What's your most rare guitar model

[GNAPPI]

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 :-)

[hot ford coupe]

The rarest guitar I've got is a 1996 Gretsch Eldorado ghost built by Heritage. When I called Heritage asking about its history, Jim Duerloo told me he believes there were only about 20 made. The record says about 48 were made so the actual number is probably between the two. My local guitar shop owner says this is the best Gretsch guitar he's ever seen. He's a Heritage dealer and he knows about these.

[powerwagonjohn]

Guild GSR Starfire VI it is 15 of 18 built in New Hartford CT Thanks John

[2bornot2bop]

The rarest guitar I've got is a 1996 Gretsch Eldorado ghost built by Heritage. When I called Heritage asking about its history, Jim Duerloo told me he believes there were only about 20 made. The record says about 48 were made so the actual number is probably between the two. My local guitar shop owner says this is the best Gretsch guitar he's ever seen. He's a Heritage dealer and he knows about these.

Agreed!

[MaxTwang]

G&L ASAT Classic Prototype, my first Tele style guitar. Dated about a month after Leo's death.

Never been a production ASAT like this: Double bound body, bound neck, macassar ebony fingerboard, Seymour Duncan pickups.

[Danny W.]

It's hard to beat one-offs for rarity:

Long-scale Byrdland Florentine & ultra-thin L-5CES Florentine:



ES-357 (although Gibson built a few with this number, the others all were based on the ES-345):



Danny W.

[hot ford coupe]

Agreed!

That's one of 'em. Now I don't need to buy a new Golden Eagle. Wait--I'll need to rethink that.

[Jabberwocky]

2002 Super 400 Charlie Christian, Second Reissue, 1/10?
2002 ES-150 Charlie Christian Reissue, 1/10.
1954 Super 300, 1/16 in 1954, 1/200 overall.
2002 L-5 Wes Montgomery Heart Inlay, Second Reissue, 1/10?
2010 L-4CESN Custom, single neck pickup.
2015 Seventy-seven Fat Hawk Jazz Koa, 1/6.

[55bar]

GBBX-700 1 of 50 I think.

westerly made bob's signature on the label





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Thumpalumpacus]

G&L ASAT Classic Prototype, my first Tele style guitar. Dated about a month after Leo's death.

Never been a production ASAT like this: Double bound body, bound neck, macassar ebony fingerboard, Seymour Duncan pickups.

... and huge frets! Those things look like the railroad-ties on my SG. Pretty guit all the same, brotha.

[mr quick]

Does my ES-139 count if I've only seen 2 of it(including mine) in norway?

[travisty]

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 )



Chris Eccleshall "Londoner" Archtop (1984) (1 of 1 as told to previous owner by Chris Eccleshall; however, he has on his list of available guitar types (on his website) "L5 Style" so perhaps there is/are another/others)



Musima Record Custom (mid-late 1950s) (1 of several? I have found photos of 3-4 different ones, references to 5 having been made, but really who knows?)



Mah Style-30 Serau (a few years ago) (1 of maybe several of this model, maybe not; unclear. I need to ask the luthier)

[cmajor9]

Here are a few that will be new to most of you...

[travisty]

cmajor9,
Those are beautiful. I imagine they are all German/DDR?
The Hoyer has a line down the middle where the spruce joint would be. Is it refinished?
And does the "hidden pickup" in the guitar in the last photo work?

[mad dog]

Not sure about rarity exactly, but you don't see many of these around. It's a Silvertone 1427, mid 50s:



Looks like the more common Harmony Espanada, which has metal binding of all things on the body. But it's not the same. Shallower body than the Espanada and other similar Harmony guitars (such as the H62, Roy Smeck and others). What is the same is the P13 pickups. Which if you've never had the pleasure, I hope you get the chance someday to try.

Has a pressed spruce top. Lightly braced if at all. Faux ebony fingerboard, 25" scale. Real ebony bridge. These were not high-end instruments new. Quite variable in playability and quality. I got real lucky with this one. Price was low. Arrived with the fretboard separating from the neck. Needed work, but was otherwise in excellent condition. Solid feel, a real good vibe. The other luck was knowing a luthier who is expert with these oldies. He did it up right. Repaired the board, new frets, new bridge, wired up an out of phase switch for the middle position (tucked inside the lower F hole).

