ACPAD (pronounced ACK-PAD) is the brainchild of Berlin musician Robin Sukroso, who needed a piece of equipment that would allow him to bring his love of electronic and acoustic music together.

Robin Sukroso

This is perhaps the first MIDI controller for acoustic guitars.

For those folks who were not into sythesizer  and electronic music devices back in the 1990’s, MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface.


It was a platform agreed upon by several major producers of electronic musical equipment, such as the Roland Corporation and Yamaha among others.

The ACPAD is a 2 mm thick stick-on interface that resembles a flat top guitar pickguard, only this device includes built-in effects using Ableton Live music production software.

This software supports wireless MIDI and USB MIDI connections, and they all paired with two preset live loopers.

It also includes pads for drum sounds that can be triggered through your fingers. The device is powered by a rechargable battery.

The ACPAD allows the performer to use acoustic sounds matched up with electronic guitar sounds. If that is not enough, realistic drum sounds are thrown in for good measure.

For studio performance, the unit can be powered by USB connectors. I have to say I have never seen a device that can perform like this does.

The inventor is marketing this through a kickstarter campaign. The price is yet to be determined.

The television show Pawn Stars is about the Harrison family, and their business, the “World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop” that is located in Las Vegas, Nevada.

I always heard if you wanted something to be well-know, use the words World Famous. It seems to have worked out pretty well for Rick Harrison, his father Richard, his son Corey aka Big Hoss and their employee Chumlee.

Les Paul and Mary Ford

In 2011 the nephew of Mary Ford offered Mary’s Gibson SG Les Paul Custom guitar to the Pawn Stars and came away with a cool $90,000 USD. After filming, the Harrison’s then put it up for auction on eBay where it sold for $110,000 USD.

Earlier this year I featured Les Paul’s personal 1954 Gibson Les Paul Black Beauty which was auctioned in February and was sold for $335,000. Both of these instruments are not just wonderful guitars, but come with some special provenance.

However the SG was not Les’ favorite instrument. In fact he detested it and made Gibson take his name off of it after seeing one displayed in a music store window.I have read that Gibson never mentioned this guitar to him and that made him angry. In fact Gibson came up with the iconic design during a period of time when sales of Les Paul guitars were slumping.

Despite Mr. Pauls aversion to the guitar we find several publicity photos of Les and Mary holding matching white Gibson “Les Paul” Custom SG’s.

The White Gibson SG Custom has always been a stunning instrument. Gibson actually called the colour, Polaris White. I recall being enamoured of one that was in a glass case at my favorite music store back in 1965.

The entire guitar including the neck was done in white gloss paint. It sported three Gibson humbucking pickups, an ebony neck and matching ebony headstock. All the metal parts were gold-plated, including the Gibson Gibson Maestro Vibrola, which pulled side-to-side and the pickup covers.

The bound neck included large mother-of-pearl block markers on its ebony neck and the headstock featured the Gibson split-diamond inlay.

This guitar used a very unique switching system. The neck and bridge pickup and individual volume and tone controls. The middle pick had no controls as it was designed to work with the bridge pickup. The thee way toggle switch controlled the neck pickup alone in the up position. In the middle position it controlled the bridge and middle pickup out of phase and in the lower position it controlled the bridge and middle pickup in phase.

It was a beautiful instrument and may not be as desirable to a collector as some other Gibson guitars of that vintage. Unfortunately someone removed the pickup covers on this guitar.

Mary Ford's White Gibson Les Paul SG Custom - $124,999

For those of you that were late to the party; Rejoice! Mary Ford's Gibson SG Custom is back on eBay. This time the seller is asking $124,999 USD. For those of you with deep pockets, you get another shot at owning this classic. It even comes with Mary's original strap.  For the rest of us, go back to playing your Strat copies.

Les Paul's 1954 Black Beauty

Les Paul designed the Black Beauty Les Paul to be a matching guitar for his original gold top. He like the color black since most musicians of the day wore tuxedoes to their gigs and the black guitar match the tuxes.

Though the guitar appears to have single coil pickups, they are stacked humbuckers that Les designed and probably wound himself. In Les Paul's era he made his recordings using Ampex analog tape machines. To get sound-on-sound he would record a passage and then record another along with the first passage. On a guitar that has normal pickups with high impedance, the sound of the original passage would dissipate as each new passage was recorded when using this "sound-on-sound" technique.


Les solved this problem by utilizing Lo-Z output on his guitar pickups. This enabled him to play all those guitar parts himself on the recordings he made with his then wife, Mary Ford.

Some of this article was gleaned from Crain's New York Business Magazine

Stan Jay was the owner of Mandolin Brothers, the well-known guitar shop on Staten Island. This was a destination for ordinary guitarists, guitar afficionados and serious musicians and collectors since its opening in 1971. Stan became seriously ill last year and passed away in October of 2014 at age 71.

His passing was a shock to the vintage guitar industry. George Gruhn, owner of his own well-known Nashville Tennessee guitar store couldn’t say enough kinds words about his friend. Guitar Afficionado Magazine once bestowed the title of “Lord of the Strings” on his Stan.

photo by Bruce Ennis

His store and its assets were passed on to his wife Bea Jay, who has done her best, along with other family members to run the business and keep Stan’s dream alive. However the stores revenue has been in decline since Stan’s passing.

1642 Forest Avenue, Staten Island NY

Mandolin Brothers became a haunt for such famous players such as Paul McCartney Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, George Harrison and many others.




When actor Christopher Guest needed a banjo for the film, “Like A Mighty Wind”, he went to Mandolin Brothers to purchase a vintage Gibson long neck banjo and even got some lessons.

Paul McCartney sent his 1963 Hofner 500/1 bass there for repairs. For years he claimed he could not get the bass to play in tune. Mandolin Brothers fixed it

Bea, Stan’s widow is 68 and hoping to retire. Her children, Alison and Eric have other life plans, but all have stepped in to keep the family business going. But they are now making plans to wind business down. Staffers are no longer employed full-time and the shop is closing early and is only open by appointment.

The stock has dwindled from nearly 800 rare vintage instruments to around 130. Sadly, also gone is Stan Jay’s remarkable knowledge of the vintage instrument market.

Mr. Jay was never a great guitarist, in fact he didn’t learn how to play until after the early 1970’s. He started the shop by trading a $10 mandolin he purchased at a pawn shop for the use of a Saab vehicle for one summer while he was in California.

He discovered he had a knack for this sort of business and along with his business partner, with his business partner, Hap Kuffner, purchased a second story walk-up in Staten Island.

George Gruhn and Stan Werbin

Though there are many privately owned guitar stores throughout the country, only a few business like Mandolin Brothers specialize exclusively in vintage instruments are left throughout the United States.







I can only think of Gruhns in Nashville, Elderly Instruments in Lansing Michigan, Norman's Rare Guitars in Tarzana, Califiornia and Mike's Music in Cincinnati Ohio and Covington Kentucky.


Mandolin Brothers had once stocked the D’Angelico Teardrop New Yorker that was first owned and commisioned by Peter Giraldi and was being displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Guitar Heroes exhibit.

The shop also featured Elvis Presley’s 1958 Gibson LG-1.

And they had a pre-war National resonator ukulele that was purchased by George Harrison during a visit to the store.

Joni Mitchell at Mandolin Brothers

Joni Mitchell bought a Gibson K-4 Mandocello and a 1913 Martin 000-28.

Some of Mandolin Brothers famous customers

Stan Jay eventually bought out his partner and moved the business to its current location. His kids did part-time work there while in school, but now co-manage the store with their mother and are hoping to find a buyer before they are forced to go out of business.

I certainly hope an interested buyer is found to take over this long standing and well loved guitar business.

Paul Bigsby was not just the designer of the famous Bigsby guitar vibrato tailpiece, but he is also remembered as one of the pioneers of the electric guitar. The guitar designs that he created back in the late 1940’s have influenced Fender, Gibson, Epiphone and many other well-known guitar manufacturers. And I have not mentioned his influence on the steel guitar industry.

Paul Bigsby was born and spent his childhood in Illinois, but his family moved to Los Angeles in search of work. Bigsby acquired a job as a pattern maker and was carving wood patterns that were used to make metal molds for manufacturing. This skill gave him a useful start in his career building musical instruments.

He also developed a keen interest in motorcycles and motorcycle racing and won his first race at the age of 20. This hobby turned into a career and he went on to open his own motorcycle dealership and became well-respected in the cycling community as racer

P.A. Bigsby. As he got older, he joined the Crocker Motorcycle Company and assisted in designing the Crocker V-Twin engine.

When World War II rocked the world, Bigby enlisted in the U.S. Navy. World War II brought about many changes to the world and to the United States. California became a bastion of manufacturing and many families from the southern United States migrated there in search of work and the American dream.

Suffice to say, these men and women brought their passion for Country Music with them and movies, radio stations, clubs and eventually television would capitalize on Country Music.

By 1946 Paul Bigsby was married and divorced. He had a daughter by his first wife. He remarried a year later and his wife and daughter would attend Cliffie Stone’s radio show called Hometown Jamboree which featured Western Swing music.

Bigsby had learned to play guitar and bass and this show became a way for him to meet some of the stars, musicians and sidemen. Bigsby used this contact as an opportunity to capitalize on his skills.

The electric steel guitar was prominently featured in Western Swing. There were some prominent companies building electric steel instruments. Though Bigsby did not invent the steel guitar, he improved on it.

Joaquinn Murphy

In 1947 he built a double 8-string steel console guitar for Earl “Joaquin” Murphey, the steel player in Spade Cooley’s Orchestra. The instrument combined two guitars on one console which enabled the necks to be tuned to different pitches. The player could quickly switch between tunings. This is a standard feature today for most pedal steel players. The instrument was made of solid birds-eye maple with one neck elevated higher than the other.

Bigsby was the first to use a tapered headstock design, which is also featured on most professional steel guitars today.

As Bigsby learned more about the needs of guitarists he took the steel guitar a step further by creating a pedal steel guitar. Once again, there were manufacturers, such as Gibson, that already created a system of using pedals to change tuning on the steel guitar,

But Gibson’s early version utilized a system of pedals arranged on the left rear leg of their Electraharp. Bigsby was the first to arrange the pedals on a rack across the floor in front of the player, which is the configuration utilized to this day.

He presented his Bigsby pedal steel guitar to Speedy West, the guitarist that replaced Murphey in Spade Cooley’s group. Again Bigsby utilized a polished birds-eye maple chassis for this guitar, which became his trademark on all of his future instruments. The instrument was replete with a birds-eye maple front cover for the front of West’s instrument.

This also included inlay with Bigsby’s logo, which helped his name recognition wherever the band played. Instead of a wooden neck this guitar came with twin cast aluminum necks which gave this guitar incredible sustain.

Bigsby's pickup winder

It would not be long before other prominent steel players would seek out Paul Bigsby. Bigsby built his own pickups and experimented with them. His winding machine was made from sewing machine parts. He came up with a design that was similar to Gibson’s Charlie Christian pickup.

This used a blade magnet wrapped with a wide flat coil and an aluminum housing. The housing was a great way to shield the 60 cycle hum that is found in many single coil pickups.







There was a time when Paul Bigsby, Les Paul and Leo Fender would discuss electric guitar and pickup design. In fact Les Paul installed one of Bigsby pickups in the bridge position of the Epiphone hollow-body guitar that he used to record “How High the Moon.” Chet Atkins must have loved the sound, because he installed a Bigsby pickup on his D’Angelico guitar. Hank Garland and Merle Travis also used Bigsby pickups on their guitars.

The 3rd Guitar that Paul Bigsby built

Bigsby had tinkered around with the idea of building a solid-body electric guitar as far back as 1944. In an attempt to interest Gibson, he even built one for Les Paul.

However it was Merle Travis who was perhaps the first to observe that sustain quality found in Bigsby’s guitars. Travis sketched out a design for a solid-body guitar and brought it to Bigsby.

He wanted this instrument to have six-on-a-side turners on a headstock that looked mighty similar to what would nearly a decade later become the Stratocaster headstock. 

1st version Bigsby Files D. Dickerson

Travis also wanted playing card symbols inlaid on the neck; a heart, a diamond, a spade and a club. Not only that, but Travis wanted an armrest and a violin-like tailpiece.

Updated version Bigsby Files D. Dickerson

The first instrument had all of these accouterments, but the headstock extended further and scrolled in the opposite direction. Later on this headstock was cut off and a new one added. The first version did not have the cutaway, but this feature was also added.

Johann Stauffer Gutar

The six-on-a-side tuning system had been used in the past, notably on Stauffer and early Martin guitars, but it was Merle Travis who incorporated this feature on his Bigsby that first introduced this to the electric guitar. The advantage of this arrangement is that the strings are all wound in the same direction and the straight pull helps with tonality.

Travis’ Bigsby guitar utilized Kluson tuners. Today this would have been easy, but tuners manufactured at this time were set up for 3-on-a-side guitars. Bigsby had to machine the screws and remove the screw holes on one side of the tuners to make the 6-on-a-side arrangement work. Once Fender and other companies started using the 6-on-a-side arrangement, Kluson used Bigsby’s idea for manufacturing their tuning keys.

Once again Bigsby built this guitar using a birds-eye maple body. As it was too heavy, the body was hollowed out to reduce weight. The guitar had a decorative violin tailpiece, but the strings were actually retained through the body by steel ferrules ala the Telecaster.

A metal bar across the back reinforced the body and the back of the instrument was covered in plexiglass. Bigsby had built the guitars nut and compensated bridge from aluminum that he cast.

A single handmade pickup as already described was placed in the bridge position. It was controlled by volume and tone potentiometers and a 3-way switch which had differing capacitors for variations in tone which predated the Fender Esquire guitar.

The instrument was replete with a decorative walnut armrest on the guitars bout.

All in all, Paul Bigsby made three versions of the Travis guitar. The first had the reverse scroll on the headstock, the second had a more traditional headstock and the third incorporated two pickups with adjustable pole pieces. Bigsby referred to this as his standard guitar.

We may wonder if Fender copied Bigsby's designs. In the book, The Story of Paul Bigsby references a letter written by Don Randall, one of the first founders of Fender Guitars. In the letter, Randall is talking about Merle Travis and says,“He is playing the granddaddy of our Spanish guitar, built by Paul Bigsby— the one Leo copied.”

In fact it appears that Fender copied several features from Bigsby’s creation. The popular Telecaster and Esquire utilized the 6-on-a-side headstock. And though the prototype Telecaster did have 3-on-a-side, the production models did not.

Fender also copied the string-thru-body string arrangement and in the case of the Esquire, the 3-way switch with activated some capacitors that gave the guitars the tonal characteristics. Additionally the Telecaster/Esquire both featured a body depth of 1 ½”, which was the same size Paul Bigsby used on his first electric guitars. Bigsby also adopted the use of the blade switch before it became a Fender standard.

And though Fender had essentially copied some of Paul Bigsby’s designs, Bigsby persevered to build high quality instruments for individuals.

Bigsby went on to create his style of guitar for notable Nashville session player Grady Martin. This instrument had a neck-through-body design, Bigsby’s signature birds-eye maple body and a scroll on the top cutaway of its body that was a mirror-image of the scroll on the instruments headstock.

Later on he produced another guitar for Martin. This one had two necks. The top neck was for a 5 string high-strung guitar neck that was tuned an octave about usual tuning. This neck was slightly angled from the main guitar neck. The other neck was a traditional guitar neck. Both necks were topped with the scroll style headstock that had become Bigsby’s trademark. The upper neck came with a single adjustable pickup while the lower neck had 3 single coil Bigsby designed pickups.

The upper instrument had a cast violin style tailpiece, while the lower neck had the strings terminate on Paul Bigsby’s latest invention, The Bigsby Vibrato tailpiece. A three-way switch controlled the pickups on the lower neck. Each neck had individual tone and volume controls.

Guitar build for Jimmy Bryant, but owned by Tommy Butterball Page

In 2012 sold for $266,500

Bigsby also made a guitar for guitarist Jimmy Bryant. However Bryant did not wait for the completed instrument and purchased Bigsby’s third guitar which was owned by Ernest Tubb’s guitarist, Tommy Page.

Billy Bryd Bigsby

Ironically Tubb’s current guitarist was Billy Byrd and he purchased the Bigsby guitar that had been ordered for Jimmy Bryant. This model was possibly the first double cutaway guitar. This guitar sported two adjustable pole single coil pickups and a Bigsby vibrato tailpiece.

Billy Boy Bigsby

It also had some unusual decorative indentations on the bottom of the instrument. Ironically Billy Byrd signed with Fender. Paul Bigsby reconfigured this guitar as the Billy Boy guitar.

Paul Bigsby designed and built a five string custom electric mandolin for Tiny Moore, who played guitar and mandolin in the group, Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys.

Paul Bigsby also built a full size electric guitar that may have been meant for Merle Travis. It can be seen in a short film that Travis being played by Merle, but this guitar was acquired by of a guitarist known as Jack Parsons.

This instrument looked more like a traditional wide bodied arch topped instrument. However the top was flat and had no f-holes. There was a walnut arm rest on the upper bout.

The guitar sported twin Bigsby adjustable pickups and after Parons acquired it, a Bigsby vibrato unit.

It had one volume and one tone control and a three-way blade switch.


During the early 1950's studio guitarists were installing Bigsby’s pickups on their instruments.

These artists included Keith Holter. Holter owned the 1953 model Bigsby that was made for Tommy Butterball Page. It was also owned by Thumbs Carlisle before Holter purchased it.

Holter owned that guitar for a long time. It was found in Alaska and restored by Retrofrets Music.


But there were other artists that really liked the Bigsby neck.


Merle Travis, Joe Maphis, Hank Thompson and others had their Martin guitars retrofitted to accommodate the Bigsby neck.

Paul Bigsby also was responsible for some other inventions. Pedal steel players had long used volume pedals to create those swells used in their music, Bigsby was the first to create a volume pedal that worked in the traditional up and down method to raise and lower the volume.


However his pedal also pivoted left and right which adjusted the bass and treble. During the 1960's Rowe DeArmond offered a similar pedal.

Merle Travis wanted Paul Bigsby to build a vibrato bar tailpiece that stayed in tune. At the time Travis was using a Kauffman vibrato. So Bigsby set out to build his vibrato which was made from cast aluminum and it worked by pulling the strings up and down. In fact it was designed to raise or lower the pitch a half step and was meant to be utilized with a bridge that rocked back and forth to prevent the sawing motion that it would have on a fixed bridge saddle.

Travis style bar

The first units utilized a piece of rubber instead of the spring. Harking back to his days of building motorcycle engines, Bigsby eventually settled on using a type of spring found in motorcycle engines.

Initially the bar on the units were fixed, so that the arm could not be pushed away. There are guitarists that liked this arrangement. Others modified the to fit their needs, although it was still fixed.


Merle Travis preferred a long arm with a loop on its end that he could rest his little finger in to control vibrato.

Chet Atkins bar

Chet Atkins preferred a short fixed arm that he could use with the palm of his hand.

1950 ES-175 with a Bigsby

Gibson Guitars president at the time, Ted McCarty was very impressed with this unit. His company was utilizing a design similar to Kauffman's that moved the strings from side to side instead of up and down. McCarty made a deal with Bigsby, with the provision that he build the vibrato unit with a bar that could be pushed away, when not in use.

Keith Holter's 1953 Bigsby

Though Bigsby guitars were excellent high quality instruments, it was this vibrato unit that was to be Paul Bigsby’s biggest success. Up to this time he had been running a one-man shop.

Now he had to hire employees to keep up with the demand for Bigsby vibratos. This would eventually become a global business for Paul Bigsby.

Magnatone Mark V

Bigsby designed a line of guitars for the amplifier company Magnatone. For a brief period of time and he continued to build steel guitars for a while, but in 1956 once the vibrato became very successful Bigsby quit building guitars, to concentrate his efforts on his vibrato unit, which by now was offered in several forms to retrofit different style guitars.

