Eastwood Guitars – MyRareGuitars.com

What’s the Difference Between Vintage Airline Guitars & New Airline Guitars by Eastwood?

Ivan Eastwood — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 12:26:32 +0000

Airline guitars have come a long way since their late-Fifties early days. But, how do the new ones, made by Eastwood Guitars, compare to the originals? Res-O-Glass vs. Mahogany, Old vs. New. Who wins?

The original Airline guitars were cheap, plastic (or rather, “Res-O-Glass”) models made between 1958-1968 and sold by Montgomery Ward via shops and catalogues. They were never intended to be great-quality instruments – but cheap alternatives for beginners who couldn’t afford bigger brands such as Fender, Gibson or Gretsch.

Most Airlines were made of Res-O-Glass simply because it made them cheaper and quicker to be put together – with no particular regard for quality or tone.

However, this characteristic made those guitars quite unique, and eventually a few professional players started to appreciate the qualities of the Res-O-Glass tone as “a thing”.

One of the first performers to be closely linked to the instrument was bluesman J. B. Hutto, whose red Airline must’ve been one of the inspirations for Jack White playing one, decades later:

Ah yes… Jack White. Despite the fact other musicians over the years have opted for vintage Airline Guitars (PJ Harvey, Calexico, Black Keys, Brian Jonestown Massacre) it was Jack White who most certainly brought the brand (especially the now-iconic JB-Hutto guitar shape) to the attention of a wider audience.

Jack White live with his Airline Guitar, in The White Stripes

Vintage Airline Guitars vs. Eastwood Airline Guitars: What’s the Difference?

When considering which one to buy, it’s important to remember a few things.

1) The first is this: Jack White didn’t really like his Airline guitar.

Yes. True. He, basically, thought they were terrible. Not long ago, White described his experience playing them:

“If people only knew how hard it was on these shitty guitars … because I didn’t know!”

In the now-classic It Might Get Loud film, Jack White once again described his experience playing his Airline:

“Pick a fight with it—that’s what you gotta do. Pick a fight with it and win the fight.”

Basically – Jack White, as a highly visual artist, chose to play an Airline guitar because in itself it sent a strong, visual statement about his band The White Stripes – the red color, the unusual shape, the fact it was a model used by an obscure bluesman… it showed they were different. And, as a musician, White liked th fact the guitar wasn’t a very good one: it made him struggle, it wasn’t reliable, it’d go out of tune, it’d make him fight it, and thus produce some more interesting performances, giving an edge to his playing.

In short: if you’re not Jack White, and if you decide to invest on a vintage Airline, you could end up disappointed, as they are generally not such great guitars… for the money. In the early nineties, in the days pre-White Stripes, few people cared about the Res-O-Glass models, and they were still sold cheap on the second-hand market. Perfect for scuzzy garage rockers with little money to spend, or for those who collected unusual vintage guitars… like future Eastwood Guitars CEO Mike Robinson.

2) New Airline Guitars are real Airline Guitars

New Airline guitar headstock – it is what it says it is… an Airline!

In the early 2000’s when Mike Robinson noticed all those quirky, cheap vintage guitars such as old Airlines, were increasing in value due to a renewed interest post- White Stripes, Black Keys et al, he decided it was time to actually bring them back – brand new, more affordable and more playable – and hence Eastwood Guitars was born.

But the story didn’t stop there, of course – Mike decided to resurrect the Airline brand, and bought it. Which means, new Airline Guitars are not “copies”, but real, bona fide Airline guitars – just like a new Fender or Gibson are still the real deal, even if their instruments are made of different materials and in different factories than in the 1950’s.

3) Vintage Airline Guitars vs. New Airline Guitars: Which One Is actually BETTER?

That’s a great question. That is the question. And that is something we can’t really tell you – it’s up to you to decide. There’s no doubt that there’s much more kudos in owning a vintage Res-O-Glass Airline, just like Jack White did. There’s no doubt that for a guitar collector, they’re something to be proud to own, a worthy addition to the collection of any fan of quirky, vintage guitars.

But for most gigging guitarists, those vintage Airlines are not necessarily the best choice. Tone? Great, sure. But in our own experience we’ve struggled to find vintage ones with a particularly good neck, and overall they’re simply not that reliable.

