What's your most rare guitar model

[lammie200]

Single cutaway with a double cutaway pick guard. Yeah, that looks a little weird.

...This is a very weird guitar...

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[Doctor Jeff]

I thought he [Trevor Bolder] used a Gibson EB3L

You know, you are probably right. Not being a bass guy, I was unaware of the EB3L. I always thought the Electra was a modified copy of the SG bass. I have never seen a Gibson bass with a slotted headstock in the flesh.

Anyway, the Electra is a pretty cool bass and, from what I can tell from the pics, a dead on copy of the EB3L.

[Boston Joe]

Single cutaway with a double cutaway pick guard. Yeah, that looks a little weird.

It's a strange bird in a lot of ways. Flying V headstock. Electronics mounted on the pickguard like a Fender.
Rotary pickup selector switch, plus another switch that swiched to the bridge pickup, regardless of where the rotary switch was set. Maple fingerboard (pretty weird for a Gibson, but not unheard of). Bolt on neck. It really looks like a Gibson attempt to make a Fender-killer. (Didn't work, obv.)

[hot ford coupe]

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This is a rare (and great) guitar.... Paul Gudelsky archtop. Gudelsky was an up and coming builder who apprenticed with DAquisto around 1990 and then moved to California focusing on building archtops only. When DAquisto died in 95, Gudelsky got his bench and tools (which before that for large part also had been DAngelico's of course). Unfortunately, Gudelsky was murdered just a year later, shot dead by someone trying to rob him at his home. Tragic. The workshop didnt go to anybody else but now is a museum exhibit. It is a very nicely voiced guitar, rather loud. Very much an x-braced guitar you can immediately hear that by the midrange. It has a 25" scale and a 1-3/4" (I think) nut and a nice modern rounded neck shape too. It plays effortlessly. He built less than a dozen and several of those were still very much experimental models. I wonder what would have happened if not for his tragic death . If this was among the FIRST he build, just imagine how would have his guitars evolved if he had by now built a few hundred. I think he would have been up there with Monteleone and such. We ll never know.

That's a gorgeous instrument. Will you look at that figured wood? It even looks like the bindings are wood. It's very minimalist which most likely makes it what it is. It's a real treasure.

[fws6]

That's a gorgeous instrument. Will you look at that figured wood? It even looks like the bindings are wood. It's very minimalist which most likely makes it what it is. It's a real treasure.

yes it is flame maple bindings and it has Jimmy Da 's influence all over it, with the wider f holes, the ebony fittings etc. And everything is so meticulously done - just look at how the dark wood of the binding goes over into the heal cap. Could have been a big name in archtop guitar building if it wasnt for the tragic turn of events

[Gilpy]

I'm really enjoying all these cool guitars! Here are two of mine, (both purchased from forum members).

1935 Gibson L75. It looks like an old L-4 but this has solid mahogany back, sides and neck, 1 3/4" ebony board, 24 3/4" scale, and a distinctive sunburst finish on the sides: dark on the edges and light in the middle. A really good sounding instrument and fun to play. These are quite rare....Thanks SamSherry!

Also, a Seventy Seven Hawk Custom Koa. I think they only made a handful of these. What a great guitar! Thanks Bob!

[customxke]

I used to own this. Not an L4

[Max405]

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This is a rare (and great) guitar.... Paul Gudelsky archtop. Gudelsky was an up and coming builder who apprenticed with DAquisto around 1990 and then moved to California focusing on building archtops only. When DAquisto died in 95, Gudelsky got his bench and tools (which before that for large part also had been DAngelico's of course). Unfortunately, Gudelsky was murdered just a year later, shot dead by someone trying to rob him at his home. Tragic. The workshop didnt go to anybody else but now is a museum exhibit. It is a very nicely voiced guitar, rather loud. Very much an x-braced guitar you can immediately hear that by the midrange. It has a 25" scale and a 1-3/4" (I think) nut and a nice modern rounded neck shape too. It plays effortlessly. He built less than a dozen and several of those were still very much experimental models. I wonder what would have happened if not for his tragic death . If this was among the FIRST he build, just imagine how would have his guitars evolved if he had by now built a few hundred. I think he would have been up there with Monteleone and such. We ll never know.

Ok, you win.
That is ridiculously beautiful. 25" scale, 1-3/4 nut, block under the neck overhang.. Sounds like I would like that.
Thanks, Joe D.

[Max405]

Gibson L-5 Non-cutaway Shark (2013) (1 of 1 in white; 1 of 4 Gibson Sharks made by Bruce Kunkel (2 cutaway, 2 non-cutaway )

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Still my favorite Guitar picture ever. Should be the cover of every issue of Guitar Aficionado. Everytime I see it, I expect it to jump out and bite me!

Love it!

[Max405]

I'm not talking models like a 50's tele, old 175, odd 575 a Barney Kessel, or partscasters but those models you have rarely seen ANYWHERE.

Maybe "float a baloon", limited production, test the waters that failed miserably or were considered a joke.

