Cort AS-1 thin bodied acoustic guitar with red binding and inlay

guitarz.blogspot.com:

There is a part of me, one clearly rooted in the 1980s I'm sure, that would love to have this Cort AS-1 acoustic guitar. I did a quick search and found very little information about this guitar other than a few reviews that go from poor to a comparison to a Chet Atkins signature guitar. I would suspect that it was manufactured in the early 1990s even though it screams 1987 to me and that it was likely made in Korea. 

The seller claims that this is a "rarest of the rare" guitar and it may very well be. But sometimes items are rare because they weren't good enough to make a lot of them. That said, the seller also claims that this was a $1400 guitar when purchased new, so it may be an example of higher quality from Cort. There is a huge diversity in the Cort guitars I've played, so I guess it's possible that this is one of the better ones.

Has anyone played one of these?

Currently listed at $299 Canadian.

R.W. Haller

© 2015, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Klira electro-acoustic vintage German-made guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

To continue a recent theme of mine on here, namely obscure vintage "junk shop" acoustic guitars that look as if they've had aftermarket electrics added to them but were actually produced that way in the factory...

This one is a German Klira guitar. Note the primitive-looking blade-style pickup has been mounted near to the bridge rather than in the more usual soundhole location.

Currently listed on eBay with a (possibly) optimistic Buy It Now price tag of €450.

G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Orfeus vintage electric-acoustic guitar from Soviet-era Bulgaria

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This Orfeus electric-acoustic is a guitar in a very similar vein to the Russian guitar we looked at in the previous post. Like that other guitar, the Bulgarian-made Orfeus (circa 1970s) looks for all the world as if it is an old acustic guitar that has been latterly modified by someone into an electric guitar. However, there are various indicators that it was created this way back in the factory, the most compelling of which is the correct Orfeus pickup mounted in the soundhole bracket (which you'll notice is painted in the same finish as the rest of the guitar - another clue to its originality). For comparison check out this other 3-magnet Orfeus pickup where you can see the similarites in their crude design and construction.

Interesting also to note the treble-side cutaway (cutaway acoustics were much less common back in the 1960s and 70s - it's only in recent years that they seem to have become the norm) and the six-in-a-line electric-style headstock.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of US $149.

G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Cobbled-together looking but intriguing Russian electric acoustic guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

At first when I saw this photos of this Soviet-era Russian-made electric acoustic guitar, I thought that someone had customised an acoustic guitar in order to electrify it. But looking more closely, it would appear to have been designed this way; I'm pretty sure that this guitar was conceived this was in its Leningrad factory.

It looks for all the world like an old nylon-strung Russian-made acoustic we used to have in the house when I was a kid. I'd be surprised if it had anything as sophisticated as a truss rod; the action doesn't look too healthy in the photos. Remembering the old Russian acoustic we had, the neck angle could be adjusted via a large square bolt located inside the heel of the neck.

It's certainly a curiosity and one I feel myself drawn towards, partly because of the sense of absurdity I feel emanating from it. But what easier way for a Soviet-era guitar manufacturer to produce an electric model than to modify an existing acoustic model? I think you have to applaud their inventiveness (and bear in mind too that none other than C.F. Martin used the same approach when initially dipping their toes into the world of the electric guitar). Note also that it has TWO pickups for increased tonal options - they could have played it easy and just had the one pickup.

Currently listed on eBay with a starting bid of £39.50.

G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Framus Missouri 5/60

guitarz.blogspot.com

This Framus Missouri 5/60 has the typically Framus metal pickguard / control plate / pickup ring that can turn an acoustic guitar into an electric one (the 5/60 was sold with or without) and a wide cutaway that allows the easiest access to upper frets. A sexy old lady in my opinion!

Bertram D

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Meinel und Herold jazz guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com

Meinel und Herold was a renowned German late 19th century accordion and harmonica company that later turned into a music instruments mail order distributing company - though they didn't build them, their violins, flutes or mandolins were as sought after as their previous instruments. 

