Hmm - in my meeting but stuck on a conference call so can use my BBerry!
A true 50’s Moderne would go for big $ but only as a rare curiosity - they are butt-ugly and since they weren’t produced, no famous artists used the as with V’s and Explorers. So yeah big collector bucks but no idol-worship buks which is typically what puts a guitar in the stratosphere.
Nielsen’s Explorer was super early - the split-V headstock was a holdover from the original patented deisign - this is sometimes referred to as The Futura since it is a bit different form the final Explorer design - but the first few Ex’s had Futura headstocks…
You know, I’d never seen a picture of “the Log”, but Google is my friend. Here it is if anyone here is curious.
Wow, what a…interesting piece of …luthiery. I’d think the side ‘wings’ would rattle a bit. And that hacked up bridge and whammy deal is pretty wild as well. But this predated pretty much every solid body guitar (or maybe not, according to Gibson, but whatever), which is pretty cool.
Yeah - he’s quite the tinkerer :). You should see the documentary **Les Paul: Chasing Sound **that was done on PBS’ American Masters series. You get to see The Octopus, his original overdub multi-tracking recorder…
He’s not mentioned rattling in the interviews I’ve read - he plays clean jazz so it’s not like Nugent harnessing the feedback of a hollow-bodied Byrdland or anything. Les did gig with the Log - there are photos of him with a full band.
As for the first solid bodies, there are a lot of thoughts on that. Certainly Les Paul pioneered, but
Looks like two humbuckers and one single coil. All of the Dead play(ed) really complicated custom instruments. Check out Phil Lesh’s insane Alembicmutant bass.
According to my memory of my Strat handbook, which is, of course, not here so I can check it, the strat Jimi burned… was restrung and is still playable.
Dweezil Zappa has supposedly owned one of a couple of know Hendrix-burnt Strats, and it has been stated that it was the Monterey Pop Strat, but I believe it has since been proven to not be that one. Not sure if it is still has a link to Hendrix…
I’m not the authority on these things, but Eric Clapton’s two famous guitars, Brownie (used with Derek and the Dominos) and Blackie (assembled out of three vintage Strats; used mid-'70s through mid-'80s), come to mind. Both broke records when they were sold. I’m not sure what condition they’re in, but there monetary value exceeds there use as an instrument at this point in time.
IIRC Brownie fetched close to $500,000 and Blackie ~$1,000,000 when auctioned a few years ago. Condition irrelevant although both had logged serious hours. But they have already been surpassed by at least the Garcia guitar Tiger and I think a Hendrix guitar. The point to this thread was what would fetch the most - Clapton’s Beano burst is FAR more desirable in guitar circles vs. Blackie.
Back in the late 80s or early 90s, I read a story in the Wall Street Journal about a bass that was about to be auctioned on behalf of the widow or the estate of Mal Evans, the Beatles’ roadie and all-round assistant. It was a Hofner bass that was given by Paul to Mal at the end of the final tour in 1966. When the auction appraiser took the guitar out of the case, it had a set list taped to the back. It was the set list for the final concert at Candlestick Park, and it was in Paul’s hand-writing. I don’t remember what that sold for, but I have to think it would be worth about as much as any guitar could be worth at this point.
This is all based on memory; I can’t find anything online specifically about this guitar.
Another guitar, or maybe guitars, that I find intriguing are the prototype Stratocasters that were made for one or more southern California country players by Leo, George and Freddie as they worked on improvements to the design of the Telecaster. My understanding of this is that they incorporated a few of the complaints or suggestions they had heard about the Tele and built them into prototypes. They then gave these prototypes to a couple of professional players who made further suggestions. I don’t know if those guitars exist anymore, but they would be fascinating to look at and would probably be worth 6 figures at least.
That is probably what the book referred to. (And Blackie is in horrible shape. The back of the Stratocaster Handbook is guitar porn, plain and simple. Beck, Clapton, Page’s strats…) If it was that one, how much do you think it would be worth?
I don’t have anything to add to the serious discussion, since I know jack about guitars, but Rick Nielsen is part owner of a brew-pub/pizza place in Chicago called Piece, where there’s a few of his guitars hanging on the wall. He has joked in the past that he only bought into the place so he’d have someplace to keep some guitars.
Once a year they do a charity deal where you can have Nielsen deliver your pizza from there. Seems like a pretty cool guy.
Clarence White from the Byrds and The Kentucky Colonels was one of the first post-Doc Watson flat-picking players.
He had a Martin D-28 that was modified with an extra-large soundhole and different bracing under the top. His father bought it to be shared by him and his brother Roland. Clarence shot at with a BB gun when they were kids!
The guitar now belongs to and is played by Tony Rice. I heard it played at a workshop a few years ago. No PA, just the guitar in a room. Amazing sound.
Yup - good call. On the Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum in the Vintage section, there is a long thread where a top repair guy/luthier has been contracted to rebuild/restore the 1935 D-28 that was very next in line serial-number-wise to the White/Rice guitar - the vintage Martin geeks are out in force, dying to hear what kinda tone it can produce…
Would you believe someone’s tracking Kurt Cobain’s guitars?
Hm. Elvis wasn’t famous for playing the guitar, Chuck Berry’s won’t match Jimi… We’ve covered the Log, Monterey, Blackie, Brownie… what if we cast a wider net?
