Guitar Collecting Resource
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Not Paul Reed Smith!
Paul Smith, the well known British clothing designer, has collaborated with Vintage Guitars in order to produce the Paul Smith acoustic guitar.
It’s a 3/4-sized acoustic that Paul Smith is refers to in most of his marketing as a ‘children’s guitar’ but could really serve as a travel guitar for the fashionistas [...]
The Fender DuoSonic guitar was first produced by in 1956.
It was meant to be a student guitar. It featured a short, 22.5 inch, scale length that was considerably shorter than the 25.5 inch scale used on standard Fender guitars.
The DuoSonic, which is sometimes spelled as Duo-Sonic or Duosonic, has two, single coil, pickups and a [...]
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Gibson’s radical Hawk series was another shortlived attempt to modernise Gibson’s image in the 1990s. It lasted from 1993 to 1998 and the series comprised 5 models.
In the mid 1980s Gibson released new models that were nothing like previous ones to try and compete with new companies in the market.
The Corvus (radical new shape, [...]
The Ibanez Musician was born out of the Japanese copy boom of the 1970s, which also helped spawn the Ibanez Destroyer and Iceman.
After Ibanez were sued for copying Gibson designs they branched out into original designs. Their first original models were the aforementioned two guitars, as well as the Performer, a Les Paul-type with [...]
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The Washburn A10-A20V Stage series of guitars were produced between 1979 and 1985.
Shaped like a truncated Gibson Explorer with a chunky slanted headstock, the high quality Stage series found homes with a fair number of rock guitarists in the early 1980’s. They were produced in Japan in the highly regarded Matsumoku factory, which also [...]
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This guitar was originally made from 1982 to 1984 in Japan by Tokai, who at this point were looking to expand away from the copies they specialised in.
It was very unusual in that the body was not made of wood, as you might expect, but aluminium instead. As such the name was actually an [...]
Fender’s iconic Telecaster has many submodels to its name, which have their own distinct set of players. These include the Thinline semi-hollow model, the Custom with a humbucker at the neck and a different scratchplate, and the Deluxe, with two humbuckers and a wide headstock reminiscent of the 1970s Stratocasters.
But that isn’t the full list [...]
The Dan Armstrong Plexiglass was a very odd guitar originally made from 1969 to 1971 as an effort by popular amplification company Ampeg to draw in some more sales than their then-ailing amp lines were. The guitars came about from legendary guitar builder and repairer Dan Armstrong posing Ampeg the question:
“Since you make guitar and [...]
Now here’s one you might not have heard of.
Daion were an old Japanese company operating from the famed Matsumoku factory for a short period in the early 1980s. The Daions were very high quality, and full of innovative features.
They had a range of electrics, basses and acoustics which were often very different to the usual [...]
Blues/Jazz guitarist Robben Ford merges styles to redefine the term “fusion” music. His sound, delivery and conception are all his own – as unmistakable and personal as a fingerprint. He chose a deliberate reinterpretation of the unusual Fender Esprit Ultra as the basis for his signature instrument (the Fender Robben Ford Signature model), which reflects [...]
The Starcaster was a short lived semi-hollow guitar made in the mid-1970s and early 1980s as competition to Gibson’s ES335 model. It is uncertain whether it was made from 1976 to 1977 or 1980 to 1982.
The guitar featured the Gibson traditional semi-hollow body and humbuckers, but with a new 6-on-1-side headstock and Fender’s trademark bolt-on [...]
Guitar Center will take its iconic “Legends Collection” on the road beginning May 23 for a 4-city tour that will make weekend stops in Fountain Valley, La Mesa, San Francisco and Hollywood.
These are so cool..
Daddy Mojo builds handcrafted guitars from cedar and mahogany cigar boxes.
The instruments, which are smaller and lighter than standard guitars, sell for between $265 and $735 and have found a following among blues aficionados who can’t get enough of the warm sound they provide.
“It has a very unique tone that you can’t [...]
The Epiphone Guitar Company of Nashville, Tennessee announces the release of the new limited edition Oh, Pretty Woman 12-string acoustic guitar. Produced in cooperation with the legendary singer/songwriter Roy Orbison’s estate, this signature guitar is based upon Roy’s own 1962 Epiphone ‘Bard’ 12-string acoustic guitar.
Orbison used his original Epiphone acoustic guitar to write and perform [...]
The Charvel Spectrum was a Superstrat type guitar made from 1989 to 1991 in a variety of wild colours.
