When I was a kid the most prevalent advertisement on television was for cigarettes. These were the equivalent of today’s advertisements for the expensive prescription medications that you need to “talk to your doctor about”.
I grew up with cigarette ads that burned a hole in my subconscious, providing us with phrases like “Come on up to Marlboro Courtry” and “You’ve Come a Long Way Baby”, “Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco”, and of course“Winston Tastes Good Like A Cigarette Should”.
Back in 1966, someone at the Buegeleisen and Jacobson. Company, who was in charge of branding imported guitars must have been puffing on his or her Winston, when they made a decision that would be a great name for a line of guitars.
Winston guitars were imported by Buegeleisen and Jacobson. This company was a very old wholesaler which offered a line of musical instruments for retail music stores. The company began it's business in New York City in 1897.
Throughout the years they were the wholesale distribution company for Kay De Lux guitars, Seranader guitars, banjos, madolins, S.S. Stewart guitars, National guitars, Abbott trumpets, clarinets, and trombones, Salvador De Durro voilins and bowed instruments, and Martin Freres (Brothers) wind instruments, which included flutes, oboes, clarinets, and saxophones.
By 1967 Kawai purchased the Teisco guitar company of Japan. Both companies maintained their own designs, but had different pickups. All Winston Guitars, both electric and acoustic appear to be manufactured by Kawai.
In 1968 I was 16 years old, and headed for summer camp. I wanted a cheap acoustic guitar to take along to camp, so I went to the 3 or 4 major music stores in downtown Cincinnati to see what twenty dollars would buy.
The Wurlitzer Piano and Organ Company had just come out with their own brand of electric guitars. So they sold guitars, and had some nice ones too. The salesman tried to direct me to a very nice Guild six string, but I declined. I finally got through to him that all I wanted was an inexpensive instrument to take on a camping trip. He then said, "Oh, you want a beater. Why didn't you say so". So I came home with a $20 Winston acoustic guitar, which was a Japanese copy of a Stella.
Like the Stella, the body was birch, and was solid, with a brown-burst finish with a faux flame, and ladder style bracing. The neck was made of mahogany. The fretboard was probably birch that was painted black, with painted fret markers. The tuners were cheap open back models with plastic buttons.
The bridge and nut were plastic, and the strings were secured with a cheap metal trapeze piece. On the headstock was a sticker assuring me, "Steel Reinforced Neck". It would not warp, but it was not adjustable. It played pretty much like you would expect a twenty dollar guitar to play. The action was a little high to say the least. To purchase one today, it would set you back about $300.
April 22nd would have been Glen Campbell's 84th birthday. Glen was an amazing guitarist, a member of the Wrecking Crew, and went on to become one of the biggest musical stars of our time. The first time I saw him was on a television show called Shindig! (The title had an explanation mark in it.)
Early in his career Glen was playing an unusual guitar, and what stood out was the elliptical hole in that guitars body and headstock.
I never knew why he chose that instrument or where he purchased that guitar. I do know that most members of The Wrecking Crew were playing Fender or Gibson instruments,
Glen used his 3 pickup Teisco guitar on many hit recordings.
Prior to becoming a session musician, Campbell played a Fender Telecaster and a Jazzmaster in some Country bands.
Thinking about this lead me to wondering about other guitarists that chose unusual guitars as their signature instruments.
I can only imagine that a lack of money is the reason that most of these players chose their instruments. Although there are some notable exceptions.
Campbell started his own career as a singer, began with his recording of the John Hartford song, “Gentle On My Mind”. By 1968 Campbell hosted The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, a weekly television variety show.
Glen also played a hollow body electric guitar made by Ovation that resembled a Gibson ES-335. The body, single coil pickups, and parts were made by Framus. The neck and tuning machines were made by Ovation.
Later in his career Hound Dog Taylor played Teisco's best model; the Teisco Spectrum 5, which had three split "z" coil pickups, 5 two way switches, and a vibrato bar. This was a stereo guitar that could be played through two separate amplifiers.
He had one more guitar built in 1980 by luthier Radley Prokopow. He used both of these instruments for the remainder of his career. He named all of his guitars Lucy.
During his rise to fame, Diddley played a number of guitars including a Gibson L-5. But his raucous stage behavior required a smaller, more durable instrument. Bates/Diddley began playing Gretsch guitars and developed a relationship with the company.
