Mystery Guitar Game - Tales from the Closet

SFIV1967

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I think the point is that it is not a Martin, even if it has a similar shaped headstock and bridge. There's a big label visible, and it has no fretboard inlays, who knows which US boutique brand made it.
Ralf
 

houseisland

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I'm gonna say it's Zappa's "Mudshark" being performed on a Martin at the Edgewter Inn in Seattle.
Even if it's not any of the above it's a myth worth remembering.

No mudsharks or Martins involved here. The hotel here is a long way from Elliot Bay, although it is close to a river. And there are definitely no mudsharks or yellow eye rockfish in the river.
 
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houseisland

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I think the point is that it is not a Martin, even if it has a similar shaped headstock and bridge. There's a big label visible, and it has no fretboard inlays, who knows which US boutique brand made it.
Ralf

Bigger than a boutique brand, I think. The guitar was probably made not too far away from the hotel.
 

SFIV1967

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I first thought you talk about the Deschutes River but the Breedlove guitars made nearby have a very different headstock. So it seems to be not in OR as there is only Breedlove in OR as larger guitar maker. And it's far away from Seattle, so that would also mean it's not in WA. So what's left? Pacific North West? I thought OR and WA are the two only states that count as that.
And bigger than a boutique brand ???
Now if you call Santa Cruz to be part of the Pacific Northwest it means it is a Santa Cruz. And if you call the tiny San Lorenzo River a river it would mean it is a Santa Cruz guitar. And indeed Santa Cruz made such Martin style copies. So yes, the guitar in the pictures could be a Santa Cruz OM style guitar. Now I don't know which one had no fretmarkers...
But looking a bit closer there is one feature that is not Santa Cruz, which is the label! Why does it have a oval label and the Santa Cruz guitars have square labels? That would again destroy my idea...
Back to the drawing board...
Ralf
 

houseisland

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I first thought you talk about the Deschutes River but the Breedlove guitars made nearby have a very different headstock. So it seems to be not in OR as there is only Breedlove in OR as larger guitar maker.
Ralf

You have to trust your instincts, Ralf. The Deschutes River, indeed. Bend, Or. The Oxford Hotel. A Breedlove guitar, one of their OM American Revival series. Very nice sounding. A little shy on the bottom end with its relatively small size but a real pleasure to play.

QvqHxJc.jpg


I have to say that Bend is one of the sweetest small cities I have ever been in anywhere. Great beer. Great environment. Lovely friendly people. Great guitars. If I were American, I would move there. :adoration:

The Oxford Hotel was great too. On the pricey side, but well worth it IMHO.
 
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SFIV1967

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Ah! So it's an older Breedlove model with Martin headstock shape. I didn't know they existed because all I found were the current models with the new headstock shape.
Our company has an office in Bend, but I have never been there unfortunately. I was in Portland a couple of times.
Ralf
 

Sal

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The Transmogrifier

Fun post! This modified guitar may be easy for some of you but let's see who can identify the original make and model first.

When I was a kid in the early 70s my mother came home from her friends garage sale with this guitar for us. It was a little abused with two or three coats of house paint on it but my brothers and I loved it and it qualifies as my first guitar. I pulled it out again in the 80's and decided to refinish it in a 50s sci-fi laboratory style with black wrinkle paint. I used a luminous green plexi under the stock chrome pickguard and also in a headstock insert of my own design. A Rickenbacker bridge fit the chrome look nicely and allowed intonation adjustment that the original roller bridge didn't. I believe the guitar originally had a sunburst finish.

I called it the "Transmogrifier". Fans of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbs will understand.

IMG_3347_zps9b1f698b.jpg


IMG_3359_zps8fd46c49.jpg
 
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SFIV1967

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Cool look with the green in between!

Teisco Goldfoil pickups, so made in Japan.
The guitar was most probably marked "Audition" on the headstock. But I don't know who made them. Some write they were made by Zen-on. I don't think it was Teisco as some write, but who knows.
As far as I read Woolworth sold them in the US and the UK. It's mid 60ies. It's a higher end model as it had already an adjustable truss rod. The lower end Woolworth models just had a "Steel reinforced neck" but no adjustable truss rod.

Elvis Costello used a similar two pickup version:

l.jpg


The Elvis Costello model is visible in a Zen-on catalog: http://www.oldguitar.jp/catalog/zenon.htm

Ralf
 
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SFIV1967

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Zen-On model ZES-80T
You probably have the right catalog showing it, but at least what I found is that the ZES-80T model has a round end of the fingerboard towards the body and no truss rod adjustment wheel there like Sal's guitar has. Also it did not have the string holder on the headstock.
The Japanese "Bizzare Guitar" calendar 2013 had in May 2013 this below (very small) picture of a Zen-On ZES-80T (the very left one of the 3).
You can see the little sign on the headstock where a TRC usually would be, reading "Steel reinforced neck".
The red one was also named ZES-80T in a Japanese blog. But as visible it has a different two piece plastic bridge and tremolo (like the black ZES-170)

So maybe over time there were different versions of a ZES-80T or it had a slightly different model number.

BIZARRE_5.jpg
c0092591_21113211.jpg


DSCF3569-2.jpg



The closest one to Sal's guitar is this below, but it doesn't give a correct model name, the seller just assumes a Teisco made Audition model.

https://reverb.com/item/186488-vint...-guitar-3-gold-foil-pickups-ohsc-all-operates

lp8uofmmll6vfme9pzc0.jpg


Ralf
 
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Sal

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Yes, you guys are on it! As I knew you would be.

I love the shot of Elvis Costello. His has the opaque pickguard some of these came with while mine is chrome. I've mostly seen the "Audition" brand on these but I think I've also seen the Teisco Crown logo on a few as well.

I flipped one of these once that was in really nice shape. Here's a video I made to hype the eBay sale. The goldfoil pickups are pretty cool but they are sensitive and kinda temperamental. Sorry about all the reverb I was using at the time. I know better now.

 

SFIV1967

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Ralf, you nailed it there. That is the exact guitar!
But you didn't answer what company name was on your one when you got it? The one in the picture has a different bridge compared to your one, but who knows which one was original.
And what is the video about? That is not the black one, so did you have two?
Ralf
 

Sal

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Hi Ralf. In my first post I mentioned that mine came to me with multiple coats of house paint on it and I wasn't kidding! I refinished it with a black wrinkle paint. I wanted it to look like sci-fi lab equipment. So, there was no label on it when I got it but it matches all the Audition model features exactly. It probably looked originally just like the one you found!


I replaced the original roller bridge on mine with a Rickenbacker bridge. A big improvement that actually made it playable and looks cool too! I still have the original.


Yes, at one time I had two. I picked up the second thinking I'd keep it for parts but it was too nice to destroy like that so I flipped it. I made the video to promote the eBay sale.

Anyone else have a mystery guitar to share?
 
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houseisland

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A curvy American blond.

You should be able to get the last possible year of manufacture (approximately) from info in the pics.

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