Paul Bigsby in later years

Ted McCarty

By 1965 Paul Bigsby was tired of business and his health was failing. He sold “Bigsby” to his friend Ted McCarty who had given his company its biggest boost. This would allow Bigsby to retire, which he did in 1966. Paul Bigsby died two years later in the summer of 1968.

McCarty & Fred Gretsch

Ted McCarty continued building Bigsby vibrato units until 1999 when he sold the rights to manufacture to Gretsch Guitars.

Due to the scarcity of Bigsby guitar, if you are interested in buying one the price will be very steep, in the five figure range.

There are other builders that have taken up Bigsby’s designs, such as T.K. Smith that build fine quality Bigsby style guitars.

Though some modern players may find the Bigsby vibrato to be antiquated, the unit was not meant for the wild pitch fluctuation that punctuate the music of Vai, Malmstrom, Satriani and others. The Bigsby vibrato was meant to give a little vibrato to each note. It has become an industry staple and has been and is still being imitated.

Fender 1959

Fender had been purchased by CBS in 1967 and the companies factory was full of leftover parts that included bodies, pickups and hardware. The company was looking to turn a profit on their investment. Because of this, in 1969, Fender came up with two guitars that were made of other guitar necks and bodies.

This surplus of materials included many 1965 Fender Electric XII and Fender Bass V bodies and necks. These were excellent ideas on paper, but they did not sell many units. So instead of scrapping this material,

Fender/CBS executives decided it would be more profitable to build than to write off. in 1969 the two guitars that resulted were dubbed The Fender Custom guitar and The Fender Swinger guitar. And though these guitars were just a flash in the pan of Fender history, they are among some of Fender’s more unique guitars.

Word came from the top down to make something out of the excessive materials and the job fell to manager Babe Simoni.

Babe Simoni

George Fullerton hired Virgilio “Babe” Simoni to work at Fender when he was only a teenager in 1953. Fast forwared a dozen years and he rose through the ranks to become the companies stringed instruments product manager. When CBS took over, Simoni stayed on.

When told by his new bosses to “find something profitable to do with all the leftover parts sitting around, Simoni duly created these two unique Fender guitar model. The first of which was called the Swinger, but also marketed as the Musiclander and the Arrow. The second guitar was called The Custom, but also known as the Maverick.




Unfortunately neither instrument was a success, although Babe Simoni did what was asked of him. In fact he did something unheard of in all of Fender’s history. All models, past or present were carefully researched and developed before presented to the public. This was a trend Leo Fender had started by offering guitar and amplifiers to popular artists and getting their feedback.

But the Swinger and the Custom were improvised right on the spot; on the factory floor.  At Simonis' direction bodies, necks and pickguards were modified to build something new out of something old.

Oddly, the Swinger/Musiclander was never listed in any Fender catalog of sales brochure. These were probably suggested to Fender sales reps as bargain instruments to sell directly to dealers.

The Swinger was fashioned from leftover Musicmaster short-scale necks and Bass V bodies. The Musicmaster was a single pickup student model that had been around since 1955. This student guitar came with a 3/4 sized neck and a scale of 22.5”.


The Bass V was introduced in 1965 as bass guitar that could accomplish the full range of a long neck bass but with only 15 frets. This was accomplished by adding a top C string giving the instrument a compliment of 5 strings. Surprisingly, it remained in the companies product listing until 1971, although around 200 units were all that were sold. Bass players complained that the string spacing was too narrow.

Simoni took Musicmaster and Bass V bodies and cut an eliptical curve in the bottom and sawed off a portion of the guitars upper horn. The headstock of the short scale necks were sawn into a point shape. The guitar had only a single pickup.

The bridge/saddle assembly was salvaged from the Musicmaster assemblies.  These models were offered in Daphne Blue, Dakota Red, Black, Lake Placid Blue, Candy Apple Red and Olympic White.

Some of these guitar were produced with only the Fender logo written in black script, while others included a smaller clear decal that said Swinger. I’m going to speculate that the guitars that used Musicmaster bodies were designated as Musiclanders or Arrows, while those that used the elongated Bass V bodies were sold as Swingers.

It was essentially a student instrument that commanded a cheap price. However if you find one these day, expect to pay thousands of dollars for it as its was short-lived on the market and the supply is limited.

The Custom also known as The Maverick was made from the bodies and necks of Fender Electric XII’s. Simioni used a bandsaw to configure a point in the bottom edge of the instruments body and also took a small slice off the upper horn.

The Electric XII necks had an elongated headtock to accomodate the 12 tuning machines. The headstock aslo had the “hockey stick” carve on its top end.

These 12 string necks were converted into a six-string necks by adding maple veneer to six of the holes and leaving six open for the tuning pegs.





The bridge/saddle that was used was leftover Mustang tremolo bridges. The body had to be routed out for the vibratos spring mechanism.

One other issue remained were the 12 small holes in the body which were there since the Electric XII bodies was a string-through instrument .Simoni solved this by use of wood filler for the holes then painting the back of the body with black paint to hide the filler and then spraying front of the body with a sunburst finish.

Compare to above photo

This guitar appeared in the fall 1969 Fender price list at $289.50, which was the same price as a Telecaster Custom, Precision Bass and non-tremolo Stratocaster.




The mystery remains as to why some of these guitars had headstock logos that proclaimed the guitar to be a “Fender Custom” in the familiar flowing script, while others were produced that said “Fender Maverick.” Perhaps this was to distinguish between the converted Electric XII necks and necks that were created specifically for this guitar.

The Custom/Maverick was a superior instrument when compared to the Swinger/Musiclander. The necks on the Custom were bound with rectangular block fret markers while the Swinger neck was unbound with dot positon markers. A single string retainer, left over from the Electric XII, was added to the Custom, the Swinger had 2 usually placed string retainers.

The pickup system on the Custom was the same as the unique system on the Fender Electric XII. This included four separate pickups at split levels so that two pickups were under the three bottom strings while two pickups were under the three upper strings. The wiring was attached to a 4 way pickup selector switch which allowed for neck, neck & bridge in series, neck & bridge in parallel and bridge only options.



The Custom/Maverick was listed in the Fender catalog from 1969 through 1971, although it appeared on the Fender price list as late as 1972.

Perhaps one of the more unique Fender designs never offered for sale is the Tye Zamora 6 String Bass was made for in 2003 by Senior Master Builder Jason Davis for Tye Zamora or the group Alien Ant Farm. This is the first one Built with a serial number of JD001 named for the builder.


The original intention of this bass was to go into production,  Only two neck through versions of these basses exist. One is owned by Fender and the other is owned by Mr. Zamora.

This bass features a  9 piece contoured laminated wenge/flame maple neck through Cocobolo top, maple strip, and mahogany sides. The fretboard is made of Bubinga wood with a compound radius.

The humbucker pickups were designed and made by Bill Lawrence and have matching Cocobolo pickup covers. Internally this guitar is equipped with a Reggie Hamilton 18 volt pre-amp with controls for volume, pan, bass, mid, treble, and a passive/active bypass button.

The individual through-the-body saddles and the Ultralite tuners are made by Hipshot. The bass is full scale at 34”. It was valued by Fender at $28,000. Currently Tye Zamora was listed it on eBay and was asking $10,600. It since has been removed by Zamora.

There was a time frame of about a year when Gibson marketers decided to produce “the guitar of the month” as a promotion for guitar collectors.

Perhaps the most popular guitars of this run was the Reverse Flying Vee.

Everything on this guitar was opposite of what was on the original 1958 Korina Flying Vee. The most obvious change is the fact that the body is backwards.


But look closer and you’ll find the headstock is also backwards and so is the gold-plated string retainer and the pickguard.

The Reverse Flying Vee guitar came with only a single volume control placed directly below the neck pickup and the pickup selector switch located on the top end of the bottom horn.

Though the input jack on a regular Flying Vee was located on the front of the lower horn while the jack on the Reverse Flying Vee was on the guitars bottom edge. It appears to be a very uncomfortable guitar to play while seated, It am told also that access to the upper register frets is impeded by the guitars design.

Despite being rather odd, it was a hit. The entire 2007 limited run of 400 units sold out quickly. Gibson quickly added another limited run of Reverse Flying Vee’s producing 300 in black and 300 in white finishes.



All included reproductions of 1957 PAF humbuckers. Aside from the obvious differences between the 1958 Vee, there are plenty of other changes.

The Reverse Flying Vee features a mahogany solid body with a mahogany neck. The neck was designed with a profile that blends in the 50's rounded contour with the 60's slim-taper one. The rosewood fingerboard comes with a vintage, 22-frets construction and a 25.75” scale length.

Of course the strings pass over a tune-o-matic bridge with the reverse gold-plated vee tailpiece. while the electronics complement is made from a dual humbucker array of hand-wound pickups, a 3-way switch, with a single volume control.

2008 Gibson Reverse Explorer

A second oddity that appeared in Gibson’s Guitar of the Month promotion was the Gibson Reverse Explorer. This model arrived the following year in 2008.

This guitar gets my vote for one of the top Unique Guitar designs of all time as it is obvious that Gibson s R and D team put a lot of thought and effort into this instrument. It is not just an upside-down Gibson Explorer. It has some extremely unique features.

The original 1958 Explorer was made of Korina wood, while the reverse model was made of mahogany, as were the ones revived later on by Gibson.



The headstock appears to be taken off of the the Moderne; the mythical guitar designed by Ted McCarty. However on the Reverse Explorer, the headstock is facing the opposite way.

Looking very closely from the top of this guitar we see the Gibson logo applied in almost what could be considered similar to the font that Fender uses. This is very different than anything Gibson has used on past guitars.

The next extremely unusual feature is the gold-plated Steinberger tuners instead of traditional tuning keys.

The Steinberger keys have a 40:1 ratio, which makes it extremely accurate. Instead of being controlled by winding the string around the peg, Steinberger employs a system of raising and lowering the pegs internal post.


This is accomplished by twisting the knurled knob on the back-side of the headstock.

from The Gear Page

The neck is solid mahogany with a 22 fret rosewood fretboard with unique position markers that are made of carbon fiber which is sealed with an epoxy resin coating. The neck utilizes Gibson’s traditional 24.75” scale

The “pickguard” is also made of molded carbon fiber in the shape of a lightning bolt and adds a very unique touch to the design both by its shape and texture. This same material is used on the truss rod cover.


The Reverse Explorer is equipped with a gold plated Gibson tune-o-matic bridge and stop tailpiece. The electronics complement is made from a dual humbucker array (57 Classic neck and 57 Classic Plus for the bridge position), a 3-way switch, 2 volume and 1 tone controls. The strap buttons are also gold-plated.

friom The Gear Page

One feature that is very unique are the pickup covers. Gibson employed a powdered copper finish on both covers. The neck pickup is enclosed with a black plastic pickup surround, but the bridge pickup uses only the pickguard for its surround. The copper coating beautifully matches the deep brown colour of the mahogany body.

As a bonus, these guitars were shipped with a custom black reptile skinned case that included a silky white blanket adorned with the “Guitar of the Month.” Only 1,000 units were produced and they retailed for $2000 USD.

In 2009 Gibson released the Eye Guitar, which was loosely based on the Gibson SG series with a slightly elongated upper horn. Only 350 units were scheduled to be produced during its limited run and records are uncertain if even that many units were actually made. In fact the figure from Gibson indicates as few as 18 to 60 units were built.

The guitar was featured in Fire Engine Red although according to a Facebook fan site, there were some produced with a black finish.

The C-shaped set mahogany neck has ebony fretboard with 24 frets with a 12” radius and no position markers on its ebony fretboard.





The Gibson Eye Guitar is powered by Gibson modern humbuckers featuring anti-feedback wax potting. The 490R neck pickup with Alnico II magnets provides traditional humbucker tones with enhanced highs. The 498T bridge pickups uses Alnico V magnets for high output, enhanced mids and highs.

Minimized control included a single volume and tone knob and a 3-way pickup switch. The hardware is chrome and the tuners were Grover kidney button style models. This guitar featured a very unusual and stylized surround pickguard.

It was sold replete with a special Limited Run Series certificate of authenticity and a black hardshell case with white interior and silk-screened Gibson USA logo.

The Rickenbacker model 490, although listed on the companies 1973 catalog and the 1974 price sheet, it only existed as a prototype, but is was a far cry from the companies usual design. But for  the headstock mosr folks would not guess it to be a Rickenbacker.

Model 490

The 490's design may be considered the foreunner of the Rickenbacker model 430 and model 250, which was not offered until the mid 1980’s. It appears to be styled after the model 430, which was designed by Forrest White and offered for sale in the mid 1970’s. The bass model of this same body design was known as the Rickenbacker 3000. The 250 and 3000 were some of the few Ric’s to utilize a bolt-on neck.

The 490 prototype was made with the traditional Ric Fireglo finish on the body and headstock. It also came with the white plastic Rickenbacker elliptical headstock logo. All the rest of this guitars features stray from Rickenbacker’s traditional design. The body was flat on the front and backside.

The upper body was bound with white trim.

The black pickguard encompassed much of the bodywhich was unlike the traditional Ric pickguard found and controls found on the model 430 and most other Rickenbacker guitars.

The pickguard on the 490 did not have this shape nor did it have the same control panel. The 490 came with 3 potentiometers, which we can only assume were 2 for volume and 1 for tone, although in the book The History of Rickenbacker Guitars, we do see a picture of a guitar with four potentiometers.

The 490's pickguard included a throw style switch for choice of its 2 pickups and another switch, possibly for changing the phase of the pickups. The pickups on this instrument were designed to be interchangeable, which would explain the unusual pickguard that housed the pickups.

The pickups could be changed by removing and replacing only 2 screws. Pickups offered were Rickenbacker single coils, humbucking pickups or EMG style active pickups.

The only model in existence is the one personally owned by John Hall, president and CEO of Rickenbacker.

Gibson seems to have a penchant for the unusual and this certainly holds true for the bass their R and D team designed in 1987 with the aid of Ned Steinberger. These were the days when The Steinberger Bass was all the rage and Gibson sought to capitalize on the trend. Thus was born the Gibson 20/20 bass.


Steinberger’s specialty was actually in ergonomic furniture design. He won an industrial award for his bass, which launched his career in luthery.

The Gibson 20/20 minimalistic rectangular bass appears to be based on the cigar box guitar, only with one end longer than the others. It can be described as a pack of cigarettes with on sticking out.

The headstock is...well also rectangular and replete with four non-Steinberger type Sperzel tuners. The 20/20 bass weighs in at 8.8 pounds. The neck is of the bolt-on variety. The scale is 34 inches.

Both the body and neck were made of hard rock maple, with the fretboard made of ebony and topped with 24 frets and dot position markers. The guitar features twin active pickups each with their own volume control and a single tone control. The upper rectangular horn announces this to be a Gibson 20/20, while a flip out leg rest designed by Mr. Steinberger graces the bodies bottom side. The neck is fairly narrow at only 1.5” at the nut.

Teisco Del Rey

In the mid 1960’s Teisco was entering the world guitar market. Subsequently the United States was flooded with Japanese guitars, some of which resembled popular American brands. As many of these guitars arrived, they were rebranded with differing trade names making them appear to be produced by differnet companies. They were not.

The Norma Brand was made by Teisco. I am not certain if Barney Kessel lent his name to this model or if it was merely based on the design of the Gibson model that bore his name, but this Teisco “Norma” guitar was known as the Barney Kessel model.

What makes this guitar unique is the Z Coil pickup switching system. This guitar had four pickups with 2 under the three lower strings and 2 more under the three upper strings. The pickups are numbered and switchable by the rotary switch on the guitars upper bout. The other unique factor is the placement of the F-holes on the bottom of the lower bout. And lastly the tone switch on the lower bout, where one would find the tone potentiometer.

As someone who grew up in the 1960’s and was playing guitar by 1965 I remember the Japanese off branded instruments although at the time I knew nothing about their origin.




The Greco brand was started in 1960 by an export firm called Kanda Shokai. The name was sort of a corruption of the word Canada. Greco guitars were actually produced by several Japanese factories including Fujigen, Matsumoku and Teisco.

Some of these guitars included this Greco semi-hollow “Shrike” guitars that were first imported by Goya and later by the American company Kustom electronics. The Shrike model  pictured here with the “L” shaped pickups that point in opposite directions. This guitar has some other unusual features including the unique headstock.

If you take a close look at this guitar you can compare it to the Teisco “Norma” Barney Kessel guitar and you will see that the vibrato has the same “W” marking. Though the pickups appear to be twin single coil models, they are actually divided into 4 segments.

The 4 controls on the upper bout control the volume of each section. These controls were on the lower bout on some versions. This guitar was indeed made at the original Teisco Gen Gakki factory in Nagano Japan.

Young Harry DeArmond

On September 30,1952—63 years ago—inventor and guitarist Harry DeArmond applied for a patent on a movable pickup that could be attached to acoustic guitars, especially archtops. The pickup, which became incredibly popular, did not require wholesale gouging or cutting of the guitar top, but rather was affixed to pickguards and bridges.

Ford Model A

John Henry De Armond was a budding guitar player who began playing guitar, at age 10. As with many of us, he wanted to get a louder and more robust tone. As a tinkerer he fashioned a guitar pickup from the coil off of an old Ford Model A. This was in 1935.


John’s older brother Harold, born in 1906, who also played banjo and guitar, seized upon the design and looked for ways to profit from it.  Harry DeArmond believed that offering an add-on pickup that would avoid cutting a hole in the top of a guitar, and also give depression-era players a way to go electric without buying a whole new instrument, was the way to go.

He had originally developed the attachable guitar pickup as far back as the mid-1930's. But it would be much later before he became commercially successful. Later on in life he established a relationship with Horace "Bud" Rowe and the two men opened up shop in Toledo, Ohio.

DeArmond RHC-B with volume control

They began with four models of guitar pickups. Two were for flattop guitars, which included the RH, and the RHC. These were similar pickups, but the RHC came with a volume control on a roller potentiometer.

RH Model

The RH pickups fit into the guitar's sound hole and was retained with adjustable springs to minimize damage to the instrument and facilitate removal. Such notable British Invasion acts, such as Peter and Gordon used these on acoustic guitars.


The other two were designed for archtop guitars and were called the FH-B, and FHC. The latter had a volume control..

DeArmond FHC

The FH type comprised a coil assembly that fit in a plain chrome-plated brass cover, and later on into a two slotted cover that was fixed to a 1/8" rod parallel to the guitars sixth (low "E") string. DeArmond called the rod a pressure rod. Some guitar players referred to this assemble as a "monkey on a stick" after a popular toy.



The rod passed through a small hole on the left side of the pickup. The rod is strategically bent to go around the bridge saddle and an assembly allowed it to clamp to the archtops guitar strings just behind the bridge. .

The pickup ingeniously slides along the length of the rod, from bridge to neck to provide a variation in tonality.

The model FHC-B was sold with a 12 foot guitar cable but no volume control, and was meant to be sold with a volume pedal.

The FHC-C has a volume control housed in a small box on the cable.

DeArmond originally called his units guitar microphones. All units were passive single coil electromagnetic pickups wound around 2 alnico pole pieces.

Guitar Mic

DeArmond also created other versions. One was actually called The Guitar Mic.

Rhythm Chief with 6" rod

The FHC, and Rhythm Chief was also available with a shorter, 6" pressure rod that fixed to the end of the necks bass side and extended over the body to hold the pickup.









This was accomplished by the use of 2 screws through 2 holes in the rod. The rod was attached to the upper bass side of the fretboard. This was a much more invasive installation, meant to be permanent. Both pickups used an attachment cable with a threaded female connector on one end and a 1/4" plug on the other.