In 1958 he convinced a company designer to create the Gretsch G6138 which had a rectangular body, two high sensitivity Filtertron pickups. He named this guitar The Twang Machine. Diddley used this guitar throughout his life time, but had some similar instruments that he made, or had someone build for him.
Hofner guitars of Germany still produces some fabulous instruments, but their reputation was sealed when Beatle Paul McCartney appeared on stage on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 playing his left handed Hofner 500/1 bass guitar.
His original bass was purchased in Germany in 1961. It had a neck pickup, and a pickup in the center position. He received another Hofner 500/1 in 1964, which is the one he used on the Ed Sullivan show. That bass had a neck and a bridge pickup. Both Hofner basses were short scale instruments.
I can remember when The Rolling Stones first appeared on the scene, singing their updated version of the Buddy Holiday song Not Fade Away. On Shindig!, and The Ed Sullivan Show, bassist Bill Wyman can be seen playing a 1964 hollow body 51/50 Framus Star bass, which was made by another German company.
Sometimes Wyman played this bass in the style of an upright bass player, holding its neck up to his neck. This bass had two single coil pickups in the neck and bridge position, and a single Florentine cutaway. The laminated top on the instruments body had a flame to it. Wyman said that it resembled humbug, a British candy, so he named the bass Humbug.
He also owned another sunburst Framus Star bass with a single pickup in the neck position. He auctioned that off years ago and donated the proceeds to the MS Foundation.
One thing I recall about those old Framus basses is their skinny neck. It was only 1 and 3/8" wide.
Noel "Paul" Stookey of Peter, Paul, and Mary plays an unusual 12 string instrument that was built for him by luthier Nick Apollonio of Maine. Back around 1970 Noel and Nick happened to be at a folk music get together and were listening to Gordon Bok perform one of his songs on a 12 string.
Noel commented to the guy seated next to him ow great that guitar sounded, and Nick replied, "I built that for Gordon". Stookey asked Nick if he would build him a similar instrument.
Stookey's instrument was built in 1971 and shipped to his home. Nick named it Sebastian, and attached a note between the strings. Stookey wrote a song about the guitar and included it on his LP called Paul and...
He also played this same instrument on the iconic 'Wedding Song' which was written for band mate Peter Yarrow's wedding, but has since become a song played at countless weddings.
This 'guitar' is actually a cittern and has a bell shape for the deep body. Apollonio builds fantastic five course citterns in this style, but modified it for the 12 strings six courses. It is a beautiful instrument, especially when tuned down one or two steps. BTW, if you would like Apollonio to build you one, email me.
Jimmy Page is mainly know for using his 1959 Gibson Les Paul and the Gibson double neck EDS-1275. But on the Led Zeppelin acoustic song, Tangerine, he played a 12 string Giannini Craviola.
In 1966 a group of British Rocker started a band that eventually was called Mott The Hoople. The band's lead singer was Ian Hunter, and their most popular song was called, "All The Young Dudes".
However a few years ago, if you were travel 41 miles southwest of Nazareth you may come to the quaint town of Fleetwood, Pennsylvania, which was once known as Schlegelschteddel by the Pennsylvania Deutch settlers. We are going to refer to it as Fleetwood, since my knowledge of German is quite limited.
This town was the home of luthier Dennis Fano, who built some exquisite and original guitars there under the brand name Fano Guitars, and then under another brand name Novo Guitars.
He sold Fano guitars to a company called Premier Builder Guitars, which eventually was acquired by Desert Son Musical Instruments. This company currently builds Fano Guitars in the much warmer climate of Scottsdale, Arizona. The story of how Desert Son Musical Instruments is somewhat convoluted, as I will explain.
I first ran across the Fano brand when researching an article about the passing of Walter Becker, and the unique guitars that he used. One of the guitars he owned was a Fano Alt de Facto which had twin Lindy Fralin P90 style pickups and a ‘Tone Styler’ control.
Dennis Fano got his start in the business repairing guitars at Matt Umanov Guitars in New York City's Greenwich Village on Bleecker Street, where he worked until 2001, when he decided to pursue guitar building full-time.
