Carbon Based Life Forms

Kaman Corporation, founded by aviation pioneer Charles Kaman, conducts business in the aerospace and industrial distribution markets. Kaman was an avid guitarist and owner of a 1946 Martin.

Kaman (pronouced like Command without the D) was not happy that the Martin dreadnaughts neck needed a reset and the body was cracking. He decided to build a better guitar.

Josh White Model
Using the same technology his company specializes in to create aerospace and satellite parts. Kaman came up with the idea of creating a guitar out of these materials. His first utilized a spruce top, a maple neck with a center strip of walnut and a unique fiberglass bowl-shaped back made of a composite material the company used in creating helicopters. The composite was trademarked as Lyrachord. Of course we are talking about the Ovation guitar.

In 1976 Kaman took this a step further with the creation of the Adamas guitar.


The Adamas had the same round Lyrachord bowl back. What was quite unique to the Adamas was the instruments top. It utilized long strand carbon-graphite fiber. This material allowed the top to be much thinner than spruce, but as the company claims "with the same vibrating qualities of spruce. Due to the decreased mass, the vibration was intensified therefore able to vibrate louder and longer. "

The Adamas website also states; "The top is actually a composite structure, with two .005" carbon-graphite outer layers and a .035" birch veneer sandwiched in the center, bonded together at 250° F. While the fibers of the carbon run in a longitudinal direction parallel with the neck of the guitar, the birch veneer grain is set to a 60° angle to the carbon."

There is an extremely light finish applied as to not inhibit vibration.

Due to the strength of the guitars top, there is no need for X bracing that is found in most steel string guitars. Adamas employs a modified assymmetrical fan bracing system, much like what is found on classical or flamenco guitars.

To prevent torque issues associated with the pressure of string pull, the soundhole was relocated from its usual center of the instrument to the upper and lower bouts in the form of 22 individual soundholes (15 soundholes on cutaway models.)




Traditional guitars use a series of wooden blocks to bind the top and back of the instrument to the sides. This is called kerfling. Because of the construction method of Adamas, kerfling was eliminated and replaced with a flexible ring on the inner top and bowl of the instrument. Of course due to the parabolic design of the bowl back, which acts as a orchestra shell, there is no need for kerfling since the bowl is molded.

RainSong is an acoustic guitar manufacturer currently based in Woodinville, Washington, and originally started in Kihei, Maui, Hawaii. The company makes high-end carbon fiber (graphite) bodied acoustics and acoustic electrics, with past models including nylon string guitars, 12-string guitars, and a jazz archtop.

The RainSong Guitar Company was formed in the 1990s by Dr. John Decker. Decker was living in Hawaii and concerned about string instruments warping due to the humid climate. He came up with a guitar that was made of all graphite composite.

The early models designed in cooperation with luthier Lorenzo Pimentel.

By contructing the entire instruments top out of a consistantly uniform molded graphite, there is no need for bracing. This eliminates weight and deadened spots. The tone can be quite loud but balanced.

WS1000

The advantage of RainSong guitars are the impervious to changes in temperature and humidity since the neck is immune to warpage and the top and back will not crack of change character. Additionally the guitar is extremely light.

The neck is unique in that it is cast from a single graphite matrix instead of cut from a piece of wood. Due to this process, RainSong guitar necks have a consistant shape. The action can be set low without buzzing. The casting process also provides for consistant positioning of fretslots.

Though the necks have trussrods, they are used for customization of neck relief since the necks will not twist, bow or warp.

RainSong guitars come in only one color, black. The company states this is because they do not want to cover up the graphite. There are several layers of UV protected clear finish applied, buffed and sanded to a thin layer.

There are some other guitars that were made of carbon graphite or partially manufactured of this material, such as the original Steinberger bass and guitar made by designer Ned Steinberger that was made of graphite reinforced epoxy. Modulus basses have a graphite composite neck for added strength.

A company called Moses produces graphite retrofit necks for most style guitars including Steinberg.

Chrysalis Guitars manufacturers an inflatible travel guitar that is designed to be taken apart and placed in a small brief case.






   

Eko Guitars

The Eko Company was founded in Italy by Oliviero Pigini in 1959 and was the largest musical instrument company in Europe during the years of 1964 through the 1970’s. Eko was also a significant exporter of guitars basses, organs and accordions to the United States thanks to the company’s ties with the Lo Duca Brothers of Wisconsin and the Vox Corporation.

The Lo Duca Brothers, Tom and Guy started their business in the early 1940’s selling accordions, providing accordion lessons, accordion repair, and sheet music and instruction books. They began importing Italian made accordions during this same period.