The inside of a vintage Airline guitar… not a pretty sight!

Just a look at the inside of any vintage Res-O-Glass model will show how cheaply put together they were. The necks didn’t have a truss-rod and required reinforced steel to be kept sturdy. All in all, a very alien instrument compared to todays’ standards – part of the appeal to some, but also the reason others (most?) would feel much more at ease playing a new Airline Guitar made by Eastwood.

The modern Airline guitars have kept the looks and the vibe that make the originals such cool instruments to play onstage – you know, a change from decades of Strats and Les Pauls, something that today still grabs the audience, visually.

Airline 59 2P – the current version of the classic Airline model, by Eastwood

But, of course, there are other, less obvious but very important changes – or, as should we call them, upgrades: the tone-chambered mahogany body, Airline vintage voiced Single coils (Humbucker-sized), tune-o-matic bridge and bolt-on maple neck. The new Airlines sound great, rich, and are more comfortable and familiar to play than vintage ones.

The vintage Airline Res-O-Glass guitars are undoubtedly cool, and any guitarist will get extra kudos for owning one. If you got one dirty cheap in the 90’s, that would’ve been definitely 100% worth it, even if no one wanted to buy one anymore, today. But now… are they really worth the price tag they go for today, after the Jack White hype? Mmmm…

So, the big question, then: are the new Airline guitars by Eastwood better than the originals? We would say so – just as many professional musicians playing one, worldwide also would. Let’s face it, a tone-chambered mahogany body beats plastic any day. There’s a reason why most guitars by most brands are made of wood, after all.

But we’ll leave the final answer to you – after all, in everything in life, and certainly when it comes to guitars, your own taste is what matters, and it’ll change from player to player. If you ever come across a Res-O-Glass guitar, by all means have a go – you might even love it. But will it be worth the investment, especially if you’re a gigging musician? Perhaps… perhaps not.

Watch: Vintage Airline Guitar vs. New Airline Guitar by Eastwood

Vintage Airline guitar demo:

New Airline guitar demo:

What’s the Difference Between Vintage Airline Guitars & New Airline Guitars by Eastwood? from MyRareGuitars.com

Tenor Guitar: Top 5 Reasons Why Every Guitarist Needs One

Ivan Eastwood — Tue, 22 Aug 2017 15:37:14 +0000

Have you ever though about getting yourself a tenor guitar? Perhaps not! But lots of guitarists are discovering the joys of playing this 4-string model – and you could be next! Find out why…

What is a tenor guitar? A brief introduction…

A tenor guitar is a 4-string guitar, generally with a suitably narrower neck than the usual acoustic or electric guitars we’re all used to, which have 6-strings of course.

Even though tenors have been around since the 1920’s, they’ve been pretty much a niche instrument limited mostly to jazz as an alternative to the traditional 4-string banjo, and only relatively recently have they started being used by a new wave of folk musicians, such as Seth Lakeman.

Seth Lakeman and his tenor guitar. He recently also started to use a Warren Ellis Tenor 2P.

But in the last few years, it’s true to say that tenor guitars have been enjoying a revival, and thanks to a wider range of musicians from different styles playing the instrument, such as Warren Ellis from Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, and now even indie rockers are discovering the joys of the tenor guitars – in no small amount thanks to the Eastwood Warren Ellis range of electric tenor guitars.

However, besides being until recently not that widely available, there’s still a sense that most guitarists simply don’t know what tenor guitars are for – so why bother playing one! Well, if you were wondering if you should get a tenor guitar, then read on! And if buying one never crossed your mind before, then you definitely need to read this!

1) Tenor guitar vs. Ukulele?

Hey, we don’t want to diss the ukes! Ukes are great fun to play – but because they are almost toy-like, their use can be very limited. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – on the contrary, people love ukuleles because they sound and look the way they do, after all!

But even though they are very different instruments, there are similarities, too, and it’s no wonder many uke players also end up turning to tenor guitars when they fancy… something else.

Both have 4-strings, and you can play a tenor guitar using a standard ukulele tuning, too! So if you want to make the transition from ukulele to something that can sound bigger and which can more easily fit into a plugged-in band context, but without having to learn new chords, then a tenor guitar is the perfect instrument.

