Frankenstein

Freak of the week - F R A N K E N S T E I N -
Just a little tease to remind our readers to start working on their Halloween costumes. Know the origin of this fine axe? Use the comment section below to show off your knowledge.

This ORR That

Thanks to ROCKFIST's Kenner Siegrist for this week's feature photo.  A very unique sounding one of a kind hand made bass by Charles Orr. Kenner.is a very fortunate fellow to have this bass in his collection. You can track down the owner of this fine bass at a local TC performance near you, & ask Kenner about this axe.

Guitar Moose

  I met Alex Hartinger this weekend by chance, & he got me up to date with his current guitar endeavors. Check his cool website to find his top shelf leather straps & innovative guitar pics. He dropped me a few samples of his reduced fatigue picks & sticky picks, & I can't wait to try them out. You can meet Alex the innovator in person on Sunday nights at the open mic jam in Blaine. Showcase your talents & get some free samples from the designer himself. He'll make you feel right at home.
http://www.openmicjam.com/
http://www.guitarmoose.com/

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.

Space Ranger

Musicvox Spaceranger Bass, proudly displayed by TC resident & discriminating & owner: J-Bone Swanson. This new gold fleck 4 string axe gets used regularly in the successful Minneapolis based cover band PopROCKS, & it's a great looking staple in the herd of electrics that make up the unique PopROCKS sound. Click HERE for the schedule of where you can follow this hip group & check out this guitar up close. Thanks fro sharing this uber unique bass, Jason.

Drea

Honduran mahogany body and neck with a flame maple body cap. The head cap is quilted Honduran Mahogany. The body, neck and headstock have abalone purfling and cream binding. This is a set neck construction. The scale length is 24.625". The fingerboard is Indian Rosewood with gold mother of pearl block inlays and gold Jumbo frets. The pickups are Seymour Duncan Slash Alnico 2 humbuckers. The electronics are wired so that you can coil cut and reverse the phase. The switching is controlled with push pull pots. Tuning machines are gold Kluson waffle back with vintage pearl buttons. A toner was added to the maple top to give it that amber color. Not only is this a custom made guitar, but custom parts were made for the pearl inlays and truss rod cover, the pickups have custom wiring. Case is custom made by Ameritage.
    Contact treede@earthlink.net for more information or contact via Facebook.

Tom Schulz GMW

This guitar is modeled after the BC Rich ST3. Custom built by GMW Guitar Works, currently owned by Tom Schulz of Blaine. Tom has a number of STD's, I mean ST3's. Built in 2007, ebony fret board, Dimarzio chopper pick up in neck position, Tone Zone in bridge position, original Floyd Rose trem. Especially nice tiger quilt maple cap! Features 20 db boost rotary knob, & micro kill switch, finished off with jumbo 6100 frets. Want one of these? Lotsa luck. Read the review of this very special axe written by the original owner & posted on Harmony Central.

Time to Rock

Here's one from Cary Havlicek of New Prague. This guitar clock of his serves as a reminder to practice his guitar. Get yours on Google.  }:-D-  Cary's hip new variety act "Wreckless" has a gig at the Palace bar in Montgomery on Saturday July 28th for Kolacky Days. Check it out.

  Rock with me & the Ladies of the 80's Friday July 27th at Pickle Park in Fridley.

Toe Jam

Incredible "Big Foot" guitar will turn heads in any setting. The perfect axe selection for playing at the next big toe jam. If you know the owner or origin of  this unique FREAK of the WEEK you can use the comment section below to share your smarty pants-ness with our readers.

прикажи детаље

First, I would like to thank you for promoting my electric guitar construction design. I will try, in short terms, to describe its function. Essentially, there are two changes that should be made to the regular guitar design:

1. Change in the guitar neck

A channel should be carved along the full length of the guitar neck as shown in the drawing. It will allow a perfect grip and ergonomics of the hand on the guitar neck, more precisely of the metacarpal bone of the index finger [metacarpus]. The metacarpal bone fits inside the channel and hence decreases the tension of the hand and allows easy guitar playing without unnecessary big effort and tiredness. It will also enable bigger mobility of the fingers.

2. Change in the guitar body

The point of the guitar body where it connects to the neck has a cuboid shape. That creates difficulties when playing high notes. My design suggests curving and rotating the cuboid with radius as in the drawing. The junction is created using 5 bolts with special cone-shaped shims.

I believe that this is a radical improvement of the electric guitar design and with proper marketing, advertising, and promotional operations the market will accept it swiftly.

I do not have the required financial and physical facilities to conduct the design changes on my own, so I am hoping for your involvement in the realization of the project. Tell me what your opinion is on this, we can discuss the details at a later stage.

Looking forward to your reply,

Best regards,

Ljuben Karalievski

Dame Gruev 82

6000 Ohrid

Republic of Macedonia

  Join me Friday night 7/20 at 8:00 pm for a FREE concert at the Spirit of the Lakes Festival at Surfside Bay Park in Mound. 

Fudge Factory

Ibanez JEM Custom. unbound neck with dot inlay, factory Floyd Rose, & cool modified paint scheme. Steve Pritchard collection, Rogers MN. If you hurry, you can see a good chunk of his collection with the short lived rock camp "Fun Factory" based here in the twin cities

What's the Story?