If you are old enough to remember there was a period that occurred in the late 1940’s through the 1950’s where the accordion gained some popularity and salesmen went door to door signing up children for lessons and encouraging the purchase of a child-sized beginner instrument.

The accordion was especially popular in mid-western and north-western cities with ethnic populations such as Swedes, Norwegian, German, Dutch, Slovakian, Polish and others that enjoyed Polka music. Many Italian instruments had faux pearl and sparkly celluloid finishes. The also were equipped with rocker switches that controlled the different reeds to provide diverse sounds.

The British Invasion hit around the United States in 1964 and everyone wanted to learn to play guitar. Most of the domestically manufactured instruments were expensive, so to fill the glut some manufacturers and entrepreneurs turned to importing Asian and European manufactured instruments.

The Lo Duca Brothers began importing guitars from Eko.


In 1959 Oliviero Pigini was already in the accordion manufacturing business.

Swedish accordion manufacturer/competitor Hagström was reconverting its factory to build guitars. Mr. Pigini decides this is the way to go. Neither he nor his workers had any experience in guitar building, so Pigini sets out to gather information on the process. He speaks with Italian builders, the Paladino Brothers for advice and sets up a sales contract with them. He also contacts German guitar builder Wenzel Rossmeissl who is building excellent electric jazz style guitars and selling them under the brand name Roger, which is his son’s name.

The company starts by building flat top and arch top acoustic instruments.
Models 100 and 200 are in direct competition to the Framus Sorella and countless other German arch tops.

The Eko 300 is offered as an alternative to the Höfner Club or Framus Hollywood, Europe’s best selling electrics of the late 50’s. Wenzel Rossmeissl, who is by then reducing his own production and increasingly concentrates on Eko ’s distribution in Germany, was certainly influential in that choice.



The solid bodied 400 (often called ‘Ekomaster’) is a master stroke. As far as electrical construction and finishing techniques are concerned it takes an obvious inspiration from the already established Hagström Deluxe and Standard series, but instead of aping a LesPaulish Höfner Club the shape leans towards Fender’s top-of-the-line, the recently introduced Jazzmaster.





The whole production is build with glued-in necks. Pickups (optional on the 100 and 200 series) have a sparkle or perloid plastic topping, soon to be substituted with visible polepieces.


There is still some trial-and-error in the designs but the guidelines are clearly defined: Eko’s philosophy is to offer a complete range of guitars, made with standardized solutions and industrial procedures that warrant consistent quality. The company targets the most buoyant market segment, i.e. affordable instruments that can also be used at a semi-pro level if the dreams of thousands of beginners come true. Eko sells the tools for the dream

During the early guitar days, Piginis are based on German designed guitars. The first solid body guitar to come out of his factory was known as the Ekomaster.

The electrical design was much like that of a Hagström, but the shape was reminiscent of a Fender Jazzmaster. The accordion influence is very prevalent in the design as some of the new models have a sparkle or perloid plastic topping. The pickups on the earlier instrument feature this encasement as well. Later instruments were designed with visible polepieces. The guitars featured set in necks.

Eko Acoustics

The acoustic instruments and guitars with visible wood utilize thick laminated wood with heavy glossy finishes. The plastic coated instruments are covered with a virtually indestructible material that is resistant to cracking if the guitar is dropped. The switches on many of the instruments were either rocker or pushbutton style.

They created a bass guitar that was similar in appearance to the famous Höfner 5001 violin style bass. The price was far less than the Höfner and during those days the Eko bass was a somewhat popular alternative.

In the mid 1960’s, due to the influence of the Beatles use of Vox amplifiers, their manufacturer Rose Morris set out to create guitars. These were first produced in the U.K. however as demand grew, this time due to the Rolling Stones use of Vox instruments,

Rose Morris contracted with Eko to produce instruments under the Vox logo. The Vox instruments featured unusual shapes, but most had more conventional potentiometer knobs and toggle switches. They all featured single coil pickups that were similar to Fender pickups.





Although we are dedicated to guitars, it needs to be mentioned that Eko produced its own line of combo organs during this same period.












Rose Morris also contracted them to produce the famous Vox Continental organ. This was the most popular organ for 1960’s bands and featured a bright red or orange top, reversed key colors and an unusual stand.

Eko also created its own line of guitar and bass amplifiers.
©UniqueGuitar Publications (text only)

 

The Framus Star Bass

The Allied Forces took control of the Sudetenland in WWII. This had and adverse effect on the town of Schoenbach, which was bordering north northern and western Czech/Hungary Bohemia.