They eventually got involved into electric guitars and had them built by East-German Migma - as I assume was this beautifully eccentric electro-acoustic archtop - the finish is original and quite cool.

Bertram D

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

K. Yairi YB-13 electro-acoustic bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

The K. Yairi YB-13 gives us a completely different take on the electro-acoustic bass guitar, with more than a nod to the violin bass design of Gibson, Hofner, et al.

The Yairi name is well respected in Japanese luthiery, although you may have seen Yairi guitars variously badged with the names S. Yairi, H. Yairi, and K. Yairi. Basically what we are dealing with here is a family of luthiers: S. (Sadao) Yairi who built guitars in the 1960s and 1970s, his son H. (Hiroshi) Yairi and nephew K. (Kazuo) Yairi. To confuse matters further, Yairi guitars have been marketed under several other brand names including Yairi & Sons, Kohno, Shelly, and Wilson. Today, the K. Yairi factory also produce a line of top-level guitars for Alvarez.

On the bass we are looking at here, I am surprised - given the quality of instrument we are looking at - that the rear access to the electronics couldn't have been more elegant.

This bass is currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $1,794.99.

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

World record breaking Aum Mani Padme Hum guitar listed on eBay

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This uniquely decorated acoustic guitar was played at the world's highest gig, 6500 metres in the Himalaya on 16 May 2012.

From the eBay listing:

Specially designed and hand painted by Eamon Nawal from Amen Design:

"A 3/4 size acoustic inspired by the Nepalese mountains and Buddhist culture that it will hopefully see as it takes part in a world record attempt to play the highest gig in the world on Mt. Mera (6476m) in Nepal this year. The sides have the mantra 'Aum Mani Padme Hum' detailed on them five times and the back of the guitar features a Mandala inspired icon over a representation of Mt. Mera itself... The Guitar has been given a vintaged, 'relic' effect and feels like an artefact from a mountain monastery. Signature dulled gloss finish with a transducer pick-up fitted."

This guitar is currently being auctioned on eBay with a starting bid of £700.

The lowest gig, by the way, was played 20 November 2007 by The Queens of the Stone age over 2300 feet underground in a disused salt mine. I'm not quite sure how this differs from the world record for the deepest gig, which is held by Katie Melua who with her band played a 35 minute set 303 metres below sea level on the Statoil Troll A gas rig in the North Sea on 2 October 2006.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Super rare Gibson Les Paul Jumbo turns up on eBay

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I've only ever seen photos of the almost mythical Gibson Les Paul Jumbo reproduced in black and white in guitar books. And I've always been rather puzzled by the model's existence in the first place. Surely, the whole point of the Gibson Les Paul was that it was a solidbody electric, but here we have an acoustic version! What's that all about?

It seems it was all a marketing ploy by Gibson; in 1969 they thought putting Les Paul's name on an acoustic, albeit an electric-acoustic, would draw in the punters. In reality the guitar was a failure and reportedly only 49 were sold.

The Jumbo has a single low-impedence pickup, similar to those used on the Les Paul Recording and Personal models. In place of the usual Rhythm/Treble legend around the toggle switch, you'll notice that here it is instead labelled "In / Out". Of course with just a single pickup, the toggle isn't a pickup selector switch but instead allows the player to bypass the tone controls - in much the same manner as the switching on the single pickup Fender Esquire.

The Jumbo pictured here is currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of £5,000.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Late 1980s Washburn SBT-21 piezo-powered Tele

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This Washburn SBT-21 is a Tele-style guitar with a pointy 1980s-style headstock and looks like it is a relation to the Washburn Tour 24 Tele.

At first glance it would appear to be an electric guitar with no pickups, but the acoustic style bridge is a dead giveaway as to its true function - of course it has piezo pickups under the bridge saddle.

