Thursday, July 31, 2025

17 Of The Most Unusual Guitars That I Have Had The Pleasure To Have Known

 

The Beatles - Ed Sullivan Show
On February 9th, 1964 on a Sunday evening, the Beatles made their first American appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. By Monday, February 10th, a phenomenon occurred. Millions of adolescents wanted a guitar so they could become a Beatle. Guitar manufacturers, wholesalers, retailer, and department store could not keep up with the demand. 

Over the next four years guitar designers, and builders from all over the world came out with some very bizarre concepts of mostly electric guitars. Here are 15 instruments that I have encountered in the six decades of my guitar journey, Some are wonder and some of them left me thinking, Why? 

La Baye 2 X 4
1.The 1967 LaBaye 2 X 4.. The Holman Woodell factory, in Neodesha, Kansas was awarded a contract by the Wurlitzer Piano and Organ company to build guitars. Howard Holman had a connection with the company through his music store. Victor Woodell was an industrialist with money, and dabbled in woodworking and electronics. 

The La Baye guitar was a creation by guitar teacher Dan Helland. The name La Baye was a tongue-in-cheek poke at the body of water at the top of Lake Michigan aka The Bay. 

Apparently there was a significant population of French descent that lived in this area. The guitar was offered in 1967 in the six string version with a Bigsby vibrato, a bass version, and a 12 string version. All instruments had two single coil pickups and a bolt on neck. I played the six string version and was not impressed.

Sekova
Greecian
2. 1968 Sekova Greecian with six individual pickups. This guitar was built in Japan by the Kawai Manufacturing company. This guitar had six cascading pickups, one for each string. The guitar came with two volume and two tone controls, plus three slider switches that provided a combination of pickups. The problem was each pickup was so tiny that there were not significant winds to produce a usable sound. Fuji Jen Japanese manufacturer used the Greco brand name, so perhaps "Greecian" was a play on words or a tribute. I once played this guitar years ago at a guitar show.



Buddy Miller's
Wandre Guitars
3. Buddy Miller's Wandre guitars. I went to a Buddy and Julie Miller concert in the early 2000's with a bunch of friends that were members of the Fender Discussion Forum. Buddy played one of his Wandre Soloist through a Vox AC-30 amplifier. The sound was amazing. Wandre guitars (pronounced Von-dray) were the creations of an Italian artist and sculpture name Antonio Pioli Wandre who built guitars and basses as functioning works of art. This guitar has an aluminum neck encased in plastic which is bolted on another piece of aluminum that is inside the instruments hollow body. 

Both of Buddy's guitars (one is white, and the other is black) have three Divoli pickups with the neck pickup wire out of phase. Wandre guitars are certainly interesting.

1974 Ovation Breadwinner
4. The 1974 Ovation Breadwinner. Despite any preconceived opinions you may have about guitars made by a helicopter manufacturer, Ovation made some very fine instruments back in the day. My local music store had one of these American made solidbody Ovation guitars for sale at one point. It was possibly the first mass produced electric guitar to have active electronics. 

 The guitar was made with  either two single-pole pickups (early models) or two mini-humbucker pickups, a master volume and tone control (which boosts or cuts treble, and is "normal" in the centre position), a three way pickup selector (configured as Neck, Bridge, Neck + Bridge Out of Phase) and a notch filter switch for filtering out Mid Frequencies. What is most interesting is the guitars ergonomic body shape. Part of the tongue-in-cheek design was that the Breadwinner resembled an Axe.  The Breadwinner also had a built-in FET pre-amplifier on board that allowed the instrument to get a variety of sounds.

1970's Kawai Moonsault MS 700
5.. The 1982 Kawai MS 700 Moonsault guitar. This guitar had a quarter moon shaped body which seemed to be a popular design for the Japanese market. Different versions were produced beginning in 1975 through 1983. I saw one of these in a pawn shop, played it, and it was not my cup of tea.

Yamaha SGV 800
6. 2000 Yamaha SGV 800-  For a few years I was a fan of the British Doctor Who series. Scottish actor Peter Capaldi was cast as one of the versions of 'The Doctor" Capaldi. in his earlier days Capaldi played guitar and sang in a band. (Comedian Craig Ferguson was the drummer).