The town was enclave of German speaking violin and musical instrument makers. Musical instrument building had always been a thriving business in this city. In 1945 Fred Wilfer learned of the Allied plans to take over the region. He saw this as a good thing.

With the arrival of Western musicians Wilfer hit on the idea of manufacturing Western musical instruments.

He contacted government authorities in Bavaria and they obliged his plans for creating conditions necessary to construct a facility for this purpose. Wilfer was classified by the Czechoslovakian authorities as an anti-fascist. Thus the US military government in 1946 gave him permission to open his manufacturing plant.

It was called the Franconian Musical Instruments Manufacturer Fred Wilfer. In German the acronym is FRAMUS. Wilfer hired craftsmen who had been displaced from Schoenbach.

Violins were less popular and being replaced by the guitar. The violin makers turned their task to building guitars, which had become popular due to the American occupation of Germany.


The company’s catalogue included a wide array of instruments, however the most unique was their line of bass guitars was the Framus Star Bass.

Fender had set the standard for bass guitars with the Precision Bass. The neck was wider than a guitar neck to accommodate the thicker bass strings. It was 1-5/8” at the nut and 2-1/2” at the 20th fret.

The Star Bass is one of the Framus bass guitars that Bill Wyman of The Rolling Stones played in the early to mid 1960’s. The neck was reported to be a mere 1.25” at the nut and 1.75” at the 12th fret. The neck length of a Fender Precision bass is 34”. The Framus is short in scale and is only 30.5”. The weight of the Framus Star bass was about 5 lbs which could be attributable to its hollow body.
 
Most professional bass guitars that were manufactured in the United States had large tuners with large keys. The tuning keys on the Star Bass and other Framus bass guitars were similar to those used on standard electric guitars. The neck had 20 frets which was one shy of the Precision bass which had 21. The body on the Star Bass had a single Florentine cutaway on the lower bout. The top and back were mahogany and the sides were maple. It was bound with a white plastic strip.

The ultra-thin neck was rosewood with mother of pearl markers. The body was 2” deep and approximately 9” at the upper bout and 12.875” at the center of the lower bout.

The bass was favored by Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones. He held it almost vertically as he played the bass. Because of his popularity it was also called The Stone bass.






Framus made other bass guitars too. Its line included the Akkerman Bass which resembled the Star bass. The Atlantik, the BL, the Caravelle and Sorento were solid body models.

The Star was updated to several models including the Hollywood Star Bass, the De Luxe Star Bass and the Golden De Luxe Star Bass. Later on the company produced the BL-12 and the Nashville Standard and Standard De Luxe.

Some of the players that favored Framus instruments included a very young Bill Lawrence (guitar pickup manufacturer), who used the stage name Billy Lorento back in 1953.

Peter Kraus model

Peter Kraus was a Framus endorser and played a 4 string guitar during the Folk era.

Dutch guitarist Jan Akkerman also endorsed Framus. Charlie Mingus and Jim Hall were also players of Framus guitars at one time.

1970 Framus Sorrento

In the early 1970’s the Framus bass guitars took on a more traditional American flare. This is also the era which closed Framus. Due to the market being flooded with less expensive Asian guitars, Framus declared bankruptcy in 1975 and closed its doors.

Wyman's Framus

1982 the Framus legacy continued under the direction of Fred Wilfer’s son, Hans Peter Wilfer. He called the company Warwick and they manufactured a line of marvelous professional bass guitars. In 1995 Wilfer the younger revived the Framus name with its present series of high end electric guitars and amplifiers.

2012 Framus Star Bass

The Star Bass is currently produced by the new Framus Corporation. However it is a more conventional hollowbody bass guitar and the neck is more of a traditional size. 

The 1960's Star Bass was an easy-to-play instrument that had the feel of an electric guitar and certainly had the thinnest bass neck I’ve ever encountered.

More On Sebastian

In doing a follow up search last night, I stumbled across Mr. Apollonio selling a similar instrument to the one he made for Noel Paul Stookey in 1968.

I copied the advertisement and a picture of his guitar.

Bell Citern

Mr. Apollonio states the shape is slightly different than the original Sebastian and he goes into great detail in his description. The following are his words.

"This odd looking guitar was custom made for Noel Paul Stookey in 1968 after a chance meeting in Camden, Maine. It was only my 15th guitar and at the time was rather crude and basic, due to my inexperience. It did not hold up to string stresses, although it had a very stellar career with one of the most popular performers in America at the time."

