1986 Ibanez Axstar AX75 Electric Guitar

While Ned Steinberger is generally the luthier most associated with the appearance of the headless bass and guitar in 1979, the minimalist concept his guitars reflect should really be seen as an evolving process. Back in the late 1930s Les Paul began analyzing the notion of an electric guitar and came up with his famous “log,” an Epiphone archtop that he cut the sides off and inserted a solid chunk of wood to eliminate feedback. His audiences couldn’t get used to the idea, so he had to screw the sides back on for performance, but he was clearly searching for the minimum needed for a good guitar.

There are no doubt other examples. Arguably lap steel guitars built since the early 1930s also fit this description. They’re little more than a chunk of wood or aluminum representing the string length of the guitar, with a pickup and tuners that could go at either end of the instrument. About as basic as you can get!

1986 Ibanez Axstar AX75 Electric Guitar

The idea of a minimalist electric Spanish guitar resurfaced again in 1967 when Dan Helland, a guitar player and teacher in Green Bay, Wisconsin, reached a conclusion similar to, but likely independent of, Les Paul’s, deciding a guitar could be no more than a neck stuck on a 2×4. Somehow he connected with the Holman-Woodell guitar company of Neodesha, Kansas, who were at the time manufacturing the solidbodies marketed by Wurlitzer out of Chicago. His design called for a neck stuck on a square slab of wood yielding the famous La Baye 2×4 guitars and basses. He had about 45 of these made and took them to the 1967 Chicago NAMM show where he sold zipity doodah. Helland gave up guitar design and became a photographer.

A little bit earlier another fellow named Dave Bunker of Puyallup, Washington, began to turn his thoughts to a better guitar idea. Bunker (yes, Bunker Hill is named for a relative!), born in 1935, began playing guitar in around 1949 and in around 1951 started teaching in Puyallup. The in 1955 he saw the traveling demonstration show put on by the great tapping guitarist Jimmie Webster and Dave adopted that technique. Conventional guitar design is not optimized for tapping, so naturally Bunker began to experiment and in around 1961 started making his own guitar designs. One of his ‘60s inventions was the idea of the “tension-free” neck. Basically this consisted of a heavy brass nut fixed to a thick brass bar that was attached to another block of metal in the body. A wooden neck was routed out and slipped over this brass core. Strings were anchored into the nut and stretched down to tuners on the butt end of the guitar. The brass neck core took all the tension of the strings, keeping the wooden neck free of any tension whatsoever. Like Les Paul’s “log,” Bunkers guitars often had variously shaped wings that could be bolted on to give more of an illusion of “guitar,” but he was getting down to the bare minimum!

1986 Ibanez Axstar AX75 Electric Guitar

One other name that should be mentioned is Allan Gittler (1935-2003). In the mid-‘70s Gittler began to really, really get to the minimum of what a guitar was to be. In around 1975 he introduced the Gittler guitar, basically a skeleton. The body was a steel tube, with tubular nut/string attachment, tubular frets, about as low as you could go and still have a guitar!

Then came the Steinbergers and Andy Summers and the heyday of headless. Everybody had to have one. Some makers simply ripped off the Steinberger. Others, such as Cort, licensed the design. Others, such as Modulus Graphite and Ibanez, came up with their own unique takes on the popular form. Which brings us to this Axstar.

In around 1985 Ibanez found its sales flattening out and needed something new to pep them up. The result was a new series called the Axstar. Two models were conceived, both to be made for them by Chushin in Japan, rather than the usual Fuji Gen Gakki. One was popularly called the “shark” because of its obviously finned shape. The other was this headless, commonly called the “battle axe,” designed in Bensalem, PA, by Ibanez’s then chief designer Mace Bailey.

There’s actually a lot more to this guitar than just another headless wannabe. It has a carved maple cap over an alder body, for one thing. Secondly, there’s a two-octave fingerboard. Then there are the low-impedence pickups pumped through active electronics with bass and treble cuts for tonal control. Always a winner! The picture is completed with a Steinberger-style bridge assembly. Only somewhat derivative, with enough to make it pretty interesting.

And pretty rare. It’s not known how many of these were produced, because Ibanez production records only exist for the Fuji factory, but not many. Neither Asxtar solved Ibanez’s sales woes. Their next attempt at jump-starting things was the wonderful Maxxas, but that’s another story for another day…

In any case, despite the respectable power train and the sophisticated construction, with no head, the Axstar deserved to be included among the classics of this understated art form!

Off With Her Head! (1986 Ibanez Axstar AX75 Electric Guitar) from MyRareGuitars.com

1967 LaBaye 2x4 Electric Guitar

Most guitar aficionados know the story of Les Paul’s “log”. Remember, back in the ’40s, Les figured all he needed for the perfect electric guitar was a neck attached to a chunk of wood with some pickups on it. He built his log and it worked. But his audiences were disturbed by its look, so he cut up an Epiphone archtop and attached the sides to his log, satisfying his fans. Whether or not a guitar teacher in Green Bay, WI, named Dave Helland knew about Les’ log, he too arrived at a similar conclusion. “Heck”, thought Dave, “You could put a neck on a 2-by-4 and have a guitar.” And when one day he met up with the folks from the Holman-Woodell guitar factory in Neodesha, KS, that’s just what he did. The La Baye 2×4 Six, Four and Twelve were born. La Baye because, if you know your geography, his hometown sits on a – well, look at a map!

1967 LaBaye 2x4 Electric Guitar

Holman-Woodell is probably best known as the factory that made the famous, short-lived Wurlitzer guitar line in 1966. The company was founded in 1965 by Howard E. Holman and Victor A. Woodell. Holman had worked for Wurlitzer and his company had been established essentially to make guitars for Wurlitzer. Their guitars were designed by Doyle Reading, who would later go on to do Kustom guitars for Bud Ross. Unfortunately, they didn’t quite get the painting quite right, and Wurlitzer started getting lots of returns from dealers because the paint was flaking off. By the end of the year Wurlitzer had cut Holman-Woodell loose and they tried to make it on their own with the Holman brand.

1967 LaBaye 2x4 Electric Guitar

Which brings us back to Helland and his La Baye 2x4s. Helland didn’t recall how he came in touch with Holman-Woodell, but he did and they agreed to make him a run of guitars and basses in early 1967. Working out the design wasn’t exactly a chore! Basically La Baye’s were regulation Holmans except for the 2×4 body. The neck, pickups, and vibrato are the same as found on both Wurlitzers and Holmans. The pickups are weird single-coils that, instead of using height adjustment screws to compensate for the front and back positions, use thin wafers of plastic stacked around the poles. My favorite feature, however, is the threeway switch which some Einstein decided to put on the bottom of the guitar. There’s no way, baby, you can play these without bumping that toggle. At least you’re constantly surprised at the sound you get!

1967 LaBaye 2x4 Electric Guitar

Tommy James and the Shondells played La Bayes briefly, as did a Milwaukee band called the Robbs, but that’s about as far as they got. Holman built about 45 La Bayes, mostly Sixes, but also several 12-strings, short-scale basses, and one long-scale bass, which Helland took to the 1967 NAMM show. He got no orders. Helland gave up guitar designing and guitar teaching, switched to photography. Holman didn’t last much longer. They sold out and became Alray (for Al and Ray). Reportedly a few La Baye bodies were assembled as Alrays, but by November of ’67 the doors closed for good on these Wisconsin-Kansas logs.

Purchasing Les Paul’s Log (1967 LaBaye 2×4 Electric Guitar) from MyRareGuitars.com