When it came time for the 12th Doctor to show his chops, Capaldi said he and the producer scoured London's music shops to find a suitable and bizarre guitar. That is when the came upon a black Yamaha SGV 800. This guitar was made from 2000 to 2007. The oddly shaped body, and the extended six on a side headstock make this a unique instrument. It has 2 large single coil pickups, and an interesting vibrato system. It played much like a Strat and is just plain weird.

1968 Kustom K200
7. Kustom K200 guitar. We are all familiar with the old tuck and roll Kustom amplifiers of the mid 1960's. The company was owned by Bud Ross in Chanute Kansas. The company wanted a matching guitar and turned to that other Kansas company, Holman Woodell (remember La Baye 2X4?) to create a guitar. The Kustom K200 history began in 1966 to create a guitar. 

The bodies were cobbled out of four pieces of wood, two were laminated and hollowed out to make the guitars top, and the other two were laminated, and glued to make the instruments back. On the body was a small faux F hole, while the opposite side had a cavity for the instruments controls. Two single coil DeArmond pickups were bolted onto the body. The string ran over a tune-o-matic style bridge and attached to a Bigsby vibrato. The bolt-on necks on these guitars were very thin and the rosewood fretboard came with lots of dot fret markers, I ran across one at a defunct music store in Cincinnati.

1963 EKO 700 Blue Sparkle
8. 1963 EKO 700/4V Sparkle Guitar. Even before the popularity of the guitar in the United States became a thing, the Italian Accordion manufacturers saw the writing on the wall and they began putting their skills to use building guitars. However they included the same flair found on their squeeze-boxes. These included the plastic sparkle body coverings, and lots of push-buttons and switches to control tone.

The Eko Company was founded by Oliviero Pigini in 1960, was the largest musical instrument manufacturer in Europe from 1964 until the 1970s. It was the largest European exporter of guitars to the United States, where much of its history is tied to the Lo Duca Brothers, who are a Milwaukee based music company that specializes in Accordions. I never saw an EKO (pronounced EEE-KO) in a music store for sale, but in the mid 1960's they were plentiful in pawn shops and some department stores, and were relatively inexpensive. I played one at a local pawn shop. It was a nice instrument, with a shape that looked like someone took a bite our of it. It had 4 single coil pickups, lots of pushbuttons, and a whammy bar, plus who doesn't love blue sparkles?

67 Sorrento 
Kingson Swinger
9. Late 1960's Sorrento Kingston Swinger Guitar. This budget guitar was made by Kawai of Japan and shipped to the USA by Westheimer Company of Chicago, which brokered guitars to wholesalers. My father owned several small grocery and liquor stores. He occasionally pawned things for his customers that were down on their luck. Dad would come home with strange vehicles, guns, rings, watches, and this Sorrento Swinger guitar in a chipboard case. No one ever claimed it, so it was mine. I had some much nicer guitars, but this one was interesting. 

In the early 1980's I learned a lot about guitar electronics and went to work modifying this guitar. I put in phase reversal switches for each pickup, and a battery powered preamplifier unit with an on/off switch. I still have this guitar stored away. 

1970 Gianinni 12 string
Craviola
10. Gianinni 12 string Craviola - In 1970, when I was 17, I saw three models of Gianinni Craviolas at a downtown music store. These were creations from Sao Paulo Brazil's largest stringed musical instrument manufacturer. The Craviola, created by Giannini by Brazilian musician Paulinho Nogueira, is one of the most notable guitars due to its unique shape and sound identity. The instrument was created during the late 1960's when the harpsicord was making inroads in popular music. 

It was based on a 10 string South American instrument called a viola capira combined with a 12 string guitar. Initially this started out just to be a 12 string instrument, but later there was also a six steel string version and a nylon string version produced. The body can best be described as a large kidney bean shape. The original ones, produced around 1970, had slotted headstocks on the 12 string and gorgeous wood finishes, but they were actually fancy wood laminate made from Brazilian Rosewood. They came with a spruce top and mahogany neck. These instruments are still available, but now are made of solid woods with built in electronics. It remains one of my favorite guitars.

Both are Domino
Californian Rebels
11. The 1967 Domino Californian Rebel. This was Kawai of Japans take on the Vox Phantom guitar. The oddly shaped five sided body was seen mostly in 1960's garage bands. Domino guitars were distributed in the United States by New York City's Maurice Lipsky Music Company. This was produced at a time when Japanese guitar manufacturers were making copies of popular instruments. 

The Asian manufacturers considered the instruments to be "tributes". Plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery. This guitar was offered with a solid body and also a semi-hollow body with one F hole, and either two of three single coil pickups. It was weird.