Unlike today's RCA 1/4" connections these initially were called Screw-on Cables  The downside of these cable was the fact that the wire between the pickup and volume control often dried out, became brittle, cracked and fell apart or became completely stiff, rigid and useless. Some of the vintage units became unusable.

The Rowe/DeArmond Company modified their design by use of  replacing the 12 foot permanent cables and the threaded connectors with an 1/8" input jack on the pickup and provided a cable with a 1/8" plug on one end and a standard 1/4" plug on the other.

Rhythm Chief with pole pieces

DeArmond introduced the Model 1000 Rhythm Chief archtop guitar pickup in 1948. Five years later, in  1953, they followed it with an adjustable pole model that had 6 individually adjustable poles, and a fancier look (chrome plating, and later, gold plating) called the Model 1100 Rhythm Chief.

Model 210

A pickup with similar accouterments, but for flat top guitars was called the Model 210. Both had adjustable pole pieces These pickups were hailed by guitarists as they were a big improvement over previous models.


DeArmond did actually create Guitar Mics, which were contact microphones that could be used for guitar, classical guitar, ukulele and other instruments. I owned a couple of these back in the mid 1960's. They sold for around $10.00 USD.


The problem with them was they picked up ambient noise. You could hear every thump and pick strum. Nevertheless, Django Reinhardt had one on his Selmer guitar.

Rowe/DeArmond pickups became industry standard, perhaps because they were among the first companies to concentrate on building guitar pickups.

Therefore many guitar manufacturers utilized DeArmond pickups on their products. These included D'Angelico, Epiphone, Fender, the Italian manufacturers Eko and Galanti, Gretsch, Guild, Harmony, Hofner, Ovation, Microfrets, some Silvertone guitars.

Even Martin guitars on the Martin D-18E and D-28E models.

Tapping on guitar with DaArmond FHC

Long before Eddie Van Halen and Stanley Jordan were even a gleam in their mother's eye, Harry DeArmoned developed a tapping technique to promote the sensitivity of his pickups, At times he played two guitars simultaneously.









This method was later adopted by Jimmie Webster, Gretsch's designer and endorser as he traveled across the United States giving seminars at music stores and institutions to promote Gretsch.

The DeArmond pickup became a mainstay of jazz players in the 1950s and 60s, even though DeArmond had been selling various forms of his “guitar microphone” since the mid-30s.

Guitarist Vic Flick with Essex Paragon

A notable DeArmond was the pickup that was attached to Vic Flick’s classic Essex Paragon, which he used to record the James Bond them.


Mr. Flick's Essex guitar is being auctioned this month

DeArmond went on to create some of the earliest effects units and pedals. In the early 1940's, Harry DeArmond invented the world's first effect unit for electric guitar, the Model 601 Tremolo Control.

The foot-pedal version, Model 800 Trem Trol followed. This foot-operated floor unit comprised a mains voltage motor that rocked a small sealed canister fitted with two electrical contacts and containing electrically conductive fluid.

The variable frequency of the electrical interruptions action of the mechanism created a type of tremolo effect. Bo Diddley and many other artists used this effect unit. Rowe/DeArmond went on to make many more guitar pedals and effects.

Most notable are a series of volume pedals that were used by steel guitar players. The first was the model 1600 which was a very simply designed pedal.

Later versions were improved upon, such as the model 1630 Optical Volume pedal. DeArmond offered a combination volume pedal and pre-amp, known as the model 1604.

DeArmond also invented a Pan Volume pedal which allowed a player to pan between channels or amplifiers. The model 1622 was a Stereo volume pedal.

During the late 1960's and 1970's, Rowe/DeArmond came out with a line of guitar effects based on popular models of the day, such as the Square Wave Distortion Generator and the DeArmond Wa-Wa pedal.

The DeArmond Weeper, was their version of the Dunlop Crybaby Wa-Wah pedal. DeArmond produced three versions of phase shifters including the model 1900 Pedal Phasor, the model 1920 Tornado Phase Shifter and the model 1930 Twister Phase Shifter. During the 1960's

DeArmond R5

Rowe/DeArmond also manufactured guitar amplifiers which include the DeArmond R5 which was a single end class A circuit similar to the Fender Champ, but this amp had a 10" speaker. It used a single 6V6 power tube and pne 12AX7 preamp tube.

DeArmond R15

The more powerful R15 utilized two 6V6 power tubes and two 12AX7 preamp tubes which pushed a 12" speaker. Both amps were housed in solid pine cabinets.

Martin 15 watt amp

When Martin guitars made its push into the electric guitar market it offered the DeArmond tube amplifiers branded under the Martin logo, with dark tolex and different grill covering material.

As you may know the Fender Musical Instrument Company went on a acquisition spree during the late 1990's through the early 2000's. One of the companies they purchased was Guild Guitars.

DeArmond X155

One of Fender's first ideas was to create a line of guitars using the DeArmond name which was also under Fender ownership. These instruments used past Guild designs and were produced in Korea and Indonesia under the supervision of Guild employees,

DeArmond M75T

The top of the line Korean-built guitars featured USA-made DeArmond-branded pickups,however these were not actually made by the original DeArmond company.

However the DeArmond Goldtones and DeArmond 2k single coil pickups are very nice, as are the Korean made DeArmond guitars.

The Indonesian manufactured DeArmond guitars used Asian manufactured humbucker pickups and were not of the greatest quality. I once owned the S-67 seven string model pictured in this link.

 Harry DeArmond retired in 1975, by which time his company had designed and manufactured over 170 different pickups for a wide range of stringed instruments and many amplifiers and effects units.

Together with his business partner Bud Rowe, he made a major contribution to the design and development of pickups for stringed instruments and was granted several patents.

The McCoys with Rick Derringer playing his gold top Les Paul

John Sebastian with the Les Paul

Derringer’s family made their home in a small town in central Ohio called Ft. Recovery. His given surname is actually Zehringer, but he was inspired by the derringer pistol that was on the label of Bang Records and has used the stage name Derringer throughout his career.

Rick took his Dad’s suggestion to heart and in 1966 decided to make a 3 hour drive to the Gibson factory in Kalamazoo Michigan where he asked that his guitar be refinished.

Instead of going with the original gold-top finish, Derringer decided he liked the clear red finish that was featured on Gibson’s SG models.

After the work was finished Derringer was disappointed, because in his opinion the guitar never played as good as it originally did. He states that he could not keep it in tune and felt that Gibson had done changed more than just the finish.

Eric Clapton with Les Paul

On a trip to Manhattan, he traded the Les Paul at Dan Armstrong’s guitar shop. Shortly after that Eric Clapton was in Armstrong's store, liked the guitar and purchased it.

Not too long after that Clapton gave it to his friend George Harrison. Harrison loved the Les Paul.

Harrison with SG

This was during the time George had been mainly using his Gibson SG. With the acquisition of the Les Paul, Harrison rarely played the SG and gave it away to Pete Ham, the guitarist for Bad Finger.

Pete Ham with SG

At the time Bad Finger had just signed a contract with Apple Records and the SG was laying around the studio, which gave Ham an opportunity to play it and he fell in love with it.  Sadly, Pete Ham took his own life in 1975. His wife sold the SG at a garage sale. It was later found and was placed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame until June of 2015 when an anonymous bidder paid 294,000 pounds ($570,000) for it. But I digress.

Harrison had given the name Lucy to his beloved red Les Paul as a reference to the great redheaded comedian/actress Lucille Ball aka Lucy.



Ironically Lucille Ball and Lucy the guitar both started out as blonds.

Harrison Let It Be session

Delaney, Bonnie & Friends

Harrison had used this guitar on the White Album and subsequently on the Get Back/Let It Be recordings. He had traveled with it when he joined the Delaney, Bonnie and Friends Tour.

In 1973 Harrison’s Beverly Hills home was burglarized and Lucy, his beloved Les Paul was stolen from under his bed. He wanted it back.
Guitarist Mark Havey maintained residences in both California and in Mexico. Back in 1973 he was residing at his California home. His friend, Miguel Ochoa, was visiting the United States to buy guitars and make a little money reselling them in Mexico when he stopped in to see Havey.

George Whalin

After the visit, Ochoa went to the Whalin’s Sound City in Hollywood and saw this gorgeous red Les Paul hanging on the wall and he bought it for $650. Unbeknownst to Havey, Ochoa had given the store Havey’s phone number as his own contact number.

The next day Whalin’s owner, George Whalin contacted Mark Havey with the story that the store owed Ochoa some money because they had overcharged him for the Les Paul. The story seemed pretty suspicious.

Finally Whalin explained they should have kept the guitar for 30 days to make certain there were no claims against it and see if it clears their “hot property” list of stolen instruments. This guitar was on that list and furthermore Whalin learned it belonged to George Harrison. He was in trouble.

Tony Bacon

Havey assumed this to be a joke until George Harrison called him. Havey knew Tony Bacon, a well known collector and author that lived in California and through Bacon a meeting was arranged with George Harrison.

At the meeting Harrison said his home had been broken in to and property was stolen, which included the cherry red Les Paul. Harrison said it actually belonged to Clapton and was only on loan to him. He needed that guitar back.

Havey left a message for Miguel Ochoa.to call him. A couple of days went by and Ochoa called back. Havey let Miguel know that Harrison was willing to pay for the guitars return, however Ochoa hedged. He was now in Guadalajara, Mexico and would only return it on the condition that he receive a 1958 Sunburst Les Paul, an early model Fender Precision Bass and four other guitars. He was holding this guitar hostage!

Havey haggled with him and got the bargain down to just the Sunburst Les Paul and a Fender Precision Bass. Harrison, Havey and Tony Bacon scrambled and visited some nearby guitar stores in search of the requested guitar and bass.

Norm Harris Norms Rare Guitars

Eventually Norm Harris, from Norm’s Rare Guitars in Tarzana happened to have a 1968 Sunburst Les Paul and a vintage Fender bass. Harrison bought the instruments on the spot..

George then flew Havey and Bacon to Mexico and the instruments were swapped and Lucy made it safely home.

Harrison later quiped, “Lucy was kidnapped and I had to pay some guy in Guadalajara Mexico to get her back.”

Gibson Custom Shop Reproduction of Lucy

In 2013 Gibson produced a limited edition of the Harrison/Clapton Lucy guitar. Gibson used MRI scans to document every nick and scratch and modification made to this remake of only 50 guitars.

But wait, there's more!

Little Jimmy Dickens began his musical career as a teenager in the late 1930’s under the pseudonym, Jimmy the Kid. He was hired at a radio station in Saginaw Michigan that was owned by another well-known Country artist, Roy Acuff. Acuff introduced him to his people at Columbia Records and due to his short stature began using the name LIttle Jimmy Dickens.

In 1950 his band included some amazing studio players such as Jabbo Arrington, Grady Martin, Bob Moore and Thumbs Carlile. It was Dickens who discovered Marty Robbins during his bands tour.

Though Dickens had many Country hits, he scored his first number one hit on the Country chart and on the Pop chart with his 1965 novelty song, “May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose.”

Jimmy and family with Gay guitar

Jimmy was well known for his flashy “Nudie” suits and guitars that looked too big for him.

I can recall a story he once told about a tour bus that pulled up in front of his Nashville home. He was mowing his grass when several tourists asked him if he liked working for Mr. Dickens. He replied, “Heck yeah. He’s a swell guy.”

Memorial for Jimmy Dickens

Dickens was hospitalized after suffering a stroke in late 2014 after his last Grand Ol’ Opry appearance. Several weeks later in January of 2015 he passed away at age 94.






I just received word that the guitar collection from the Estate of LIttle Jimmy Dickens in on display and for sale at Gruhn Guitars in Nashville.



This collection features many instruments that Dickens used through the early part of his career and includes a guitar presented to him by George Jones, which is autographed by Jones.

There is also a custom guitar built by luthier Glen Morgan out of wood that was once a pine fence which stood in the back of Dickens’ property. Additionally there is a Rich & Taylor Jumbo model that includes a red sparkle hard shell case with “Jimmy Dickens” hand painted on top of the case.

Mr. George Gruhn states that he feels honored to help find new homes for these wonderful instruments. The asking prices are very reasonable.

Incidentally all photos used for this article are from Gruhn Guitars. If you are interested the phone number is 615-256-2033.

This 1982 Martin D-41, the top is autographed by George Jones comes with letter from Dickens stating that the guitar was presented to him by George Jones on September 21, 2006. Guitar comes with a hard case. Priced at $15,000.00

The next is a 2001 Martin Grand Ole Opry. This is number #158 of 160. It comes with the original hard case. Priced at $5,000.00 2009

This Martin D-16 Ryman model NM, peghead veneer, fingerboard inlays and pickguard made from original Ryman pews. It is a limited edition #40, It, comes with letter from Jimmy stating that it was a gift to him from Brad Paisley on his 90th birthday, It too comes with a hard case. Priced at.$5,000.00

This 1942 Martin 00-18 is in very good condition. It has extensive playing wear but is structurally solid. It has a replacement bridge and tuners, neck professionally reset. This guitar has great provenance as it was Jimmy Dickens' first good quality instrument and used extensively during the early part of his career. Priced at $15,000.00 and comes with a hard case.

This gorgeous 1986 Gibson J-200 90th Anniversary is in very good condition. It comes with rhinestone studded strap embroidered with "Tater". It also comes with a hard case and is priced at $15,000.00.

Jimmy Dickens' 1964 Gibson B-25-12 is in very good condition and comes with letter from Dickens stating that he purchased it from Benny Birchfield - Jean Shepard's husband, Priced at only $6,000.00 with a hard case.

The next is a 1940 Gibson J-100 neck that has its dimensions cut down. The peghead veneer has been replaced, as was thepickguard, and bridge,This guitar has been refinished,  Little Jimmy Dickens, used this instrument extensively throughout his career. It comes with letter from Dickens stating that guitar was remodeled by luthier Bill Merritt in the 1970s, It also comes with a hard case and is priced at $15,000.00.

This beautiful 1994 Rich & Taylor 17" Jumbo is in excellent EXC (minor lacquer checking), custom built by Rich and Taylor for Mac Yasuda to be presented to Little Jimmy Dickens. It has a spruce top, Brazilian rosewood back and sides, ebony fingerboard with tree of life pearl engraved inlay, pearl inlay pickguard featuring eagle and Jimmy Dickens' name, white binding on fingerboard and body, gold sparkle trim on all body edges, red sparkle HC with "Jimmy Dickens" hand painted on top. It comes with a hard case and is priced at.$20,000.00.

This First Act autographed acoustic comes with a top that has been autographed by Jimmy Dickens, Patty Loveless, Jimmy C. Newman, Porter Wagoner, John Anderson, Jeanie Seely, Bill Anderson, Barbara Mandrell, Connie Smith, Jeannie Pruett, Jim Ed Brown, Billy Walker, Jack Greene, John Conlee, Vince Gill, Big Al Downing, Patty Loveless, Buddy Jewell, and Ricky Skaggs. It comes with a hard case and is priced at.$1,500.00.

The next is a 2012 Glen Morgan Custom Little Jimmy Dickens Model that is in very, very good condition. It has some minor lacquer checking, Ii has a 17-3/4" body width and comes with a hard case. It is priced as only $3,500.00.

This guitar is a 2012 Glen Morgan Custom 'Tater' Little Jimmy Dickens 001 and is excellent condition. Itcomes with letter of authenticity from Dickens and Morgan stating that it was manufactured from the pine fence which stood for years in the back of Jimmy's property. The guitar comes with a padded gig bag and is priced at $3,500.00.

The one of a kind is a 1980 Danny Ferrington Custom that is in very good condition. It was damages from 2010 Nashville flood and restored by luthier Danny Ferrington.,The provenance of this guitar is based on the fact that it was presented to Jimmy by Waylon Jennings. The guitars top is engraved in pearl inlay that reads "JIMMY, You're a Hell of a Man -WAYLON". It is priced at $20,000.00.

This 1923 Gibson L-3 is in good condition. It was repaired from water damage casued from the Nashville flood of 2010, It comes with a modern Gibson hard case and is priced at $3,500.00.

The final offering is a 1970 Lotus electric that is in very good condition. It features leather tooling on the top and sides that were created by the Yarbrough Saddlery of Las Cruces, NM and it comes with letter from Dickens stating that it was owned by his brother Dewey, This instrument comes with a hard case and is priced at $2,500.00

1955 Gibson Byrdland

The Byrdland is a stunning looking electric guitar that is made by Gibson. Its name derives from the names of guitarists Billy Byrd and Hank Garland for whom Gibson originally custom built the guitar.

At the time Gibson's president, Ted McCarty, sought opinions and ideas about new products. So in 1955, in collaboration with two of the best Nashville guitars on the scene, Billy Byrd and Hank Garland, Gibson developed the Byrdland guitar.

The Byrdland was the first of Gibson's Thinline series. Many guitarists did not desire the bulk of a traditional archtop guitar such as Gibson's L-5 CES, one of Gibson’s top models. The Byrdland was built with its overall depth of 2¼ inches which,was over one inch shallower the Gibson's L-5 CES model.

It was later during the design process, Byrd and Garland specified a shorter scale neck.which would help facilitate intricate single-note patterns and unusual stretched chord voicings.

Billy Byrd

Only three were produced in 1955.. Billy got number one and Hank got number two and then he ordered and purchased a third that had a custom cherry finish. At this time the two prototypes both had natural finishes and Venetian cutaways.

The original instruments were to come with twin Gibson P90 single coil pickups. Although Hank ordered his with a single P90 and a Charlie Christian pickup in the neck position.

1957 Byrdland

This guitar was designed with jazz players in mind. It featured the same 17” wide, 21” long spruce top and body as was on the single cutaway L-5 CES, but the body was shallow. In comparison, the Byrdlands body was only 2 1/4” deep as opposed to the full 3 3/8” body of an L-5.

1957 Byrdland Gary's Guitars

The headstock was also similar, but narrower to correspond with this guitars short scale neck. The Byrdlands neck was a two full inches shorter than the L-5 CES, based on the Byrdlands scale of 23 1/2 inches.

The production models were equipped with Alnico V pickups. One interesting feature of this guitar is the fact that the two pickups are spaced closer together, because of the shorter scale and the 22 fret neck.

This gives the the Byrdland it’s distinctive sound. In later years the Alnicos were replaced with humbucking pickups.

The headstock and the neck were both bound. The ebony fretboard came with block mother-of-pearl position markers which started at the first fret. The headstock featured the traditional Gibson flower pot inlay.


The Byrdland came with a fancy gold-plated trapeze tail piece that was engraved with Byrdland and the rosewood bridge with topped with a Gibson tune-o-matic saddle. The body was bound as were the guitars F holes.

Hank's #2

Hank Garland’s number two and number three Byrdlands both had fancy three loop trapeze tailpieces that were gold plated. Number two had the Charile Christian pickup with a white top plate, which matched the guitars while pearloid pickguard, while number 3 had a black top plate on the pickup. In the following year,

By 1956, Gibson sold 60 units, which was more than the combined sales of L-5’s and Super 400’s. Electric guitarists seemed to appreciate the feel of the narrow body.

The number 3 Byrdland was the guitar that Hank played at the famous Elvis concert in Tuepelo Mississippi in 1957. This was during a period when Scotty Moore and Bill Black had quit the band.

Hank's number 3

Hanks number three was given back to Gibson in 1957 and was supposed to be archived, however someone mistakenly sold it to a music store in Chattanooga Tennessee. A music teacher there purchased it and had it autographed by Hank Garland.

1956 ES-350T

The Byrdland then became a regular production instrument. Later Gibson developed the ES-350T from the Byrdland using less-costly hardware and detailing, and offered it as a less expensive model.

From 1955 to 1960, Gibson made the Byrdland with a Venetian, or rounded, cutaway.