A cool recent submission today from TC vet performer Paul Story. He's just acquired a gorgeous 1965 Guild CE-100D. It's very similar to a Gibson ES-175, with a slightly more shallow body and brighter pick ups. In some ways it's very Gretsch-like. The Guild Bigsby is fun, and as long as it's not abused, the guitar stays in tune. It's an amazing guitar on many levels, & a joy to show off. Thanks for sharing Paul. Find out more about Paul's musical journey by visiting PaulStory.net.

Rock with me Friday July 13th at Main Street Bar in Hopkins for Raspberry Festival.
Viva la Rock It Science

Crime Doesn't Pay

No it's not a mirror image, it's Dillon Jones, front man for the up and coming young twin Cities POP rock band LOVE OUT LOUD, showing off his uber-rare lefty 2005 copper Gibson Xplorer. These are truly sweet guitars as anyone who's ever owned one knows. Dillon was lucky enough to recover this sharp axe after a recent theft followed by a lengthy recovery process. Follow the LOVE OUT LOUD tour on FACEBOOK, or listen to their tunes on YOUTUBE. Best of luck on the summer tour gentlemen, the music can't lead you astray. See you Wednesday July 11th for your main stage performance at the Sonshine Fest in Wilmar, Minnesota.

1968 GIBSON Dove - Honorary Las Vegas Submission

  Bill Binnings pictured here with his sunburst Gibson Dove. He's owned it since new (1968) & sent in the pic after visiting this site from his home out in Vegas. He does a regular gig with this fine guitar at the Sambalatte Coffee Shop in Summerlin Nevada. The playability and sound is the big deal, on this vintage acoustic. Bill gets compliments all the time from other guitarists. The tone is so full, resonant and mellow....the wood is wide-open after all these years and it is all-original with a perfect setup. 10 gauge 80/20 bronze coated D'Addario strings sing like a bird, huge tone, quick break-in, triple the life of a non-coated string (for real). Bill can't say enough about his one owner guit-fiddle. "You have to play and hear it to understand. It is a life changer"!!

  Thanks for writing, Bill.
 Rock with me Saturday night at the Wild Rice Festival in Deer River.

Wycoff's Chrome Tele Hollow

Feast your eyes on this custom one off submitted by twin cities troubadour Nate Wycoff. It's a very unique project guitar with a Jap neck that Nate had purchased from Jeff Johnson at Mars Musical Adventures in Hudson WI. See & hear axe this along with his other fine Fender benders by following the link at: http://www.natermusic.com/. You might also catch Nate performing in "Just", his Radiohead tribute act.
  Rock with me & my camp this week, July 3rd at the Bayfront Party in the Park II, in Duluth MN, along with other TC greats, Boogie Wonderland, & HairBall.

Have a Ball

Ernie Ball Music Man, Circa 1982. I was honored to meet proud owner, player & regular guy David Weeks-Wynne at my place on the north side. I've see his cool band Trailer Trash a few times in the past, but had never been introduced to Dave. He's a great guy with a smooth style & cool sound, thanks to this early Bartolini powered thunder boomer. We all appreciate you sharing this picture Dave.

Bo Diddley

 

I ran into Jay Gillespie on Sunday in Saint Anthony. He had this Gretsch beauty out for sale on the Parkway, so I stopped to chat for a few minutes. It's a G5810 Bo Diddley signature model from 2005, & it's clean as you could hope for in a used axe. He's got a nice little collection consisting of electrics, acoustics, banjos, & tenors, & they're all in great shape. He was only asking $225 for this specimen. Always a treat to find cool guitars for sale just by chance.

Tiptoe through the Tulips

I met a cool cat in NE Mpls on Saturday down by the University Ave Farmer's market. He's got a couple guitars, & was kind enough to display one while I snapped this pic with my phone. Steve's got a nice PRS  too, but he's seen here posing with his 1967 Teisco Del Ray Tulip which is surprising shape considering all the decades that it has been exposed to. Good luck with the move Steve, & thanks for the amps!

Join me Saturday, June 23 at 8:00 pm for the Golden Valley Fire Relief Association Community Event. It's a FREE outdoor concert located at Chester Bird American Legion, - 200 N Lilac Dr, Golden Valley, MN.

Mini Jumbo Prairie State

Just by chance I stopped into Johann Brentrup's garage sale (N. Mpls) the week before last to learn there was a master luthier lingering on the premises. The images here are from his site at: http://brentrup.com/. This beauty is called the Mini Jumbo front with the Prairie State 18" rear, & retails around $3695.

Standard features:22.875” scale
X-bracing or Ladder-X
Red spruce top
Mahogany or white oak back and sides
Solid headstock
Grover tuners
Ebony fingerboard with dots
Pyramid bridge
CF tone tubes
Ivoroid Binding
Lacquer finish

Click HERE to see how these finely crafted instruments are constructed.
I can't wait to get my hands on one of these.  }:-D-

Optek FretLight

The 1994 Optek FretLight FG-200 Guitar. Click on the photo to enlarge. Innovative LED equipped Strat style body that hi-lites chord notes or scale notes. I'd love to get my hands on one of these. Owner Robbie Harrison of Milford Connecticut contacted me last week to purchase a guitar pictured on this blog, & was kind enough to share these pictures after I shipped him his vintage axe. He's got a great collection, & even though he's not from Minneapolis I'll post his submissions since he's now found his twin cities connection. Thanks for everything Robbie. Happy hunting.