Retro 54 LP Classic

Here's a closet classic sent in today by a personal friend asking about this guitar that his brother in-law's mom's boyfriend has owned for years. All indicators point to some variation of a 1954 gold top, & condition is remarkable. Still looking into actual production year, but it's so pretty I thought we should post it & gather some comments & see to find out what it's worth, etc. Thanks for reading.

Washburn WR150

Here's another rocking axe from the collection of Stevek Williavich right here in town.


  Washburn Rocker Series WR150. It has been refitted with a Seymore Duncan JB humbucker at the bridge, a Seymore Duncan JB single-coil in the center, and a GFS Li'l Killer at the neck, then custom wired with a coil tap switch for the Li'l Killer and a series/parallel switch for the JB. The 5-way switch is still wired conventional but the pickups and switching make this humble little axe into a very versatile tone machine. It also sports GraphTech saddles on the Fender-type trem and a GraphTech nut.

This guitar is for sale now and comes in it's original hard case. Send your offers to: stringed4you@gmail.com.

Gary's Gibson Fire Chicken

     This week's post by local guitar veteran: Gary Vogel of Minneapolis. 

"I have always loved the look of the original "reverse" version Firebird.  Such a 
lovely shape!  An much more practical than the Explorer, because it does not 
have the big pointy tail that I always find myself bumping into things.

But every vintage one I have tried suffered from two problems:  The neck was 
uncomfortable, too fat like a baseball bat, and those damn banjo tuners were 
either worn out and broken, or damaged in some way.

Well the recently discontinued Gibson Firebird V 2010 model solved both those 
issues!"

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Firebird/Gibson-USA/Firebird-V-2010.aspx

"The neck is extremely smooth and fast..  The tuners have been replaced by modern 
Steinberger models, allowing the beautiful headstock to be unsullied, and 
eliminating those damn banjo tuners.

The new ceramic pickups are really sweet.  Not too hot, but a bit stouter than 
the original ones.   Less noise, too.  A bit brighter than a P90, but also a bit 
smoother in the mid-range, I guess they could be defined as a less "snotty" 
pickup somewhere between a P90 and a humbucker.  I find them to be incredible 
useful when playing complex chords, but I would bet that blues players would 
really dig them too (think Johnny Winter, of course!).

I don't know why Gibson decided to discontinue this particular reissue, poor 
sales probably.  But I am damn glad I was able to find one-- and it took me some 
serious searching before I found a white one-- the rarest of all, and most 
gorgeous IMO.  This baby had originally been shipped from the factory overseas 
to Germany, and ended up at a NY guitar trader who I purchased it from 

Another one checked off my bucket list!

You can see me play this baby at my next show with my band MFG (we are on 
Facebook) at Mayslacks Friday November 30.  We play after the Mighty Others and 
my friends, Capital Sons, who featured my lead guitar on their first CD.  We go 
on at 11pm."

Monster Tone

Since it's Halloween, I thought I'd post a guitar with unusual monstrous tone. Chris Kinoshito sent me a hi-res photo of this fine Fender Bass VI Baritone guitar. It's kind of a guitar & bass together; with baritone sounding tone. It has thicker gauge strings, & it's roots go back into the 1960's surf era. Twitch, twitch.                   H A P P Y     H A L L O W E E N

Rock with me & the Ladies of the 80's Friday Night (11/02) at G.B. Leighton's Pickle Park in Fridley. 

Lombardi Trophy

 

Just swell & nearly seventy years old, This old girl has held herself together very well over the years. She's had a little work done but all the original parts are present. Stevek Williavich sent me this pictures of his 1943 (Harmony made) Lombardi, after spotting my 1945 H700 on Minneapolis Craigslist this week. These Lombardi's arch tops are ultra rare, & feature impressive birdseye maple tops; as well as Brazilian rosewood tails, bridges & fingerboards. This one's a solid player, & it's place in guitar history will surely be proudly preserved.

