Mathias Lerche's aluminium and walnut bodied guitars

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Mathias Lerche, an industrial designer from Denmark, has emailed with photos of guitars he has created. He says:

"I have been working on a guitar concept for some years now and I'm currently building third generation of my design. This is the first two prototypes. I plan to produce these in the near future as a side business to my industrial designing. Starting slow and safe...

"The first prototype was made while studying at the Danish Design school, drawing layout and sculpting foam for months to get the a working shape. It was carved from a 22kg piece of aluminum(my cheapest option at the time) down to about 2,3kg. A terrible waste, but the idea was that the production model should be moulded and a bit more exiting than the usual routed flat alu guitars seen. It has a warmoth wenge/ebony neck, two slide-able Lace humbuckers, and two series/parallel switches at the back."

"The second is a one piece walnut body, CNC routed from a 3D model made in Studiotools and Solidworks. It has a walnut/ebony neck, Kahler trem, Kent Armstron and Seymour Duncan pickups, and one series/parallel switch at the back. It's a slightly larger and rounder body than the alu-version.

"My goal was to make a unique signature shape. I wanted it to be sculptural, to relate to the body of the player and, like classical instruments, have a female waist line.

"As you can imagine, the guitars are quite different sonically!

I'll keep you updated. The new ones should be done quite soon."

Thanks Mathias! I love these designs, particularly the aluminium-bodied guitar. I like how it's a case of form follows function and how the back is carved out and the space between the pickups. It is utilitarian, ergonomic and classy all at the same time. It's good also to see how well the design translates to the walnut-bodied guitar.

G L Wilson

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

Tokai Talbo A-140S -Red Skeleton

guitarz.blogspot.com:

With Hallowe'en just around the corner, who would be without a skeleton guitar to usher in the creatures of the night?

What you haven't got one! Well, luckily for you, I've been checking out eBay on your behalf. This beauty in a deep devilish red could be just what you need. Fortunately for us the seller has posted a bunch of great photos so it's well worth nipping over to eBay to check it out. Unfortunately he doesn't say very much about the guitar so I'm not sure if it's an aluminium body. It's from the 90s so it probably is. A wicked looking guitar, whatever it's made of.

I tried a little Googling on this beastie but haven't come up with another with the Skeleton moniker. So I can't see where the connection is. Maybe the seller is trying for a festive sale.

David in Barcelona

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

Back to the future - Old Alloy Electric Guitar 1965 Vintage Unique 1 Off

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Now, this is an unexpected find. The seller claims it's from 1965 but from the overall look, the pickup and the headstock it looks like it's from the 80s/90s. So as the seller says, It's waaaaaay ahead of it time. I'm simply going to copy and paste the sellers description in full as he's done such a good job and to be honest, there isn't a whole lot more I could add. Except to say that if this is from the sixties, it's a pity it didn't go into production.

Here we go...

...Well, where do I start in describing this incredibly unique electric guitar. I can not think of any other that comes near the unusual build or sheer sexiness of this instrument. It was clearly way ahead of it's time. I have nicknamed her `The Bat'Leth" because the body has a striking similarity to the Klingon battle weapon in Star trek.

I was left this guitar by an old neighbour of mine in his will, where I used to live in Bristol. I had always admired it whenever round his house and had asked many times if it was for sale but he always said no.

His name was Brian Laney. He worked for the R&D department of an English guitar company but I have been racking my brain for several days and have never been able to remember the name of it. Though I believe they were Bristol based. I have no idea if they even still exist. The guitar was handed to him on his retirement.

The guitar was a prototype built by Brian circa 1965 in order to assess the musical qualities of different materials. Needless to say it is a One Off. Completely unique. It is left handed, though I remember being told that it can easily be converted by unbolting everything and swapping everything over the other way round.

