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| The Beatles - Ed Sullivan Show |
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?
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| La Baye 2 X 4 |
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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..
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.
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.
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.
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.
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| Sekova Greecian |
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| Buddy Miller's Wandre Guitars |
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.
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| 1974 Ovation Breadwinner |
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.
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| 1970's Kawai Moonsault MS 700 |
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| Yamaha SGV 800 |
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.
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| 1968 Kustom K200 |
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.
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| 1963 EKO 700 Blue Sparkle |
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?
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| 67 Sorrento Kingson Swinger |
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.
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| 1970 Gianinni 12 string Craviola |
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.
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| Both are Domino Californian Rebels |
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.
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| Wurlitzer Gemini Guitar and Bass |
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.
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| 67 Musicraft Messenger |
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.
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| Acoustic Bass Guitar |
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.
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| Travis Bean TB1000A |
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.
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| 76 Gretsch Super Axe |
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.
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| 1970 Martin 0+16NY |
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.
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