The series was inspired by a custom model made for Jeff Beck.
The model was a part of Charvel’s Contemporary Series, and was possibly named after the veritable rainbow of bright colours it came in – including bright [...]
Yamaha is now a huge corporation covering all aspects of musical instruments, and more products including motorbikes. However, in 1976, when the SG2000 was introduced they were very much still an upstart company trying to make a name for themselves.
In 1973 they had introduced a range of Gibson inspired SG models- equal cutaway designs with [...]
The Coronado was a thinline hollow bodied guitar made by Fender from 1966 to 1972. It was designed by former Rickenbacker designer Roger Rossmeisl, who would later design other guitars for Fender.
The Coronado came in three models- the Coronado I with only one pickup at the neck, the II with two pickups and the XII, [...]
RKS Guitars are an American-based company who make very unusual guitars to bespoke specifications for a high cost.
The only vaguely conventional feature of these astounding guitars is the silhouette. My first encounter with an RKS was in the High Wycombe shop called BBZ Guitars.
The shape commonly used by the company is an equal cutaway style, made usually [...]
After my post about the Ovation Breadwinner guitar, I found a couple for sale in London last week.
Both were in the Music Ground shop, and both priced at £899.
Here is a photo of one of them; it seems to be in pretty good condition and original, but I can’t vouch for that.
The shop also had [...]
Shergold was a little-known guitar company started in 1967 by Jack Golder and Norman Houlder, who had both previously worked for Burns.
They were located in Harold Wood, East London for most of their professional career.
Some models introduced by Shergold were the Masquerader, the Modulator (with active electronics), and the Custom Double, a twin neck guitar [...]
“Coco Chanel had an affair with Stravinsky, mine was with a guitar.”
Karl Lagerfield
One of the more interesting things seen at the Paris Spring 2009 Fashion shows was the Chanel guitar and guitar bag.
It was a simple black guitar, but it discreetly spells Chanel on the headstock and has the Chanel logo in the [...]
Vintage Guitar Gems, an established Vintage/Used Guitar & Amp store in the Conejo Valley was contacted by Yvonne Elliman (EC’s backup singer for many years as well as a songwriter, recording artist and actor) to sell the guitar that was used to record ‘Let it Grow’ during the famous 461 Ocean Blvd recording sessions at [...]
The Hamer Phantom is a very rare and collectable guitar, built in limited numbers in the 1980s. It started out as a prototype, called simply the Hamer Prototype. It was special in that it had a very unusual three-coil pickup at the bridge. Some also had one single-coil at the neck.
It was based on a [...]
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The Gibson M-III was one of the company’s rare attempts to muscle in on the popular Superstrat movement of the late 1980s, led by Jackson and Ibanez. It was not as successful as other Gibsons and was withdrawn after only a few years in production.
The guitar featured an updated Stratocaster shape with a reverse [...]
I found this video sampler of Paul Brett’s “Paul Brett – Collecting Vintage Acoustic Guitars” DVD…
You can buy the full length DVD from Pauls website, at Fretdancer.com
The Ovation company is best known for its acoustic guitars, although they had a very good crack at the solid electric market in the early 1970s (1972 to be precise) with the UKII, the Preacher, the Viper, and the subjects of this article, the Deacon and Breadwinner.
While the former three were fairly normal in design, [...]
We made a road trip this morning to visit the Wembley Guitar Centre in North London, sitting almost in the shadow of the new Wembley Stadium.
Mark (the manager) and Matt couldn’t have been more friendly and helpful, allowing us to grab whatever guitars we fancied and wailing away with Boogie and Engl amps in their [...]
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The Ibanez Destroyer was born, like its’ sister guitar, the fairly similar Ibanez Iceman, out of Ibanez’s infamous 1970s battle with Gibson over Ibanez’s blatant copies of the Les Paul and SG Junior.
Ibanez received a cease- and-desist order and decided to make more original models. This culminated in the Iceman and Destroyer of the [...]
The Bich was launched in 1977 alongside the Seagull and Mockingbird in the BC Rich range of the 1970s. It featured the most daring of BC Rich’s “vintage” designs, with a body originally penned by renowned luthier Neal Moser.
It featured two very unusual cutaways on the bottom of the body, a neck-through design, and originally [...]
The Charvel company, which spawned the famous and reputable brand Jackson Guitars, is also well known for their very high-quality superstrat models and for a while was the chief supplier of Eddie Van Halen’s guitars. In 1992 Charvel launched their biggest break from their usual superstrat tradition (the company also dabbles in Telecaster-shaped models and [...]