Its delicate and haunting sound, though not as deep and powerful as a full size regular shape guitar, inspired Paul to write The Wedding Song on it, for his lifetime friend Peter Yarrow. Over the decades the song has been the crowning music of nuptials for countless thousands of people who still write about it.

After 41 years and many hundreds of instruments, I decided it was time to rebuild and update; to make it even better than new, with all the features that keep my 12's user friendly and more playable than most any other.

The neck has a short scale for extremely easy playing, with a user friendly exterior adjustment for optimum action in any climate and a bridge calibrated for exact intonation of each string. The tailpiece removes forward tension on the bridge allowing for lighter (though stronger) bracing, to boost sound.

Glen Heggie with "Moby"

Materials are: AAA western red cedar top with a compass point inlay around the sound hole. Native walnut body (original) and a new neck of dark walnut aged 60+ years. An ebony fretboard and bridge with pearl position dots and brass side markers.

The headstock has a pale abolone "A" for Apollo logo inlaid at the top. The tuning is set up for 2 frets low with medium strings or concert pitch with light guage.

The body length is 19"; width is 13 3/4; depth is 4". The instruments scale is 24 7/8th."

The neck is heelless. This 12 string comes with a padded gig bag.

Below is Barbara Schultz playing a Apollonios 10 string citern.

Sebastian - Nick Apollonio

Noel Paul Stookey describes on his website how he and his wife Betty were attending a Rinctum that was held in a home in Maine. A Rinctum is a gathering of musicians for the purpose of sharing music with each other.

This one was put together by Canadian Folk Singer, Gordon Bok who invited a group of 30 or so musicians. They each had brought their guitars, fiddles, mandolins and pennywhistles.

Betty’s brother named Denny was there and had brought with him a boxy looking twelve string guitar and began to play songs from the Hebrides Islands.


Noel described how fascinated he was at the beautiful sound of this instrument. Its sound was similar to a harpsichord. He became hypnotized. He mentioned this to the fellow that was sitting nearby.

To his surprise this man said, “I made that guitar.” Noel was astounded. The man introduced himself as Nick Apollonio and said that he made guitars and stringed instruments for a living.


Noel immediately ask if he could build a guitar for him. Mr. Apollonio said yes, but it would take him several months.

He states there was a period in the career of Peter, Paul and Mary were there was a lull in their performances. He was just enjoying life in his home. One morning he woke up at 10 AM, which is early for most musicians and went down to his kitchen.

He was alone in the house and he spotted a large cardboard package standing in a corner. His first thought was that his wife had done some shopping and had something delivered by parcel post.

On closer examination he saw the package was from Maine. He realized it was the guitar. He had almost forgotten.


He took it to his home studio. The walls in the studio were all painted black. The carpeting was red. Stookey cut the twine the held the package together. There was no case with the intrument! The guitar was tightly packed in newspaper.

He lifted the unusual shaped instrument out of the box and there was a note slipped between the strings. It read, "This is Sebastian, treat him with love and care for that is how he came to be built."

In Noel’s own words he said “I looked once again at this strange flat sided twelve string and think how inauspiciously he arrived. I return to reading the next several pages of the note which suggest brand and tension of string to use and a bit about the wood and a brief history of the casket style.

It seems that long voyages on the sea made for a certain kind of musical vacuum and when the desires of the crew ran beyond shanties and the little squeeze concertina, several planks from an empty packing case could be fashioned together into a box and joined with a long sturdy neck (made perhaps from a split oar) to produce a fair replica of a guitar without of course the tonality that results from shapely curves of steamed, pressed and clamped hardwood.

Any musician, from serious composer to jazz virtuoso, knows the extent to which coincidence often creates a new set of melodic options...I could be wrong but it seems to me that most musical 'accidents' just challenge the status quo; the 'established' way of presenting the inversion of a chord.”

In his first encounter with Sebastian, Noel had hit upon the first chord for the beautiful song he wrote about his guitar. This is the same instrument he used to play The Wedding Song.