Wurlitzer Gemini
Guitar and Bass
12. 1966 Wurlitzer Gemini guitar. Here is another guitar built by the Neadesha, Kansas based Holman-Woodell guitar company. There were actually three models of Wurlitzer guitars. Due to its striking shape the Gemini is a favorite. A local music store had one in stock. This guitars body looked like a Strat with sharp straight features. The body was Canadian Maple. The bound bolt on neck was topped with a Brazilian Rosewood fretboard. A toggle switch on the guitar's top was the pickup selector. 

There were twin "Sensi-tone" single coil pickups which had a rocker switch above them for Jazz or Rock settings. Each pickup had a separate volume and tone control. The Bigsby inspired Vibratron tremolo had a "W" for Wurlitzzer. This was a stereo guitar. On the guitar's lower wing was a balance control. The guitar played beautifully and was a real eye-catcher. However the Wurlitzer Holman Woodell guitars were notorious for problems with their finish. It was a beautiful candy apple metal flake finish, but it had a tendency to flake off. Since so many Wurlitzer guitars were being returned to the factory, the company abandon it's foray into the guitar market. These guitars were made in the USA.

67 Musicraft Messenger
13. 1967 Musicraft Messenger Guitar. Messengers were very different then any guitars built during this era.  Messenger guitars were the first really modern aluminum-necked guitars. Created by Musicraft of Astoria, Oregon,  this organization was made up of Bert T. Casey, president, and Arnold B. Curtis, head of marketing, These guitars, though scarce are awesome to play. Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad used them.. 

The aluminum “chassis” eliminated the need for a heel, improving access, The guitar was actually tuned to A-440, supposedly to improve resonance. The M logo was different. And the stereo concept was simple and great (two mono jacks for each pickup, but throw the switch and both pickups go through just one). I haven't seen one for years.

Acoustic Bass Guitar
14. Acoustic Amplification Black Widow Bass Guitar. During the 1970's the Christian Group I attended brought in a Gospel singer to perform at a concert. Her name was Lily Knauls. Ms. Knauls was a member of the Edwin Hawkin's group that had a hit record at the time, Oh Happy Day. This group also backed up Melanie on her song, Candles in the Rain. Lily brought with her a pianist and bass player. I was enlisted as the chauffer and got to drive Ms. Lily around all day. This meant I got to attend her rehearsal. 

The bass player had this unusual instrument which had a black, glossy finish and no frets. This was the first time I'd seen a fretless bass. I looked at the headstock and it said "Acoustic." 

Being curious I later discovered the bass guitar (and also a guitar) were built for the Acoustic Amplifier Company in the 1970's  The companies main product were huge solid state, high powered amplifiers to be used by stadium rockers. The bass and guitar were designed by Paul Barth and built in Japan. 

Barth was the son of one of the National Guitar Company foremen. He was born in 1908 and by 1931 was elected to the board of directors of National Guitars and was with Ro-Pat-In string instruments, which became Electro String Instruments. He stayed on with the company until 1957. In later life he opened a small store and made guitar pickups. He made guitars and basses for other companies but marketed them under the name Bartell. 

Some of the electric guitars that Paul Barth made under the name Bartell look surprisingly like the Black Widows. In later years Semie Mosley built several hundred of the guitars for the company’s final run. (The one picture above was built by Mosley).

Both the Black Widow guitar and bass had a familiar body style similar to the Les Paul Junior but larger. The double cutaway horns had more of a flared shape. The bodies were made of maple and had a high gloss black lacquered finish. The guitar had 2 single coil pickups with chrome sides and 6 poles hooked up to a 3 way selector switch with twin volume and tone controls. 

The bass came with one humbucking pickup that had 8 pole pieces and was mounted in the center of the body. The jack was mounted on the top of the body. The bass came in a fretted or fretless version (that had lines for position markers). 

The pickup's output was higher than most produced during this era. Originally the guitar and bass were equipped with Grover tuners, however by the end of the run the bass tuners were changed to Schaller. 

One of the most interesting features was the red pad on the back of each instrument which snapped on to the body just like some Gretsch guitars. On the pad was the design of a black widow spider. The guitars manufactured by Bartell feature 3 bolts securing the neck to the body. The Black Widows made by Moseley have a sort of a wavy chrome neck plate with 4 bolts. There were also some that were built in Japan. The Japanese Black Widow have a 4 digit serial number sometimes starting with the letters BA. The Moseley Black Widows start with BC for the guitars and BD for the bass guitars.

