Farm Livin' is the Life for Me

Amy from "Amy & Adams" with her full size dreadnought Alverez, as seen at the Farmer's Union booth at the MN State Fair.

Video-Caster

Vintage vibes a-plenty with really unique cowboy guitar dating back to circa 1950. I picked this one up in Burnsville last month while enroute to a show at the new High Five club. It came with the original case too, which is a huge bonus when you'vs got a guitar that dates back over 60 years. There's hardly any info on web about the Pablo Camille Video guitar; & the word video wasn't even invented til around 1937. This one's going to be available on Craigslist this week if you're in the market.

Yamaha G55 Classical

Front & rear of Yamaha classical guitar, owned by Craig Asche in Fridley MN. Craig contacted me this week looking for offers on this guitar & carrying case. Drop me a line if you're looking for an inexpensive nylon string guitar & I'll forward it to Craig.

Vertigo

This one of a kind guitar submitted today by Tim Krueger. He's currently teaching guitar at Buffalo Guitar Studio in Buffalo, MN. His custom fretless Fernandes Vertigo is quite the fine axe that you won't see anywhere else. The mirrored glass fingerboard was installed by Ned Evett's shop in Idaho.
For more info on this guitar or Tim's studio follow the link below.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Buffalo-Guitar-Studio/200046503458755

Mystery Machine

Today's feature submitted by Jon Tranberry here in the Twin Cities. He's looking for a little assistance in identifying this gem of an acoustic for a friend of his. Knowing how much our readers love to assist other local players I agreed to publish this photo to see who could be the first to offer up the correct identity & origin of this unusual 6 string guitar. You can use the comment section below to give it your best shot. Jon sends his thanks in advance.       }:-D-

Rockabilly Heaven

Here's an early 1960's single pick-up arch top electric from KAY. I've got a soft spot for these old catalog guitars that were once plentiful in rural America which are now becoming increasingly hard to find id decent condition. This is one of a few fine specimens that I picked up this weekend from my fourth cousin (twice removed); the well known HAM radio aficionado Bob Bartkus in Moundsview. He's preserved this axe quite nicely over the years, & I'm certainly proud to call it mine at this time. There is just no substitute for vintage Mojo.

UPDATE, 10/13/2012:  This little wonder has already been SOLD now. Congratulations to Johnny from NE Minneapolis. We'll all still get to see this guitar in his weekly shows here in Mpls.

Wyatt's Wonderful J-200

Wyatt Cote has been swapping guitars since his early teens & has now accumulated many cool specimens. I think the rarest of his prized vintage instruments currently is a Gibson J-200....Jr.
Made in the 90s at the Bozeman factory, Gibson only did a limited run for a few years. You could travel to guitar shops around the US & you'd rarely see another. Wyatt acquired this at a local pawn shop in Mankato for $900, which was a bargain so he snatched it up and has been looking on ebay, craigslist and gbase ever since to see if he could find another one.

Wyatt is currently seeking a new band to work with in the metro area, He lives in Mankato, but if the circumstances are right he would move or just drive without a problem.  He wants to play guitar for a living, and has done a pretty good job so far at paying the bills so far; but he's finding it a little tough to find work at the moment.

Here is his webpage, it has links to Facebook , Youtube & Twitter  

http://www.wyattcote.com

Thanks for sending the great photos, Wyatt. Best of luck to you.

Parts-O-Caster

A friend of mine stopped over to jam a couple weeks ago, & without missing a beat I leaned over & snapped a couple shots of his back-up 6 string tele while it was resting on the stand. The Bender is a surprisingly sweet playing axe with bastardized tremelo, as indicated on the custom headstock decal. The neck feels meaty, with the big frets you wouldn't expect to find on a fender. This is one guitar you need to see & hear, the next time the Whatknots play in a burb near you. Dan Hanson, the regional sales rep for Fender will be happy to show you this & other guitars he uses on the show. Click HERE for their web page. They're practically the world's greatest cover band.

Rock with me tonight at Neisen's in Savage. It's gonna be a great NO COVER show.

Emperor's New Clothes

1997 Epiphone Emperor Regent archtop jazz guitar, fondly dubbed "Goldfingers" by owner George Paulos of Little Canada. This is a true hollow body guitar with a laminated spruce top & stunning sparkle gold finish. Once again George has reworked this axe to taste by refitting with a lot of new hardware, including an ebony bridge, Kent Armstrong pickup, Wilkinson Keystone tuners, and a harp trapeze tailpiece to replace the traditional Epiphone "Frequensator" tailpiece which would not fit his strings. George loves freaking out stuck-up jazz snobs with this ultra gaudy glitter axe. Although it is primarily a jazz guitar, it can get a real gnarly sound when run into a rock amp, just don't get too close! Check out George's band Rhythm Engine to see this axe, along with his other unique guitars performing live locally in the twin cities.

1968 Gibson Dove

This classic is owned by Dan Osberg of Cottage Grove. Dan inherited this gem from his father who played a lot of shows in South Minneapolis back in the day. Note the addition of a custom clear plexi pick guard on the top. This axe has played a lot of polka & country before Dan ever got rocking on it. While this guitar has a lot of monetary value, nothing can compare to the sentimental value that Dan places on this classic honky tonk machine. I've played many shows with Dan this year. He a solid reliable player, & a dedicated rocker who's most noted for his prior work with the twin cities based Metallica tribute show "One".

Can you correctly identify this Mystery Axe?

Freak of the Week
Comment on this post, or send me a message if you think that you can correctly identify this fine axe.


Here's some cool links to vintage guitars for the enthusiast:
http://www.vintageguitar.com/
http://www.solidbodyguitar.com/
http://www.gruhn.com/
http://vintagecityguitars.com/
http://www.elderly.com/
http://www.vintageguitars.net/
Let me know if you find any of these sites particularly cool to browse.

1935 Gretsch Resonator

 

These old time dobro's were distributed by Gretsch, but in actuality were manufactured by Regal/ National who held the resonator patent. This is one of the oldest guitar that I've owned, & who doesn't love the "Mother of Toilet Seat" headstock. I'm honored to be lucky enough to have picked a gem that's been on this globe nearly 100 years. It took a heckuva lot of cleaning to get it back to usable form, but it was structually sound & I didn't have to perform any actual repairs. Ahh, the stories that this guitar could tell...