1961 Byrdland

From 1961 to 1968, it used the sharp, pointed, Florentine cutaway.

It returned to the Venetian in 1969. The model was in production from 1955 through 1969.

1978 Byrdland

Gibson reintroduced it as a limited run in 1977, 1978 and 1992.

In the late 1960s, guitarist Ted Nugent began using a Byrdland, which was unusual considering Nugent's style of music.However, in an interview Nugent states that he first saw Detroit guitarist Jimmy McCarty playing a Byrdland back in the early 1960's.

Nugent was amazed at McCarty's ability as a player. At the time Nugent was in a rock band and was the opening act for McCarty's band. McCarty was playing a Byrdland through a Fender Twin amp. Nugent finally saw a Byrdland for sale at a local music store he frequented and was able to trade his Epiphone Casino and a few hundred bucks for that guitar. He has been collecting and playing Byrdlands ever since then.

Nugent's Great White Buffalo Model

The hollow-bodied nature of the guitar created feedback issues at higher levels of gain and volume, making it impractical for hard rock and similar styles. Nugent incorporated the controlled feedback of the Byrdland into his playing and continues to use it today. Nugent gives his Byrdlands, and other Gibsons, a custom touch by removing the stock selector switch knobs, and installing Gretsch strap-lock knobs.

2015 Gibson Custom Byrdland

The guitar is currently available as part of Gibson's Custom series and is made with the Florentine cutaway. In 1976 only, Gibson offered a twelve-string version, but made fewer than 20.

When the instrument was first introduced in the Gibson Guitar catalog, the famous jazz club, Birdland, filed a lawsuit against Gibson over the name. The court dismissed the suit when Gibson showed that the name was made up from the names of two people.

I started playing music when I was only 10 years old. My folks got a big old fire engine red upright piano from my Mom’s uncle. Dad had it hauled to our basement and I set out to take lessons from an old lady that live a quarter of a mile away.

I rode my bicycle to my teachers house and I learned Every Good Boy Does Fine and FACE, the difference between whole notes, half notes and quarter notes, the sharps and flats and the G and F clef. But all I really wanted to do was play music.

I toughed it out and got a clarinet, which was certainly more portable. I made numerous trips to Willis Music to buy more reeds, since I was forever chipping them. But I was only playing notes printed on a page and I doggone it wanted to PLAY music! You know, spontaneously and from the heart.

The Beatles came along which started a wave of other bands with young guys playing guitar and I surmised this may be the ticket. So I begged my folks to get me a guitar. I got one and then an electric guitar. Ever since then I’ve been playing music..from the heart.

That's me with a Strat at 14 years old

I spent my youth and now my senior years watching the guitar evolve, in the old days though the catalogs that usually arrived around Christmas time. Now we are in the Holiday Season so I thought it would be great to review those old days and pages and pages of the guitars that we longed for when we were young.

Harmony Guitars

Arguably one of the most prodigious producers of catalog guitar was the Harmony Musical Instrument Company of Chicago. Fender, Gibson, Guild, Martin and Epiphone were building high quality instruments, but in the 1960’s when the average annual income was less that $5,000, not many folks could afford a $400.00 guitar. But your parents could get a guitar and an amplifier from Sears or JC Penny’s for only $100.00. And it was great to look at the catalog and imagine this could be yours.

Kay Guitars

The other big manufacturer of guitars was Kay Musical Instruments, which was also based in Chicago. Some of their more expensive guitars may have been of a higher quality than Harmony, but all in all the two companies were fairly comparable. Like Harmony, Kay's biggest client was the catalog stores, such as Sears, Montgomery Wards, J.C. Penny and Western Auto. We waited every Christmas to decide which guitar would be the best.

Danelectro made Silvertones

Sears had the market on Danelectro guitars. These were inexpensively made out of formica, with wooden frames that came with single coil pickups which were housed in surplus lipstick tubes.

Sears Danelectro Silvertone with amp.

Instead of rosewood or mahogany sides, the sides were made of vinyl tape. You know what? Danelectro guitars hold up forever and back in the day they were used by many so studio musicians. Best of all they were cheap and stayed in tune. The Sears Wishbook was full of Danelectros with the Silvertone brand on them.

Silvertone guitar/amp-in-case

Plus Sears had a deal on a guitar and a case with the amplifier built into it. And in 1966 this could be yours for less than one-hundred dollars!

Montgomery Ward Airline guitars

The other big catalog company was Montgomery Wards, or as some folks called them Monkey Wards, much like those of us today refer to Walmart as Wally World. Montgomery Wards distinguished their guitar line by mainly using a company called Valco Musical Instruments. This company sprung from the National Guitar Company.

Montgomery Ward called their house brand Airline guitars. Many of these guitars were made of Res-O-Glas, which was actually two shells of molded fiberglass that were sandwiched together with the electronics inside. The necks were made of wood. They were certainly more expensive than Danelectro guitars but were well made and came in a variety of “space-age” shapes and colors including one guitar that resembled a map of the United States.

Teisco brokers catalog

So maybe your folks were unable to afford that $100 Silvertone guitar and amp. You could have just as much fun playing an Asian imported guitar. And by the mid 1960’s the market was flooded with them. The biggest importer was Teisco of Japan.

They really weren’t so bad and they were continually improving. Why even Wrecking Crew member Glen Campbell did a lot of studio work using his Teisco guitar. These were featured in all the popular mail-order catalogs.

Silvertone amplifier

We haven’t even mentioned amplifiers. The biggest catalog jobbers of amplifiers were Danelectro and Valco. Before transistors came along, you could get an amplifier that worked with vacuum tubes at a reasonable price.

Montgomery Wards/Valco amps

The cabinets may not have been as nice as those Fender and Gibson were building, but these were nice amplifiers that ranged from 3 watts up to 100 watts and all you had to do was send in your money to Sears or Montgomery Wards and wait for the post man.

Things are so much different these days. Life has changed.

We don’t have to wait until the Holiday Season for the catalog since we can log into Musicians Friend or Guitar Center or our local music stores web sites to see what is being offered. Much of the merchandise is no longer built in the United States, but the World’s manufacturers have come a long way in improving their products and in many cases their offerings are of excellent quality.

I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday Season and a Prosperous and Blessed New Year! And may this year bring Peace on Earth!

1958 Jazzmaster Ad and 1962 Jaguar Ad

Leo Fender had already made his mark in the world of guitars with the Fender Telecaster and the Fender Precision bass in 1951. Then in 1954 he designed the Fender Stratocaster, which was the first guitar to feature a contoured waist design for the comfort of the player, This same contour was applied the bodies of the 1953-54 Precision bass.

By 1958 Fender had come up with a whole new concept that Leo Fender thought would replace the Stratocaster. In his ever improving style, Leo Fender had created an offset body design for the Fender Jazzmaster and it could be a rhythm instrument or a lead instrument by merely flipping a switch.

This guitar came with a back contour similar to the Stratocaster, but the offset body design he applied to the Jazzmaster meant that the upper and lower halves of the body are offset from each other to provide added comfort for the player.

Essentially, the body of the instrument leans forward.  The Jazzmaster featured an offset body and waist.

Prototypes of the Jazzmaster existed as early as 1957, but the guitar was finally offered to the public by August of the following year.

The initial models had aluminum anodized gold pickguards as shielding. That idea was scrapped in 1959 in favor of faux tortoiseshell nitrate celluloid pickguards.

The Jazzmaster was equipped with newly designed pickups that were wide and flat and covered in a larger rectangular housing.

The intent was to pick up a wider area of the string thus producing a larger and mellower sound. Who knows? Perhaps a secondary intent was to offer pickups that resembled Gibson’s P-90, which were popular at the time of the Jazzmasters introduction, although the design of this pickup is nothing like the P-90. The hope was to attract jazz players to use a Fender guitar.

7-pole pickups and 1st version headstock

The Jazzmaster was the first of the Fender guitar to come equipped with a rosewood fretboard.


However some early production and prototype examples came with a one-piece maple neck, others with an ebony fingerboard and/or a black painted aluminum pickguard.

George Fullerton's Prototype Jazzmaster

Longtime Fender associate George Fullerton owned a 1957 Fiesta Red pre-production body coupled with an unusual and experimental fretboard which was manufactured in 1961 using vulcanised rubber - reportedly only one of two ever made.

1959 Jazzmaster 2 tone sunburst

Eventually rosewood became a standard fretboard material for the Jazzmaster and a year later on other Fender models. By 1959 the pickguard became faux tortoise shell nitrate celluloid.

1965 Jazzmaster

Neck binding was added to the Jazzmaster fretboard in 1965.

1966 Jazzmaster

And in 1966 the dot markings were replaced by pearloid blocks. An optional maple fingerboard with black binding and block inlays was briefly offered in the mid-1970s. The Jazzmaster has always had a 25 1/2” scale. This was the same size as the Stratocaster and Telecaster.

1965 Blond Jazzmaster

The Jazzmaster bodies have been constructed from ash, alder, and basswood over the years. Fender has a history of using whatever wood was readily available at the time of construction.




Originally the Jazzmaster colours were offered in Fiesta Red, Blond, Metallic Gold, San Marino Blue, and some of the other 1950’s custom colours. You can bank on the fact that Blond Jazzmasters always has ash bodies.

1958 vs 1959 upper bout routing

The earliest versions had slightly thicker bodies than later ones. This was due to the necessary routing on the anodized pickguard versions. When the celluloid pickguards became standard the routing on the upper bout was changed and the bodies were made thinner to cut down on the instruments weight.

1957 Fender Jazzmaster

The electronic switching on the Jazzmaster was more complex compared to what had been offered in the past on the Telecaster or the Stratocaster. Leo had a policy of lending instruments to working musicians and then listening to their suggestions for improving his products. He discovered that guitar players, in the 1950’s, were looking for a smooth and clean rhythm sound, like one would expect from an acoustic guitar, and a bright, loud and clean lead sound for their solos.

So he decided the Jazzmaster would have two separate circuits for rhythm and lead work, so that the player could preset the tone and volume for rhythm work and with the flip of a switch instantly change the sound colour and volume of the guitar to loud and bright for lead solos work.

The Rhythm Circuit

Some players found this confusing, since the rhythm circuit only works on the neck pickup. The controls for this circuit are housed on the upper bout and feature an on/off slider switch and two rotary dial potentiometers or thumbwheels; one for volume and one for tone.

The Lead Circuit

When placed in the up or neck position the rhythm circuit is engaged. In the down position, the rhythm circuit is turned off and this activates the lead circuit which operates in the manner that most of us are accustomed to.

The 3-way throw toggle switch on the lower bout activates the neck pickup, both pickups or the bridge pickup alone. Tone and volume are controlled for both pickups through the more conventional potentiometers housed on the bottom lower bout.

As I already stated, the Jazzmaster comes with single coil pickups, which are encased in a brass shielded cavity and the bottom of the pickguard has an aluminum coating. This helps to cut down on hum, plus the two pickups have mirrored wiring which makes them hum-cancelling when both are turned on.

Despite the guitars name, it was never popular with jazz players.

Leo Fender also designed a new vibrato system for the Jazzmaster that he called a floating tremolo and bridge. This vibrato system include a locking mechanism or Trem-lock as it is called. The systerm worked by attaching the strings and the tremolo arm to a metal plate.

The inner workings are housed underneath in a routed out area within the guitars body. There is a screw in the middle of the plate to adjust the tension of the spring that is underneath the plate. The bridge that came with the Jazzmaster was designed to rock back and forth.

When the arm is moved up and down theoretically the string should stay in tune, but that is not always the case.

Remember this is the Jazzmaster and was designed for jazz players that were used to using medium to heavy gauge flat-wound strings. The instruction book that comes with the guitar suggest using .11 gauge strings. This size and tension of string seems to stabilize the tremolo better to maintain tonality.

The tremolo system is called a “floating vibrato” for its ability to vary pitch up and down since there is nothing resting against the body, like the block in the Stratocaster. Because of the dependence on the strings, if a string breaks it could effect tonality of the other strings. To avoid this the Trem-lock can be engaged by sliding it into place. Though it does lock your tremolo from raising the pitch, it also restores tuning.


I am told that tremolos on vintage Jazzmasters work better since they have stronger springs than current models.

The Jazzmaster was offered in the Fender line up through 1980. It was reintroduced four years later at a time when Fender had no production facility in the United States. The “62” Jazzmaster was made in Japan in 1984. The American Series Jazzmaster was made available in 1999.

1962 Jaguar

In 1962 Fender introduced the Fender Jaguar. The appearance of this guitar is similar to the Jazzmaster,having and offset waist and it had separate rhythm and lead circuits just like the Jazzmaster, however the Jaguar is a much different beast.

1962 Jaguar

For one thing, this guitar had a 24” medium scale neck and the pickups were more along the lines of Stratocaster single coil pickups that were stronger and brighter than the dark sounding Jazzmaster pickups. The body shape is slightly different since the lower bout is less pronounced.

Shielding in body

The body cavity was shielded in the same manner as the Jazzmaster, but the pickups were also encase in a notched metal covering, sometimes called “the claw.” This unique covering gave an additional layer of shielding to prevent 60 cycle hum from electronics and lighting. This was a common complaint with the Jazzmaster.

Rhythm Circuit

Both the Jazzmaster and the Jaguar were Fender’s high end guitars of the day. The electronic scheme was similar for the rhythm circuit; two thumb-wheel potentiometers to control tone and volume plus an on/off switch. When switched in the on position, toward the neck, this controlled only the neck pickup.

Instead of the controls being mounted directly on the pickguard, they were mounted on a chromed face plate. When disengaged, the lead circuit was activated.

Lead Circuit

The controls for this circuit were mounted on a metal plate on the lower bout of the instrument. They were activated through the use of three slider switches. The one closest to the neck activated the neck pickup.

The center switch activated the bridge pickup and the third switch engaged an extra capacitor that cut the bass response. This gave the guitar a brighter tone for lead lines. Additionally the usual volume and tone knobs were mounted on a chrome plate below the instruments bridge.

String Mute

The Fender Jaguar included a string mute right in front of the bridge saddle. There was a lever on the treble side of the bridge that could be flipped up to engage the mute. This was similar to ones found on some Gretsch guitars. Most players had little use for the mute and removed it.

Jaguar with bridge cover

Both the Jaguar and Jazzmaster came with chrome bridge covers that were also generally removed.

The tremolo system was spot-on the Jazzmasters system. The 1962 model was offered with a two tone sunburst finish. The 1962 model was actually introduced as early as December of 1960.

Most vintage guitar authorities date the introduction to 1962 when Fender ran an advertisement featuring a Jaguar automobile in the background announcing that Fender had introduced a new Jaguar.

The early ads for the Jaguar featured bikini clad young girls on sandy beaches. Perhaps this underscored the guitars appeal to surf music. It probably helped that Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys was provided with a white Jaguar, which showed up in promotional photos, concerts and on television shows.

1963 Jaguar with mute intact

The Jaguar never enjoyed the popularity of its Stratocaster and Telecaster siblings. 1964 was the year that CBS purchased the Fender Corporation and changes started to happen.

1965 Jaguar

Under Leo’s control the position markers were made of clay, these were switched to pearloid markers by 1965.

1965 Jaguar - 3 layer pickguard

Instead of a single layer nitrate celluloid pickguard it was changed to a 3 layer pickguard with a white bottom layer. By 1966 the tuners were Kluson F-style models. By this year the sunburst finish was now a three tone finish and the custom colours offered were patterned after the paints used on GM cars of that era. By

1966 Jaguar - bound neck/dot markers

In the middle of 1965 the neck was upgraded to a bound neck with pearloid block inlays replacing the dot markers on earlier models.

1966 Jaguar - trapezoidal markers

Later models featured trapezoidal position markers. Additionally the headstock was now painted to match the body colour.








By 1968 the company had switched from using the more expensive nitrocellulose finishes to polyester finishes.

1969 Custom Colour

By 1969 Fender was seeing a decline in sales of the Jazzmaster and Jaguar and an up-tic in Stratocaster sales. Much of this could be attributed to the popularity of Jimmy Hendrix.

1974 Jaguar

By 1973 the Jaguar was on its last legs. The neck was offered with a maple cap fretboard that had dark position markers instead of rosewood with white markers. By 1975 the Jaguar was discontinued.

This allowed the desirability to equally diminish, so used instruments could be purchased at bargain prices in the 1980’s and early’90’s. Punk and Indie band members saw these as way to buy a nice guitar on the cheap.

1987 MIJ Fender Jaguar

As the popularity swung back around, Fender saw the light and reissued the Jaguar as early as 1986/87 for the Japanese market. The body was unusual since it was not as contoured.

1999 MIJ '62 Jag

In 1999 the Fender Jaguar was being made in Japan for export to the US market. As I have mentioned in the past, Fender did not have a United States based factory at the time Bill Schultz and his associates purchased (rescued) the company from CBS. The first model produced was a 1962 version without the string mute.

'66 MIJ Jaguar reissue

Enventually a '66 MIJ model was introduced with a bound fret board and trapezoidal position markers

2007 Fender USA Jaguar

As of 2007 Fender was building United States models at their Corona, California factory as well is in Japan and other Asian nations. The biggest difference between Japanese and American models is the electronics.

American models use higher quality chrome rather than stainless steel parts and have brass shielding plates installed in the cavities.

Though Japanese guitars made before 1996-97 do also come with brass shielding. Additionally American Jaguars use nitrocellulose lacquer instead of polyester finishes.

Current USA Model

The standard US made Jaguars do not sport matching headstocks unlike their vintage counterparts as do many Japanese models. Some Japanese models  offer some custom colors not found on American models.

Squier Vintage Modified

Fender’s budget company, Squier offers the Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar that features twin Seymour Duncan designed humbuckers.

The  body is made of basswood, and it comes with stacked concentric controls.
 

Squier VM Jaguar

Another model offered in 2012 known as the Squier VM Jaguar bore moer similarities to the standard Jaguar.

Kurt Cobain Jaguar

Fender also has recently offered variations on the Jaguar including the Made in Mexico Fender Kurt Cobain Jaguar, which is a replica of the 1965 model that Cobain modified and used.


It features DiMarzio humbucking pickups, Gotoh tuners and a Tune-O-Matic bridge plus a modified wiring combination. It is offered as either a left or right handed model.

Johnny Marr Jaguar

The Fender Johnny Marr model is made in the USA and includes wiring modifications that he did on his personal Jaguar, including a four-way pickup selector that allows single pickups, both pickups or both in series or parallel.

Johnny Marr Jaguar

There are dual strangle switches (capacitors) on the upper control plate. This guitar uses Bare Knuckle pickups. The body has an extra deep belly cut. It also uses Fender Mustang saddles in the bridge.




(Many guitarists use a Mustang bridge and saddle as it provides better tonality on a Jaguar or a Jazzmaster than the standard bridge/saddle unit.) This model uses a modified Stay-trem vibrato arm that holds the bar in one place. This model forgoes the standard lead circuit wiring in favor of a 3 way toggle switch similar to the one on a Telecaster.

50th Anniversary Models

On the 50th Anniversary of the Fender Jaguar, Fender issued a Special Edition Jaguar Thinline model, which was a semi-hollow version. It has an Ash top and back and vintage Fender single coil pickups.

2007  J. Macics Jazzmaster

Oh yes, Fender is making the Jazzmaster once again. In 2007 Fender released the J. Macics signature Jazzmaster which was based on the instrument the Dinosaur Jr. Guitarist was playing. The biggest difference was Fender’s version of the Tune-O-Matic bridge (which they call Adjust-o-matic) and the purple sparkle finish with matching headstock. A Fender American Vintage Reissue model was also introduced that same year.

2008 Elvis Costello Jag

In 2008 Fender introduced the Elvis Costello model, which was made at the Corona California factory.