Sebastian  (click to hear Sebastian)

Sebastian arrived in a cardboard suitcase
Sealed with a kiss from his Mom
With a newspaper under his arm
And over his head
Alone in the hall with his back to the wall
You could see he was one of a few
He spoke only when spoken to
And sometimes alone in his bed

Sing sweet Sebastian
Sing the sweetest song
Sing so sweet that while you sleep
Your melody lingers on

Sebastian is led to a black-walled room
Red carpeting covers the floor
Someone is closing the door
And raising the blind
Hiding his eyes so they won't looked surprised
When the hand reaches down for the note
The one that his mother wrote
And tied by a string to his neck

Sing sweet Sebastian
Sing the sweetest song
Sing so sweet that while you sleep
Your melody lingers on

Waiting for the sunrise
And the rest of his life to begin
Sebastian is wearing a grin under his nose
Out on the grass, he can hear it at last
The rush of a bird to his home
Then, while unpacking a comb
He thinks of a song that he knows

Sing sweet Sebastian
Sing the sweetest song
Sing so sweet that while you sleep
Your melody lingers on
Sing sweet Sebastian
Sing the sweetest song
Sing so sweet that while you sleep
Your melody lingers on

Sebastian is actually not a guitar, but is a bell cittern. Citterns are stringed folk instruments originally made in the Renaissance era. They are used to play Irish and English folk music. Originally citterns were easier to make than lutes since the cittern had a flat back. Most often citterns are made with five courses. A course is a set of two strings tuned to the same pitch, much like on a mandolin.

Mr. Apollonio makes traditional tear drop citterns, but also makes what he calls Bell Citterns. I am certain he will make you a 12 string cittern if you ask him.

The Supro Folk Star, The National Pocket Bass & Valco

Chicago Musical Instruments was at one time the biggest musical instrument manufacturer/wholesaler in the United States. In the 1960’s they had acquired multiple companies and consolidated them.

These included Kay, Harmony and National Dobro also known as Valco. Chicago Musical Instruments or CMI even acquired Gibson Guitars.

When I was a 13 year old kid there were a couple of guitars that fascinated me. I never got to play either. I was only able to press my nose up against the glass at Dodd’s Music in Covington Kentucky and stare at them. And although I own much better guitars than either of these, the fascination was still there all those years ago.

One guitar was called The Supro Folk Star Guitar and the other was the National Pocket Bass.

The Folk Star was a great idea on paper, but in my opinion the guitar actually didn’t sound very well. It’s body was made from red fiberglass. It came with a resonator. Only the neck was wood.


Although the Dobro sound comes from its resonator, the wooden body sure helps the sound resonate. On the Supro, the fiberglass body just muffled the Folk Stars sound.

At the time I was thinking of folk artists of the day, such as Peter, Paul and Mary or Joan Baez. The folk stars that were probably in the mind of the designer were the old blues and slide players. Despite the sound, the guitar was advertised as an acoustic guitar that sounded just like an electric. I have gotten to play one and can say, this was false advertising.

The Pocket Bass was a short scale bass that I thought just looked plain cool. As a guitarist I was not used to the longer necks on Fenders. The body was Res-O-Glass and the headstock was covered in celluloid. I didn’t have the appreciation for wood in those days that I now have.

There is not a lot of information on the specific history of these two instruments. So I will concentrate on the history of the underlying companies, Dobro, National/Supro and their merger to become Valco.

The Dopeyera brothers

In the 1940’s National Guitars and the Dobro Guitar Company merged to form Valco. The company name was a combination of the first letter of the principal owner’s names or Victor Smith, Al Frost and Louis Dopeyera.


V.A.L. Co. National had come up with the idea for manufacturing electric guitars with fiberglass bodies, which they called Res-O-Glass. When Valco came into being, the fiberglass electrics were given the brand name Supro.


This brand had been in existence since 1935 when the Dopeyera Brothers and George Beauchamp combined their companies (Dobro and National).

George Beauchamp

By 1952 the company had left California for Chicago and was manufacturing electric guitars to compete with Fender and Gibson.

National was the top brand using wood or chrome-plated metal for its bodies. Supro used cellulose pearl-like body coverings also known as Mother-of-Toilet-Seat.

The late 1960’s saw a decline in the guitar business. Like any fad it only lasted a short while. Valco filed bankruptcy and merged with Kay in 1968.

Some Kays built during this period had Supro logos. Chicago Musical Instruments were also jobbers, which meant they manufactured instruments for different companies and used the company’s brand name on the instruments.

We see this with Silvertone, Pencraft, Trutone, Oahu and Airline.

This practice continues today, except the instruments are made at different Asian factories in China, Korea, Japan and Indonesia and branded under company names such as Squier or Epiphone.

So you may find Valco/Supro guitars under different brand names. The guitars built today under the New National logo have no relation to the old company.

New Supro Amp Line Up

Bruce Zinky, formerly a designer for Fender, was able to obtain the Supro logo and builds amplifiers under this label that are superior to the older instruments.

Eastwood Guitars

Eastwood builds some guitars under their own brand name that are very similar to the old National/Valco/Supro Res-O-Glass guitars. And the Eastwood versions are far superior.