Vintage, Rare, Oddball & Bizarre Guitars

[Subliminal lanimilbuS]

Just posting a link, for those who have never been there before, of what to expect from a slew of different guitars from around the world. Just click on the Guitars tab at the top, follow to the pictures of the guitars and click on them. Can't think of another site with videos that has a selection like this.

Drowning in Guitars!

Vintage, Rare, Bizarre, and Oddball Guitar Love!

drowninginguitars.com

 

[Dave P]

My oddball that isn't on that site. 1982 Odyssey Paul Dean. One of 50 that Atilla Balogh built for Paul.

 

[bursty]

I have owned right at 400 guitars over the past ~54 years, still have about 40 (10%) of those and I have owned quite a few oddballs, custom order and one offs. I have sold more than I care to remember and a few that I could still kick my own *** for selling.

Not at all rare and not at all an oddball but one that I still regret selling was a 1966 Fender Electric XII. I paid $300 for it in 1980 but they are going for $7K and up now. Oops ......

I buy, collect, play and sell MIJ guitars. My first MIJ was a 1976 Ibanez Flying V, copy of a 1967 Gibson Flying V. Sold it in high school to a younger brother of a friend of mine and doubled my money. Not bad for a 17 year old high school punk back in the mid to late 1970s.

Below are a couple of my favorites.

Very early Combat Les Paul, circa mid 1990s. This one was offered with a matched set of Grinning Dog LOOSE pickups but I passed on the pickups and took delivery of this rare bird without any pickups. I installed a matched set of double white Maxon PU-2 pickups that I took from a very early 1980 Greco EGF-850. This guitar kicks so much ***. What a great guitar/pickup combination. This is my #1 flame top.



Fairly early mid 2000s Momose MLS-STD/J that also did not have original pickups. This example is from the 08** serial number range and comes with the original matching warranty card and original case. Honduran body and neck and Jacaranda (WTF is that?) fingerboard. This is my #1 'plain top.'

 

[Subliminal lanimilbuS]

I have owned right at 400 guitars over the past ~54 years, still have about 40 (10%) of those and I have owned quite a few oddballs, custom order and one offs. I have sold more than I care to remember and a few that I could still kick my own *** for selling.

Not at all rare and not at all an oddball but one that I still regret selling was a 1966 Fender Electric XII. I paid $300 for it in 1980 but they are going for $7K and up now. Oops ......

I buy, collect, play and sell MIJ guitars. My first MIJ was a 1976 Ibanez Flying V, copy of a 1967 Gibson Flying V. Sold it in high school to a younger brother of a friend of mine and doubled my money. Not bad for a 17 year old high school punk back in the mid to late 1970s.

Below are a couple of my favorites.

Very early Combat Les Paul, circa mid 1990s. This one was offered with a matched set of Grinning Dog LOOSE pickups but I passed on the pickups and took delivery of this rare bird without any pickups. I installed a matched set of double white Maxon PU-2 pickups that I took from a very early 1980 Greco EGF-850. This guitar kicks so much ***. What a great guitar/pickup combination. This is my #1 flame top.
View attachment 24135


Fairly early mid 2000s Momose MLS-STD/J that also did not have original pickups. This example is from the 08** serial number range and comes with the original matching warranty card and original case. Honduran body and neck and Jacaranda (WTF is that?) fingerboard. This is my #1 'plain top.'
View attachment 24136

View attachment 24137

Had a Combat from back then that looked a lot like that one. Not a guitar name you see very often. The few I did see always seem to have the nicest flame tops. What would be the odds. Have you had it since new? Have you ever gave it an accurate weighing?

 

[bursty]

@Subliminal lanimilbuS If you had a Combat Custom Guitars Les Paul model then I'm surprised you no longer have it

I purchased the Combat from a YJ seller in Japan. I was in a bidding war with another prospective buyer but I guess I wanted the guitar a bit more than the other bidder. The Combat showed up at my door mid January, 2011 so, I've had this fine hunk of lumber for nearly 13 years. It arrived in an older Navigator case; one of the older Navi cases with the black exterior and the green interior. The old Navi cases are built like an army tank which you likely know.

As it is currently set-up (with an older stamped Greco EG pick guard & no pickup covers) it weighs 8 lb. - 13 5/8 oz.
Neck is pretty chunky at .892" @ fret 1 - .999" @ fret 11 and it is within 3 degrees of being perfectly quarter sawn.
The body is basically flat sawn and it looks more like old growth Honduran looking at the end grain but there is no certainty on this point.
Frets are .108" W x .044" H which is a bit odd because my 2000 Tokai LS-320 has the exact size fret wire.
Of course I would pick the Combat over the LS-320 any day of the week.
Folks talk about 'mojo' and the Combat certainly has some; actually it has a lot.

Here's a pic just after arrival in January, 2011



and here a couple days later after I installed the double white 1980 Maxon PU-2 pups



here in the Navigator case with one of those nasty 'molded' pick guards, like on the old Burny RLGs and the old Bacchus BLS models

 

[Subliminal lanimilbuS]

@Subliminal lanimilbuS If you had a Combat Custom Guitars Les Paul model then I'm surprised you no longer have it

I purchased the Combat from a YJ seller in Japan. I was in a bidding war with another prospective buyer but I guess I wanted the guitar a bit more than the other bidder. The Combat showed up at my door mid January, 2011 so, I've had this fine hunk of lumber for nearly 13 years. It arrived in an older Navigator case; one of the older Navi cases with the black exterior and the green interior. The old Navi cases are built like an army tank which you likely know.