Travis Bean
TB1000A
15. Travis Bean TB1000A - From 1970 to 2001 my family owned a grocery business where I worked (way too much). A music store opened up next door in the same shopping plaza. I spent a good deal of time at that store. This is where I first was able to play a new Travis Bean Travis Bean TB1000A and it was a fantastic guitar. I'd have to say it was one of the finest guitars that I had ever played.  

Travis Bean, Mark McElwee and Gary Kramer created Travis Bean Guitars in 1974 as the brand name of a unique line of electric guitars and basses. Bean, McElwee and Kramer designed a guitar using a solid piece of koa wood and a machined aluminum neck. The base of the neck fit under the body and the strings were slotted the the bases distal end. The head stock was part of the milling process and was designed in the shape of a hollowed out “T” with the tuners on the perimeters. 

The Travis Bean guitars came with alnico humbucking pickups or alnico single coil pickups. Due to the metal and the dense wood, these were heavy guitars. However the “nearly” through-the-body aluminum neck gave these guitars great sustain and clarity. The metal necks were topped with rosewood fretboards that were glued in place. Around 3,600 guitars and basses were produced between 1974 and 1979.

76 Gretsch
Super Axe
16. 1976 Gretsch Super Axe - There used to be a small music store north of Cincinnati, Ohio where I would occasionally shop. I was there one day when the owner told me that I had to try this guitar out. It played like a dream. I hope it went to some worthy customer. It turned out that the Gretsch Super Axe was designed by Duke Kramer. I met Mr. Kramer and his wife at several vintage guitar shows. He was a really nice guy. When The Gretsch Company was sold to the Baldwin Piano Company in 1967, I believe that Duke Kramer went to work with Baldwin as part of the deal. In doing so it was rumored that he loaded a couple of semi-trailers with original Gretsch equipment. 

After Baldwin shut down guitar production Mr. Kramer sold the parts at various guitar shows. The Super Axe was created with a built-in phasor and a built-in compressor. In 1976 the phasor was a unique feature which did not last long, but the compressor is still a popular effect.

1970 Martin 0+16NY
17. 1969 C.F. Martin 0-16NY (New Yorker) -  I bought this guitar in 1972 from a Cincinnati Music Store for $250. It was brand new. It was a beautiful instrument, but it gave me a lot of problems. This size O-16 guitar was created during the Folk Era and set up to use only silk and steel strings or nylon strings.. Even light gauge strings tugged on the neck since Martin did not use truss rods back then. However this guitar had a solid spruce top and a beautiful solid mahogany body, back, fretboard, and neck, with a slotted headstock. 

Much like a classical guitar, it did not have fret markers.   It was a very basic smaller instrument with satin finish and a 12 fret body. I had a hard time with tonality. I sent the guitar back to Martin several times. By 1974 I sold it. Later I regretted the sale.

©UniqueGuitar Publications 2025 (text only)
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Saturday, July 26, 2025

Kapa Guitars - Made In The USA

Kapa 12 String

In 1965 I was taking guitar lessons at my local music store. The Byrds had just come on the scene with Mr. Tambourine Man, a song that featured an electric 12 string guitar. Man, how I loved that sound and wanted it. My teacher went down to the showroom and brought up a Kapa Continental 12 string guitar. It resembled a Fender guitar, but with two pickups. It was so comfortable to play, and sounded great. But at only 13 years I could not afford the price of $185 for the guitar.

Kapa Continental Guitars
KAPA Guitars was founded in 1963 by a Dutch immigrant named Koob Veneman.

Mr. Veneman was the owner of Veneman's Music Emporium, a musical instrument store based in Silver Spring Maryland. 


Due to the store's popularity and the guitars popularity the store branched into several locations in the Maryland area.

Veneman's Music

During the early 1960’s  Mr. Veneman made the decision to build his own unique line of guitars. This was the years of the British Invasion and the Guitar Boom and Mr. Veneman wanted his piece of the pie.


Hofner Guitar with a Watkins Amp





Many of the guitars in stock at the Veneman store consisted of guitars that were imported from Germany and Italy.




His connections with these European companies provided him with an excellent opportunity to purchase supplies from overseas manufacturers. His plan was to order guitar parts from European suppliers, then  assemble them in Edsmonston, Maryland where the guitars bodies were created. He was unable to obtain a Fender franchise, so he decided to create his own solid body guitars. 

