Charles H. Kaman, inventor of the Ovation Guitar dies at age 91

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Charles H. Kaman - aviation pioneer in the development of helicopters and the creator of the Ovation Roundback guitar - has died in Connecticut USA [on Monday January 31].

In the 1940s he split off from Sikorsky Aviation to found his own corporation to design and manufacture helicopter blades. Using the knowledge he had regarding the control of vibrations, he set out in the mid-1960s to create a new type of guitar: using a strong molded one-piece parabolic assembly of sides and back made out of the same fiberglass compound he used on his blades. In-store demonstrations of the earliest Ovation guitars were a sight to behold: the sales rep would put the guitar face-down on the floor and stand on the bowl assembly.

Kaman (sounds like "command") was among the first to use alternative synthetic materials on guitars, paving the way for Steinberger and others. Kaman was 91.

Via Alan Peterson

(See also the New York Times obituary)

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

1953 Gretsch Clipper

guitarz.blogspot.com

Didn't know that Gretsch could produce a summary guitar? 

Here is the Gretsch Clipper, a budget guitar from the 50s - the name was prolonged later for more sophisticated models - with one DeArmond Dynasonic (or probably a Fidelatone as they were first called) pickup, no cutaway, no pickguard, no sunburst, no fancy inlays or stoptail...

Bertram

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

Vintage Hoyer Telething

guitarz.blogspot.com

Tried hard but couldn't find anything about this bizarro Hoyer Tele-like guitar - actually it's maybe a one-off or a Frankenstein but it looks quite real - the control plate at least I saw or other (later) Hoyers - they have been releasing Tele inspired guitars for ever - still do.

The pickups feel really Japanese 60s products, the 3/3 big headstock is so out of place that it's attractive, the Silvertone-esque pickguard is pretty cool - I'm quite intrigued by this guitar, anybody knows more?

Bertram

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

1960s Yamaha SB2A bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This is an orginal Yamaha SBV bass from the late 1960s, although I'm not entirely sure of the exact model designation of this single-pickup version. (Edit: Big Red X tells me that it's an SB2A). Back in May of last year we looked at Kevin's pair of Yamaha SBV basses, which were re-issues from circa 2000. Other than pickup layout, the main difference between these and the 1960s example pictured above is scale length - this is apparent from the position of the bridge. Speaking of the bridge, there is no way that Precision-style unit is original to the 1960s SBV (and a quick Google image search will confirm this). The string spacing is a fraction too wide: look at how close the G and E strings come to the edge of the fingerboard up at the top end of the neck as it gets closer to the body.

Currently being offered for sale on eBay with a starting price of £449.

G L Wilson

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

1947 Gretsch Electromatic Spanish Electric Guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This surprisingly well preserved Gretsch Electromatic currently gracing eBay is quite a beauty. It has some remarkable features but the most unusual, for me, are the machine heads. We showed a Modulus Genesis G3 a while back that had compensated tuners to keep the strings in a straight line and this appears to be an earlier attempt at the same idea. I think this is what's known as an "engineering solution".

I'll let the sellers describe the rest:

This is for a 1947 Gretsch Electromatic Hollow-body Spanish Electric Guitar. This terrific guitar looks great! The top and back of the body do not have any cracks or chips in them. The right side of the body has two screws driven into, one right next to the neck and the other right next to the top binding between the upper and lower bouts; the screw between the bouts appears to have a couple of very small cracks extending about 1/8" away from it kinda parallel to the binding, but the other screw does not have any cracks involved with it. The top, back, and sides all show a few dings and indentions in them as well as a few very light surface scratches - none of which is through the lacquer to the bare wood. The inside of the body appears to be a bit dirty and some of the wiring is not original. However, the pickup and potentiometers do appear to be original.

The output jack is loose and needs to be re-attached and the knobs are missing on the front. The neck and headstock both show similar surface scratches and indentions as those found on the body, but are also free of cracks and chips. The tuners on the headstock are also original. The fretboard has a some noticeable spots of what appears to be dried glue on it, plus the frets show some fairly heavy wear, but are still playable. The action on this guitar is about medium-high and it plays well and sounds wonderful. This amazing guitar features a scale of 25-1/2", a 1-11/16" nut width, a 19-fret (14-fret accessibility) rosewood fretboard, and a Gretsch tailpiece.

I'm not 100% convinced that the tailpiece is original, personally.

David - Slacking in Barcelona

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

Fender Electric XII

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Even those who've only been reading this blog for just a couple of months will have noticed that I have a soft spot for electric 12-strings. Here is one of the classics, the Fender Electric XII, introduced in 1965 and remaining in production for five years. The body design owes a lot to the Jazzmaster and Jaguar guitars, and the headstock is an over-sized hockey-stick shape - I can only assume so as to have somewhere prominent to display the Fender logo! (I have a Fender Strat XII and the Fender logo is somewhat lost in the middle of the small headstock that guitar has. You can imagine what an aggressive Marketing Department might think of that!)

The Electric XII was supposedly designed from the ground up to be a 12-string guitar, rather than being an adaptation of an existing 6-string guitar design. It's funny that in more recent years Fender have resorted to issusing the 12-string Stratocaster instead of this beauty. However, I'm sure the Custom Shop would knock one up for someone willing to throw the right amount of money in their direction.

The distinctive-looking split pickups are selected via a 4-way switch offering settings for neck, neck and bridge in series, neck and bridge in parallel and bridge only options.

It's funny, everyone thinks of the Gibson doubleneck as being the "Stairway to Heaven" guitar, but on the recorded version on "Led Zeppelin 4" (or "Four Symbols" if you will!) it was a Fender Electric XII that Jimmy Page used for the 12-string parts. The guitar has also been used by, amongst others, Lou Reed, Jeff Beck, Pete Townshend and Bob Dylan (pictured right).

See here also for a rare left-handed version. (Well, I'd never seen one before!)

The above-pictured black example is a refurbished Electric XII and is currently being offered for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of £1,850.

G L Wilson

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

Ibanez S670FM

guitarz.blogspot.com

A few weeks ago I was writing about the guitars I usually overlook when I'm browsing for new stuff to show on the blog, here is one of them - an  Ibanez again, the S670FM. It's hard to tell when classicism turns into banality, but once you go over its boring shape, you find a pretty nice guitar, with a thin round mahogany body (the Ibanez S series was intended to provide light guitars made of mahogany) and nice flamed top  - I usually loathe this but it's actually agreeable when it's not spoiled by a glossy transparent lack. Even the light sunburst is swell!

I like the routing for the jack output, and the sophisticated trem with fine tuning thingummies (sorry I'm too lazy today for precise technical details). If I was given one (yes, I'm the kind of guy who tries to win a guitar for free in these internet giveaways, because I promised to myself not to buy a guitar anymore if it cannot pay for itself, and I don't have a current project that allows that), I'd just add chrome humbucker covers (uncovered pickups are not my cup of tea) and probably enjoy it because I have nothing in this style, and I trust Ibanez for the sound...

Bertram

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