1962 Framus Semi-Hollow with Tremolo

The 25th annual St Paul musician's trade fair Saturday yielded some great finds & some very cool guitars, but a few stood out as true rare gems. This 1962 Framus hollow body with tremelo is really a unusual axe, & just like the English Burns of the era, there are very few bench parts used in their manufacture. This rare Bavarian made guitar features an unbelievably ultra-thin laminated neck & a strange metal screw on nut! What a great find. Thanks for sharing the pictures Joe. See ya next year.

Red Rider

This is the "Red Rider" It's a late 1980's American Fender wide neck work horse. The owner is George Paulos, & this gig tool is anything but stock. Dimarzio Wide Oval frets, custom electronics, & Duncan pickups which have been sauteed in a saucepan with salt water, & chili powder for that Texas bite. The wiring on this stratocaster has been modified to allow series pickup combinations using the mini-toggle between the volume & tone control. Series wiring give the single-coil pickups a big fat humbucking sound. Note the Callaham tremolo bridge assembly with titanium saddles. The guitar is strung with d'Addario .011 strings and tuned to Eb for heavy rock and blues. I've played numerous club dates with George in the 90's. He's a multi-talented musician, luthier, & technician, & is most noted for his work touring with Sha na na. You can see this axe in motion with the five piece rock & soul group Rythm Engine :

Friday August 5th at the Schooner Tavern, 2903 27th ave S Minneapolis, 

Saturday August 27th at the Valley Lounge , Hwy 13 & Yankee Doodle Road Eagan. 

Casio PG-380 1986

Casio PG-380 Synth guitar circa 1986. Not only midi output, but full on-board synth module. Note the Floyd Rose trem & factory tri-pickup array featuring the bridge position humbucker. Owner: Frosty Atkinson. You can see & hear this new wave axe in action on Friday, July 8, at the
Met Lounge Street Dance show featuring Ladies of the 80s w/Rock It Science at 9:00 pm
The Met Lounge  26 East 6th Street, Morris, MN (MAP)  (320) 589-1440.
 Also Saturday July 9 at the Monticello Riverfest at 7:00 pm.
Monticello Riverfest 505 Walnut Street, Monticello, MN (MAP)  contact: Art Duran tudeau@yahoo.com

1959 Gibson EMS-1235

Freak of the Week
The title says it all. Six-string mandolin on the top. Full scale guitar with factory trem on the bottom. These showpieces were not played & abused to the extent that a typical Les Paul of the era was.

Rare 80's Sarzo Bass - Alas, I pass

Washburn

Freak of the Week
Everyone that knows me quickly learns that I have a love affair with these cool hockey stick headstocks. I probably shouldn't have passed on this one, since this is the only mint condition specimen that I've seen come up on the market in the last 20 years. Who am I fooling? Even as a unplayed stage prop on my show it would now bear numerous cancerous battle scars that would each have their own tale to tell. How noble of me is that? Once again passing on a bass that I love, knowing that the road I have traveled has destroyed so many pristine gems in past; & would only devour another victim too quickly on the stages of the upper midwest night club circuit.