I don't know why, but I gravitate to oddball gits, I know the ones I have I will likely have a hard time selling someday if at all but I like them all. They are:

From Gibson, A Pat Martino custom in cherry burst, a wine Vegas standard, and an XLP double cut LP style with hockey stick head in cherry burst.

From Cort, a 2001 Triggs 2001 NAMM model.

There are a couple of others from Hofner, Hagstrom, Vox and others I keep an eye out for too :-)

Gary, GREAT thread bro.
JD

[entresz]

I have a Gibson L6-S reissue from 2011. Never seen another one in the flesh, but I know Gibson sold a few. The bare bones of the guitar are great, but they did a half-arsed job on the finer details. They wired them up with regular 490R/498T pickups and the six way switch no longer had the out of phase/series combinations, but was an awkward way of switching pickups and coil splitting. They also ditched the clever mid range control and replaced it with a bass roll off. If you're going to reissue something, at least get it right! I've rewired mine as per the 70's L6-S and swapped the pickups for Bill Lawrence L-90s- and it's a really good guitar. It still was the reissue that nobody asked for, but I really like mine.

[lawson-stone]

Not super rare but, curiously, hard to find. I have a Loar LH650 in blonde/natural finish. Those are hard to come by. I also have an Epiphone Elitist Broadway in sunburst, also a model rather hard to find. Not museum pieces to be sure, but I'm rather proud of them.


-Lawson
"Behavior that's admired is the path to power among peoples everywhere."-Beowulf

[Boston Joe]

I have a Gibson L6-S reissue from 2011.

Wow! I had no idea they did a reissue. My first guitar teacher had one (~1980 or so), and I was in a rock band in the late 80s/early 90s with a guy who had one.

[AlainJazz]

Still my favorite Guitar picture ever. Should be the cover of every issue of Guitar Aficionado. Everytime I see it, I expect it to jump out and bite me!

Love it!

I totally agree. I think this guitar is really special.

[neilspeers]

Been lurking too long here as I'm just starting to find my way in jazz guitar.

I recently picked up a Framus BL 15 - which is the Billy Lorento - a jazz player in Europe and pickup designer, who designed the pickups on this guitar. He later changed his name to Bill Lawrence - which may be more familiar. This is a 1968 guitar.

Yes it sounds great, but has the thinnest neck I've ever played that wasn't a mandolin.






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[jazzbow]

Super rare...


A Dallas Tuxedo, Britain's first mass produced solid bodied electric guitar from the mid 50's.


They came in either white with one pickup or natural mahogany finish with two pickups.


This version is from the second phase of production. Harry Weil made these pickups.
Having three pickups is not typical however...


No intonatable bridge then! Form over function.
Harry Weil also produced pickups for early Vox guitars too.
This guitar would have been modded during its early days and I'm thinking probably in the factory.
I cannot find any reference on the 'net for this style of pickup so anyone in the know please chime in.
Also it resembles the layout for a De Armond pickup where the B string did not have a polepiece.


Quaint strap button built like a gun!
Unfortunately the fingerboard has de-laminated from the neck.


The entire body and neck is cut from one piece of mahogany! Yipes!!
There is no truss rod of any description and the scale length is 23".
This is definitely weird.

Dallas brand became Dallas Arbiter and therein lies a history lesson with the British music scene of the late 60's and early 70's.

Here's another rare Dallas...


This is John Lennon's Dallas that went for £4k.

Unfortunately my one is not anywhere as valuable.
I figure the early Vox pickups are worth more than the actual guitar.

So what will I do with this?

Thinking of planing the neck/fingerboard face down and routing in graphite rods for stability.
Installing a new fingerboard and then use a technique called 'Compression fretting' to build in relief for string action.
Re-craft the shitty tailpiece/bridge like a Danelectro.

Would it increase its value?

No.

[Jabberwocky]

Gilpy, your Seventy-seven Hawk Koa could have been a twin of my Fat Hawk Koa.

[Gilpy]

Gilpy, your Seventy-seven Hawk Koa could have been a twin of my Fat Hawk Koa.

All the Hawk Koas that I've seen pictures of have an almost identical grain pattern on the front. I guess they got the veneer for the laminate from one especially attractive log....so they really are twins!

[Gitfiddler]

My most rare 'guitar' is a bass guitar.
Peavey made this unique Cirrus bass for the late John Entwistle. (I confirmed the progeny with the good folks at Peavey since I never saw pics of J.E. using it).
Features a Highly figured Maple/Purpleheart/Maple body, Macassar Ebony board and Abalone circle inlays.



This is a one-off CS-356 built by the former Gibson Custom Direct team.
Features Abalone Cloud inlays, Ebony board, Unbound LP style headstock, and Fat Neck. S/N 001.

[campusfive]

Definitely my '32 Epiphone Deluxe. It was probably some kind of prototype, because most of the specifications weren't normal for 1932, but most were adopted for 1934. Plus, the the "checkerboard" binding is one-of-a-kind, because the 1934 models ended up with herringbone binding instead.