I guess this was designed for (hair) metal bands who just couldn't bring themselves to use a proper acoustic guitar for live shows (which wouldn't look "metal" enough, or some such nonsense).

These days a guitar such as this is more of a curiosity than a practical versatile guitar. As a "solidbody acoustic", it's neither one thing or the other. Electric players will want a guitar with magnetic pickups, whilst those wanting an acoustic sound would be better served with a genuine acoustic or - if they must - electro-acoustic guitar. Now, if this guitar had magnetic pickups in addition to the piezos, then it could be a truly useful hybrid instrument. Having said that, the pickup-less solidbody look is quite cool, and thank goodness Washburn didn't stick a faux soundhole on it and place slider volume and tone controls on the upper rim.

This guitar is currently listed on eBay UK with a starting price of £180 and a Buy It Now price of £300, which seems quite reasonable for a not too common 1980s-era Japanese made guitar. Alas, as explained already, it is an instrument of limited appeal; unless. that is, you are the occasional guitar strumming singer of a hair metal band wanting a guitar for those cheesy power ballads.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Ibanez Talman Intermax TMX 20

guitarz.blogspot.com

I've been interested in Ibanez' Talman line since I discovered it - too late unfortunately, all models have been discontinued but the acoustic ones (I owe one and use it everyday), you might remember seeing some on Guitarz - here, here and here.

Now here is a quite beautiful and intriguing model I didn't know about until two days ago: the nylon strings solid body Talman TMX20 Intermax. To be honest I was never convinced by the sound of piezo pickups and for me it sounds nothing like a nylon string classical guitar, but it doesn't have to be a good copy to be an interesting guitar! If I add that a yellow quilted maple top is on the edge of noxious to me, you can get that to still be attracted to this guitar, it must really have something!

That's again the kind of guitars about which you find almost nothing online, but a few laudatory reviews and regrets to see it discontinued... I've ranted about this already, but it's such a pity to see most guitar players fall quasi-exclusively for copies of classic/vintage models, and prevent innovation and development in guitar industry - this Talman probably didn't sell enough to become a regular Ibanez model (who have great stuff, but also a lot of useless and ugly superstrats).

Bertram D

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Kramer Ferrnington RT-3 Richard Thompson signature acoustic from the late 1980s

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Apologies for the lack of a Guitarz post yesterday; I was simply too busy to get to use the computer (these days I'm trying to get out and about a little more and actually play the guitar rather than just writing about it).

Moving swiftly on, the above-pictured guitar is a Kramer-made Ferrington RT-3, a signature acoustic guitar for the No.1 English fingerstyle and folk/rock guitarist Richard Thompson.

By the mid-1980s Nashville-based luthier Danny Ferrington had been building one-off guitars for himself and various celebrities. He was one of the first guys to seriously challenge the strict design templates in the Gibson and Martin mould for acoustic guitar that seemed to be adhered to by almost every guitar manufacturer. Obviously Ferrington wasn't the first to make an acoustic guitar with a cutaway, but his designs were exciting and had outlines that you would have expected to be the sole reserve of the electric guitar.

In 1985, Ferrington began working with Kramer who produced his designs mainly in Korea for the mass market. Suddenly Strat and Tele-shaped electro-acoustics became very popular; for me personally, some of those models looked a little tacky and were no doubt the reason that Fender jumped on the "electric-shaped acoustic" bandwagon issuing the (to my mind very cheap and nasty looking) Stratacoustic and Telecoustic models.

I can't say that I've ever been a fan of "electric-shaped" acoustics, but this Richard Thompson guitar is a glorious design. It has an offset-waist and a double cutaway design yet it still conveys visually that it is resolutely an acoustic guitar, and not an acoustic guitar masquerading as an electric. I particularly like the ovoid fretboard position markers which echo the the soundhole and offset waist. The "mandolin point" on the upper rear bout is also a very nice design touch.