When Dennis first opened his Pennsylvania shop, Fano Guitars, he repaired and modified bass guitars, with one of the first models Fano modified were his Fender Jazz Bass and then a Harmony bass. Since those day Dennis Fano acquired a reputation for building boutique guitars. His flagship model was the aforementioned Alt de Facto guitar line-up which is available in a wide range of styles and options.
Dennis built up Fano Guitars until 2009, when he sold the company to Premier Builders Guild aka PBG. Dennis Fano then became an employee of that company, working at his old workshop and doing prototypes and one-offs. He worked there until 2014 when he started his current brand Novo Guitars.
That same year PBG shut down the Arroyo Grand facility and farmed out building Fano Guitars to Grover Jackson's company. The company, still known as Fano Guitars, began offering the Fano Standard Series, which utilized necks and bodies possibly made in Japan. However the Alt de Facto series was always made in the USA.
Desert Son Music currently builds Fano Guitars, including the Alt de Facto models, the Standard Series, which is completely USA made in small batch production, the Omni Series, and the Builder's Choice models, which are custom designed instruments built to the buyers specifications.
Fano offers three base models under the Novo brand, and a more affordable guitar called the Rivolta under a partnership with Eastwood Guitars. All Novo guitars all use pine for the body. To me this is reminiscent of New York City luthier Rick Kelly, that searches demolished city building for 'Bowery' pine to make some of his Carmine Street guitars.
The Novo Serus line up consists of six different models. These have familiar features from popular guitars such as the Telecaster, Jazzmaster, and Strat, but with a different shape. The design favors the offset-body style like the Jazzmaster, but with sharper on the horns.
For the J Series, Novo prefers to use P-90's instead of regular Jazzmaster pickups. However, like on all Novo models, you can customize pickups, pickguards, and colors. All Serus model guitars have a similar unique body shape.
The also utilize Emerson potentiometers and Emerson paper in oil capacitors of varying types.
For the Serus J-Series, think Jazzmaster, but without the second circuit.
The Serus SV model combines a strat-style whammy bar, but with two different Lollar humbucking pickups. The neck pickup on this guitar is a Lollar Firebird model, and the bridge pickup is a Lollar Imperial. This instrument features a chrome control panel. You can customize it with your choice of colors, amount of distress, fretboard binding, and types of inlays.
The award winning Serus T model comes with Tele-style knobs, a chrome control panel and chrome Tele-style bridge plate, with a three piece brass bridge/saddle assembly. The Fralin pickups are a Tele model, and a P-45 in the neck position.
As with all Novo guitars, this model comes standard with a pine body, but you can customize it with different wood, and other options.
The Serus TC model features a "chopped" Tele style bridge with the three piece adjustable brass saddles, and two Lollar Imperial humbucking pickups. Both T, and TC guitars feature a forearm contour and are customizable.
The Novo Miris Series is made up of two guitars. The standard body is pine, but as with all Novo models you can customize to a different wood material.
The Miris J is done in the Fender Thinline Telecaster style, with a single 'F' hole, but in the Novo shape. The large pickguard in made of chrome/nickel, and topped with two Fralin Alnico hum-cancelling P-90 pickups.
The guitars top is trimmed in herringbone. This model has a Jazzmaster style vibrato, and strat-style knobs.
The Novo Miris T features a similar body with herringbone trim on the top. The pickguard is plastic, but can be customized. It also has the single 'F' hole, and comes with a Fralin hum-cancelling Alnico pickup in the neck position. The Telecaster syle bridge has a three piece saddle arrangement and a Fralin T-style single coil pickup.
The two models that make up the Novo Solus Series sport a different shape. This series feature more of a single pickup Les Paul Standard type guitar.
The Solus F1 has a chrome/nickel Tele-style bridge plate with the three piece brass adjustable saddle unit, topped with a Fralin T style pickup. The neck scale on this guitar is 24.75" compared to 25.5" on other Novo models.
The Solus M1 is similar but comes with a single Fralin Dogear P-90 pickup. Novo guitars are handmade and therefore range in price from $2400 to $3800 USD.
The more affordable Eastwood Rivolta line was designed by Dennis Fano, and built by Eastwood Guitars. Their guitars are built in China and South Korea. This line up consists of 14 different guitars, a baritone guitar, and a bass guitar, ranging in price $900 to $1400 USD.