Rock with me & the Rock-ittes Friday night at the new High-Five night club in Burnsville, &
Saturday night & Main Street Bar in Hopkins

Every Rose Has it's Thorn

I did another show with this camp Friday night at Medina Ballroom & of course seized the opportunity to snap some back stage shots of a few guitars from the Minneapolis based HAIRBALL show. Guitar tech John Lockner seen here holding a Samick Blackbird solid body acoustic, played by Bobby Jensen as part of their POISON tribute. The Blackbird is a perfect choice when you need great tone & playability along with maximum feedback suppression while delivering over 50,000 watts of clean acoustic love. Click HERE for more info on this great show

Iguana Burst

I hijacked this photo from Cory Lake's American Guitar & Band FACEBOOK page. This new Gibson has been affectionately referred to as the Iguana-burst; Doves in Flight. Shipped out last week to a proud new owner of a one-of-a-kind.You gotta love the green Dove, It's 99.4% pure.

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.

One Man's Paradise...

Received these pics from David Kline Jr. last week, & I immediadtely scheduled them in for this weeks post. The Kanji, David Kline Jr's Signature Paradise USA Guitars are mahogany soloist type body w/ Acrylic top. Pickups are: Dimarzio Tone Zone(Bridge) PAF 36th Anniversary(Neck). 1 Volume, 1 Tone, 3 way Toggle, Birdseye maple neck (1 piece), 24 medium/jumbo frets. Gotoh Tuners, Floyd Rose Pro Bridge, w/ mods. Agreat guitar for a  great player. David also is responsible for the Jason Becker Guitar coming to light.

  Thanks for the great submission this week Dave. We'll talk soon. 

Hear about this guitar in Dave's own words via YouTube. 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCmPyqkMMpI 

Fin to Win

As the season winds down, you'll find car shows are pretty much done for the year. You gotta love the classics. Timeless designs that send your mind tripping back to the future with skate boards & hula hoops. This weeks submission sent in by Scotty Clifford of Chaska. Scotty has a great collection of  vintage axes from the 50's & 60's that we'll be featuring on this blog in the near future Meanwhile, you get to enjoy this knock-back to the golden era of automotive greats. Thanks Scotty!

Bursted

Here's a closeup of Gary Vogel's Gibson Factoryburst-- a limited edition reissue of the 1959 LP standard sunburst (only 50 made of this finish).  These babies are entirely handmade to exact standards  of the 1959 models, down to the nth degree-- finish, pickups, woods, everything.  Gary recently got this from American Guitar Boutique. Those guys are great; fantastic service, friendly, expert knowledge, and good prices on the good stuff.

Gary always choose his guitars by playing them acoustically first-- you can easily tell the exceptional ones in how they feel & respond before you plug them in. All of his LP's are of the kind where everything comes together on a particular guitar, to create something magical that sets them apart from the others. He's also got a Silverburst that blew him away even though he doesn't particularly like that color, so he had to buy it. Same goes for his 2009 Tradition Standard. It out-shined nearly 50 other LP's that he tried over the course of a month.

When Gary picked this baby up, he KNEW where all the extra $$$ went-- This baby is awe-inspiring in how it just channels your energy, and sparks your muse.  He's usually into much thinner necks, but the feel of this thicker chunkier profile is not a hindrance for some reason.

Gary says: "I have not played any guitar that comes close to this baby.  Yes, I am in love!"

"Come out to see my band MFG (we are on Facebook, natch) and see and hear her in action.  We play Oct 20 9pm at Driftwood Char Bar in S. Mpls. and Mayslacks Nov 30 in NE Mpls." 

Want to learn more about Gary? Here's some links I found on the Web for additional cool stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl9vcdBFTnU
http://www.effectsbay.com/tag/gary-vogel/
http://www.roundthedialmagazine.com/category/guitar-town-tech-talk/
http://www.reverbnation.com/redonred

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.