2009 Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo Jazzmasters

Several models were unveiled in 2009, including the Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore signature Jazzmasters. The Sonic Youth guitarists models These models are stripped down versions of the Jazzmaster with different pickups.

2014 Jim Root Jazzmaster

In 2014 Fender debuted two signature models; The Jim Root Jazzmaster, which came with only a volume control, twin high-output humbucking pickups a Stratocaster hardtail bridge, a compound radius fretboard and a squarer body without contours.

Troy Leeuwen Jazzmaster

The Troy Van Leeuwen Jazzmaster has block fretboard inlays, an oxblood finish on the body and headstock, a Mustang bridge and bound neck.

As of 2015 Fender offers a hardtail model of the Jazzmaster.



Squier offers several models including the J. Mascis signature Jazzmaster and the Vintage Modified Jazzmaster.

Additionally Squier offers a Vintage Modified Baritone version of the Jazzmaster with block inlays a bound neck and no tremolo.

Squire of Japan offers a version of the Jazzmaster, named for Mami Saazaki of the Japanese band, Scandal.

In 2012 Fender offered a limited edition Thinline Jaguar in black or sunburst.

Jolana Resonet Graciozo

One of the most unique brand of guitars came from the former country of Czechoslavakia, under the brand name of Jolana.

Josef Ruzicka

The company had it’s beginnings in 1953 when the Rezonel factory in the town of Blantne, under the supervision of Josef Ruzicka. M. Ruzicka was part of a cooperative known as Drevokov. The name means “Woodmetal or Woodcraft.” At the time the organization’s chief product was furniture. Under the direction of Ruzicka the company began the manufacture of electric guitars.

The organization was run as a cooperative because after WWII, Czechoslavakia was under the heavy hand of Communist rule and all private enterprise was forbidden. So privately owned companies were forced to become nationalized.

Resonet Akord

The first product was an art deco lap steel guitar designed by a Mr. Vicek which was called the Resonet Akord and offered for sale to the public in 1954.

The word Resonet seems to apply to many of the Czech-made electronic instruments. It is found on the pickups and scratch plates instead of the headstocks.

This first lap steel was followed the following year by another lap steel guitar known as the Arioso Resonet.

Jolana Arco Bass

Their next design was a very unique upright bass instrument called the Arco. This was a double bass with electric pickups mounted on the end of the neck. This was seven years prior to when Ampeg built a similar electric double viol known as the Baby Bass.

Resonet Gracioso

In 1955 Jolana got into manufacturing their first solidbody "Spanish" guitar by building a guitar called the Resonet Graciozo.

It was definitely modeled after Fender’s Stratocaster. And this guitar became a big hit in Europe, due to the fact that the Selmer Company of Paris began selling these Czech made guitars.

Selmer Futurama

Although they did not actually put the Selmer name on them, it was assumed they were Selmer guitars. Many of these instruments bore the logo Resonet on the scratch plate; some came with a decal that said Graciozo.

Selmer Futurama Bass ad

As I’ve related in the past, due to the heavy tariffs placed on American imports in the 1950’s it was nearly impossible to purchase a US made guitar.

Most British and European music stores stocked only European manufactured guitars. Britain had issued an embargo on US made goods that was not lifted until 1959.

Harrison's Futurama

So it was in 1957 when the Selmer Company of Paris had inked a deal with the Czechoslavakian manufacturer to sell their products throughout Europe and the United Kingdom. The first guitars to arrived were the Graciozo and the Arco bass. Both were advertised as the Futurama guitar and Futurama bass.

Jimmy Page with a Futurama

Guitarists such as George Harrison, Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton got their start with one of these instruments. Harrison used his Futurama during much of the Beatles early career in Hamburg. It can be heard on their recording of My Bonnie.



By 1959 production in Blatne ceased and all guitar manufacturing. The new head of the company detested guitar manufacturing, so all guitar manufacturing was moved to the city of Hradec Kralove. However there was still much unsold stock that needed to be depleted before the company could resume its primary industry; furniture manufacturing. So guitars manufactured in Blatne continued to be sold up until around 1964.

Since all guitar production was nationalized, the cooperatives move was done by the Ministry of Industry under the auspices of the Ceskoslovenske Hudibni Nastroje or CSHN. Which translates to Czechoslovak Musical Instruments. There were similar factories in other cities that produced guitars. So in addition to Hradec Kralove, the other cities included Krnov and Horovice, and Cremona Luby, but because of the centralization by the CSHN, we likely know these instruments collectively under the Jolana logo.

Jolana Star III

The move prompted the new cooperative in Hradec Kralove changed the name of the Graciozo to the Star and Star III models. The Resonet name was dropped. Import models were still marketed under the Futurama name.

Star / Futurama Duo

Since the embargo was lifted, marketing strategy had to change. So a new downgraded model was being offered at a reduced price, due to competition from US manufacturers and Asian imports that had caused a decline in the companies sales.

On the plus side, this competition prompted improvements to their guitars.'sounds like Capitalism to me, but I digress.

Star IV

On the new models the input jack was moved from the top of the guitars to the lower side of the body and the vibrato unit was improved. The new unit was similar in design to Leo Fender’s floating tremolo, be it a primitive version.

Jolana Neoton

In 1959 a new guitar dubbed the Neoton was being offered. By 1960 the company renamed itself Jolana, after the Josef Ruzicka’s daughter.

In fact the Neoton was the first model produced under the Jolana name.

Jolana Neoton

The Neoton was an archtop electric with twin pickups mounted on the body next to a triangular shaped scratch plate. It was a thin depth hollow body instrument with two cat eye “f” holes. The pickups were branded Brilliant Deluxe and resembled P-90’s. The neck on this guitar was bound. Its electronics included  two volume and two tone controls. The fretboard was made of rosewood and it bore block shaped pearloid position markers.

This tailpiece was similar to the finger tailpiece on some expensive Gibsons, but was not nearly as well made. The bridge/saddle was a wooden unit and had adjustable individual metal saddles, The neck is set in with two screws at the base of the body securing its attachment.  A matching bass named the Jolana Basora was produce as well. Jolana seemed to always create a bass to go along with their guitar models.

Jolana Marina

The next model was similar in most aspects to the Neoton, except for the electronic controls and the tailpiece. This instrument was called The Marina. The controls had changed. The knobs were replaced with five buttons, that were mounted on the distal side of a large, aluminum triangular pickguard. The trapeze tailpiece could be solid or many models came with a vibrato bar. The bridge saddle was made of wood and and adjustable for height. The bridge appears to be made of ebony. It was topped with an unusual system of adjustable metal saddles. This guitar had a set in neck. I have seen different versions of the Marina.

Jolana Basso IV

The Basso IV was also offered around this same time. It was similar in appearance to some of the Star models (Futurama) as it was a solid body instrument. It featured twin pickups and a four-in-line headstock.

Jolana Basso IV

It was obviously designed after the Fender bass guitars of the day, but for the twin pickups; one in the neck position and the other in the bridge position and the archtop style adjustable bridge and saddle unit. This bass came with a bolt on neck.


By 1964 Selmer had discontinued importing the Futurama from Czechoslavakia. The Futurama name was applied to Norwegian instruments from the Hagstrom Musical Instrument Company.

Jolana Diskant

Despite the setback, Jolana continued to manufacture electric guitars and basses. These included a model known as the Diskant. It retained the same body shape as the aforementioned guitars and came with the same triangular pickguard. Even the neck, position markers and headstock were similar.

Jolana Diskant

The neck was set in. The key difference seems to be there were only three controls; a volume potentiometer and a tone potentiometer and another knob that was a 3 position switch for the twin pickups. Some models came with the finger-style trapeze tailpiece, while others had a Bigsby-like vibrato tailpiece. The bridge saddles on all this guitars was an adjustable wooden archtop style unit with moveable metal saddles.

Most of Jolana guitars came with the model on the headstock  and the words Jolana were emblazoned on the guitars body.

Perhaps the oddest guitar that Jolana had produced was The Big Beat. This guitar rivaled any Wandre instrument.

Jolana Big Beat - built in amp

The Big Beat had a triangular shaped body with a wooden frame at the end of the body. A mother-of-toilet seat pickguard mimicked the shape of the body. The guitars one pickup was set about 2 inches about the all metal bridge saddle.

On the upper bout were two rocker switches that were the instruments tone controls. On the lower bout was a single volume knob. The one piece neck was lacquered maple and had an angled headstock that also mirrored the angle of the body. This guitar even included a vibrato tailpiece

But by far the strangest thing about this instrument was the battery powered amplifier that was attached to guitars wooden frame by two roller bolts. A large decal guaranteed this to be a Big Beat.

Jolana Big Beat Amp/Radio

The 2 watt removable amp was powered by four batteries and had an on/off switch along with 3 potentiomers. When you were tired of playing guitar, the amp was switchable to use as a radio.

Jolana Tornado

In 1963 the Tornado was Jolana’s newest guitar. This was a double cutaway thinline electric guitar with a six-in-line headstock that was reminiscent of Gibson’s Trini Lopez standard. The instruments semi-hollow body had a center block.

Jolana Tornado

The soundholes were more conventional “f” style cuts. This guitar came with a metal bridge and saddle with a flip-up mute and an interesting roller style vibrato and tailpiece.

Most interesting however was the large black pickguard/electronics assembly. This housed three single coil pickups and what appears to be two circuits that are similar to what we find on the Fender Jaguar/Jazzmaster. There is one rocker switch on the upper bout with two thumb wheel controls below it.

On the lower bout were four rocker switches that control the pickup combinations. Furher down, below the bridge were two potentiometers, which we can assume are for volume and tone. The assembly also featured a standard input jack.

The neck guitars neck was bound with dot position markers. The neck on this instrument was attached to the body by four screws and a metal plate.

Strap Button Screw Driver

One extraordinary feature on this guitar and many other Jolana guitars was the strap button on its body. It could be unscrewed from the body and when pulled out it is a screwdriver that can be used to make quick repairs to the Tornado.

This guitar was sold with a gig bag that came in two pieces. One piece fit over the neck and the other covered the body. The could be attached together by zippers.

Jolana Pampero

The bass model of this guitar was called the Pampero. The semi-hollow body shape was identical to the Tornado.

This bass had a metal adjustable bridge/saddle unit and the strings were secured by a trapeze tailpiece.

The neck was bound with a rosewood fretboard and dot position markers. The headstock was four-in-line. This bass came with a large black scratchplate with twin pickups and all of the electronics were mounted upon it. These electronics consisted of four rocker switches that provided various pickup combinations. Additionally there was a single volume control and an input jack mounted on the plastic plate. Just like the guitar, the neck on this bass was attached to the body with four screws and a metal plate.

Jolana Special

Around 1970 two more models were introduced that were quite similar to the Tornado; The Special and The Rubin.

The headstock on the Special was more Fender like, but still six-in-a- line, but not as severe as teh Tornado's headstock. The controls were not nearly as elaborate for this three pickup guitar.

Jolana Special

They were also mounted on the scratchplate and included four potentiometers for volume and tone, as well as four rocker switches that controlled the pickup selection. The bridge/saddle was more of a roller style arrangement and it had a flip up mute.

This guitar had a vibrato on a roller, that was in the style of a Bigsby. The instruments bolt-on and bound neck bore a rosewood fretboard with dot inlays. This guitar also came with the two-piece neck/body gig bag.

Studio Bass

The bass guitar that matched the Special was of a similar shape to the Special was known as the Studio bass. The instruments body style had a similar shape. Once again the bolt on neck was bound with dot inlays and the headstock was four-in-a-line. The electronics on this bass were a much simpler arrangement with only two single coil pickups and two potentiometers.

The basses bridge was metal and the trapeze tailpiece had a stylized “J” between the bars.

Jolana Rubin

The other model known as the Rubin was a stripped down version of the Special. As with the aforementioned instruments the neck was of a bolt on style, but this time with a 3 per side tuning key arrangement. The Rubin came with two blade style pickups mounted on the body with a metal surround at their base. The original models came with a triangular pickguard that was different than the first series of guitars manufactured in the late 1950.

The simple electronics were on the lower bout on a metal plate and consisted of a volume and tone know and a selector switch. The upper bout had but one unbound “f” hole. The bridge saddle appears to be mahogany with plastic adjusts mounted on top. The tailpiece was of the finger style.

Jolana Kolorbas

The bass that matched the Rubin was called the Kolorbas. The style was quite similar right down to the electronics. The headstock was four-on-a-side and looked more like the Tornado headstock.

Jolana Alexandria

Jolana had another model known as the Alexandra, which some believe was its most upscale guitar.


This is a guitar that Gibson considered too close to its ES-335 and it is rumored that there was the threat of a lawsuit.

This guitar certainly had the “335” body shape. And these were the infamous “copy” era.

However Gibson only filed one lawsuit against Elger Music, which was the US importer of Ibanez guitars, but that suit was enough to shake up the entire industry.

Jolana Alexandra

The Alexandra sported twin single coil pickups with black plastic surrounds. The bridge was probably made of mahogany and the angled saddle was a thin strip of metal. The strings were anchored to a Bigsby style vibrato. On the guitars upper bout was a selector switch and the lower bout there was another toggle switch. The bottom section of the guitar bore two knobs for volume and tone.




The Alexandra's pickguard was a gold MOT stylized design. And though it was a very lovely instrument, it was certainly not up to Gibson's ES-335 standard.

Jolana Star IX

Perhaps the most original and unique Jolana guitar was the Star IX. This guitars body was a wedge-shaped oddity with two long sides and two short sides and a flat bottom. The instrument came with two angled single coil pickups that had pole pieces much like Fender single coil pickups. These were mounted on a white plastic scratch plate. The controls were placed directly below on a triangular plastic plate.

Jolana IX

The original models featured three controls, with one being a knob and the other two had pointers. In researching this I have seen several control arrangements. Early models came with a wooden bridge saddle, while later models had a metal adjustable bridge. All had a Jazzmaster style floating tremolo.

The neck of the Star IX was made of maple with a rosewood fretboard. The headstock came to a point and had a 3 and 3 arrangement of the tuning keys.

Basso IX

Jolana made a bass version of this guitar called the Basso IX.. It also had twin single coil pickups, and came with a single volume and tone control. The bridge was metallic and a metal hand rest covered the point of attachment.

Jolana Star X

Now if one totally unique guitar was not enough, Jolana came up with a second guitar called the Star X.

This guitar came with a very unique offset body that looked like it was designed by NASA. The upper and lower horns came to a point and the butt end of the body was diagonal.

This guitar had a Jazzmaster style floating tremolo and a metal bridge with adjustable individual saddles. It also had three humbucking pickups. The input jack was like a Stratocaster jack,. I've seen some models where this jack is mounted backwards.

The Star X came with three single coil pickups with "toaster-like" covers. The guitar also had four potentiometers on the guitars lower side in a line. On the lower horn was a four way switch that says Tone. On the upper side of the guitar was a thumb wheel above the bridge and middle pickups..

Then on the upper horn was another four way switch that was the pickup selector. Once again the neck was maple with a rosewood fretboard that had dot position markers. The headstock on this instrument was pointy with three tuning keys on either side.

Basso X

The Basso X, which supposedly matched the guitar was in a totally different shape. This bass guitar had a similar offset bottom that sloped downward to a point. It also had two pickups that appear similar to Rickenbacker's toaster pickups. On the upper bout was a pickup selector switch and on  the lower side there are 3 knobs that had pointers. The input jack resembld a Stratocaster jack.

Jolana Basso X

The metal bridge is covered with a hand rest and the strings are attached to a metal stop. Like the guitar, the bass neck was maple with a rosewood fretboard. This basses and the headstock was also pointy and had two tuning keys on either side.

Jolana Diamant

The Jolana Diamant was a Gibson copy of a Les Paul Custom. It had a bolt-on neck and aluminum nut, a zero fret and a four way rotary switch on the upper bout as well as twin single coil pickups. It even had a tune-o-matc style bridge with individual saddles and a stop tailpiece.

Jolana Diamant II

The most recent version, the Diamant II, emerged that had the same split diamond headstock inlay and headstock binding. The pickups on this second model resembled P-90’s. And the rotary switch on the Diamant II was replaced with a three way rotary switch. The logo that was inlaid in the headstock read “Diamant” in stylized script.

1983 Jolana Diamant II

Although the body of these two models appeared to be every bit of a Les Paul, their bodies were actually made of alder wood, with a beech plywood veneer. Later on, Jolana had installed their new Spektrum humbucker pickups in this guitar, but they did not come close to the sound of Gibson humbuckers.

Diamant Bass

But despite the criticism and comparison to a Les Paul, the Diamant was very popular throughout Europe.

The Diamant was sold for almost 20 years, right up until the company shut its doors.

Jolana Iris

Gibson was not the only company that Jolana copied. During the 1970’s the Jolana Iris was the company’s version of the Telecaster Thinline. Although it pails in comparison, it was probably not a bad guitar.


The Iris came with two angled single coil pickups, a metal bridge with a cover and what appeared to be a vibrato unit.

Jolana Iris

The earliest models sported single coil pickups with pole pieces, while the later models had single coil blade pickups. The Iris came bore a metal control plate that was very similar to the one on a Telecasters.

Iris Bass

A bass version of this instrument was also available. Both the guitar and bass came with the end pin/screw driver, which I think was ingenious.

Jolana Galaxis

The Fender Stratocaster was also fair game so Jolana created the Galaxis. However the only thing that was copied was the body shape. This guitar came with two large humbucking pickups that had blades and were called Sapphirs by the company.

1981 Jolana Galaxis

The electronics of the Galaxis included twin volume and tone controls. The instruments strings passed over a metal bridge with a Jazzmaster style cover. The string were attached to a Jazzmaster style floating bridge.

Jolana Galaxis

The neck of the Galaxis was topped with a rosewood fretboard that was bound and had dot inlays. The headstock featured six-in-a-line tuning keys. Some headstocks were bare wood and some were painted to match the body. All of them bore a decal that said “Iris.”

By 1989 the communist regime ended and the national cooperative fell into disarray. The factories that kept workers busy stopped manufacturing or became privatized.

This meant the end of Jolana guitar.

Cremona - Kasuga 12's

The factory in Cremona Luby became privatized and was named Strunal and they continued manufacturing a budget line of acoustic guitars.

Delicia guitar

The factory in Horovice was renamed Delicia and manufactures stringed instruments.

In these years of Perestroika they signed a deal with Kramer guitars and built the Gorky Park signature guitar that was shaped like a balalaika.

Czech made Epiphone

In the past Delicia also produced budget Gibson models under the Epiphone brand to be sold in the European market.

They restarted manufacturing electric guitars and basses under their own brand name.



And in the latter part of 2003, Delicia reintroduced the Jolana brand to the European market. These were updated versions of the old Jolana products that include the Tornado and the Diamant, however these instruments are totally modern and used sophisticated parts. Sadly the Jolana’s were discontinued in 2005.

Update Version of the Jolana Gracioso

As of November 2015 Jolana is back in business and manufacturing their guitars and basses in Horovice in the Czech Republic by a company called Bohemian Musico. These are now high quality instruments that use handwound or Seymour Duncan pickups, Schaller tuners and modern CNC technology. Check them out.

Pete Huttinger

Pete Huttinger, who was a finger-style guitarist died today January 16, 2016. He was only 54 years old. Pete was a most amazing player and an even more amazing person.

Pete with CB Guitars model J

He was born with a congenital heart defect and had his first open heart surgery at the age of 13. In 2010 he suffered a stroke and was paralyzed on the right side of his body. It was a struggle to regain control not just of his paralysis, but of his speech as well. Although he had been playing guitar for most of his life and was a finger style champion, it took him a year to relearn the instrument.

Pete with VAD battery pack

Then the following year, 2011, Pete suffered a massive heart attack and had to be air lifted to a hospital in Houston Texas. He was outfitted with a heart pump and a battery pack that he wore for the rest of his life.

