The Squier Venus Guitar aka the Venus Vista

In 1997 my local music store had these unusual Fender guitars hanging up for display. On closer examination, they bore the Squier brand name. Under the Squier name in small type was "by Fender." Both instruments had a surf-green paint job and bound maple necks with rosewood fretboards.

One was a six-string model with 1956 Fender style headstock. The headstock was painted the same color on the front. The other was a 12-string version that bore a headstock similar to the 12 string Stratocasters that were marketed in the 1990's.


The pickup arrangement on the Squier Venus 12 was much like the Fender XII's pickups. The 12 string also had a tone control.


I learned these were Squier Venus guitars or Vista Venus made by Fender.

The guitars bridge was Fender's version of a tune-o-matic bridge. The strings went through the body and held in place with rivets on the guitars backside.

I learned these were guitars designed in conjunction with Courtney Love.

The six string version had a single coil strat-type neck alnico pickup with staggered pole pieces and an open humbucking pickup near the bridge.

The wiring scheme was simple; one volume control, a three-way throw switch for the pickups and a top mounted input jack, all of which were on the pearloid pickguard.

The twelve string version was a much different instrument. The headstock had one string guide. The bridge/saddle unit was similar to the one on the Fender XII.

This guitar also had a single volume control, but it also had a single tone control, plus the three-way throw switch (unlike the complex Fender XII's switching system) and a top mounted jack. All were mounted on the guitar's pearloid pickguard. The bridge and saddle was one unit with a chromed base plate, Fender style bridge saddles adjusted by turning a screw at the distal side of the bridge. The strings appear to go through the body.

Surf green was not the only color for these instruments. They were also produced in Black and Sunburst.

The shape of the guitar is different from anything Fender has produced. The guitar was made of basswood that had two offset cutaway horns and an asymetrical carved lower bout as on a Jaguar. The body was more compact than other Fender instruments.

It was also unusual in its price point, which was suggested as $999.99 with a gig bag. Squier was Fender's import line at the time, so the asking price was rather high. Perhaps that is why it was only produced for two years. It was discontinued in 1998.

Ms. Love's personal instruments must have been built by Fender's Custom Shop, since they were different from off-the-rack models. Of the two she played, one had a sky blue body with a tortoise shell pickguard and the other was pink with a white pearloid pickguard. Her guitars had only a single Seymour Duncan '59 neck pickup.

The Howard Roberts Guitars

When I think of twentieth century jazz guitarists, one of the most notable is Howard Roberts. Not only was he an excellent guitarist, he was a teacher and guitar designer.

He left his mark in the recording industry as well as television. When you hear the Twilight Zone theme, you are hearing Roberts playing guitar. He also played the guitar part on The Munsters TV theme song.


He played rhythm parts for many other shows including I Dream of Jeanie, the Andy Griffith Show, Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, Dragnet and many more.

As a teacher, he wrote jazz guitar instruction and guitar theory books.  His music education philosophy was the the basis for G.I.T., the Guitar Institute of Technology (now the Musicians Institute of Los Angeles. Howard was also an instructor at the school.

As a session musician, Howard Roberts, like other session players brought an entire trunkload of instruments to work and often used a Fender Broadcaster for recording and television work.

When it comes to guitars Howard Roberts name is on several fine instruments. Some were custom made and some were mass produced. All were made to his specifications.

Throughout his life, Howard favored Gibson and Epiphone archtop guitars. Early on Howard played an Epiphone Deluxe with a DeArmond pickup. He acquired a Gibson L-5 with a DeArmond pickup attached and later a Gibson L-10.

Roberts with ES-175

In the 1950's Roberts acquired a Gibson ES-175 with a single neck pickup. This was his main guitar throughout the '50's. He had a second ES-175 with a square hole cut into the guitars back. No one knows why he did this to the instrument.

Roberts was approached by CMI to design a signature guitar. His goal was to produce a guitar that he could hear over the amplification when he was playing. CMI assigned this to their newly acquired Epiphone division.