Tenor guitars, however, are much more versatile, and can be tuned in many different ways and still sound good. Also, if you choose an electric tenor guitar you can totally rock out through amps and effects in a band, just like a normal guitar… you can do a lot more with it, basically.

2) Tenor guitars are great for beginners

Like the ukelele, tenor guitars can be suitable for those learning to play a stringed instrument, because they can be easier to play than a 6-string acoustic! After all, like the humble ukulele, tenors also only have 4 strings, as we’ve just mentioned!

Whether you’re not comfortable with the close proximity of the six string son a regular guitar, or simply can’t come to grips with the more complex chord shapes of a 6-string guitar, the tenor might prove to be just what you need. We’ve heard of many people who simply couldn’t get around playing guitar well enough, and who are now happy tenor guitar players.

You know the old cliché that some people choose to play bass because they only have 4 strings and therefore are easier to learn? Well… with a tenor you CAN do the same, and rock out on an actual guitar that just happens to have less strings than usual.

Which leads us to…

3) Sometimes you really don’t need 6 strings…

Warren Ellis Signature tenor…only 4-strings, but sometimes that’s all you need!

As any Keith Richards fan will know, you don’t always need 6 strings… and, in fact, you may not even need 5! With the Warren Ellis Tenor guitars, for instance, you can easily consider them like a simpler electric guitar, which just happens to have 4 strings! That’s right – you can, for instance, tune a tenor guitar to EADG, the standard 6-string tuning minus the top two strings, or DGBE like standard guitar tuning minus the bottom 2 strings.

Which means – playing a tenor guitar doesn’t really require learning new chords… unless you want to!

4) Tenor guitars can inspire experienced 6-string players, too!

One of the great things about tenor guitars is that when you start playing one, and start experimenting with different tunings than you’d normally use on your standard guitar, it really feels special – like a whole new world opening in front of you, easily.

That may sound a bit too dramatic, but it’s true – whatever style you play, you may feel inspired by the different sounds you’ll get from the alternate tunings you use on a tenor guitar. Even though the tenor guitar was introduced in the 1920’s as a jazz instrument, it doesn’t mean it’s limited to this – especially when it comes to electric tenor guitars.

Anyone playing indie, psych or even metal, will find that the tenor guitar can be very inspiring – and make you play things you wouldn’t come up with on a standard 6-string guitar – because of the different tunings, and even because of the limitations imposed by less strings. Sometimes, less is indeed more…

5) Warren Ellis shows tenors can rock!

And if you needed any more convincing, look no further than Warren Ellis himself! The multi-talented artist who collaborated with Nick Cave in various musical projects (The Bad Seeds, Grinderman, various soundtracks) is without a doubt one of the main reasons a whole new kind of tenor players is emerging – thanks to the Eastwood Warren Ellis signature range.

Music is above all about being creative. It’s no coincidence such a versatile and productive musician such as Warren Ellis plays so many different instruments – but it’s not even about how well you play it. Grab something new, experiment and create your own sound and style. You can do it with a cheap kazoo, or with an expensive synth… but if you’re a guitarist, there’s no doubt that a tenor guitar is a pretty good start!

Tenor Guitar: Top 5 Reasons Why Every Guitarist Needs One from MyRareGuitars.com

Mosrite vs. Sidejack: Which One Is Better?

Ivan Eastwood — Wed, 17 May 2017 12:55:28 +0000

Can a brand new guitar be better than a legendary, vintage one? Mosrite vs. Sidejack: Which One Is Better? This is a tougher question that you might’ve thought…

Before we start a fight, let’s be clear: we LOVE Mosrite here at My Rare Guitars, as Mike himself made clear in previous blogs. They sound amazing, look beautiful, and are some of the most iconic and unique guitars ever made. From a collector’s point of view, it’s a no-brainer: if you can find and afford an original, vintage Mosrite, you should just go for it!

But we all live in the real world, and from a musician point of view, things get a little bit more complicated… and vintage may not be convenient, nor necessarily mean better.

Over the years, there’s been many variations of the Mosrite models: from the Univox guitars in the 70’s, to 80’s and 90’s replicas branded Mosrite, besides other brands making their own versions of the classic design, to varying degrees of success (Hallmark guitars, Danelectro and others).

