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!

Red Japanese guitar... but what is it exactly?

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I saw this red Japanese guitar on eBay and wasn't too sure of its identity. The seller didn't seem to know either, suggesting it might be a Yamaha, Teisco or Guyatone.

However, I knew I recognised those N-shaped inlays on the fingerboard and was pretty sure we'd blogged about one of these before, and knowing it was going to bug me if I didn't identify the guitar, I started checking through the Guitarz archives.

Luckily I didn't have to search back too far. In fact, it was only February last year that we featured a similar guitar. Yes, it seems we have here another Norma solidbody (although I'm not sure about the exact model designation in this instance). Norma brand guitars were built by the Tombo Instrument company in Japan and imported into the US by Strum & Drum of Chicago. I expect this guitar would date to the latter half of the 1960s.

G L Wilson

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

Keith's homemade guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Keith writes:

I read your blog every time you have a new post and enjoy it very much. I don't know if you are interested in this or not but I've built an electric guitar for myself. I posted the whole process on my blog.

Thanks for that, Keith. That's a highly individual-looking guitar you have there! I like the contouring to the top - it's like an extreme German carve. It's so nice to see a guitar that someone's created that isn't a "cookie cutter" guitar using the same old templates that we see time and time again, or else looks as if it's been made by someone who has never even seen an electric guitar before and just had someone not very knowledgeable describe one to them.

Great to see the whole build process too!

G L Wilson

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

Sad News: Gary Moore passes away

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This news, as untimely as it is, comes as a great shock.

As reported in The Irish Times:

Former Thin Lizzy guitarist Gary Moore has died at a Costa del Sol hotel.

The musician was found dead in his room at the luxury Kempinski Resort Hotel in Estepona in the early hours of this morning. A postmortem is due to carried out later today in the nearby city of Malaga.

Moore (58) from Belfast is understood to have been on holiday at the time of his death.

More at: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0206/breaking25.html

I know that Moore was happy to have put his rock years behind him and to have reinvented himself as a blues guitarist, but I'll always have a soft spot for his "Back On The Streets" album. I also loved his work with Thin Lizzy on the "Black Rose" album.

Very sad.

G L Wilson

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

Ted Crocker Six Banger

guitarz.blogspot.com:

It seems ages ago that I blogged about Ted Crocker, maker of cigar box guitars, rustic guitars, Stonehenge pickups and The Honeydripper guitar from the film of the same name. Here we see the Ted Crocker Six Banger guitar, designed in conjunction with guitarist Shane Speal to be a "blues axes with late 1940s/early 1950s charm".

Excuse me while I borrow from the guitar's listing on eBay:

• Solid mahogany body with absolutely gorgeous grain (see pictures of the back for stunning woodgrain).
• Hand rubbed linseed oil finish. 8 coats.
• Wraparound Les Paul Jr. type tailpiece for increased sustain.
• Underwound handmade pickup in the neck position for a more snarling slide tone. We compared outputs of Harmony Stratotone pickups when designing this. Our goal was to get a tone meaner than Hound Dog Taylor!
• Bolt-on neck that has been carefully stained and aged.
• Leather covered headstock with Ted Crocker's signature branded into the leather. The headstock cutaway matches the body cutaway.
• Handmade wood knobs.
• Medium action - perfect for fretting or slide playing.

Currently for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $650.

G L Wilson

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

The Eliminators - Room To Move

Artist: The Eliminators
Album: Room To Move
Year: 2010
Genre:  Surf Rock, Rockabilly
Format: 320 kbps mp3
Password: http://guitar-maniacs.blogspot.com
Tracklist:
1. Hang On (3:01)
2. Walking Tall (3:00)
3. Snake Eyes (3:26)
4. Balsa Chica (3:00)
5. Rockin' Billy (2:31)
6. Pool Party (3:18)
7. Sonic Blue (5:32)
8. Sunset Glide (2:55)
9. Steel Trap (3:59)
10. Slick (3:40)
11. Revenge of the Cowabunga Thunder Melvins (2:31)
12. Marty's Theme (2:27)
13. One Gun Is All You Need (2:45)
14. Starlight Cruise (2:42)

Download#1
Download#2

1974 Framus Electric Mandolin

guitarz.blogspot.com

I'm tripping on electric mandolins lately, as I want to expand my music and really enjoy what Warren Ellis does with Grinderman (he doesn't play only his signature tenor guitar). 

This 1974 8-string Framus Electric Mandolin in Black Rose finish could fulfill my dreams and my birthday is soon (my anti-GAS no-more-guitar policy doesn't apply here, it's a mandolin)...

Bertram

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