G L Stiles vintage guitar from another of America's almost forgotten luthiers

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's another rare G L Stiles guitar with its distinctive scrolled body horns and intricate headstock carving. Gilbert Lee Stiles built a number of essentially one-off guitars from his workshop in Miami, Florida during the 1960s and 1970s. This particular example is thought to be from the early 60s (according to the seller) and features a pair of DeArmond pickups and an attractive checkerboard binding around the top and rear of the body and the neck.

These rare guitars do not come up for sale very often. This example is currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $2,400.

For more G L Stiles guitars see here and here.

G L Wilson

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

G L Stiles collection

guitarz.blogspot.com:
We looked at a rare G L Stiles guitar back in March - but look - here's a whole bunch of them! Guitarz reader Adam Tober sent me this photo of his collection of G L Stiles guitars as recently featured at Deke Dickerson's Guitar Geek Festival 2010 (see also here).

Two of the scroll-bodied guitars and a similar bass are currently being offered for sale as a single lot on eBay right now. Way to get yourself an instant collection!

For those of you who are not aware of the G L Stiles brand, I shall shamelessly quote from the eBay listing: "West Virginia native Gilbert Lee Stiles began building guitars in 1961, and his small Hialeah, Florida music store quickly became the center of the budding South Florida teenage garage rock and surf scene. Eventually Stiles guitars could be seen on stage with the likes of Ernest Tubb, Brenda Lee and the Casuals, NRBQ's Steve Ferguson, and Conway Twitty."

Thanks to Adam for sharing with us!

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

G L Stiles electric guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:
I confess that I had not heard of the luthier Gilbert Lee Stiles before I saw the above-pictured guitar for sale on eBay. Apparently he built a series of one-off guitars from his workshop in Florida throughout the 1960s and 70s. I do like this Bigsby B5-equipped guitar which has several interesting features such as the scrolled body horns and the intricately-shaped headstock. The fingerboard inlays too are quite individually distinctive. The guitar also features a pair of DeArmond pickups and Kluson tuners.

I wonder how this little-known American guitar ended up in Cheshire, England?

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!