The thirst for Mosrite guitars has been there for many years – not just because of the Ventures surf-music connection, but also due to it’s connection to seminal rock bands such as The Stooges (Dave Alexander played a Mosrite bass), MC5 (Fred “Sonic” Smith) and, especially, the Ramones (Mosrite was *the* Johnny Ramone guitar).

Fred “Sonic” Smith and his Mosrite

The first problem regarding Mosrite is precisely that – most musicians inspired by those artists, who want to actually rock out onstage, wouldn’t (shouldn’t?) really choose a vintage Mosrite to play. After all, Mosrites are too rare, too expensive for actual rock gigs, now! So no wonder so many copies have proliferated.

And then, there’s the other, more pressing question: were the original Mosrites actually that good?

Some well-known Mosrite issues

Vintage Mosrite guitar

While there’s no question about the build quality of the original Mosrite guitars, and even less doubts about their amazing sound, there WERE some issues which have bothered many players over the years.

Basically, the Mosrite neck were quite idiosyncratic and a big barrier for many, many players who’d otherwise love the guitar: tiny frets, and very thin necks very narrow at the nut – which quite a few players could enjoy but not all – especially if playing lead.

The frets, though, were definitely a big issue. We’ve heard of people who bought original Mosrites and decided to actually re-fret them! Just imagine – you buy a rare, expensive vintage guitar, and feel the urge to actually change its specs – and, by making it not all-original anymore, devaluating the guitar.

Yep, that’s how bad some people didn’t like those frets.

It’s important to note this because, lo and behold, not even The Ventures were too keen on them! Despite their association with Mosrite (after all, mk I model was called “The Ventures”) they actually preferred to use Fender guitars in the studio, and used Mosrites live just because of their contracts.

The Ventures… and their Fenders!

According to an old blog post we found:

“…remember, it was the Ventures that really started using stringbending….and try to bend a string on an orignal model…there is no fret to use…It’s all but filed off… They had specifically asked that the Mosrite necks have the same frets and feel as their favorite Jazzmaster, Stratocaster and PBass.”

Another interesting thing about Mosrites: they didn’t have a nut!

Mosrite headstock

Instead, Mosrite guitars have a zero fret that acts as a nut, and behind it, they feature a metallic string slide device to keep the strings in place. Looks weird but, apparently, is a very clever design that helps with the intonation.

Vintage 1964 Mosrite bridge

Another interesting detail is that Mosrites used a roller bridge, not too dissimilar to a tune-o-matic, but the saddles were actually little wheels that would allow for smooth tuning and smooth tremolo action. However, some players say that that some of them had issues where the bottom of the saddle didn’t conform to the bridge plate, and would cause buzzing – some players would then put a small and thin piece of felt under the saddle!

All told – everything does seem to show that, for such an expensive piece of rock history, the Mosrites (or some of them) did have playability issues most people shelling out thousands of bucks, today, would rather avoid…

Are Eastwood Sidejacks Better Than Mosrite?

Eastwood Sidejack DLX

Now… here’s the million dollar question: are the new Eastwood Sidejack guitars actually better than the legendary Mosrite guitars? As the recent Re-Inventing The Past: From Mosrite to Sidejack blog says, there’s little doubt that the Sidejacks are, today, more popular than the original Mosrites ever were.

Over the past few years, other brands have also jumped on the Mosrite bandwagon,such as Hallmark and Danelectro, who also makes popular Mosrite-style guitars – the Danelectro 64 and Danelectro 66 models, which also look great, though yet again featuring their own take on the famous Mosrite look.

For instance, both the Danelectro 64 and Danelectro 66 feature lipstick-style bridge humbuckers, which can put some players off, as it deviates quite a bit from the original Mosrite look (though it could, of course, appeal to other players who want that kind of tone). They have a less Mosrite-ish headstock, but, on the other hand, have zero fret and Mosrite trem, which some hardcore Mosrite fans might appreciate.

Mosrite, Danelectro or Eastwood Sidejack?

It’s the same old story – to each their own. Even though Mosrites are legendary, and sound great, not everyone will actually enjoy playing one. Meanwhile, some players will prefer the Mosrite features of the Danos, while others will prefer the different Mosrite features of the Sidejacks, especially of the new Sidejack Pro DLX.