Amka Archtop
Historically Koob's father, Albert Veneman, was a Dutch violin builder. He had opened up a violin shop in The Hague where he built violins and guitar under the brand name AMKA, which was an amalgamation of his family's initials; Albert, Madeline, Koob, and Albert Jr. 


Amka Archtop
Most of the guitars that Albert Veneman created were the Jazz style archtops that were popular in the 1930's. The Venemans eventually immigrated to the United States.




The Hofner Factory in
Bubenreuth - 1960's
The necks, pickups and electronics originally came from German manufacturer Hofner. The guitars generally were equipped with two slider switches to control on/off function of the pickups, which were typical of Hofner design of the 1960’s. In the company's later years they made their own pickups, which looked similar to Hofner units.

The tuners were made by Schaller. Kapa made his own bridges and tremolo assemblies. Most KAPA guitars are equipped with the tremolo.

Koob Veneman and wife

Veneman named the instruments after himself, his wife and children by using an anagram of their first names. Of course his name is Koob, his son’s name, Albert, his daughters name, Patricia and his wife’s name Adeline. Later Koob’s brother joined the family business.



1960's Kapa Neck

KAPA necks were quite thin, which was sort of a ’60 thing. Guitarists wanted to play fast and for some odd reason, manufacturers equated this with skinny necks instead of low action. In fact, some Gibson ES-335’s of this era had thin necks.

1965 Kapa Wildcat

The bodies also were thin in comparison to Fender and Gibson bodies.

KAPA was able to sell it's instruments at a price well below the competitors.

It was rumored that the Fender Corporation threatened to file a lawsuit against Kapa in the 1960's.

I cannot seen to find anything to verify a suit. If anyone knows about this, email me.  

1965 Kapa 12 and 
Fender XII



It is also interesting that KAPA 12 string guitars came out around the same time that Fender released the Fender XII.

But the cost of the KAPA was almost half of the Fender instrument.





To the unfamiliar, one could mistake a KAPA for a Fender guitar, based on it's Jaguar and Stratocaster-like shapes and the shape of the headstock. Veneman admits that he used exaggerated body styles from Fender and Vox to create the body shapes. 

The KAPA instruments also used script on the headstock for the guitar model that was very similar to what we call the Fender Spaghetti script. However the KAPA logo was a circle with a crest in the middle that was similar to the Veneman family crest.


KAPA guitars were founded on some great principals set up by the Venemans. The instruments were well made, playable and affordable. Plus they were made in the USA.




The guitar boom eventually wound down. Competition was fierce. And Asian made instruments were getting better all the time.



During the companies final years some of the production was outsourced to Japan, no doubt due to the high cost of labor.

Kapa Series 500 and Kapa Challenger
Finally in 1970 KAPA ceased production and sold it's assets to Mosrite and Microfret Guitar Companies. Mosrite also outsourced the KAPA instruments production to Japan.

1965 Kapa Challenger
One of the earliest models produced by KAPA was called first called The Challenger which had a Strat-like body. In 1966 the name was changed to The Continental, which had a slightly different shape. The Challenger had two pickups. 





The Continental was available with one or two pickups. 





The Continental was available in six and twelve string models. One unusual feature on KAPA twelve string guitars was the fact that many of them came with a tremolo bar. 






Kapa also offered a Continental bass guitar with one or two pickups and a 32 inch scale.





The Cobra was a slightly smaller instrument with just one pickup. 







The Wildcat was another instrument that slightly resembled a Stratocaster and it had three pickups.







65 Kapa Minstrel

One of the more well known KAPA guitars was called The Minstrel.

This was a three pickup guitar that had a tear drop shaped body sort of resembling an electric lute.






Kapa Minstrel 12 and Bass

These instruments were also being produced during the same time Vox was selling guitars and the Vox Teardrop was one of their most popular models. The Minstrel also came in a twelve string and a bass version.



Kapa Model 506


KAPA also made a hollow body model called the 506. It resembled a Gibson ES-335. The headstock on this guitar was three-on-a-side. The KAPA script was engraved, instead of being placed as a decal.

The metal trapeze tailpiece was also engraved with the KAPA name and was similar to one Hofner used on their guitars. 

This guitar was built in Japan with German parts. There were other guitars in the KAPA 500 series, all were made in Japan.

KAPA guitars are still available through collectors and sellers. If set up properly they are nice and affordable players.