As it is currently set-up (with an older stamped Greco EG pick guard & no pickup covers) it weighs 8 lb. - 13 5/8 oz.
Neck is pretty chunky at .892" @ fret 1 - .999" @ fret 11 and it is within 3 degrees of being perfectly quarter sawn.
The body is basically flat sawn and it looks more like old growth Honduran looking at the end grain but there is no certainty on this point.
Frets are .108" W x .044" H which is a bit odd because my 2000 Tokai LS-320 has the exact size fret wire.
Of course I would pick the Combat over the LS-320 any day of the week.
Folks talk about 'mojo' and the Combat certainly has some; actually it has a lot.

Here's a pic just after arrival in January, 2011
View attachment 24144


and here a couple days later after I installed the double white 1980 Maxon PU-2 pups
View attachment 24145


here in the Navigator case with one of those nasty 'molded' pick guards, like on the old Burny RLGs and the old Bacchus BLS models
View attachment 24146



View attachment 24147



View attachment 24148

Forgot to mention why I got rid of the Combat. I got into that nasty phase early in my collecting days where copies had to be as close to original real burst specs as possible. Things like nitro finish, dark brazilian fretboard, etc. Mine had a light fretboard like yours, maybe even lighter, plus all of the other off things. Didn't take me long to realize that a copy is never going to be the real thing so why does it matter. Wish I had got the Combat when I had figured that out. A couple other Les Paul copies I got rid of I wish I had back were a Mushroom and an ESP. The Mushroom had the brazilian fretboard, but the color wasn't what I was looking for. It had more of that 60's tomato soup thing going on. The early 90's ESP really irks me the most. It was beautiful. A friend who was a die hard fan of ESP talked me into selling it early in the 2000's. I think my first Limited Edition Navigator was bought with the money. I am still friends with him, but unfortunately he sold it without telling me he was selling it. I got even by telling him I would have given him two guitars each worth the same value as the ESP to get it back. That really bummed him out because he was hurting for money at the time. All this has got me thinking I should post an ad in the wanted section for an early 90's ESP or 90's Combat. Never seem to get responses on there, though, for the stuff I am looking for.

 

[Jethro Rocker]

Got nothin real weird.
A 1962 EKO in gold metal flake. Fun for slide but sustain like a banjo. Mother of toilet bowl back.

 

[LeonC]

I've owned this Guild S-200 Thunderbird since about 2009 or so. It's a great sounding guitar--excellent pickups. Great neck! Very reminiscent of a '59 carve.

 

[LeonC]

Another strange one that I still own is a Kapa Continental. These were made on the East coast in the early 60s. Very Fender-like construction but cheaper. Very unique sounding pickups.

 

[bursty]

Forgot to mention why I got rid of the Combat. I got into that nasty phase early in my collecting days where copies had to be as close to original real burst specs as possible. Things like nitro finish, dark brazilian fretboard, etc. Mine had a light fretboard like yours, maybe even lighter, plus all of the other off things. Didn't take me long to realize that a copy is never going to be the real thing so why does it matter. Wish I had got the Combat when I had figured that out. A couple other Les Paul copies I got rid of I wish I had back were a Mushroom and an ESP. The Mushroom had the brazilian fretboard, but the color wasn't what I was looking for. It had more of that 60's tomato soup thing going on. The early 90's ESP really irks me the most. It was beautiful. A friend who was a die hard fan of ESP talked me into selling it early in the 2000's. I think my first Limited Edition Navigator was bought with the money. I am still friends with him, but unfortunately he sold it without telling me he was selling it. I got even by telling him I would have given him two guitars each worth the same value as the ESP to get it back. That really bummed him out because he was hurting for money at the time. All this has got me thinking I should post an ad in the wanted section for an early 90's ESP or 90's Combat. Never seem to get responses on there, though, for the stuff I am looking for.

yep, nuthin gonna B exact like an original and that is why I dig the MIJ wild things and all of the curve balls that all the differing brands of MIJ throws

AFA Brazilian goes I have seen plenty of color/tone variation in old skool Gibson & Fender Braz boards so if one likes 'dark' that's cool but Braz comes in a lot of color/tone variation. One man's dark is another mans trash and another man's trash is another man's treasure. It's all what you like/don't like.
Nuthin is 100%, nuthin is right and nuthin is wrong ....... it is what it is ....... no matter the brand ...... no matter the example ........

 

[Subliminal lanimilbuS]

I've owned this Guild S-200 Thunderbird since about 2009 or so. It's a great sounding guitar--excellent pickups. Great neck! Very reminiscent of a '59 carve.

Those are one wavy looking guitar.

 

[Subliminal lanimilbuS]

Ya, I am all over the board now. Just took me a while like I mentioned in my post. When CITES added the brazilian rosewood in 1992 Fender chose Pau Ferro to replace it because it looked a lot like some of their 60's rosewood boards with the dark streaks and all. I like dark streaks when they run the entire length of the board. I like the boards to have a lot of color though too. Whether it be brown, orange or purple. Honduran rosewood is pretty much what I have centered on now. Usually really nice color and quite often with really nice dark streaks. It is the top choice of wood to use in really expensive xylophones so I am thinking is has to be a really good tone wood. When I get a chance I will post my 2 favorite fretboards. One is from a 59 Gibson and the other from a 59 Kay. Both brazilian.