Ideal vintage semi

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Hi Gavin

Been reading your blog for well over a year now and I just love it.

I have an oddball early 60s Japanese Semi Hollow Body Gretsch White Falcon Knock-off.

I have found next to nothing about this guitar. The manufactuer dates of production etc. I haven’t even come across any info other than this: http://www.ludlowguitars.com/item/falcon-copy-1960s

Well mine was a gift from the guitar gods. Found her in a trash can on the side of the road all in pieces. I put her back together this past fall and I gotta say that she might just be the sweetest player I have ever had. Great tone out of the single coils... nice action and a fast neck to boot. Perhaps someone out there knows more about these??? Would love to find out more about where in Japan this came from!

Keep up the great work!

This post originates at http://guitarz.blogspot.com - beware of those damned scraper blogs!

Scott

If anyone knows any more, please tell us using the comments. More photos in the comments, by the way! - GLW

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

Yemaha archtop acoustic bass guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This is a Yemaha archtop acoustic bass guitar, and no that isn't a typo! All I can find out about "Yemaha" guitars is that they were made in India and do not have a very good reputation. I wonder if they are a relative of "Givson" guitars? (Coincidentally, Guitarz is currently being plundered by a scraper blog based in India that has changed one letter of the blogspot URL. Is this common piracy practice in India, I wonder?)
This post originates at http://guitarz.blogspot.com - beware of those damned scraper blogs!
Anyway, this bass is a bit of a mystery. Correct me if you will, bass-heads, but it was my belief that the acoustic bass guitar was quite a modern innovation. My understanding was that the Ernie Ball Earthwood acoustic bass introduced in 1975 was the first such production-made acoustic bass, and that Guild and Eko were also early players in this field. (I don't claim to be an expert - I'm just someone who is interested in guitars and somehow manages to soak up all this information, so please do say if you know differently!)

With the onset of MTV in the 1980s and their Unplugged series the acoustic bass soared in popularity and is now quite an ordinairy sight - walk into any music shop and you'll find at least one on display.

However, the seller of this Yemaha believes it originates from the 1960s, although without offering any evidence to support this claim. I think it's far more likely to be from the 1980s or 1990s and is just well-used and battle-scarred making it look older. I did wonder if perhaps it originally had a pickup and would have been a semi-acoustic bass, but there aren't the holes in the body for volume and tone controls - unless all electrics were mounted on a pickguard, which would mean the pickguard we see in the picture would be a replacement. However, I feel this is unlikely, although not impossible.

G L Wilson

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