Instead of traditional f-holes, he decided on an oval soundhole under the strings. The body style was similar to an ES-175. Epiphone made these guitars with a carved solid spruce top, three-piece maple neck, and a Florentine cutaway on the lower bout and a single floating mini-humbucking pickup just below the neck. Binding on the body was 7 piece binding on the front and 3 piece on the back. The guitar was offered in custom and artist versions. The artist version had gold plated hardware and a finer finish.

You can see Howard's Epiphone cherry red prototype in the classic book American Guitars, by Tom Wheeler. (If you do not own this book - get it!) Roberts thought the Epiphone guitars were too fragile and too expensive. There is a possibility the pickguard vibrated against the top of his instrument. The color pictures in American Guitar show that Roberts stuffed a matchbook between the scratchplate and the body.

CMI assigned Gibson to build the next run of Howard Roberts guitars. The entire body was made of maple on these instruments. The maple tops on the Gibson guitars were laminated. This guitar had a 25.5" scale, which was longer than the Epiphone. There was an option for a second pickup was added at the bridge. The Epi version had a volume and tone control, while the Gibson HR guitars had a volume and tone control, plus a mid-range roll-off control.


Gibson maintained the elaborate headstock pearl inlay, which was on the original Epiphone model. The Gibson version sported a regular sized humbucking pickup or twin humbuckers.

Epiphone model

There is also a Gibson Howard Roberts Custom model that was available with a Frequensator tailpiece, which was designed to make the length of the bass strings longer for a tighter feel, and the treble strings shorter for easier lead work.

Next Gibson designed the Howard Roberts Fusion III.

The final Gibson Howard Roberts guitar is the Howard Roberts Fusion. This guitar was made to handle both rock and jazz. It features twin humbucking pickups and a stop tailpiece, which cuts down on amplifier feedback.

Possibly the most interesting guitar Howard Roberts owned was The Black Guitar. I believe this may be currently owned by collector/player Wolf Marshall. This guitar started out as a Gibson ES-150, which we know as the Charlie Christian model. This guitar originally belonged to Herb Ellis.  This guitar was featured in the August 2000 Vintage Guitar magazine in an article by Wolf Marshall.

Roberts had this guitar modified to his specification, which meant the depth of the guitars needed to be made thinner by cutting the instruments sides and then replacing the back. Roberts also added a pronounced cutaway on the guitar and smaller one on the guitar's upper bout.

The bar pickup was replaced with a P-90, later a humbucker was added to the bridge area.  The guitar was painted black with white binding. The control knobs, headstock, pickguard, and tuning keys were all changed.

Howard Roberts designed the H.R. Chroma guitar as a teaching instrument. Only a handful were of these produced. The strings are multi-colored to correspond with the notes in the Howard Roberts Chroma instruction book.

©UniqueGuitar Publications.   

FUZZY GUITARS

ZZ Top has a collection of some of the world’s most unique guitars.  In fact Billy Gibbons has a book featuring information and pictures of some of his favorite instruments that came out a few years ago.

Their Fuzzy guitars were based on a Gibson Explorer and built by 6 different companies.

Most of them were built by Dean Guitars founded by Dean Zelinnsky. Others were built by Gibson and John Bolin.

These guitars are capable of spinning 360 degrees through the use of an off-the-shelf Wittman Spinstrap instrument support.



‘Truly unique instruments.

The Fourth Of July - Buck Owens Red White & Blue Guitars

Buck Owens with his Red, White, and Blue guitar

It's the Fourth of July here in the USA.  When I think of patriotic American guitars, Buck Owens comes to mind.

Buck Owens, Roy Clark on Hee Haw

In the late 1960's through 1970, The Hee-Haw TV Country variety show was produced. It featured Buck Owens and Roy Clark as the Emcees.  Buck played a guitar similar to one pictured here.

Buck's Original Red, White and Blue

Bucks original Red, White and Blue guitar was made by the Mosrite Guitar Company.