His sister’s husband was a big influence on his music and style. This man played old time music with his friends,and Huttinger grew up listening those antiquated and delightful songs.When Pete was a teenager his mom bought him a banjo from a Sears catalog. He says that finger picking the banjo just seemed to come naturally to him which was very helpful when he eventually gravitated to guitar. He applied this same banjo "finger style" method to the guitar.

During his late teens he played electric rock and roll guitar. Upon finishing high school Huttinger attended the Berklee College of Music, earning a bachelor degree.

Playing banjo with John Denver

By 1994 to 1997 he was in John Denver’s group, only leaving after the singer’s death.

In the year 2000 he won the National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship due to his ability to work out solo guitar arrangement for songs most players deem impossible to play.

Since then Huttinger went on to play on stage at Carnegie Hall in both 2007 and 2008. He was scheduled back in 2010.

At 2010 Crossroads festival

Huttinger was invited by Eric Clapton to perform at his Crossroads events. Huttinger has performed on some Grammy winning projects and was an Emmy nominee for music he wrote and performed on for PBS specials.




He also created the theme song for a national TV series on fly-fishing (this was his hobby).

With LeAnn Rimes

Pete Huttinger has backed up LeAnn Rimes on her tours and on TV shows. He has nine LP’s under his belt and has made quite a few instructional videos and DVD’s through Homespun.

After his 2011 hospitalization he went on public speaking engagements to let others know  his philosophy, which was Don’t Just Live; Live Well

In 2013 Huttinger released, what is considered his finest work, McGuire’s Landing. This was a LP of original songs which was accompanied by a 52 page story that he wrote.

His last album was done with Mollie Weaver and was called Parnassus. This came out in 2015.

Pete's final show on January 9th, 2016 was in Atlanta. Two days later he was back in the hospital with bleeding on his brain. He went from talking and laughing to being unresponsive.

For the past five years he had worn the Venticular Assist Device. This was essentially a pump for his heart. It came with a battery pack that was in a bag that he wore over his right shoulder. There were wires coming out of his belly that were attached to the batteries.

He would make fun of this in his concerts by telling the audience it was “set to stun. He even gave it a name.

Erin Morris Huttinger

Pete had recently co-authored a book with his wife, Erin Morris Huttling called Joined at the Heart: A Story of Love, Guitars, Resilience and Marigolds.”

Teaching at Fur Peace Ranch

Huttinger was a regular at guitar instructional camps and was quite fond of Jorma Koukenan’s Fur Peace Ranch in central Ohio.

Although he played other acoustic guitars, Huttinger’s favored guitar was built for him in 2012 by renowned luthier Bill Collings. This guitar was a modifed model OM1 that had a limited run of 50 instruments. The guitar listed at $4725 and Collings gave $1000 for each instrument to a fund for medical bills that Huttinger had incurred. The street price was $4000. USD.

The Huttinger model guitar’s top was made of Sitka or Adirondack spruce with a Venetian cutaway. The back and sides are solid mahogany, as was the guitars neck. The back and sides were trimmed with tortoise shell style binding and the back had a strip of walnut separating the sides. The neck was a bolt-on model with a heel and has a modified V shape. The fretboard is ebony with dot position markers and Huttinger's name in script on the 12th fret.

The body had standard scalloped X bracing. The nut at the neck was slightly larger than the standard model and is 1 3/4” and tapers to 2 3/16’s at the saddle. The Waverly tuners were made of nickel.

Huttinger can be seen in a  John Denver TV specials playing a banjo and mandolin. Huttinger  was a spokesperson for Elixir strings said that he he was fond of slightly heavy strings. He used a 013 for high E and .017 for B.

AER Compact 60

He ran his guitar through an AER Compact 60 amplifier that he lsaid maintained consistency in sound for his performances and acted as a monitor. His OM1 is equipped with a Fishman Matrix Infinity pickup. The controls are mounted inside the guitars soundhole.

He also uses a Fishman Aura Spectrum DI.

For some songs he states that he used modified tunings, such as D-A-D-F#-A-D.

Pete with his classical guitar

Pete also said that he plays a Collings OM2, a Collings D1, a Larrivee custom made guitar, a Keith Adams classical guitar, a Takamine classical guitar, and two Fender electric guitars; a Telecaster and a Stratocaster.

Additionally he owned a Gibson ES-335, a 1938 Gibson L-50, a 1950 Gibson L-7, a National Dobro, and a guitar made by TV Jones. He also owns a 1968 Gibson Mastertone 5 string banjo, a Gilchrist Model 5 mandolin, a 1924 Gibson style A-2 mandolin and a Collings MT mandolin. In addition to these he owned an Irish Bouzouki, a Cuban Tres and a Brazilian Cavaquinho.

Glenn Frey

Today we received the shocking news that Glenn Frey, a founding member of The Eagles has died of numerous health issues. He was only 67.

The Eagles

Frey sang lead vocals on such songs as Take It Easy, Peaceful Easy Feeling, Tequila Sunrise, Already Gone, Desparado, New Kid In Town and Heartache Tonight.

The Heat is On

After the band broke up in 1980 he went on to record Smuggler’s Blues, The Heat is On, You Belong to the City and other popular songs.

It was during this era tha Frey went on to "clean up his act" and get in shape by building his body and vigorously working out. He toned up and was featured in a gym campaign commercial and Rolling Stone magazine did an a pictorial article about him

Miami Vice

Due to his solo music he went on to act in the police drama Miami Vice. That show that used Smuggler’s Blues as a theme song as well as several of his other songs.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction

Frey won six Grammy Awards and five American Music Awards. Collectively, the Eagles have sold over 120 million albums and were Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees.

Ronstadt and Back-up Band

Frey joined the Eagles in 1971 after being in Linda Ronstadts back up band with Don Henley, Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon.

The Eagles - 1971

Frey played guitar and piano during his tenure with  The Eagles.

The Eagles - 1994

After the band reunited in 1994 he became the spokesman for the group, since, in his own words, he and Henley had written most of their songs.

The Eagles - 2008

The group later went on another world tour in 2008.

After Hours

In 2012 he release his first solo album since 1994 and it was called After Hours. This album features him performing pop standards of the 1940’s through the 1960’s.

In 2013 a documentary was produced called History of the Eagles.

Old Black

During his early days with The Eagles Frey was very fond of a 1956 Les Paul Junior that he got from Jackson Browne. The guitar was painted black and and extra P90 pickup was added to the neck position. Frey named this guitar “Old Black.”

ES-330 - Getty Images

Frey also played a tobacco burst Gibson ES-330 TD which was probably a mid 1960’s model. This is the thin hollow-body model with twin P90 pickups.




He also used a Gibson ES-335 TD.


He played these guitars through an early narrow panel tweed Fender Deluxe amplifier which was made no later than 1960, since that was the last year this style was manufactured. Although on the road in the early days he also used a Ferder Deluxe Reverb that was miked.

Frey with Gibson SG

Frey also owned and played a vintage Gibson Firebird V, a Gibson SG and a 1953 Fender Telecaster. Occasionally he played a 1982 Gibson Moderne Heritage Korina Electric. Gibson only produced 143 of these guitar.

With Takamine EF360S

During the Eagles 1994 comeback tour Frey played a Takamine EF360S. He approached the Takamine company and requested they build him an updated version.

Takamine EF360GF

Out of this, Takamine Guitars produced the Glenn Frey Signature model EF360FG. This non-cutaway guitar came with a solid wood top and solid rosewood back and sides and Frey's initials "GF" in the headstock..

Takamine EF381C - 12 String

Frey also usd a black Takamine EF381C 12 string acoustic electric cut-away guitar.

Glenn Frey model Rickenbacker 230

In the studio, Frey used Martin 6 and 12 string guitars. He played several other electric guitars including an Epiphone Casino and a Rickenbacker 230.

Here is a link to a very interesting article on Glenn Frey from Rolling Stone Magazine.

From time to time, I find pictures of guitars and ask to myself, "What the heck was he thinking? That guitar is a complete trainwreck."

And this is not to disparage the wonderful amplifiers that Ken Fisher built.

But then I see something that restores my hope in humanity.

 So I am sharing my stash of Trainwrecks and Treasures. Let me know if you agree with me that some of these guitar are hot and some or not.

Obviously no one told this guy that SRV's tone was all in his fingers.

What a waste of wood and parts!!!

I don't think even Dan Erlewine could undo this ghastly repair

What was this guy thinking! It is a nylon string guitar!!!

This is one of Gibson's first electric guitars; The ES-300. I'm glad they went with a different pickup concept.

This bass was hand built by East German luthier Herbert Todt. I give it a big blistered thumbs up! He builds wonderful guitars and basses.

I found this bass on a South Korean wholesale guitar page called Guitar Man. Someone certainly did some exquisite carving!

This Martin was offered by Elderly Instruments. It won the ugliest pick guard contest. It is actually a Martin D-41 Porter Wagoner Model.

This guy actually plays his homemade guitar with the driftwood neck at a blues club in Mississippi

One of these instruments comes with a collar that says, "If found, return Fluffy to Mrs. Frisby at 61 Dover Street."

This is definitely not a guitar for vegans!

Provenance adds value to old instruments and this guitar sure has a lot of it since it was Elvis' first guitar that his mother bought him.

Believe it or not, this was a very unusual and all around nice guitar.

The above Ovation Breadwinner always puts me in mind of Adrian Legg's Bill Poplett Ergonomic guitar

This is a G# Guitar. The coolest thing to come out of Norway since Hagstrom Guitars. I'm adding this to my article about Electric Travel Guitars.

This is a young Pat Methany playing an Alembic Whateverdude model.  I have no idea what those buttons are for.

This is just plain pitiful.

This is a Babes Ella bass made by an Austrian company in 2007. Correct me if I am wrong, but the pickguard looks like ladies underwear.

This guitar is made by a California company called Kaurer. It is called a Daylight Deluxe. I like it!

This was made in Australia by a sculptor. It is one bizarre guitar!

An Australian Guitar Adventure. A "Stereo" acoustic by Paul Kinney. G'day Mate! Seriously this guy makes some very unusual instruments. Pat Methany owns one.

This is an "Artist" model by Pheo guitars, You can tell by the paintbrush. I do not think Bob Ross did the artwork on the body since there are no happy little clouds.

Here is another model by Pheo guitars called The Baby Head. Very Strange Indeed!

This is a Bilt Revelator that was made by Bilt Guitars of Des Moines, Iowa. It brings to mind the second version of the Fender Marauder, which only existed as a prototype.

♫ ♪ On a tour of one night stands, my suitcase-guitar in hand...♫ This begs the question, does it come with a case?

Johnny H publicity photo from Lordize Records

Check out the headstock cover

Jesse Haemmerle had been using the name Johnny H as the leader for his band. But he had learned from three family members that his real birth name was Presley. His legal father obtained his birth certificate and it showed his birthday to be January 8th of 1935 and his birthplace was Tupelo Mississippi.

Coincidentally Elvis Aaron Presley was born on that same day, January 8th of 1935 and his birthplace was  also in Tupelo, Mississippi. It is said that Elvis had a twin brother named Jesse, who was declared dead at birth. This baby was named Jesse Garon Presley. This is something that haunted both men throughout their lives.

Jesse says that he was able to meet Elvis in 1964. He tells the story about that time. Elvis rarely talked to anyone about his “stillborn” brother, but on that afternoon when they met, the floodgates opened up and that's all both men talked about for hours.

Jesse and brother Richie

Was he actually Elvis Presley's twin brother? I do not know if that mystery will ever be solved.

In addition to music Jesse Haemmerle did some film work with Frankie Avalon, he was a contestant on several TV game shows and New York city TV show where he played a singing cop.

He was in several other films in the 1970’s and ‘80’s. Through these connections he met up with a lot of other famous people including Frank Sinatra and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

For much of his life Haemmerle has kept busy as a body builder.


He was  a member of the Federation of Arm Wrestlers as participant as well as a referee.

In 1969 he created and constructed the first opposing grips arm wrestling table.

I have searched in vain to discover more information about his rather bizarre V-shaped guitar. Its rocket-shape is reminiscent of the “space age” era of the early 1960’s, when we were fascinated with rockets and being the first man on the moon.

His brother, standing behind Johnny H, has a Kay Stratotone with an unusual cover over the headstock

The V shaped wings and pointed headstock seem to be attached to the guitar more than being a part of it.

Jesse and Richie Haemmerle - This is the guitar before the wings and headstock were added.

When we see it in it’s original form, judging by the headstock, it may possibly be a Martin with a cover on its top. In any event it is a wild and unique guitar.

LA had The Wrecking Crew.


Motown and Stax Records had The Funk Brothers.

Alabama had The Muscle Shoals Sound Rhythm Section.

But who played on all those recordings from Britain? You know, all those wonderful songs from the 1950’s, ‘60’s and ‘70’s.



During these days the music industry kept a tight lid on it but. more often than not the groups you loved; those groups that made the records which you played over and over, did not actually play their instruments on their recordings.

Olympic Recording Studio, London

Recording time was expensive in the U.S. and in the U.K., so studios hired professional musicians to play the instruments. The voices of the singers in the band would be heard on the records, but it usually was someone else playing the instrumental part.

Someone that could get the job done quickly and efficiently was needed. By working this manner, studios and record companies could crank out mistake free recordings in a just few hours.

Big Jim Sullivan

Big Jim Sullivan, born James George Tomkins, was probably the most in demand session guitarist in Britain.

Sullivan or Tomkins as he was known at the time, began playing guitar at age 14 when Skiffle Music was popular. Within a few years he was giving lessons to the neighbor kid, Ritchie Blackmore.

By the time Sullivan was 19 he became the guitarist for a group known as The Wildcats. At the time they were a warm up act on a television series called Oh Boy.

The Wildcats

This group went on to tour with Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent in 1960. The group’s leader, Marty Wilde, had purchased a gold top Gibson Les Paul guitar from Sister Rosetta Tharp. Marty gave this guitar to Sullivan. You can view it in the above picture.

1960 Gibson ES-345

Shortly after this, Sullivan sold the Les Paul and purchased another Gibson guitar. This was a brand new cherry red Gibson ES-345.

Marshall Music West London

In the early 1960’s, guitars and amplifiers imported from the United States were still very expensive. Sullivan, Ritchie Blackmore, Pete Townsend and other players would hang out at Jim Marshall’s Music Store in the West London town of Hanwell. It was Sullivan, Blackmore and Townsend that convinced Marshall the UK needed a more affordable and louder amp. 

The rest is history.

The Wildcats had a few hits in England with covers of Donna, A Teenager in Love, and Sea of Love, which were all produced by Jack Good. Good was a music and television producer and a pioneer in British television.  Mr. Good took note of Sullivan expertise on the guitar and introduced him to studio work.

The Krew Kuts

After working with  The Wildcats, Sullivan went on to join a band called The Krew Kuts and recorded a few songs with them, including the Chet Atkins song,Trambone. By this time he had a whole other career as a session guitarist.

It may be hard to believe, but we hear his guitar on more #1 recordings than either those recorded by Elvis or by The Beatles. His name may not have been mentioned on the label, but Big Jim Sullivan’s guitar is heard on fifty-five #1 records.

Big Jim with Led Zepplin/Jimmy Page

Sullivan got the nickname of Big Jim, because of his size and stature and also because, the other well known session guitarist at the time was Jimmy Page. Page was known as Little Jim and Sullivan was known as Big Jim.

Big Jim Sullivan has the distinction of being the first guitarist in England to use a wah-wah pedal and a fuzztone. His use of a DeArmond wah-wah dates as far back as 1959. He put the Maestro fuzztone to use in 1964 on an Everly Brothers recording.

In the early 1960’s he played on hits by Dave Berry, P.J. Proby, Billy Fury, Frank Ifield, Adam Faith, Frankie Vaughn, Helen Shapiro, Johnny Hallyday, and Freddie and the Dreamers.

He can also be heard on recordings by Herman’s Hermits, Cilia Black, Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey,The Tremoloes, Peter and Gordon, Joe Meek, Brian Poole,Lulu, Gerry and The Pacemakers, Los Bravos and Dusty Springfield to name but a few.

His guitar was heard on such songs as It’s Not Unusual (Tom Jones), Downtown (Petula Clark), Space Oddity (David Bowie), Goldfinger (Shirley Bassey),You Really Got Me (The Kinks), Itchycoo Park (The Small Faces) and that is his distinctive guitar you hear on the solo in Alone Again (Naturally) (Gilbert O’Sullivan).

From the mid 1960’s and ‘70’s he had played on recordings by The Walker Brothers, Donovan, David Bowie, Benny Hill, The New Seekers, Thunderclap Newman, Long John Baldry, Marmalade, Small Faces and even played on George Harrison’s Wonderwall soundtrack.

Big Jim also backed up the Everly Brothers on their live album recorded in Paris called Live in Paris.



He backed Little Richard on a 1966 LP called The OKeh Sessions. That same year he was featured on Bobby Darin’s live album. The following year he backed up Del Shannon on his album.



Sullivan was also the resident guitarist for a couple of British television series; Top of the Pops, Ready, Steady, Go and The Saturday Club.




During the 1970’s his playing was featured on the soundtrack for Frank Zappa’s movie, 200 Motels.




Big Jim Sullivan wrote the orchestral arrangements for The Who’s rock opera Tommy.



Sullivan even learned to play the sitar with his friend George Harrison when Harrison was taking lessons.

Big Jim & Nancy Sinatra/Getty Images

During his prime working period, most studio sessions called for two guitars. Jim would work three sessions a day, seven days a week. He was in demand because he was so versatile. Sullivan could play rock, pop, country and was even called in for symphonic orchestra recordings that needed a guitar part.

Tom Jones & Big Jim

From 1970 to 1974 Sullivan was the touring guitarist for Tom Jones. At this time he got to meet Elvis while Jones was performing in Las Vegas.


When the tour ended he started his own company, Retreat Records, and put together his own group. This group recorded three LP’s under Big Jim Sullivan's name and toured large venues to packed houses.

As the 1980’s approached he linked up with some other musicians and played small venues and clubs.

Big Jim & Patrick Eggle guitar

By the 1990’s he was approached by luthier Patrick Eggle. Eggle built the Big Jim Sullivan Legend Model for Sullivan with Jim's input. This is the guitar Big Jim used for the rest of his life. This guitar was designed to be compatible with the Axon AS100 SB guitar to MIDI controller, which was state of the art at the time..



A few of the guitars Sullivan used to earn his living included a Gibson SJ-200, which he loaned to Jimmy Page for the first two Led Zepplin albums.


Sullivan seemed to favor Gibson guitars. We’ve already mentioned his original Gibson ES-345.Later in life he owned a Gibson ES-335.




He also played a Gibson gold top Les Paul (not his first). 



Big Jim was also fond of the Gibson Howard Roberts model guitar.

On The Crying Game he used a Gibson EDS-1275 through a Maestro Fuzztone.



On early studio sessions he is seen playing a Gibson B-45 string guitar



While touring with Tom Jones, Sullivan played an Ovation Balladeer acoustic/electric guitar.



He played a Fender Telecaster while he was with Jones..



And Big Jim used his Rickenbacker 360 on that tour. At one time Big Jim Sullivan was a Rickenbacker endorser.



Sullivan also favored a couple of  unique and unidentifiable guitars.
This one looks similar to a Gibson ES 335, but appears to be solid.

He is also seen in several photos with a Jazz archtop guitar that says SFX Legend on the pickguard. (I do not believe it is made by Cort, although Cort does offer a SFX series of guitars).



He is pictured at the top of the page playing this beautiful James D'Aquisto guitar.

Note the MIDI connection

And of course Sullivan's favorite electric guitar which is the aforementioned Patrick Eggle model.



Aside from the 55 hit songs he played on, Big Jim Sullivan played guitar on over 750 charting singles throughout his career.




