1990's Tradition Guitars Michael Angelo Batio "No Boundaries" Guitar

Very rare early Michael Angelo Batio signature guitar from Tradition Guitars "No Boundaries" series that is marked NB1M on the back sticker with an original price of $389.50. Although the "No Boundaries" CD was released in 1995 this guitar isn't that old since Tradition Guitars was founded in 1998. It is one the cleanest used guitars I've ever found. I think it was purchased and played just a few times and put away. My guess is that these are the original GHS strings that came on the guitar.

I found the following specifications for the guitar;
Solid Alder Body - A favorite choice of luthiers for many years. Alder is resonant, accepts laquer well and is less susceptible to cracking than many other hard woods.

North American Maple Necks - Used on all tradition guitars and basses, this choice wood has been favored by every great builder. No substitutes, no "mystery" wood, only the best possible neck wood available.

Indian Rosewood Fretboard - Why only Indian rosewood? The fingerboard represents up to 40% of the rigidity factor for a guitar neck. Indian rosewood can be dried efficiently and tends to be less susceptible to twisting. It also contains less moisture and oil resin that can compromise the ability to secure frets.

Die Cast Tuners - These tuners last longer and are smoother to the touch than open or covered gears. Ours cost more, but are worth the end result.

High Output Pickups - All pickups are potted for low noise. This potting process eliminates the "microphonic" tendencies you find in many other pickups. The single coil pickups have Alnico-5 magnets for higher output. The result is a pickup you can compare to any other on the market.

Dunlop Fret Wire - We use Dunlop fret wire to insure consistent quality and long life for our guitars and basses.

GHS Strings - All tradition guitars and basses come with first quality GHS strings.

This guitar will be sold on ebay soon. Check my about me page for the ebay listing.

United Airlines Breaks Guitars Part 2

A while back I posted the story of United Airlines breaking the guitar of Canadian artist Dave Carroll. He has written 3 songs about the mishap and has just posted the 2nd video. I liked the first one better than this, but it's still entertaining.

Here's a link to the first part of the story.

If you want the entire story, you can find it at Dave's Website.

1990's Squier Stratocaster by Fender

This is a black Squier Stratocaster by Fender with white pickguard that was built in 1997 in China. Great entry level guitar in the style of the classic Strat.

1960's Audition (Kawai or Teisco) 2 Pickup Electric

This is a 2nd unknown Audition model 2 pickup Electric Guitar from the 1960's with 2 goldfoil pickups. The first one I posted had a roller type of bridge and this one has a solid plastic type of bridge. The prize on this guitar is the goldfoil pickups and I've already used them for another project. Audition guitars were distributed in the US and UK by the Woolworth chain. Many of the ones I've seen have the goldfoil pickups just like this one has. It's most likely that this guitar was built by Kawai seeing as how the quality appears to be higher than that seen in a typical Teisco.

Kawai was founded in 1927 by Koichi Kawai in Hamamatsu, Japan. Mr. Kawai's vision was to create top-quality pianos, a quest in which he certainly succeeded! Kawai added guitars to its line around 1954 and eventually became a player in the 1960s Guitar Boom. Like many Japanese electric guitars, most early Kawai guitars were slightly frumpy, although the impression is that their electronics were a little better than most. Often accused of supplying more flash than substance, there are Kawai guitars that are of high quality, playability and design.

Probably the most prominent brand names in the U.S. manufactured by Kawai were TeleStar, whose sparkle models have a small but devoted following, Kimberly, and Domino. Kawai also built guitars for Saint Lous music in the 1960's and 1970's under their brand name Apollo.

In January of 1967 Kawai purchased the Teisco guitar company, but they appear to have operated the two companies pretty much separately. Both lines featured exclusive designs and different pickups. Teisco continued the vector of evolution it had taken, ending up with the Spectrums and finally the mini-Strats, before become the Kay brand in the U.S.

In 1968 both Kawai and Teisco freaked out. Kawai produced models such as the axe-shaped Concert, plus a variety of unusual VS violin-bodied guitars (including one with 16 strings and its own pickup mounted parallel to the strings, whether sympathetic or strummed, who knows?), the Splender, shaped like a banjo, and another model shaped like a sitar. For Teisco, 1968 was the year that gave us the famous artist-palette-shaped May Queen, wildly flared, asymmetrical Fire Bird, and long-horn Phantom. One other company, Firstman (unrelated to Kawai), produced a model similar to the Concert called the Liverpool.











One of my blog readers sent me these two pictures of what we believe to be the rare Splender model (Thanks James!)

This guitar will be sold on ebay soon. Check my about me page for the ebay listing.

1960's Harmony Bobkat Bobcat H15

It's a 1966 (from the pickguard date) Harmony Bobkat (Bobcat) electric with two DeArmond goldfoil pickups originally although the bridge pickup has been removed. The neck is straight with low action and a rosewood fretboard. As far as I can tell, this guitar is all original and complete except for the missing pickup and the modified pickguard. I previously owned a H15V model that also had the finish removed but hadn't received a urethane finish.







Harmony BobKat's were produced starting in 1966. There were many versions of the Bobkat including the H14 (single pickup sunburst) , H15 (double pickup sunburst), H15V (double pickup sunburst with vibrato), and H17(double pickup with red sunburst and vibrato) among other models.

Here's a site with a bit more information and pictures.

This guitar will be sold on ebay soon. Check my about me page for the ebay listing.

1970's Japanese Ranger Electric with Goldfoil pickup

I acquired this guitar in July 2009 and it is a unknown Ranger model single pickup Electric Guitar from the 1970's I believe. The guitar is in nice condition and all original as far as I can tell except for the missing nut. Nice straight neck with a huge headstock that is seen on many guitars from the 1960's and 1970's. It reminds me a lot of the Telestar guitars from the 1960's which were made by Kawai. The great thing about this guitar is the goldfoil pickup which were found on some of the 1960's and 1970's Japanese guitars. I have also come across another almost identical model that was labeled Crestline but I'm sure they were made in the same Japanese factory.








Crestline guitars were built in Japan from the mid to late 1970s and distributed by the Grossman Music Corporation of Cleveland, OH. They are entry level to intermediate solid body guitars featured designs based on classic American favorites. Crestline offered a wide range of stringed instruments, including classical, folk, dreadnought, and twelve-string acoustics; solid body electric guitars and basses; amplifiers; banjos, mandolins, and ukuleles. Considering the amount of instruments available, the Crestline trademark was probably used on guitars built by one of the bigger Japanese guitar producers and rebranded for the U.S. market. One model reviewed at a vintage guitar show was based on Gibson's Les Paul design, and had Grover tuners, two Japanese covered humbuckers, and decent wood.

Guitar Lovers Beware of United Airlines

While I'm taking a break from posting information about my guitar hunts I thought I'd share this story with you. Dave Carroll of the band Sons of Maxwell had his $3,500 Taylor acoustic destroyed by United Airlines baggage handlers. He's planning to write 3 songs and produce videos for them and here's the first.

If you want the entire story, you can find it at Dave's Website.