It is also wonderful that most KAPA guitars were a product of the United States.

Koob Veneman passed away in 2010. He left a wonderful legacy and earned an interesting chapter in the history of the electric guitar.  

Click here to watch a brief video about Koob Veneman.

May God bless him and his family. He left his mark in the history as a luthier and entrepreneur.

©UniqueGuitar Publications (text only) 2025
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Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Brian Wilson - A Brief Tribute To The Beach Boys Original Bass Guitarist

 

The Beach Boys 1964
I was 12 years old in 1964 when I heard my first Beach Boy song; "Fun, Fun, Fun."  I had not learned to play guitar yet, but I loved to sing. I sang in my church choir, also at the chorus in school. At age 12 girls were just starting to look different and very interesting. The prior year most of my friends were boys, but now I had several special neighborhood girls that were very close friends.

Music was becoming quite interesting too. I had my transistor radio dial tuned into the best AM Top 40 station. The Beach Boys really piqued my interest because of their unique vocal harmony. I thought the falsetto voice was awesome. A few years earlier, in 1961, The Lion Sleeps used a similar blend; Falsetto, harmony background voices, and a baritone lead voice. 

Beach Boys Cincinnati 1976

Over the years I have been privileged to attend four Beach Boy concerts. Brian Wilson even showed up at one of them. Brian just  passed away this past week at age 82 on June 11th.



Pet Sounds Recording Session 
In his prime Brian was musically gifted and said to be a genius, which I concur. He was blessed with a not just a terrific knowledge of music, but in his mind he knew the sound he wanted right down to the instrumentation, arrangements, and the vocal harmony parts for the songs. The Beach Boys first recordings the songs he penned were fairly basic. 

At first, Brian worked with what was on hand. He taught his brothers, cousin, and neighbor kids how to play the songs and sing them. His brother and friends learned to play guitar while he learned the bass guitar.

When he decided that touring was too much of a strain, he left the concert circuit so he could write music for the band, produce it, and direct the studio players.  Session players marveled that this 23 year old kid was always so well prepared. 

He wrote charts for them, helped with changes, and hired the first call session musicians he needed to play the various instruments that he heard in his head. Not many rock songs of that day included harpsicord, accordion, bass harmonica, mandolin, and even orange juice cups. 

Although Brian was never a great bass player, but he learned the instrument well enough to create the sound he wanted for those early Beach Boys concerts and the first  recordings. Much like many song writers, Brian wrote the music, but worked with various others for the lyrics.





1964 Beach Boy Concert
At the show I went to in the mid 1960’s Brian played a Fender Precision Bass. This was through a brown Fender Bassman. His brother Carl, and friend Al Jardine played brown Fender Dual Showman amplifiers with separate Fender Reverb units. I am told that in the 1960's an Ampeg B-15 Portaflex bass amplifier was sometimes on the band's stage.


1980 Beach Boys Concert

The concerts I attended in the 1970's and 80's the bands backline consisted of Fender amps covered in white tolex. I am told at one time they were even using Dumble amps. 


For their 50th Anniversary tour the guitar players all used Fender Hot Rod Deville amplifiers. 





Brian With Fender Precision Bass 
Brian  Wilson had quit touring in 1964, but returned for a few concert in the late 1970’s through the 1980’s. He was still using Precision Bass when I saw him at a concert in 1976 when he played bass guitar, and sang Surfer Girl. 


 
Sadowsky and Valley Arts
Bass Guitars
Later photos and videos show Brian playing a Sadowsky NYC Precision style bass guitar, and a Valley Arts California Pro Bass. Brian always plucked the strings with his thumb. 


Carol Kaye

Carol Kaye, in her biography, mentions that Brian liked her to play bass guitar with a pick through a guitar amp,  usually she used a Fender Super Reverb or Fender Concert amp or her Versatone Portoflex amp, to achieve a brighter sound on recordings. 

Brian Wilson
Since my childhood the Beach Boys have been my favorite group. Through the years their style has influenced so many bands, both current and past.  During my school years I studied music, music theory, music history, composition, and arranging, but honestly I learned so much by just listening to how Brian Wilson created his recordings, orchestrations, and harmonies. 

I doubt we will see another man like him anytime soon.  I send Love and Mercy to his memory, and to his family.

©UniqueGuitar Publications (text only) 2025
 Click on the links under the pictures for sources
 Click on links in the text for further information.