Boneafone Studio 69 guitar by Guitarz reader Leroy Beal

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Leroy writes:

I just wanted to drop you a line to thank you for your great guitar blog. I'm always looking for new guitar design ideas and your site is a rich source.

I was really taken with the looks of the National Studio 66 you recently featured. Someone commented that it was too bad that no one builds in this style anymore. All it takes is a few materials and a few hours of satisfying labor to have one of these Art Deco beauties in your collection.

Here is a link to a web album of photos showing my version.


Check out some of my other guitars on my site and keep up the great work.

Cheers,

Leroy Beal
www.leroybeal.net

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

1962 National Studio 66

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I recently bought a GuitarKits USA National Supro Res-O-Glas guitar body on ebay and have been seeking out some suitable parts to go with it. The one thing I didn't want was to end up with was a kit guitar that looked like everyone else's.

That's point of a kit guitar I guess.

So, I've been searching "pickup rings", "vintage pickups", "vintage pickup rings" and a myriad of similar and dissimilar terms on ebay and elsewhere. I bid on a nice 50s Framus pickup and pickup ring combo but it went out of my range. I searched through listings with bewildering amounts of information and listings with little more than a fuzzy picture and a ludicrous BIN price (uploaded with my iPhone).

I searched for Art Deco plastic (and wood and aluminium) handles that I could modify into a bridge base and/or funky pickup rings to take a couple of new/old Ovation Viper pickups or old/old Gibson Marauder pickups that I've had floating around for years. Anyway, still no luck so I'll keep looking. One thing I did unearth with the "Art Deco - Guitar" combination was this beautiful guitar from 1962. The most obvious stand-outs are the scratchplate and Art Deco pickup. Now that would suit me fine!

This is what the sellers are saying:

Description: 1962 National Studio 66 electric guitar finished in Sand Buff.

Cosmetic Condition: Various minor nicks, chips, dents & dings; some scuff marks on the body & light weather checking on the neck.

Neck: Bolt-on maple neck with rosewood fingerboard & pearloid dot inlays. Frets are in great shape with no wear. Original Kluson Deluxe tuners are a little rusty, but are in perfect working condition.

Body: Single cutaway, Res-O-Glas body with nickel trapeze tailpiece & fixed wooden bridge.

Pickup: Art deco bridge pickup with single volume & tone controls. 8.87K ohms.

Set Up: Professionally set up by our guitar tech & strung with brand new Ernie Ball .10-.46 gauge Slinkys.

Playability / Sound: Nice, low action; smooth playing neck; cool vintage tone!

Case: Vintage chipboard case included.

I've always been a big fan of Res-O-Glas guitars since seeing one in a second hand shop in East London when I was a teenager, and have been coveting one ever since. They also had a pale green Microfrets guitar which was the dustiest guitar I've ever seen.

But, coming back to this guitar, I especially like the Art Deco pickup and the eccentric scratchplate and pretty much everything else (except the price. Ouch!). And, that's a good enough reason to post it. Now, if I could find a pickup like that...

STOP PRESS: I just found that we posted one of these a couple of years ago but I hope Gavin doesn't mind if I let it ride as it is a beautiful guitar and the ebay pics are stunning. Well worth checking out.

David in Barcelona

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

1959 National Bel Aire semi-acoustic with body by Gibson

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's a National Bel Aire from 1959 which may look strangely familiar to Gibson enthusiasts. Never mind the smokescreen provided by the triple pickups and myriad of controls, the body itself is identical to that of the Gibson ES-175 of the same era and indeed was made by Gibson for National.

This guitar is indeed a beauty, and is currently being offered for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $2,995.95. The seller has provided some very nice photos on the auction page, but I only wish there was one of the whole length of the instrument in one shot.

G L Wilson

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

Grace Chang sings the Habanera aria from Georges Bizet's "Carmen"

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Ah, I love it when we get contributions from Guitarz readers (please keep 'em coming!). Here's an email I received earlier today:

Interesting use of a resonator guitar

Check out this clip of a 1960 Hong Kong movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqI4h1uODng

The girl starts off playing a resonator in a fancy Hong Kong night club while singing Carmen. I'm not asking for an ID of the guitar - I just thought it was an interesting use of a resonator. I wonder if your blog readers can find other "out of place" guitars in films, etc.

cheers,
Tone Deaf Radio

Thanks Tone! (Do you mind if I call you Tone?) There's a fun challenge for our readers! I can't say I would have expected to see a National Tri-Cone resonator guitar in the hands of Chinese actress/singer Grace Chang whilst singing an aria from the opera "Carmen". Can anyone beat that for a guitar being used in an unusual context?

G L Wilson

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

60s National Studio 66

This is a National Studio 66 from the early 60s - with a fiberglass ("res-o-glas") body. What this guitar is seems so clear just from looking at it that I don't feel like telling much more...

Enjoy!