The guitar is a Fernandes Masterhand. It was made around 1980 or so. At the time Fernandes was making Alembic copies - a fact that has been discussed around here on many occasions. The Masterhand was not a direct copy as far as the body shape. It is more Strat-like. The build method, however, was hippie sandwich all the way. The electronics were Fernandes' rip off of Alembic Series 1, complete with hum canceller, 5 pin jack, and external power supply. From what I've read, while the woodworking was pretty cool on these, the electronics came up short. Either way, nothing worked when I found this guitar, and the store had lost the power supply. Currently I am having Alembic electronics installed (3 pus, filter and 3 position Q - not series). It will also have an RMC bridge saddle pick up system which can provide both an acoustic sound and hook up to a Roland guitar synth. The guitar, as I originally found it, can be seen here. It's the one in the middle:
http://www.fatdawg.com/334.jpg By the way, Jonathan, the wisps of smoke are my favorite too. They are made of silver. The fatty is also quite nice. It didn't come out too well in the photos, but it really looks like rolling paper that's been twisted up. This should be a big hit at our medical cannabis benefit gigs! (Pardon the pun, I couldn't resist).
Bill, tgo