It's interesting to see the Ferrington name on the guitar's headstock; later models had the Kramer logo instead.

This guitar is currently being auctioned on eBay with just over a day left before the finish of the auction and with bidding currently at $406 at the time of writing.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Jon Kammerer Glitter Rose parabolic electro-acoustic guitar made in the USA

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Acoustic don't get much curvier than this. It's a Jon Kammerer Glitter Rose series 6-25G electro-acoustic guitar, and despite its black finish is not made from carbon fibre or some high density plastic, but is of maple construction with an ebony fingerboard. The guitar is fitted with an L.R. Baggs Element pickup. The innovative, patented parabolic design is said to increase structural strength and durability, yet maintain tonal projection while reducing the size/weight of traditional acoustic guitars.

Currently being auctioned on eBay with bidding at $267 at the time of writing this blog post and just over 18 hours to go.

G L Wilson

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

What guitar is Zaniboni playing in this video clip?

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Check out the guitar in this video.

Zaniboni is a French singer. I love her guitar - so small and well-designed. A cute little acoustic. Plus she's a great singer and guitarist. I have no idea what she's singing! Thanks for the help!

Tone Deaf Radio!

Hey Tone! I reckon that's a Yamaha APX-T1, the travel-friendly model in Yamaha's acclaimed APX electro-acoustic series. Thanks for recommending the video; I enjoyed that! Maybe Bertram will be able to enlighten us as to what she's singing about.

G L Wilson

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

BC Rich NJ Series Made In Japan electro-acoustic jazz guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

B.C. Rich's NJ Series replaced the B.C. Rico brandname that originally appeared on their Japanese-made instruments and which had been the subject of a lawsuit from the Rico Reed Company. Although the initials NJ stood for "Nagoya, Japan" where the first NJ instruments were built, later Korean-made guitars also received the NJ Series designation.

This B.C. Rich NJ Series electro-acoustic jazzer, reminiscent in some ways of Gibson's Howard Roberts model, is a Japanese-made example which the seller claims was made by the Daion company. (Check here for other Daion guitars that we have looked at previously here on Guitarz). Daion guitars were manufactured from the lates 1970s through to 1984 by the Japanese company Yamaki, so I guess that it was this same company who built these B.C. Rich models rather than Daion specifically.

The guitar features a humbucker pickup at the neck plus a piezo in the bridge, controlled via volume and tone pots for each and a 3-way pickup selector switch all boldy mounted on top of the guitar. The soundhole is a suitably angular shape considering the brand, as is the sharp Florentine cutaway. The heel of the neck is comfort contoured so as to facilitate playing at the top of the neck.

This guitar is currently being offered for same on eBay UK (although the item is actually located in Sweden) with a starting price of £599.99 and a Buy It Now price of £999.99.

G L Wilson

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

Rare unusual Tennessee see-thru acoustic electric guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I came across this wee beastie on eBay this evening and of course, it caught my eye.

This is what the seller had to say

RARE UNUSUAL TENNESSEE SEE THRU ACOUSTIC ELECTRIC GUITAR
I've Exhausted Myself Trying To Find Information Online About This Guitar, And Can't Seem To Find Any! It's A Very Imaginative Style & Plays & Sounds Like It Should. The Neck Has A Very Slight Bow To It, But Doesn't Affect The Playing. I Tuned It To An Open D Tuning & Played Some Bottleneck With It & Was Surprised At Well It Did. It Has A Built In Pickup That Sounds Very Good, & It Takes A 9 Volt Battery. It's A Little Tricky To Close The Battery Access Cover. You Can Be The Only Kid On The Block, Or IN TheCity, Or Maybe The State, To Have One Of These Very Cool Tennessee Guitars.

Buy It Now For $149

For $150, it seemed worth checking out. There are some interesting features, quite apart from the skeletal form. The long - to my eyes country looking - headstock, the add-on comfy chair armrest/horns bearing more than a passing resemblance to the OpenSource inspired ZoyBar and the decidedly painted on finish adding a craftsman-like retro feel to it.