Apparently Buck, being a savy businessman, was wise enough to license the model and arranged for an inexpensive replica to be produced by Chicago Musical Instruments.

Harmony RW&B sold by Silvertone

These guitar were not at all great players.  The top was spruce, but the back and sides were made of birch featuring ladder style bracing. However folks were buying them for the paint-job. The retail price was less than $100. Today they are selling for up to ten times that much.

Buck Owens original Red, White, Blue

The guitar that Buck Owens is most remember for playing is of course the Telecaster.  He started out playing off-the-rack Telecasters, as did his friend and fellow guitarist, Don Rich.

So Owens had a Telecaster painted to resemble his Mosrite acoustic.

The Buckaroos with Red, White, Blue Fenders

Through the assistance help of Fender, Owens and the Buckaroos were outfitted with sparkle finished Teles and basses.

Buck Owens Harmony acoustic

Fender had put together an original Buck Owens Telecaster that was in silver sparkle on the body and headstock.

Buck Owens Telecaster

This was later updated the guitar to a sparkle-finished version of Buck's Red, White and Blue Fender Telecaster.  It was finally upgraded to include an anodized gold pickguard, switch plate and hardware.

Flag Guitars

But let's not stop there because there are plenty more Red, White and Blue guitars and American Flag guitars.

So put down those fireworks, strap on a patriotic model and crank that amp up baby!


Happy Fourth of July to everyone, everywhere!

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

The Harmony "Hollywood" H59 Rocket Model Guitar

At the start of the 50’s due to the popularity of electronic guitars and amplifiers,Chicago Musical Instrument Company introduced many different models under the Harmony brand name in all price ranges.

Among the most unique guitar they made was the model H59 or Rocket H59. The guitar was Harmonys answer to the Gibson Switchmaster. The guitar was equipped with 3 DeArmond Golden Tone pickups with a neat row of tone volume potentiometers along the guitars lower bottom bout.

Switchmaster & Zephyr

As on the Gibson Switchmaster and it's Epiphone cousin, the Zephyr Emperor Regent. Both guitars had a volume and tone potentiomers for each pickup (The Zephyr Emperor had a single volume and tone pot for all three pickups.

The H59 Rocket and the Switchmaster utilized a 4 way switching system mounted on the lower cutaway. (The Epiphone came with 6 pushbuttons on the lower bout.) The H59 allowed the player to choose to turn on a single pickup or all three pickups at once. By utilizing the volume controls a player could get seven different pickup combinations.

The Harmony H59 was built from 1960 to 1967 before it was replaced. The catalog described it as the Rocket 3 Pickup ultra-thin cutaway electric. The H59's body was bound in celluloid. The neck was not bound. Harmony's literature stated the guitar came with an ultra-slim neck with "uniform feel”, whatever that means.

Necks on many Harmony guitars did not have adjustable truss rods, but did have a steel rod within to prevent warping.


In 1966 Harmony began using what they called “Torque-Lok Adjustable Neck Reinforcing Rods.” The neck scale was 24 ¼”; somewhat shorter than Gibsons normal length.

We don’t know what wood was used for the body. The catalog say "hardwood body." Many Harmony guitars were made of birch. The catalog states it is made from Hardwood. During its run this guitar sold for $139.50! The chipboard case was only $14.50.

By 1966 the price went up eight bucks to $147.50 and the case was a dollar more.

In 1968 Harmony redesigned the guitar and dubbed it the H59/1. Essentially it was the same guitar but with double cutaways. The cost went up twenty bucks to $159.50, but the case remained at $15.50.


Some of Harmonys more expensive guitars were quality instruments. And this model is no exception.

Harmony Guitars have recently been reintroduced, this time they are manufactured in Korea. They only offer the H54, which was the two pickup version with a retail price of $895.00 USD.

Eastwood guitars offers the Airline H77, which is based on the Harmony H77. Eastwood's direct price is $669.00 USD.




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