The Totally Miscellaneous non-Alembic Guitar and Bass Thread

edwardofhuncote · July 11, 2026, 09:23:55 AM

You got me there! Closest thing I ever had was a DanElectro. I've been trying to remember what in the world I traded that guitar for... I don't even have a picture of it. Pretty sure it went in a swap that I got a Kalamazoo for. Anyway, that's waaaaay cool. Especially the relief cut top. Looks like solid mahogany too.

We had a protracted conversation here some years back about Semie Moseley and Bartell, Hohner "Black Widow" basses. Another one of my bass heroes, T. Michael Coleman played them. I'll have to look for it.

*Found it- https://club.alembicguitars.com/miscellaneous/i-d-this-bass/msg231889/#msg231889

Nova Constellatio · July 11, 2026, 09:48:58 AM

I'm a huge fan of early Mosrites — the '50s double necks are wonderful beasts, and the stuff before the factory (1961-63) is super special. The pickups on the early '60s guitars are magic — kind of like a Carvin AP-6, but even glassier and more hifi. Someday I'll figure out how they were made, although I'm terrified to pop mine open.

Now I have to dig up pictures of a Danelectro I found last year.

Nova Constellatio · July 11, 2026, 10:13:18 AM

A 1954 prototype with the things that became lipstick pickups once Nat Daniels bought all those empty lipstick tubes. The pre-production instruments are usually red, from what I've seen.

The metal armature that the neck is built around extends all the way to the bridge, which is a neat feature that they didn't adopt.

peoplechipper · July 11, 2026, 08:55:55 PM

like a Wandre...

cozmik_cowboy · July 11, 2026, 09:02:58 PM

A college buddy in the '70s had a Ventures Model, as did a college buddy in the '00s; I have thought Mosrites were criminally under-rated by the F-G snobs (and wish they still were by the collectors.......)
Also, I was once in a music store somewhere in Kansas of Iowa of some such place with the guitarist for the lounge band i was doing sound/follow spot/pyrotechnics for, and the owner pulled a case from under the counter; said it was a prototype (which his son help Semie design) for a Merle haggard Signature Model.
Maple 'board with a brass strip down the center of it. Only maple 'board I've ever liked (but then, it didn't a finish - so I imagine it would look pretty nasty in quick order if it didn't live under the counter).
I love Mosrites!

Peter

Nova Constellatio · July 11, 2026, 09:15:58 PM

Sounds like a brass rail!

edwardofhuncote · July 12, 2026, 02:08:29 PM

I had an unusual ukulele in my shop a few days ago... a handmade 6-string tenor. It had octave course strings for the 1st and 3rd sets. I'm not sure what they were thinking, but surmise that it must have been built for a particular playing style with both up and down strums by the way the strings were arranged. Tuning was g-cC-E-Aa. Now, figure that out.

Anyway, it got me thinking I hadn't had this little guy out in a while. Martin Style 2M soprano uke... year unknown. It has bar frets, a logo, but no stamp on the headstock reverse. So after '35, but before the mando/uke shop ran outta' bar fretwire. They didn't serially number ukes. Good thing too. They made a blue-million of these things. Not as many of the fancy ones. This one came from an estate sale where this buddy of mine called me one Saturday morning. He'd found this one and a Style 3M. We split the deal. Oh yeah, I got the original case too.

Nova Constellatio · July 12, 2026, 02:16:11 PM

Beautiful little thing. The other one sounds like the unholy union of a ukulele and a taro patch. Weird.

edwardofhuncote · July 19, 2026, 05:37:20 AM

Posted a picture of this one on another thread, just incidentally. It doesn't get much publicity, but this little fella' is a tone machine. I'm about to loan it out... maybe permanently.

Built (mostly) on late-1920's, early-1930's specs, Martin 00-21. Adirondack spruce top, Madagascar rosewood sides and back, Spanish cedar neck, hot hide glue construction. Geo. Gruhn had the Custom Shop build these in sets for his Nashville dealership. Mine is a 2013, and just a few dozen numbers away from a 00-18 Custom in the locker I'll die with. (ordered new)

Nova Constellatio · July 19, 2026, 07:38:32 AM

That's gorgeous — I miss that period of time when there was a bunch of nice Madagascar rosewood around.

Also, I keep wanting to make an electric out of Spanish Cedar.

David Houck · July 19, 2026, 10:01:42 AM

Quote from: edwardofhuncote on July 19, 2026, 05:37:20 AM... Spanish cedar neck ... Gruhn had the Custom Shop build these in sets for his Nashville dealership.

Beautiful guitar! Got me thinking about Cedar, so I asked the AI a few questions about Western Red Cedar, Spanish Cedar, and Lebanon Cedar:

edwardofhuncote · July 19, 2026, 10:23:41 AM

I'm not 100% sure why it's called Spanish or Cedar. I don't think it's technically either one, at least not the way I think of cedar in terms of guitar-making. It's properties and appearance are much like tropical mahoganies. It was the traditionally popular wood used for Spanish-style classical guitars, and C.F. Martin & Co. used it for necks until the early 20th C. Interestingly they still use it some. I wonder how long they had that stuff.

Nova Constellatio · July 19, 2026, 10:38:35 AM

I've seen a few early Les Pauls that I'd swear were Spanish Cedar.

It acts like a super stiff, lightweight mahogany. If it weren't a little on the soft side, I'd have made a few necks out of it by now.

edwardofhuncote · **Yesterday** at 02:57:11 AM

I don't know my Gibson bits quite as well as I should partly because there's so much you can't possibly know. But I always thought that famous banner should have read; Never Can Tell With A Gibson.

They just didn't stick to rules and standards in Kalamazoo like they did in Nazareth. That isn't to say they built bad guitars, but there's definitely a difference. Look inside any late-30's Martin Dreadnought any late-30's Gibson Jumbo and this becomes obvious. A completely different mindset built those two guitars. That is reflected in what they fetch too, and that's not a knock on a J-35. I've played about a dozen. All but one were fantastic guitars. Carry it forward 25 years and look inside a Martin 000 vs. a Gibson LG and the same thing exists except brought forward a couple decades. Line up ten of the Martins, and they will generally be identical. Get ten of the Gibsons and two or three of them will have some different parts. Why? Just how it is. Or was. If there's something weird about a Gibson... wacky serial numbers, wrong bridge, extra binding, different rosette, couple extra dot inlays... you never can say for sure it didn't come that way.

I'll just say this... if they got in a stack of Spanish cedar, and it suited the purpose of making Les Pauls, there's no reason to think they wouldn't have.

cozmik_cowboy · **Yesterday** at 06:53:13 AM

Well, I can't find where I have it saved, and Google just dumps me down an endless - and useless - AI rabbithole, but....
There is an image out there that has a "banner" headstock - altered to read "Only a Gibson is overpriced enough".

I have stated elsewhere - and will stand by - that the biggest difference between Gibson & Epiphone these days is that the Epi SJ-200 is a fine $1500 instrument that you can buy for $750, while the Gibson version is a fine $2500 instrument that you can buy for $7500.......

I do love Gibsons (by which I mean, of course, guitars built in Kalamazoo; if I wanted a new Gibson now, I'd buy a Heritage), but they always were willing to throw in whatever was at hand, and have always regarded manufacturing goofs as opportunities for creative camouflage.

Peter (who marvels that their "Collector's Choice" series - in which they paint & damage Les Pauls to look like various famous LPs - actually sells; were he to have kind of guitar money he would be calling Mica)