Big Jim Sullivan passed away at age 71 on October second of 2012.

Lloyd Loar

When we talk about luthiers that changed the guitar, as we know it today, while improving upon it only a handful of names come up. One of the most prominent men is Lloyd Loar. He was a master luthier that is probably best known for his modern mandolin designs, but he applied that skill to the guitar and made one of the Gibson Guitar Companies most famous guitars and paved the way that they manufactured guitars for years to come.

This was all done despite the fact that he only worked for Gibson for five years.

Not only was Loar a luthier, he was also one of the first sound engineers and he was a performer. He paved the way for the archtop guitar and mandolin to be built in a similar fashion to the violin.

Loar had studied music while in high school and went on to attend the Oberlin Conservatory where he became proficient in mandolin, mandola, mandolin cello, violin, viola and piano performance.

In 1918 he worked as an entertainer for the troops during the war. While in Europe he studied at the Conservatory of Paris. Later he attended the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. Due to illness while in the service, he was honorably discharged within a year.

If you see vintage Gibson mandolin advertisements many of these will show a mandolin orchestra know as the Fisher-Shipp Concert Company. The players used Gibson instruments in their performances.


Loar was a member of this consortium and he was married to Sally Fisher-Shipp.

Perhaps the biggest take-away that Loar received for his participation was it allowed him to show Gibson that he could improve the products they were making. He showed them his ideas for mandolin and banjo construction, which led to him being hired by one of Gibson’s original and largest investor, Lewis Williams, who saw the potential in this young man. At first Loar was hired only on a six month contractual basis.

Loar had invented the Virzi Tone Producer prior to working for Gibson. This device was a spruce disc suspended from the instruments top that acted as a second soundboard. Mario Maccaferri had a similar idea with his internal resonator on the guitar he designed for Selmer.

After the six months were up, Lloyd Loar continued to work for Gibson from 1919, a year after Orville Gibson left the company, to 1924.

Loar working at Gibson

Under Loar’s direction the tops and back of all instrument were carved to allow the perimeter to be thick and carefully graduated to a thinner surface, he called “the minimum area.

During his tenure at Gibson he was referred to as "Master Loar" by those that worked with him.

Modern tap tuning

Due to his perfectionism regarding attuning the wood for each instrument the final result would be different for each mandolin, mandola or guitar that he made. This created a diverse and unique array of instruments.

Tap-tuning was (and is) a tedious process and under his supervision no instrument would be sold unless it was hand tuned. Only then Loar would allow his signature to be attached to the interior label.

After working at Gibson for almost five years Lloyd Loar envisioned electrified instruments and this led him to start his own company that allowed him to build electric guitars, electric violins and electric mandolins. He improved the arched the tops and backs to give them added strength as the bracing was very minimal on arched instruments.

From the Siminof mandolin site

As mentioned before the technique he employed is referred to as Stradivarius Arching. This allowed the sound waves emitted from the instrument greater movement and amplitude.










Lloyd Loars mandolins contained tone bars. Unlike violins, the mandolins utilized two movable bars, that could be placed differently to alter the tone and provide stability. He also understood that placement of the F-holes would affect the instruments sound.

Master F5

Most stringed instrument players are aware of his designs for the famous Master F5 mandolin, the Master A5 mandolin, the Master H5 mandola, and the Master K5 mandocello (which resembles an eight string archtop guitar), but Loar’s work also was applied to banjo design. His version featured a tubal tone chamber and spring loaded ball bearings. This design became the basis of Gibson’s most popular banjos, the Mastertone.

Loar signed L-5

It was Lloyd Loar who designed and built the original Gibson L-5 guitar. This was the first guitar to feature F-holes.

1924 Loar Gibson L-5

Loar designed it in the manner of a cello. He designed the body to be 16” wide at the lower bout and this size remained until 1934, long after Loar ended his relationship with Gibson.

Two 1924 L-5 guitars

The L-5 remained Gibson’s top-of-the-line guitar for years, until the larger Super 400 was introduced. Prior to this Gibson’s best guitar was the Style O which had been designed by Orville Gibson and bore a resemblance to the style F mandolin as it has a scroll-like upper bout.

Skip Maggoria with Gibson electric harp guitar

As early as 1923 Lloyd Loar began experimenting on electrifying stringed instruments. Harp guitars were popular during these day. It was this year that Loar built a prototype electric Gibson harp guitar.

This instrument is one of a kind. It had ten bass string and the usual six guitar strings. The body is carved with a scroll pattern between the two necks.

Drawer on upper bout that housed the pickup (with closeup of the pickup)

The electric pickup is housed in a drawer that comes out of the upper side of the body and pickups up the sound from the guitars interior. This drawer also housed the cord that would attach to the amplifier. This harp guitar is the possession of Skip Maggoria, the owner of Skip's Music in Sacramento California. Skip states that when plugged into an amplifier the guitar is not loud, like today's instruments, but it gives a very mellow and beautiful sound.

Loar's personal viola - Siminof page

In 1924 Loar attached a crude electrostatic pickup to a viola. This prompted him to begin work on other electrified instruments. Unfortunately the heads at Gibson do not feel this is the direction they want the company to go, so Loar resigned.

ViVi-Tone guitars

Loar formed a partnership with Lewis William, the Gibson investor and Walter Moon to start up the ViVi-Tone Guitar Company. The company produced acoustic archtop guitars and allowed Loar the freedom to pursue building electrified instruments, which in time were produced.

ViVi-Tone acoustic mandolin

The Vivitone guitar and his other Vivitone instruments were unique because Loar took his idea for the Virzi-Tone a step father.

Note the pickup "drawer"

The backs were recessed with a rigid laminated rim. The solid wood that stood away from the rim was actually a secondary soundboard that had an additional set of F-holes.





The object was for the player to hold the Vivitone guitar or mandolin away from his body in the manner of a classical guitarist to permit the back soundboard to vibrate. These guitars featured tone bars and backs and tops that were hand tuned. The F-holes were strategically placed for maximum sound projection and a secondary set of F-holes were carved into the guitars back.

ViVi-Tone Electric Violin

Loar produced a Vivtone pear-shaped electric mandolin and an electric violin that had no back or sides. The electronic pick was house it a rectangular piece of wood that was parallel to the instruments body.

ViviTone solid electric Tenor guitar

One of Loar’s most radical creations was perhaps the first solidbody electric guitar. This instrument was essentially a guitar top that resembled an archtop guitar, only it did not have a back or sides.

1930's ViviTone Electric guitar

It had a solid wooded block across the back that housed the pickup and electronics

A strip of metal ran the length of the body and neck. All the sound came from the pickup beneath its bridge. The cord was different than modern ones. It featured two prongs and was covered in cloth wrapping.

Loar Amplifer with parts

Loar also improved amplifiers for his electric instruments. He added a motorized system of moving baffles in front of the speakers.

Loar speaker with paddles

He also created another system of moving paddles in front of the speaker that could be turned off and on.

Around the same time period, radio engineer Donald Leslie took this a step further than the version Loar was utilizing. Leslie made his first speaker cabinet in 1941 as an add-on to the Hammond Organ as well as other organs.

Loar's personal electric piano

Finally Loar created the first ever electric piano that utilized small sound bars that would chime when tapped by the piano keys. The bars had coil pickups. He called his electric piano the Vivitone Clavier.



This is the same principal that both Rhodes/Fender and Wurlitzer used when they designed their electric pianos decades later.

The Depression hit the United States in 1929. Investors were hard to find. Loar’s partner Lewis Williams continued to sell Vivitone Guitars through 1940. Loar concentrated on his electrified piano but was not able to keep the dream alive. He took a job teaching music theory at Northwestern University until his death in 1943.

Duesenberg Guitars 2016 NAMM display

I first noticed Duesenberg Guitars almost 20 years ago when I was reading advertisements and reviews in a British Guitar magazine. They looked like very unique versions of American guitars, but they had marked differences.

Duesenberg guitars were a big hit at this years NAMM exhibit. In researching Duesenberg, I have discovered this German manufacturer has a most interesting history.

Dieter Gölsdorf

The company got its start in 1978 when founder Dieter Gölsdorf started the Rockinger Guitars Company. The goal was to sell guitar kits and guitar replacement parts at affordable prices. Within a few years he took note of suggestions by business partners and friends and created the Rockinger Tru Tune Tremolo system.

This vibrato unit was loosely based on Fender’s Stratocaster tremolo, but was in several ways a superior unit.

The Rockinger Tru Tremolo had a locking system that came as an add-on and the unit included its own special nut that kept the strings in tune. Additionally the unit featured conical bearings, adjustable bridge saddles and fine tuning knobs for each string.

Kramer Guitars was the first company to add this to some of their models as standard equipment. It was featured on the Kramer Eddie Van Halen Pacer model and Kramer called it the Eddie Van Halen Tremolo.

It was not long after the Tru Tremolo's success that the Les Trem II was developed and marketed as an add on for Les Paul guitars.

By 1981 the Rockinger company expanded to the United States and set up Rockinger-USA in Asbury Park New Jersey. More updated tremolo systems were added and offered and the company set up production of P-90 style pickups. A year later Rockinger began exporting products to South Africa and New Zealand.

Rockinger Guitar

By 1983 Rockinger Guitars began making its own guitar bodies and necks.

1986 was when the Duesenberg name was first attached to a guitar. This guitar was called the Atze Rockinger Duesenberg. The name was derived from the 1920’s  automobile brand that was built by Friedrich and August Duesenberg in Indianapolis Indiana. These luxury cars were high quality, high performance and very expensive automobiles. Duesenbergs were commonly nicknamed Doozy or Duesy, which eventually became an expression for a very good product.

Rockinger Kit from Musiker Board site

In 1987 Gölsdorf established Formentera Guitars, which offered build-your-own-guitar kits that were sold directly to consumers.

However within a few years internal differences were occurring, so that by 1991 the direct-to-customer business ceased.

That year the company was renamed Göldo Music. Their focus was on distribution and export of Germany produced instruments and part, and outsourcing components to dealers and wholesalers.

Within a few years Göldo Music had established what would become their most popular model; the Duesenberg Starplayer TV guitar.

Carl Carlton with his Duesenberg model

By 1995 the new Duesenberg Starplayer Retro line was introduced and marketed by signing up Keb Mo and Carl Carlton as artists.

Two years later the Diego high quality reproduction line was offered.



The year 2000 brought about a dramatic increase in sales, especially in the Japanese market.

Ron Wood with his Duesenberg

In 2002 the company inked a deal with Ron Wood by creating the Ron Wood Signature model  Duesenberg guitar.

In 2003 DSP Guitar named Duesenberg as The Guitar of the Year in England.


That same year ZZ-Top's Billy Gibbons and Chris Whitley were new sponsoring artists.

Duesenberg, Fullerton CA

By 2004 Duesenberg started a new chapter by opening a United States branch in Fullerton California.

Duesenberg, Hannover,  Germany

As sales grew, in 2011 Göldo Music moved to a larger facility on the outskirts of Hannover Germany where they are currently located.

Billy Gibbons with Duesebberg

Duesenbergs' design goal is to offer Art-Deco features on their guitars, especially the headstocks. The guitars are based on classic guitar shapes, with a twist on the colours and textures.

Many Duesenberg guitars come with a Bigsby style vibrato with a modified arm. Those without the vibrato usually have a tune-o-matic style bridge and a stop tailpiece. The exception is the solid body Duesenberg 49er which comes with a wrap-around tailpiece that has individual saddles.

Duesenberg utilizes some extremely unique colours and patterns on their guitars, such as transparent orange, surf green, pastel red, and glitter finishes that come  in black, blue and silver. Other more extravagant finishes include mother-of-pearl, ice, blue and emerald pearl. More traditional offerings include gold, sunburst, fireburst and blonde.



Some of Duesenbergs most unique designs are done in a mosaic tiled finish with a mirrored pickguard.



And some models come with images embossed on the top such as their Johnny Depp models.


The pickguards are generally Duesenberg’s own trademark design, that includes single volume and tone controls and a Stratocaster style slider switch.

Note the Art Diege (Art Deco) tuners

The headstocks are equipped with Kluson tuners. In fact Göldo Music registered the Kluson name in 1989 for the European market.


The guitars tops, sides and backs are generally made of maple on Duesenberg guitars. However there are some guitar that use mahogany for the body and neck. The necks generally feature American hardrock maple. But once again some models feature mahogany necks.

Hollow body Imperial

Duesenberg offers semi-hollow, hollow and solid body instruments. Fret boards are usually made of Indian rosewood with dot inlay, unless the model calls for fancy inlay.

The company's woodworking is done in Korea, but all guitar assembly is finished in Germany.

PLEK CNC Fret Leveling Station

The frets are installed in Germany and finished by a very interesting computerized system known as the Plek CNC fret dressing system. This computerized system was designed and developed in Berlin by Gerd Anke. It is a computer-controlled alternative to traditional methods of manual fret dressing, the Plek records the fret height in relation to the fretboard surface beneath each string with a mechanical finger (touch probe) guided by a computer-controlled arm.

A PLEK in action

It works by tuning the guitar to concert pitch during the process and then scanning the neck and fretboard. The data is displayed in graphic form on the Plek monitor. Graphs illustrate cross-sectional views and pertinent measurements for the frets under each of the string paths as well as individual fret curvature (radius).

This original fret path is indicated on screen in red and makes the fret-height anomalies quite evident.

Once all the anomalies are determined, the strings are loosened and the computer guides a mildly abrasive rubberized wheel over each fret to remove the determined amount of fret material. The fret height is achieved to an exact crown contour for each fret. It is remarkable to say the least.

Starplayer TV

Duesenberg's best known model is the Starplayer TV, which is now known as simply the TV guitar. This is a semi-hollow guitar with one F-hole on the upper bout. It features a center sustain block a maple neck and an arched back and a laminated arched top. The TV is reminiscent of a Gibson Les Paul.

The standard version comes with twin pickups. The neck pickup is Göldo Musics version of a P90 which the company has named the Domino P90 pickup. The bridge features their version of a humbucker known as the Grand Vintage humbucker.

The TV guitars strings pass over a tune-o-matic style bridge and are attached to their Diamond Deluxe Tremola. These are exquisitve looking instruments. This model guitar is also available with a stop tailpiece.

TV Classic -Honey Finish

The TV model comes in a variety of finishes including the TV Classic which has a honey finish complete with ovular inlaid position markers and a 5 layer binding on the body.

TV Outlaw - Leather Finish

The TV Outlaw has leather covering on the body and headstock and a nickel plated pickguard.

TV Pearl

The TV Pearl features a mosaic pearl tile finish on the top of the body and headstock.

Starplayer TV Custom

The TV Custom features gold-plated hardware and 3 D-Tron humbucking pickups.

Mike Campbel I and II

There are several artist models of the Duesenberg TV guitar including the Mike Campbell model, the Chris Whitley model that had a piezo pickup in the bridge and the Ron Wood model. The Ron Wood model was a limited run of only 100 guitars and is no longer offered by Duesenberg.

Duesenberg Dave Stewart Blackbird

The Dave Stewart model is based on the Starplayer III with silver-plated hardware, custom inlays and an aluminum stop tailpiece. The graphic on the body was designed by Dave Stewart.

Starplayer III

The Starplayer III is made like the original version of the Starplayer guitar. It comes with similar hardware as the TV guitar, but the top is made of spruce and is flat. The back on this instrument is made of maple. It is available in black and champagne sparkle.

Fullerton TV

Duesenberg's Fullerton TV guitar combines the same features found on the TV guitar, but with a double cutaway. It also comes in a hollowbody version known as the Fullerton Hollow.

Duesenberg Imperial

The Imperial guitar is a full sized hollowbody guitar available in red-burst, transparent orange and black (as a special order). This guitar comes with a clear pickguard and Saturn shaped inlays. Controls include volume, tone, mid shift and pickup selector switch.

Duesenberg CC (Carl Carlton)

The C.C. Is an arched top full sized semi hollow body guitar with a laminated spruce top and maple back. The guitar features block inlays on the fretboard.

Duesenberg 440

The 440 is a semi-hollow guitar, with no tremolo. Like the Imperial, it features Saturn inlaid position maker. The back has a beautiful decorative inlay pattern that splits the book matched sides of the wood. The headstock has rosewood veneer on its surface.

52 Senior

The shape of the Duesenberg 52 Senior resembles a gold top Les Paul. It appears to be a solid body guitar, however its mahogany body has sound chambers.


The top is made of arched maple and topped with a single pickup in the neck position. This can be either a Domino P90 or another pickup that Duesenberg calls the Little Toaster.

Duesenberg 52 Senior

The strings are attached to a brass wrap-around tailpiece. The Duesenberg style pickguard features a single volume and tone control and a Strat-style slider switch that creates 3 differing sounds.

Double Cat

The Double Cat is Duesenberg’s version of a Rickenbacker style guitar, but the company does not copy Rickenbacker except for the cats eye sound-hole. At one time the model had a headstock similar to Rickenbackers 12 string design. But that has since been updated.

The Double Cat is a semi-hollow body guitar that is so named due to its double cutaways.

The body is alder wood which is topped with maple laminate. The neck on this guitar is set in style with an Indian rosewood fretboard. The fret markers are pearloid dot inlay style. The tuners are Duesenberg Z style models.

Double Cat with Multibender

The Double Cats strings can attach to either a Duesenberg Deluxe Tremola, or a Duesenberg dual palm pedal which the company calls a Multibender. The bridge is a Duesenberg steel saddle model that resembles a Gibson tune-o-matic bridge.

Double Cat 12

This model comes as a 12 string version with an aluminum stop tailpiece and is available in Fireburst or Black.

Starplayer Special

The Starplayer Special is single cutaway electric solidbody guitar with a bolt-on neck. The body on this guitar is alder and the neck is made of maple. The fretboard is Indian rosewood with pearloid dot position markers. The tuners are Duesenberg Z models and the guitar comes with an aluminum stop tail piece and steel saddle bridge.

This guitar is topped with Duesenbergs high output Crunchbucker pickup.

The Starplayer Special is available in a variety of colours that include sparkle finishes.

Duesenberg 49er

The Duesenberg 49er is a single cutaway, solidbody, dual pickup set neck electric guitar. The 49ers body is made of mahogany as is the neck. This guitar features a Domino P90 pickup in the bridge position and a Grand Vintage Humbucker in the neck position.

49er - String-through

One very unique feature on the 49er is the string-thru-body system that assists in giving this guitar sustain.

Once again the fretboard on the 49er is made of Indian rosewood topped with pearloid dot markers. The tuning keys are also unique with their art deco design.

49er with Outlaw finish

The 49er comes in Honey, Gold-Top, Blue-Pearloid and the Outlaw design, which features Leather on the guitars top and headstock

Dragster

Duesenberg’s Dragster is a electric solidbody guitar with just a single Domino P90 pickup in the bridge position. The body and neck are both made of mahogany. The fretboard is again Indian rosewood with pearloid dot position markers..

Double Cutaway Dragster

Although The Dragster it is a single coil pickup, there is a slider switch on the pickguard that provides a variety of tones.

Oil and Wax Finish

The bridge is a wrap-around style, but its unique design allows for individual string saddles. This model comes as a single cutaway or double cutaway with a variety of finishes or better yet as a double cutaway with bare wood and an oil and wax finish.

Starplayer Bass

Duesenberg Guitars offer several fine bass models that include the Starplayer Bass. This is a short scale bass; 30.3” that has a single cutaway and twin Duesenberg Bass-Bucker pickups. It is a semi-hollow instrument with one F-hole and a center block. The top is laminated spruce and the back and sides are made of flamed maple. The neck is made of maple with an Indian rosewood fretboard. The tuners are Duesenberg Z models with an Art Deco design.

