitars I recall as a very young kid, that were made by the Emenee Company in the U.S. back around 1965 or so. The one that surfaces a lot on eBay and on those my-first-guitar webpages is the Emenee "Tiger"/Sears "WingDing", a plastic archtop of questionable note and intonation. Pics can be seen at:
http://mewzik.com/research/emenee/guitar/wingding/index.html

The other was called the "Swingin' Cat", but I've found no images or mentions of this model anywhere. If anyone has any info on the Swingin' Cat, speak up please!

BTW, Emenee rounded out its line of toy instruments with the "Big Bash Drums" and the "Polychord Electric Organ". The post-Beatle U.S. manufacturing rush of the 1960s was something to behold.

Alan Peterson
Springfield, Virginia USA

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

Ras Allover's The Crotch bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Regular readers might remember Ras Allover's Log bass which we looked at in March 2009.

Now he's back with a new log-based 4-string creation, named "The Crotch" which he claims is possibly the sexiest bass alive today.

Specs

Body: Ash *
Neck: Rock Maple w. Walnut Skunk Sripe
Bridge: BADASS
Pickup: MAXXON Vintage Single Coil
Strings: Heavy Gage ELIXIR Nano-Web Coated
Controls: Stacked Concentric Volume - Tone
Hand made in Toronto, Canada

Sounds and plays great with an exellent sustain and a deep rumble bassy tone.

Won 1st Price at the 'Six String Garage' instrument competition in Toronto, Canada!

Ras has even sent in an accompanying joke, which must be a first for Guitarz:

A tree grows up in the forest and doesn't know what kind of tree it is. So it decides to ask the Maple tree: 'Hey, Mr. Maple, I am trying to figure out what tree I am!' So Mr. Maple looks at him and says: 'I am not too sure, why don't you ask Mr. Pine over there?'

Ok so the young tree goes: 'Hey, Mr. Pine, I am trying to figure out what tree I am, can you help me out!' And Mr. Pine says: 'You know, I can't really tell from where I'm standing, why don't you ask Mr. Oak, he's been around the longest.'

So the little tree goes: 'Hey, Mr. Oak, I am trying to figure out what tree I am, any ideas?' Mr. Oak looks at him and says: 'You know, I am not too sure whether you are a son of a Beech or a son of a Birch, but your mother was definitely the best piece of Ash in the forest ...'

So there you go, a wood-based joke for all you luthiers and lovers of tonewoods. (Don't I remember an episode of The Phil Silvers Show in which Sgt Bilko was trying to persuade a bunch of TV executives that wood was currently what everyone was laughing at?)

G L Wilson

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

Turtle guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

The concept of a guitar made from a turtle shell has been a concept firmly fixed in my mind since I saw Kirk Douglas playing one in the movie "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" as a small child. Other than the instrument used in that film (a prop, no doubt) the guitar pictured here - currently being offered for sale on eBay - is the first time I've actually seen this idea executed.

However, I hope the poor turtle wasn't executed for its shell.

G L Wilson

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

The Coverdrive CF cricket bat guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Colin Flint has combined his love of the sport of cricket, playing guitar and carpentry, to produce the Coverdrive CF cricket bat guitar. The guitars feature Telecaster-style necks and other components mounted into the body of a genuine cricket bat. Some of the guitars he has for sale on his website are built using some quite valuable bats, such as his Signed Slazenger 1977 'Ashes Victory' cricket bat guitar, which is built using an unused bat from the 1977 Ashes series, won 3-0 by England, complete with signatures on the front of England and Australia players.

The guitar pictured here, based on a 1990s Slazenger V600 cricket bat, is currently being offered for sale on eBay.

As a guitar made from an item of sporting equipment, it certainly beats the 2-string tennis racquet guitar we looked at in January.

For more information, please see www.cricketbatguitar.com.

G L Wilson

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

Ceramic-bodied acoustic guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:
From the listing on eBay:

"This ceramic guitar was built by Gabe Turow, of www.StoneInstruments.com. Over the course of two months the ceramic guitar was born: with the sound of a steel guitar mixed with the plunkiness of a banjo, this guitar is a total trip. The body is ceramic and the neck is oak. The body was constructed by throwing two bowls on the wheel, joining them, and then securing the neck onto the resonator with construction-grade adhesive. The headstock was hand-carved. The guitar comes with an audiophile-quality piezo-electric 1/2"X2" tape microphone and 1/4" input jack for amplification."

An intersting concept. Here's a YouTube video to explain the construction process:

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!

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!

Seeing as it's (St) Valentine's Day...

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Anyone who knows me will know how cynical I am about days like these - "Valentines Day" (sic) - which are a modern media-controlled corruption of an old folk tradition. Saint Valentine's Day (to give it its correct title) used to be all about a sending anonymous cards and gifts to someone that you secretly admired, but now it's just another corporate extolled greed-fest, the sole aim of which is to spend spend spend to show your loved one that you really can be romantic at least one day out of 365.

Sorry, I went off onto a bit of a rant there.

But, despite such cynicism, the above guitar is too good to miss out on, because today of all days it is topical. It's another of Maccaferri's wonderful plastic guitars, this model being called The Romancer. These guitars were originally produced in 1953 and - despite their toy-like appearance - were intended as serious highly-functional instruments. I expect that with this particular model you were encouraged to serenade your loved one, as depicted in the images on its top.

Read more about Macceferri's plastic guitars and ukuleles 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!

Switch Guitars - a modern classic and a future collectable?

This eBay Seller has recently had a number of Switch guitars for sale, and from his blurb implies that he has others "waiting in the wings" and not yet listed. These guitars feature one-piece body and neck molded from a plastic material called Vibracell, which apparently has a similar consistency to mahogany. The sustain is supposedly an improvement on mahogany, and of course being entirely wood-free, these guitars have very good green credentials.

The example pictured above is the Future VI model, which appears to have been influenced by a favourite guitar design of mine, the Burns Flyte guitar.

My local music shop stocked this brand of guitar a few years ago and had examples in some quite eye-dazzling fluorescent colours - yellow, orange, green... I was always quite intrigued by them, but I think the loud colours deterred me somewhat.

The seller of these guitars on eBay has stated that Switch Guitars, the company, is no more (despite the official website still being active, but note the copyright date of 2003-2005 at the bottom of the home page). Perhaps they were too forward-thinking for their own good. I wonder, could these weird plastic guitars be the vintage guitars of the future? I have to admit that I like them.

Switch guitars: these guitars are interesting. They claim to feature Vibracell technology. I believe this refers to the stuff they're actually built from, that is, some kind of plastic resin. Interesting they have both electric and acoustic models in their catalogue. I like the ones that look as if they've been styled after the Burns Flyte guitar.