The Epiphone Coronet was launched in 1958 as an alternative to the popular Gibson Les Paul Junior. It was part of a range of models made from the late 50s to 1970. The range included the Crestwood, Coronet and Olympic models.
The models were designed to compete with the Gibson Les Paul Junior, and so [...]
I found this guitar for sale today while I was cruising around some guitar sites.
I’ve never heard of Electra before, but reading the sales info it seems to have come from the Westone/Matsumoku stable of brands and was sold in the US through St Louis Music in the early 1980s.
It’s very “80’s” with the brass [...]
The Mockingbird was introduced in the mid 1970s as part of BC Rich’s then – new radically shaped range.
Alongside the Warlock model, the Mockingbird has become an iconic BC Rich model, and probably the most famously used, with players including Slash, Craig Chaquico of Starship, Kerry King of Slayer and a host of rock players [...]
Gibson Trini Lopez
Trini Lopez is a popular American-Mexican singer and guitarist who designed two signature guitars for Gibson in 1964. The first was the Trini Lopez Standard and the second the Custom, or Deluxe.
The Standard is based on the classic ES335 shape, but with a trapeze tailpiece (as seen on early Gibson Les Pauls) and [...]
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Gibson Moderne
The Gibson Moderne is one of Gibson’s most infamous instruments, and due to its limited production and the story surrounding it, it has acquired semi-mythical status.
It was first announced in 1958. The Moderne was slated to be part of a very modernistic three-guitar series including the Flying V and Explorer, now two of [...]
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Gibson already had two very successful unorthodox looking guitars in 1982 – the much – emulated Flying V and Explorer, which are considered the benchmark for odd shaped guitars to this day. Which is why the unusual Corvus, launched in 1982 to little fanfare, so prompted the question “What were Gibson thinking?”
No-one really seems [...]
Fender’s Katana was a flop, selling barely any units in its 1986 one-year, lifespan, even when a cheaper and more basic Squier brand version was launched. Another model was also launched to be made exclusively in Fender’s new Japanese factory, which also departed from Fender’s traditions- the Performer. This guitar resembled a Fender Stratocaster mixed [...]
The Bond Electraglide was a very unusual, little-known guitar made in Scotland by Andrew Bond in 1984-5.
The guitar was highly odd, featuring a carbon-fibre body, very complex digital readouts instead of controls, and a neck which featured no frets, instead a “stepped” fingerboard, where the frets were replaced with saw-tooth shaped steps.
The player selected pickups [...]
In 1985 Fender was under threat from rival brand Gibson, who offered a variety of very successful rock guitars (Flying V, Explorer etc.), and companies specialising in pointy-shaped metal guitars, such as Jackson and Dean with the successful Randy Rhoads model and the ML, respectively.
Fender were, at this time, one of the only major guitar [...]
Gretsch have made a huge selection of quality electric guitars since the mid-1950s (interestingly, Gretsch have been around since 1883 making other instruments, but started vying for domination in the electric market around 1954-5), of which the 6134 model, better-known as the White Penguin is among the rarest.
The 6136 (also known as the White Falcon [...]
This post concentrates on an ultra-limited edition series of models with a total production run limited to 100 units.
Dean Lost 100 Series
On behalf of several artists and owners, myself included, I will say that Deans are very good guitars.
If you check our histories section, you’ll see that the company was started in 1977 by one [...]
This time I thought I’d go for a whole range of guitars, which were meant as budget instruments when they were first made in the mid-1950s.
1950s Danelectro Range
Originally meant as budget guitars and sold through the Sears catalogue under a variety of names, Nathan Daniel’s company, Danelectro, soon started marketing the guitars as Danelectros, not [...]
This guitar was used by Hank Marvin of the Shadows during the 60’s, along with his iconic Red Fender Stratocaster
Burns Marvin (1964-65)
The Burns is a whole lot rarer (and cheaper) than a sixties Les Paul – it isn’t worth the tens of thousands one of those commands, but they only made 350 or so, so [...]
What guitars would make the basis of a dream guitar collection?
In these posts we’ll look at the rarest, most valuable, most collectable or just drop-dead gorgeous guitars – starting with one of the most valuable types of guitar available.
Late 50’s to early 60’s Gibson Les Paul
These are seriously valuable guitars, especially all original models. New Les Pauls cost [...]