Tonally, it's got a real wild side cranked up. Fat, gainy drive. Dial it back some, and it's a surprisingly good jazz guitar. Especially if you love single coil, P90 tones for jazz. (And I do.)
MD

[monk]

1936 Vega Electrovox

[fws6]

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.

[cmajor9]

cmajor9,
Those are beautiful. I imagine they are all German/DDR?
The Hoyer has a line down the middle where the spruce joint would be. Is it refinished?
And does the "hidden pickup" in the guitar in the last photo work?

Hi travisty,

The 3rd (Hoyer) and 4th (Isana) guitars are West German; the others are East German/DDR.
The center stripe on the red Hoyer is original, not a sigh of refinishing. I've seen many Hoyers with this finish.
The hidden Rellog pickup in the Seifert works fine. The sound is close to a P90, maybe a bit fuller.

[iim7V7IM7]

I have number of bespoke luthier made instruments that I regard as "one-of-a-kind" in that they combine features or incorporate decorations in a unique manner. perhaps not "rare" or "desirable" by many, they are indeed unique. Some guitars made by builders are "standard models" and others are not. I will share three with the group that may be of interest due to their jazz leanings...

Pennsylvania archtop luthier Bill Comins created this 16" hybrid oval hole acoustic carved Carpathian Spruce topped guitar with a unique flatter carve, hybrid archtop/flat top x-bracing with a tapered depth, ladder braced Honduran Mahogany domed flat back. The goal of the instrument was to capture the string-to-string balance of an archtop with some added bass response and overtones.



Upstate New York luthier Bernie Lehmann created a custom decorated version of his Model Manouche for me incorporating decorative design elements from the Roycofters an early 20th century arts & crafts movement. The guitar is Cocobolo with a Carpathian Spruce top with only a 25-1/2" scale. Bernie does not ladder brace his gypsy guitars but uses an asymmetric double x-brace. So while it has the punch and volume, it has a bit more color to its timbre in my opinion.

California luthier Bruce Sexauer created a Bigleaf Maple carved back, German Spruce topped, 000 sized flat top guitar for me. The guitar has a traditional 24.9" scale and a 1.75" nut width. The guitar possesses all attributes of a flat top with some added immediacy, punch and projection of an archtop guitar.

[Doctor Jeff]

Electra SG style bass, the model used prominently by Trevor Bolder of Bowie's Spiders from Mars band. Rescued from the trash and rehabbed, just waiting for a chance to play some prog or glam rock.



BTW, the only electric bass I have seen that has a slotted headstock. Made replacing the tuners a royal pain.

[2bornot2bop]

2002 Super 400 Charlie Christian, Second Reissue, 1/10?
2002 ES-150 Charlie Christian Reissue, 1/10.
1954 Super 300, 1/16 in 1954, 1/200 overall.
2002 L-5 Wes Montgomery Heart Inlay, Second Reissue, 1/10?
2010 L-4CESN Custom, single neck pickup.
2015 Seventy-seven Fat Hawk Jazz Koa, 1/6.

Very nice! But doesn't that read like a group of guitars a "collector" would invest in?

[customxke]

Electra SG style bass, the model used prominently by Trevor Bolder of Bowie's Spiders from Mars band. Rescued from the trash and rehabbed, just waiting for a chance to play some prog or glam rock.



BTW, the only electric bass I have seen that has a slotted headstock. Made replacing the tuners a royal pain.

I thought he used a Gibson EB3L

[Bluedawg]

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 :-)

Does an original 70s Gibson RD count?

Also one of the 2003 Gibson R9s with Brazilian fingerboards .... I think there were about 7 or 8 hundred made before they switched back to Indian rosewood.

A Gibson ES-446

[Top of the Arch!]

The blue Byrdland would be my rare bird! I believe its the only long scale ALNICO Stapleto P90 made. Bob

[Boston Joe]

Nothing I have now is particularly rare, but for many years my main (and sometimes only) axe was a Gibson S-1. This is a very weird guitar - Single cutway, contoured body, and three single coil pickups, supposedly wired in such a way as to create a single pickup with three coils. (Not sure how that's supposed to work, but that's what the literature says). They stopped making them in 1979, but the serial number on mine dated it from 1980. It was probably completed in '79 but didn't leave the shop until '80. I like to tell myself that it was the last one ever made.

It sounded more Strat-like than a lot of Strats I've heard.