The only candy I am passing out this year at The Unique Guitar Blog is eye candy from those zany guitars based on bats, monsters, and creepy things.
Der Fledermaus by Höfner |
Long before Bob Shade of Hallmark Guitars came up with the Wing-Bat guitar, Walter Höfner of Höfner Guitars came up with Der Fledermaus.
Höfner The Bat |
This is Der Fledermaus. the guitar, not the operetta by Johan Strauss. It was the most unusual thing to ever come out of the Höfner factory. Der Fledermaus translates to The Bat in English.
Fledermausgitarre |
The Wing-Bat |
It also comes with an indented tail section, which has a working tail light, a turbine “power boost’ switch, a Mosrite style vibrato and a Hallmark 60 Custom single coil pickup.
Burns Scorpion |
Moving on to other spooky creatures, Jim Burns of Burns Guitars, launched a new company after selling Burns Guitars to the Baldwin Piano Company.
Scopion Bass |
He called the new venture Burns of London Guitars and in 1979 he came out with the Burns Scorpion Guitar and Bass.
It was probably not his best effort, but I am sure there was a market out there for this sort of thing.
Bernardo's Guitar Shop - B.C. Rich |
Bernie "B.C." Rich |
Bernardo’s son, Bernie, worked alongside his father. Bernie was an accomplished Flamenco player and became involved in luthery work. This shop became a hang-out for musicians in-the-know in the LA area.
BC Rich Warlock |
Around 1968 Bernie began work on a solid body guitar. This started a venture that we know as B.C. Rich guitars, which became world famous. One of their best sellers with the Heavy Metal set was The Warlock, which was welded by such players as Mick Mars, Lita Ford, C.C.Devile, and Paul Stanley of KISS.
Epiphone MayDay Monster |
Buckethead |
Though he is really not a monster, he certainly has monster chops and has a nice costume. Buckethead has been playing his own style of guitar for a longtime, For a while he even wrote a column for Guitar Player magazine.
Gibson Buckethead |
Gibson Guitars unveiled its Buckethead model several years ago. This Les Paul style guitar comes with an Alpine White finish on its two piece maple top and features a pair of Gibson contemporary-voiced Ceramic series humbucking pickups that are very hot. And it features two kill switches. It is indeed a gorgeous instrument.
Fender SpookShow |
A few years ago Fender came out with the Fender Vince Ray “SpookShow” T-Bucket acoustic guitar, which featured the illustrations of pop-artist Vince Ray on its top.
Schecter Ministry Coffin guitar |
Schecter Guitar Research once built this Ministry Coffin guitar for Al Jourgensen of the band, Ministry.
ESP KH Mummy |
“Spooking Stuff Kids!”
As always, click on the links under the pictures for the source. And click on the links in the text for further information.
©UniqueGuitar Publications
2 comments:
Hey Marc,
Once again a really fun Article. However you did leave out one spooky guitar. Gibson's SG special with the "Bat Wing" pick guard:)
Keep em coming
Best
Glenn Lazzaro
Hey thanks Glenn. Yeah, I remember that one. I wish I would have thought of it.
Best wishes,
~Marc
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