The bow in the neck and problems closing the battery compartment are a little off-putting though and, I thought I'd better check and see if we've posted about these before and found that Gavin had in fact posted a few rather damning articles on the Tennessee brand. Like this one in April 2008.

It's hard to see where the marketing strategy for these instruments is heading and that makes things all the more confusing. It seems they are, generally, pretty cheap (in both senses of the word) and pretty weird designs. To me, beginners are most like to go for a recognisable guitar (LP, Tele, Strat?), more experienced players for a better quality and experimentalists will be concocting their own. That only really leaves more experimentalists who would buy it on a whim just see if it could make sounds that other guitars can't or performers looking for something different on stage. This seems quite a narrow niche.

I applaud the fact that these instruments are pretty off the wall but considering the standards set by run of the mill brands (like Squier) these days, they must be a difficult sell, especially when they appear to be so shoddy.

David in Barcelona

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

Soares'y left-handed acoustic/electric piccolo bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's a very specific instrument for a player with a very specific list of requirements. It's a Soares'y left-handed acoustic/electric piccolo bass, one of a number of unusual instruments, primarily tenor guitars, built for American company Soares'y (with that annoying out of place apostrophe) by a small shop in Portugal.

The oxymoronic "piccolo bass" as a concept is an oddity in itself. Originally created by Stanley Clarke, it is essentially a bass guitar tuned an octave higher allowing a bassist to play up in the guitarist's range. So, technically it's not a "bass" at all. It's a long(er) scale 4-string guitar. In the case of Clarke's instruments he has bass scale-length, bass string spacing, they are played with a bass player's technique, and apparently as far as he's concerned anything with 4 strings is bass.

Still, with a change of strings and a set-up, this short-scale piccolo bass could easily be strung as a proper bass. Currently being auctioned on eBay with a starting price of $200 some lucky southpaw bassist could get themselves an individual instrument at a bargain price.

G L Wilson

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

Ozark Galloping Horse acoustic

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Ozark Guitars produce a fine range of budget to medium-priced acoustic and resonator guitars and other folk instruments such as banjos, mandolins, mandolas and bouzoukis. It's nice to see that they have been having fun with some of their designs, such as the above pictured acoustic with a "galloping horse" soundhole design picked out in inlaid mother of pearl and abalone. Other soundhole designs have included a dolphin, an eagle, and a butterfly. It seems the horse and dolphin designs are now discontinued. I'm not quite sure what relevance the pineapple on the headstock has.

G L Wilson

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

Ibanez Artstar AE-200

guitarz.blogspot.com

This Ibanez Artstar AE-200 is quite an intriguing guitar, about which I couldn't find much information - feel free to contribute if you know more... The acoustic/electric hybrid guitars are not exceptional nowadays but this one is from 1988! It has a piezo pickup under the bridge and a mini-humbucker in neck position, and you can balance the pickups from full bucky for a jazz tone to just acoustic with the piezo. I have no confirmation for this but the slits under the strings next to the bridge seem to be sound holes - strangely located then because we are more used to semi-hollow guitars with a central beam prolonging the neck... Definitely would like to know more - it's very interesting... 

Bertram

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

90s Acoustic Dean

guitarz.blogspot.com

This electro-acoustic guitar from Dean has something vulgar that is almost exciting (like Patricia Arquette wearing pink leopard-print leggings and lake placid blue lace bra in True Romance, if you see what I mean..) I cannot find anything about it on the Web, though it's just from the 90s and from an important company, and not some brandless Japanese cheapo from the 60s - if anybody has info, it's welcome.

I'm busy with electro-acoustic guitars lately, and quite desperate to see that they are at 99% even more conservative than electric ones ; that's why I chose to show this one here: even if I think it's quite ugly, at least it tries something different.

Bertram

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