The strings go over a Starplayer bass bridge with adjustable saddles and are attached to a trapeze tailpiece. This bass is available in a variety of finishes which include the Mike Campbell version that is Ice Pearl mosaic and the Outlaw version with is decked out in black leather. Controls include an on/off switch, 2 volume potentiometers and 1 tone control.

Fullerton Bass

The Fullerton Bass appears to be a double cutaway version of the Starplayer Bass, however the Fullerton bass is a true hollow body instrument and the electronics are different. They include a single volume and tone control and a slider switch to activate the choice of the basses dual Bass-Bucker pickups.

Motown Bass

The Duesenberg Motown Bass is one of their long scale models. The Motown Bass is a single cutaway, semi-hollow, electric bass that features 3 Duesenberg DS Alnico blade single coil pickups. The arched top is made of laminated spruce and the back and sides are beautiful flame maple. The neck is maple. The fretboard is Indian rosewood with pearloid diamond position markers.

The headstock is topped with 4 Duesenberg Z tuners done in Art Deco design. It only comes in Fireburst.

Triton Bass

The Duesenberg Triton Bass is a solid body, long bolton neck electric model that features three Duesenberg Single-Twin Bass humbucking pickups. The body is made of American alder and the neck is made of maple.

This basses body has a unique shape. Pickups are controlled by a single volume and tone control and a five-way blade switch. The headstock is topped with four Duesenberg Z-Tuners that are featured with an Art Deco design.

The bridge/tailpiece is called The Block, which is a one-piece unit that is adjustable for height and length.

Duesenberg D Bass

The Duesenberg D Bass is more of a Fenderesque design. It is another long neck model that comes with a bolt-on maple neck that is topped with an Indian rosewood fretboard.

The body is made of contoured American alder wood. There are twin staggered pickups placed in the same manor as one would find on a Fender Precision Bass. The pickups are Duesenberg’s “Toaster” models. Once again the headstock is topped the Art Deco tuners.


This bass comes with a unique adjustable bridge/saddle and a separate tailpiece. It also can be ordered with a fretless neck.

Violin Bass

Duesenberg also offers a hollow body short scale violin bass that is similar to a Hofner 500/1 model.

Aside from the guitars that I have already described, Duesenbert offers several artist models which feature input from the artists, but are based on standard Duesenberg models.

Johnny Depp - Joe Walsh - Mike Campbell - Peter Stroud - Dave Stewart (bottom)

The exception is the Johnny Depp Model which has its own unique shape. The others include their Joe Walsh Model,  two Mike Campbell Models, the Peter Stroud Dragster Model that comes with a dual palm pedal and the Dave Stewart Blackbird Model.

Epiphone guitars are one of Americas oldest brands. They had their start in 1873 when Kostantinos Stathopoulo when he brought his family from Sparta in Greece to the town of a large town in Turkey. It was here that he established himself as a lumber merchant.

The A. Stathopoulos Family

Stathopoulo would bring his son, Anastasio with him on trips throughout Europe for the purpose of importing tonewoods. On these Anastasio learned the importance of good wood in the creation of musical instrument.

While living in Smyrna the family already had established a good reputation for selling and repairing lutes, violins and bouzoukis. In time, Anastasio became a very talented luthier.

By 1890 he opened his own instrument factory and taught the trade to his sons, Epaminondas, Alex, Minnie, Orpheuand Frixo.

Anastasio's Mandolin Patent

Due to the extreme taxes imposed on immigrants Anastasios and his family immigrated to the United States to a home on Manhattan’s lower east side where he opened a shop to create and repair stringed instruments. He even established a patent for an Italian style bowl back mandolin under the Orpheum Lyra brand.

Epi from Bob Cage collection

Anastasio’s oldest son, Epaminondas was better known to all as Epi. As a young man he was fortunate enough to attend Columbia University where he graduated with honors. Following graduation Epi and his brother Orpheuand, who was better known as Orphie, helped their father in his shop.

Anastasio passed away when Epi was only 22 years old, leaving behind an established business. It was then that Epi, the eldest son, took control and renamed the shop, The House of Stathopouli.


Epi made some major changes by phasing out the manufacturing of older instruments that had been standard in the "old country" in favor of banjos which were quite popular at the time.. He was even granted a patent for a banjo tone ring and rim.

Recording banjos

The Stathopoulis' “Recording” banjo was earning some popularity and created income so the Stathopoulos family acquired interest in another musical instrument manufacturing firms assets and gave the growing business a new name; Epiphone, which was not just a reference to Epi’s name, but this was taken from the Greek word epiphonous, that in Greek means one sound upon another.

In 1928 Epiphone was contracted to make banjos for the Selmer/Conn (Connecticut) Music Company. That same year Epiphone introduced a line of acoustic guitars, which they sold under the Recording Series brand name.

From the Dutch Archtop Museum

WWII took a toll on US industry and changed manufacturing forever. The musical instrument industry was no exception. Money was tight. Sadly Epi Stathopoulos had died in 1943, which left the company in the hands of his brothers.

Fixo playing an Epiphone guitar

By 1948 Frixo had enough of the business and sold his shares to Orphie. By the early 1950's the Epiphone factory was having trouble with its workforce and a union strike was eminent.  So in 1953 the decision was made to move from Manhattan to Philadelphia to avoid the strike.


Many of the companies best workmen refused to leave New York, which lead to the start of Guild Guitars, but that is another story. Orphie had also moved the distribution rights for Selmer/Conn along with the company. Despite this the company was having financial problems.

Orphie Stathopoulos

Les Paul, who was a good friend of Orphie, knew of Epiphones struggles. He contacted his friend Ted McCarty, president of the Gibson Musical Instrument to see if Gibson was interested in purchasing its biggest rival; Epiphone.

Les Paul and Ted McCarty

The Gibson company made an offer to buy out Epiphone for a mere $20,000. McCarty and Gibsons plan was originally to use their factory to produce double basses, however McCarty soon realized that he could contnue manufacturing guitars under the Epiphone brand and offer these instruments to dealers that had been standing in line to get a Gibson franchise, but were not yet profitable enough.


Orphie took up the offer and the Stathopoulos family was out of the musical instrument manufacturing business. Gibson Guitars/ CMI (Chicago Musical Instruments) straightaway went into production of Eiphone Guitars.

Gibson display 1958 NAMM

By 1958 Gibson made Epiphone guitars were featured at the NAMM exhibition. Due to Gibsons marketing strategy for many future years Gibson guitars were perceived as top dog, and Epiphones were left in the "also-rans" category. However this was far from being true. Epiphone guitars made between the years of 1958 to 1969 were in some instances superior and every bit equal to Gibson guitars, in construction quality and materials.

1921 Advertisement for the Chicago Musical Instrument Company

By 1969 Chicago Musical Instrument/CMI, which had owned Gibson Guitars since 1944, was having financial problems. The guitar craze had ended and Chicago Musical Instrument allowed Gibson Guitars to be purchased by an Ecuadorian beer company known as ECL and managed under the name Norlin Musical Instruments.

Due to questionable marketing and poor sales of Epiphone products, ECL made the business decision to move Epiphone production to Matsumoku Japan, sometimes known as Matsumoto Mokko, or the Matsumoto Woodworking Company.

This company was already an established guitar producer and already exporting vast quantities of guitars and violins which had been flooding the world market since the early 1960’s. Epiphone, for the most part, has ever since been produced in the Far East.

Ed Sullivan Show 2/09/1964

It was in 1964 when the Beatles first appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. Immediately after it every kid in America wanted to play the electric guitar, including me. By 1965 my friends and I had formed garage band.

Dave Kohl with Epiphone Coronet

At the time I owned a Fender Stratocaster and my band mate David Kohl owned a 1964 single pickup Epiphone Coronet that came with a Gibson P-90 pickup, an Epiphone vibrato and a six-on-a-side batwing headstock. Had we only known how to set up a guitar, that instrument would have rivaled any Gibson SG Junior.

1963 Epiphone Coronet like Dave's

During that brief eleven year period Gibson produced only five Epiphone solid body guitars, if you count the two different Olympic models.

Price comparison - Epiphone from eBay - SG from Gary's Classic Guitars

In my opinion these were excellent guitars back then and in the vintage market can still be purchased at a reduced price when compared with solid body Gibson instruments of the same vintage.

These guitars bore a resemblance to Fender guitars in their features; double cutaway horns and later models came with the six-on-a-side headstock, but they were more like Gibson guitars based on the choice of wood, electronics and finishes.

1958 Epiphone Crestwood

The Epiphone Crestwood was the first solid electric guitar to come out of the Gibson factory back in 1958. Its body was made of mahogany and shaped with two symetrical rounded horns.

The set in neck was also made of mahogany and topped with a rosewood fretboard and dot inlays. It’s scale was typical of Gibson; 24.75 inches.



This guitar had twin New York adjustable pickups, which were Epiphone single coil models that the company had been using since 1947.  The guitar also had two volume and two tone controls, and a 3-way selector switch.

1961 Epiphone Crestwood Custom

The 1958 headstock was a 3 on-side model topped with a plate Epiphone logo. This was later updated in 1963 to the six-on-a-side style that is known as the “batwing” due to the shape of its bottom.

The guitar featured a stop tail piece and a tune-o-matic bridge. The pickguard changed over time. The original instrument came with the guard covering only the lower portion of the guitar. Sometime during 1959 the guard was updated to cover most of the guitars upper bout.

1961 Crestwood

The hardware on the 1958 model was gold-plated and the electronic knobs were white. It was only available in sunburst. In 1959 Gibson came out with the Crestwood Custom.

1962 Crestwood

From 1959 to 1962 the body was symmetrical, but in 1963 until the end of the run in 1969 the shape changed and it was slightly asymmetrical. The upper horn was longer than the lower one.

1965 Crestwood Custom

The body and set in neck were still made of mahogany. The neck was topped with a rosewood fretboard featuring dot inlays. The headstock was still the 3-on-a-side style through 1962, when it was updated to the batwing style in 1963.

In 1961 the neck featured block inlays.

The Crestwood Customs pickguard covered the upper half of the body until 1965 when it was updated to the modern and unique shape that you see here.

The control pattern also changed in 1965 from the previous staggered Gibson style arrangement to all the potentiometers being in a row on the lower bout.

From 1959 to 1962 the hardware was gold plated. This changed to nickel plated in 1963.

The guitars pickups were still twin Epiphone adjustable New York models through 1960. Gibson changed them to Gibson mini-humbuckers in 1961. This guitar was offered in a variety of colours which included sunset yellow, California Coral, Pacific Blue, Black, White and Cherry.

'65 Crestwood Deluxe

The Crestwood Deluxe was introduced in 1963. Like the other Crestwoods this came with similar accouterments. The mahogany body was offset and asymmetrical. The mahogany neck was topped with a batwing style headstock that was bound, however the bound neck was fitted with an ebony fretboard that had block inlay position markers. The hardware was nickel-plated. The strings went over a tune-o-matic bridge and were secured by an Epiphone Tremtone vibrato tailpiece. This model came with three mini-humbucking pickups. It was offered with the same colour options as the Custom model.

1959 Epiphone Wilshire

In 1959, Gibson also debuted the Epiphone Wilshire solidbody guitar. The instruments shape was similar to the Crestwood, but the Wilshire featured P-90 pickups. Initially the Wiltshire's mahogany body was symmetrical, but this changed in 1963 to the same asymmetrical shape as the Crestwoods of similar vintage.

The models were available with one pickup in the bridge position or two in the neck and bridge position. Initially the pickups came with black plastic covers.

1961 Epiphone Wilshire

The bridge saddle was  a tune-o-matic bridge with a stop tailpiece or an optional Gibson Maestro Vibrato.




The Wilshire came with a single volume and tone control for the one pickup models or twin volume and tone controls, plus a three-way selector for the two pickup models.

The unbound mahogany neck was topped with a rosewood fretboard that had dot inlays. The headstock was the three-on-a-side model in black with the silkscreen Epiphone logo in script similar to a Gibson logo.

The headstock style continued through 1962. By 1963 many updates were put into place. The Wilshire's headstock was replaced with the batwing version. This same year the pickups were changed to mini-humbuckers and the pickguard shape changed as well.

1964 Eiphone Wilshire

Initially the pickguard covered the upper portion of the guitar. But in 1963 the pickguard was modernized and the controls were placed in a row on the guitars lower bout, instead of the staggered Gibson-style arrangement.

The hardware on the Wilshire remained all nickel-plated throughout its run.

The Epiphone Wilshire ceased production in 1969, but was still being offered through 1970. It was available in a variety of colours which included ebony, sunburst, “red fox”, inverness green, white and cherry.

66 Wilshire 12 string

In 1966 the Epiphone Wilshire was offered for two years as a 12 string model. It came with twin mini-humbucking pickups. The only colour choice was cherry.

In 1958 the other solid body model that Gibson Guitars introduced under the Epiphone brand was called The Coronet. This was an inexpensive solid body electric guitar, that sold at $120 that year. The mahogany body on this guitar was the same symmetrical one used on the Crestwood and the Wilshire of that era, as was the neck.

Two 1958 Epiphone Coronets

From 1958 to 1959 the Coronet came with a large white pickguard that covered most of the bottom of the upper bout. By 1960 this had changed to a large white pickguard that coverd most of the guitars upper section. The pickguard had a large stylized letter E on the guard.

All of Epiphones solid guitars were a little thicker during the years of 1958 through 1959; 1.75 inches.

Starting in 1960 until the end of the run the body thickness was 1.375 inches.

1958 Coronet

The Coronet first came with a non-adjustable Epiphone New York Century pickup with a metal cover. This model's name had been used since the 1950’s on Epiphone archtop guitars. Starting in 1958 Gibson introduced the solid body Epiphone Coronet. This guitar initially was offered with a P-90 pickup which came with either a black plastic or nickel-plated cover.

The guitars one piece 24 3/4” scale mahogany neck was topped with a rosewood fretboard that came with dot inlays.

1962 Coronet with pearl logo

The original headstock was a three-on-a-side model that had an Epiphone metal logo from 1958 to 1960. During the years 1960-1962 this was changed to a pearl inlaid logo. For one year, 1962, the logo was done in silkscreen. Then in 1963 through the end of the run in 1969 the Coronet acquired the batwing headstock with a silkscreen logo.

Different pickups nnd bridge saddles. - Gary's Classic & Willie's Guitars

The Coronet originally came with an angled wrap-around tail piece. Starting in 1961 this became the Gibson model straight/compensated wrap-around model. In 1962 a vibrato was offered as an option with a straight compensated non adjustable bridge saddle.

1964 Epiphone Coronet

Following the examples of the Crestwood and Wilshire, in 1963 the Coronets body was changed to an asymmetrical shape.

The Coronet was offered with finishes in cherry, black, silver fox, sunset yellow, pacific blue or California coral.

Epiphone Dwight Coronet

For one year, 1964, the Sonny Shields Music store of East Saint Louis, Illinois, owned by Charles Dwight Shields, offered a Coronet model under their own logo which was Dwight. This was the same as Epiphone Coronets except the name “Dwight” was inscribed on the guitars truss rod cover. The Dwight Coronet only was offered with a silver fox finish.

1935 Epi Olympic

In the mid 1930's Epiphone first offered an archtop guitar known as the Olympic. In 1960 Gibson used that same name on an Epiphone solidbody guitar.

1961 Epiphone Olympic

Unlike all the other Epiphone solidbody models of this era, The Olympic started out with the same mahogany body as Gibson Melody Maker. In fact it looked just like a single cutaway Melody Maker. Just like that guitar, the Olympic came with a single pickup in the bridge position mounted on the all-in-one pickguard that was assembled with a volume and tone control and the jack.

The Olympics bridge was a tilted wrap-around model.

The neck was also made of  mahogany and topped with a rosewood fretboard with dot inlays. But for the fact the headstock read Epiphone the Olympic was indistinguishable from the Gibson model.

1963 Olympic

In 1963 the Olympics mahogany body was updated to conform with the other 1960’s Epiphone models. The body was now asymmetrical with a larger upper horn. The 1963 and 1964 models came with the Epiphone three-on-a-side headstock that bore the silkscreen Epiphone logo.

The mahogany neck still had a rosewood fretboard with dot inlays. What carried over from the Melody Maker version was the all-in-one pickguard with electronics. This was a cost cutting measure that Gibson utilized on these student instruments. The pickguard covered the center and and lower portion of the Olympics body.

Like its predecessor, the pickup(s) were still  single coil models with a black plastic cover, but narrower than the Melody Maker version.

The bridge/saddle was a wrap-around model, only it was non-tilted and compensated.

1964 Epi Olympic

In 1964 the headstock was updated to the batwing design and the Olympic was now offered with an optional Maestro Vibrola. Colour choice for the Olympic was sunburst or cherry.

1960 Olympic Double

The Olympic Double came with twin single coil pickups. The first model offered in 1960 was the same guitar as a Gibson single cutaway Melody Maker with the same mahogany neck and body, the same rosewood fretboard and same pickguard with all the electronics mounted on it.

1962 Olympic Double

In 1962, the Olympics shape was changed to resemble the double cutaway Melody Maker.

All that distinguished it from a Gibson was the silkscreen Epiphone logo.

1963 Olympic Double

By 1963 the Olympics shape changed to the asymmetrical Epiphone style. The pickguard was enlarged and had the Epiphone stylized E in its center, between the two single coil pickups.

1964 Olympic Double

Initially the headstock was the Epiphone three-on-a-side style, but this was updated to the batwing headstock in 1964.

The Olympic was offered with a wrap-around tailpiece or an optional Maestro Vibrola. It came only in sunburst or cherry finishes.

Olympic Special

The Olympic Special was the same guitar as the Melody Maker style Olympic. This gutiar was only offered in sunburst and only with a single pickup.

3/4 size Epiphone Olympic

A 3/4 scale version of the Olympic was available from 1960 to 1963. This shorter version had a 22 3/4” scale with only 19 frets on its rosewood fretboard. Gibson designers made this guitar a short scale model by shortening the neck and attaching it to the body at the 12th fret. The 3/4 size Olympic was only available as a single cutaway model with a sunburst finish.

The last Epiphone Solidbody guitars made in Kalamazoo

The run of Kalamazoo manufactured Epiphone solidbody guitars ended in 1969. As stated earlier, production was moved to Japan. The Epiphone solidbody guitar would not resurface until 1975 and then it was only for the Japanese market.

Mid '80's Wilshire

By 1982 production started up for the world market, but these guitars barely resembled their predecessors. They may have had the Epiphone logo, however these were more Strat-style guitars.





Then in 1991, an updated version of the Epiphone Coronet was issued. This time the guitar had a slightly different body.



A single coil angled pickup was in the neck position and an uncovered humbucker in the bridge position. This version of the Coronet came with a stop tailpiece, but could be ordered with a tune-o-matic bridge and stop tailpiece or a modern vibrato system with string locks and micro tuners.

1990's 2nd version of the Coronet

The 1991 Coronet guitar initially had the 3-on-a-side headstock, but this was changed to and upturned 1990’s six-on-a-side style with the tuners on the bottom. The neck had 24 frets. However this guitar was manufactured in the USA.

1995 Crestwood

By 1995 the current owners of Gibson saw the value in offering the 1960’s style Epi solidbody guitars and introduced a Far Eastern made versions of the Coronet and the Wilshire.

2009 - Epiphone Wilshire 1962 reissue and 1966 reissue

Then in 2009 the Epiphone 1966 Wilshire reissue was offered that was made in Asia. That same year a limited run of 100 models of the USA made 1962 Wilshire were offered that same year.

Epiphone Wilshire Phantomatic

Currently the only Epiphone solidbody offered is the Wilshire Phantomatic that was designed by Gibson and Frank Iero of My Chemical Romance. There are a lot of updates on this guitar such as the 12” neck radius, Wilkinson tuners and the Varitone notch filter instead of a tone control.