Favourite unusual or non-standard guitar

[Heath]

Frank_NH wrote

That's easy...the Yamaha SGV!

Oh, hell yes!  Dude, that yellow is gorgeous.  

Here's mine:




And here's an EVG I converted to be more SGV-like :

[Heath]

tabbycat wrote

i play a hayman 1010 (with vintage high gain hums) as main main (the shergolds that the joy division boys played were basically haymans simplified and rebranded) and i have never found another neck so absolutely perfect in every way.

I've had my eye out for Shergolds in the US for years...  I'd give a toe for the model that Porl King (Rosetta Stone, et al) uses.

[IvIark]

My most used guitar is a Hohner G3T which is similar to the headless Steinberger "bat" guitars and with the same bridge.

The stock pickups were utter shite but I swapped them for a Dimarzio Super Distortion in the bridge and single coil size Lil'59 humbuckers in the middle and neck positions (they are obviously very similar in tone so I want to swap one for a single coil of some description and am open to suggestions).  It sounds amazing now, really toneful and with bags of sustain which you probably wouldn't expect from a guitar like this.

The bridge is also the best I've ever used.  Locks into a fixed bridge position which is rock solid, and can dive bomb to loose strings without ever going out of tune.  I find it perfect.

I need to swap the pots to get it back to it's best because they've got a bit scratchy, but when it's done I know it will be my most used guitar again.  Another big plus with this is I play guitar most often sat behind a desk and the compact dimensions and leg stand make is really easy and comfortable to use in a fairly tight space.

I've got a number of other guitars including a Gibson LP Standard, Fender Lite Ash Strat and a top of the line at the time Japanese Ibanez RG770FM and still this is the one I pick up 90% of the time.

[Silver Blues]

I'm partial to my own lovely axe:



Hanson Firenze T-90, one of the slickest guitars I think I've ever gotten my hands on. Has a nice, barky P90 at the neck and a hot-wound bridge pickup (I remember measuring it at almost 10k) so you get the bite without the ice-pick which is awesome. The middle position especially just sounds gorgeous. Super quality all around, and it has an absolutely glorious FAT neck, fattest one I think I've so far seen and it's AWESOME.

If only I could play the fucking thing with any degree of skill...

[Heath]

Here's a little black sheep of mine:




This one is a rescue project.

I might have posted this here before, I honestly can't remember.  Just in case, this is his story:

This lady wanted to get her some a guitar for his birthday.  Not being that knowledgeable and not knowing what a personal choice a guitar can be, she called the First-Act custom shop (yes, they actually make some nice guitars, not just the starter packs in Wal-Mart) and had them build a guitar for her son.  She didn't go full-on Warmoth or anything, but it's not a crap guitar either.

So, the brat turned his nose up at it and she put it on Ebay where the body style caught my eye.  I bought it for a steal and then took it completely apart.  It turns out the wood and build quality is very nice.  The tuners sucked, the bridge was so-so, and the pickups sucked.  Plus they took a gorgeous guitar body and made it as boring as possible.

It looked like this when I got it (note the three original control knobs):



I gave all of the dismembered parts a good thorough cleaning and then body and neck back together.  I went all gold hardware, which is rare for me, but it looks nice with the blue.  I cut my own pickguard (nasty business!) to house two angled (cause it looks cool) gold lipstick tube pickups (GuitarFetish) and decaled it with a gold Sun emblem.  I then installed a gain/bass/mid/treble preamp:



I had to drill a 4th control hole.  Luckily this guitar had plenty of space for it in the control cavity.

It's a little beast now.

[Beaker]

Love the First Act! I know the guitarists from Kvelertak use them after recording/ touring with Baroness who use them too.

My son has a really nice First Act too - one of the semis though I can't remember the model.

We swapped the pickups in that for some De Armond Gold Tones he got for a steal on ebay, put series/parallel/split switches in it and a varitone for good measure. Oh, and a Guitar Fetish vintage trem as well.

[Kinski]

My early 50's Thin Twin:

[Kinski]

My early 50's Supro:

[Travis]

Woah those look sick Kinski!! Bet those pickups sound great!

Have you ever tried a Harmony Stratotone? My buddy has a couple and at first I thought they looked pretty ugly but one strum (even unplugged) and I was in love. I guess they just made the neck overly thick so that they wouldn't need a truss rod and that had some amazing magic effect on the sound. They are so unbelievably resonant and sweet sounding, I want one!

[Ciaran Haslett]

That Thin Twin reminds me of this guitar I had in for repairs a while ago.


Mid 50's Roger (made by Rossmeisl) in a sorry state.  Bridge pup was completely open.  Someone glued a jack socket under the scratch plate.  Busted knobs.  The bridge was a very early model that floated like a violin bridge and had set wire hammered into slots for intonation (missing one here).

Sadly I can't find the "after" pic but it left me looking much better and played OK just.  Customer didn't want to pay for a new pickup winding which was a shame but I enjoyed working on it all the same.

[Kinski]

Yeah, they both sound great.
Both have huge necks. Like baseball bats.
I especially like the Supro. Those pickups are single coils, and they sound huge.

[PMowdes]

A squire vista super sonic has just gone up for sale on ebay (UK), if only I had some money :(

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fender-Squier-Super-Sonic-Guitar-Upgrades-/232003227452?