Epiphone Bich copy

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I lose count of the number of times I've seen eBay sellers trying to shift what they insist on calling a "RARE Gibson Epiphone STRAT". They always emphasize the RARE and the fact that it is a Strat but Gibson-made (which it isn't, it was made in Korea). The words "rare" and "mint" have little currency on eBay these days as they are bandied about with wild abandon and without any basis in truth or the seller having done a little basic research.
This post originates at http://guitarz.blogspot.com - beware of those damned scraper blogs!
The Epiphone "Strats" and "Teles" were quite a common sight in music shops in the late 1980s. They offered a fairly decent S or T-type guitar for the price in those days (they were budget-line instruments). Personally I always felt that the Explorer-like banana headstock looked slightly incongruous on those body shapes, but I guess Epiphone wanted to reference their parent company somewhere in the design.
This post originates at http://guitarz.blogspot.com - beware of those damned scraper blogs!
Now this Epiphone copy of a B.C. Rich Bich (shown above) is a new one on me, but I'm guessing it would have come from the same period. It's probably rarer than the Fender-derived designs but I doubt it's particularly rare or of any great value. It's an interesting one, and certainly should be of consistent workmanship for an Epi of that period.
This post originates at http://guitarz.blogspot.com - beware of those damned scraper blogs!
But as ever, if you know differently then please leave a comment!

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

ESP Doraemon (slight return)

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Firstly, before I comment on the lovely guitar pictured here, I'd like to apologize for our brief hiatus. Blogger were having technical issues and whilst they were sorting these out, somehow, Thursday's blog posts went missing.

According to Blogger all missing posts have now been restored across their network of blogs... but not on Guitarz, so it seemed.

However, I was able to cobble together something to replace the missing post about the Argentinian Morgan guitar from what little text I had already copied over to our Facebook page.

As to Bertram's post about the Hoyer solidbody, ironically I was able to reconstruct that from one of those dreaded scraper blogs! Which doesn't stop me from wanting to eradicate said scraper blog from the face of the blogosphere. Seriously, these scraper blogs are one big headache, and now I am up against the 4th one I've had to wage war with since the beginning of April. If anyone has any good workable ideas about how to contend with this menace, then please contact me, I'm all ears. But I am going through the official channels, reporting them to Google Ads, etc - trouble is that takes time to sort out.

Anyway, long-term readers of the blog may recognize the ESP Doraemon guitar which we originally looked at in December 2008. Still, it bears repeating because it is such an oddball guitar, and we now have many more readers who may have missed it first time around.

Japan is the source of some particularly wacky guitars, but I think for me, this is my favourite. Unlike many novelty guitars - particularly those of the cartoon character with built-in speaker variety - it actually sounds pretty damned good as this video (below) will testify.

Doraemon himself, eponymous star of a Japanese manga comic series which first appeared in 1969, is a robotic cat from the 22nd century sent to aid schoolboy Nobita Nobi.

As to the ESP guitar, it certainly wouldn't win any prizes for ergonomics! Nevertheless, I would love to have one, if only for kitsch value.

Thanks to Bill Cesavice who saw this auction on eBay. ($519.99 Buy It Now price, if you're interested).

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Unisynth

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's a synth/controller in guitar format that I've not seen before, the Unisynth. It looks a bit plasticky, more along the lines of a Yamaha EZ-EG or Casio DG-10/DG-20 rather than a Synthaxe or Stepp guitar.

The eBay seller tells us virtually nothing about it other than it supposedly being  "rare", a word which is bandied around on eBay with abandon.

Does anyone out there know any more?

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Vintage 10-string acoustic

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Is this a guitar? I'm not entirely sure. It certainly looks guitar-like. Although it's currently strung with just six strings, it appears to be a 10-string guitar and the slots in the nut show that it would have had six courses as on a guitar but with first and second courses as single strings and the remaining four courses as paired strings. (The same stringing as the B.C. Rich Bich 10-string guitar!)

Of course nuts can be re-cut, bridges and tailpieces can be replaced, so we can't be certain if this would have been the original set-up. Does anyone out there know for sure?

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Heavily inlaid raindrop-shaped acoustic guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This bizarre raindrop-shaped guitar is supposedly a one-off, although to me it looks typical of some of the Far Eastern manufacturers who specialise in intricate inlay work. The fact that it has its own custom-shaped case is quite impressive.

I am reminded of the electric Gruggett Raindrop guitar that we looked at on Guitarz in November 2009, although with what in Gibson terminology might be referred to as a "reverse" body design.

Oh, and a note to eBay sellers. Make sure your guitars offered for sale have strings on them! It makes for a more attractive prospect, even if the buyer is going to change them, and also looks a damn sight better in the photographs.

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!