From what I remember being told, the body and neck were made from an aircraft quality alloy, the head being wood. It has a Spruce-Ply Back, stained blue, which is attached to the body by bolts. There is a gap of about 5mm between the back & the front which I have tried to show in one of the pictures. The whole guitar is only about an inch thick.

The main alloy body is about 10mm thick and was cut, shaped and finished entirely by hand. The bottom front point is removable, I assume to suit your mood (see Picture 5). Brian had a sense of humour.

At the rear, the neck is attached to the body by another alloy plate, thus making an extremely rigid structure. Indeed, this guitar will sustain for Britain. The wood back serves no structural purpose whatsoever.

It seems there used to be a cover of some sought on the back of the neck. The neck itself was `hand carved` and shaped from alloy. The head is wood with what seems like a clear plastic backing and chromed tuners. I don't know if these are original or not.

The nut appears to be graphite. The pickup is a humbucker but I have no idea of the name or model of it. There is the facility to fit 2 single coil pickups but I don't think this has ever been done.

Amazingly, the guitar only weighs 9 lbs, the same as a Gibson Les Paul, though I am sure a pound or two could be saved by changing the bolts to alloys.

I have plugged it in on many occasions and she can certainly sing, though my rendition of `Smoke On The Water` hardly gives her justice. I'm only a poor drummer, so no talent then?

It comes with it's own custom cable as the body is fitted with a `canon` connector. A normal 1/4" mono jack is at the other end.

The guitar is fitted with strings but their age is unknown. I have cleaned her a little bit, though not to much as I don't want to destroy the Patina of the past 45 years.

The volume pot could either do with a clean or replacing (cheap to buy), as it's a bit crackly when turning, though she happily pumps out the decibels.

One word of warnng. If you intend to emulate Pete Townsend, beware that you will probably destroy the stage, not the guitar as she is incredible strong.

I have no idea as to value, so have started the bidding at 99p and see where it goes from there...

Well, there you have it. Not wanting to be a doubting Thomas (more like a disbelieving Betty), the pickup looks like an 80s (Dimarzio or similar) and the shape is so 80s/90s - I know the Gibson Explorer is from the fifties so this could well be the real deal. It's just so hard to imagine this being played by The Beatles, The Moody blues, Roger Miller, Sonny and Cher, Cliff Richard, Ken Dodd, The Seekers or pretty much any band in 1965. I'm pretty sure the machine heads are later than 65 but they could have simply been replaced.

I have to say I do love it. I love the blue coloured plywood, the industrial rivets and the raw metalness of it. I'm tracking it on eBay and if it stays close enough to my budget, I will be bidding for it. If I get it we'll be able to see close up and hopefully learn some more about it.

David in Barcelona

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

Home made aluminium lap steel

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This very simple instrument, made out of a piece of aluminium double glazing extrusion, is especially interesting to me as I just bought a Peavey Powerslide and I'm in the process of getting the hang of it. Not a piece of cake by any means.

The builder of this guitar (Airbrake 1 or Marscape 1, depending whether you find him on Flickr or Youtube) has further simplified the construction - and complicated the learning process - by leaving out the fret markers! Which makes his rather modest claim to not be able to play steel guitar even more remarkable. On his Flickr page, he says "I decided to fit 3 strips of tape to show the 5th fret position, the 12th and the 24th. I could have fitted more, but I wanted to try to develop my ear, so I would be able to automatically find the right notes. It takes some practice to do this!" Yeah, you don't say. Check out his not too shabby video. If I could coax something like this from my Powerslide, I'd be pretty pleased with myself.

David in Barcelona

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

1930s Rickenbacker A-22 Frying Pan

guitarz.blogspot.com

No, not all the Rickenbacker Frying Pans - the vintagest amongst the vintage guitars - are safe in museums or bankers' collections, you can still find one on eBay!

For those you don't know it, this cast aluminium lap steel guitar with its characteristic horse shoe magnet pickup was created in 1931 - and is the first electric guitar in history.

Get down on your knees and adore, guitar lovers!

bertram

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