Eastwood Sidejack Pro DLX… find out more

Right now, there’s no question that the Eastwood Sidejacks are the leading models keeping the Mosrite flame alive: they’re not “reissues” or replicas of the Mosrite, but modern, updated tributes to the original.

They definitely feel more playable, and feature a more familar jazzmaster-style tremolo, besides adjustable bridge. So, while not 100% like an original Mosrite, the Sidejacks are the true heirs, keeping the Mosrite cult alive – and doing it the RIGHT way: by being used by lots of bands who really love to rock out!

While not quite as well-known as the Jazzmaster (yet?), the Sidejack is equally suitable for surf music, punk or indie rock. For fans of the P-90 sound, simply an amazing choice.

Now… better than a Mosrite? Only YOU can tell, really, if you ever have the chance to compare both. Everyone will have their own opinions… but I know which one I’d rather take to my next gig!

Mosrite vs. Sidejack: Which One Is Better? from MyRareGuitars.com

WATCH: Moon Duo Covers The Stooges’ ‘No Fun’

Ivan Eastwood — Mon, 24 Apr 2017 10:08:43 +0000

Iggy Pop turned 70 last Friday, April 21. To celebrate the birthday of one of the greatest frontmen in Rock’n’Roll, Moon Duo covered The Stooges’ ‘No Fun’ on BBC Radio 6.

On this video, Moon Duo singer / guitarist Ripley Johnson uses, as usual, his Airline 59 3P Ripley Custom, his own signature guitar and also an unique model in the Airline 59 family, as it features our Transwarp Drive boost.

Airline 59 3P Ripley Custom

Rock on, Ripley!

Moon Duo’s worldwide tour continues in the U.S. and Canada. If you’re around to catch one of those dates, don’t miss it!

21/4/17 Chicago @ The Empty Bottle w/ Jackie Lynn
22/4/17 Detroit @ El Club w/ Jackie Lynn
23/4/17 Toronto @ Horseshoe Tavern w/ Jackie Lynn
25/4/17 Montreal @ La Sala Rossa w/ Jackie Lynn
26/4/17 Boston @ Great Scott w/ Jackie Lynn
27/4/17 Brooklyn @ Rough Trade w/ Jackie Lynn
28/4/17 Philadelphia @ Johnny Brenda’s w/ Jackie Lynn
29/4/17 Washington DC @ DC9 w/ Jackie Lynn
30/4/17 Cleveland @ Beachland Tavern w/ Jackie Lynn

More info:

Moon Duo official website

WATCH: Moon Duo Covers The Stooges’ ‘No Fun’ from MyRareGuitars.com

New Jeff Senn & Eastwood Custom Shop Guitar

Ivan Eastwood — Fri, 31 Mar 2017 14:58:50 +0000

The Continental is the latest collaboration between Jeff Senn and Eastwood. This model is more “upmarket” than the popular Model One, and looks very much like a vintage classic!

On a recent interview on the Eastwood website, Jeff Senn Explained the inspiration behind his new design, which also has a certain hint of the legendary Supro Ozark to it.

“When I was building the original Continental for myself it was built with a vintage Supro pickup in the bridge position and a vintage Guyatone pickup in the neck position. When we decided to make The Continental available as a production instrument I chose pickups that evoked a similar tonality but were easily accessible.

“It’s a very versatile combination as the guitar can twang, growl, sparkle and cover many genres of music from Punk to Western Swing, Blues and Jazz. I’m personally drawn to guitars that I can take on almost any gig without worrying if they will fit the style of music. Versatility is a good thing and this is what I had in mind for The Continental. Another aspect of the pickup choices is that they are easily replaceable with a plethora of choices should the player want a different sound or output. By mounting the mini-humbucker in a P-90 rout the mini can be traded out easily for a P-90 should the owner wish to, which would be another great version of the instrument.”

Read the full Jeff Senn interview here.

More about the Continental by Jeff Senn

The Continental by Jeff Senn

It’s worth mentioning that The Continental is NOT in production just yet (March 31 as we write this) because this is a new crowdfunding project by the Eastwood Custom Shop. Even though the guitar was designed by Jeff Senn, this model won’t be manufactured or sold by Jeff Senn Guitars, Senn’s own brand.

Those interested can simply pay a deposit ($200 for hardtail version, $250 for Bigsby version) via the Eastwood Continental Page, to guarantee theirs – if Eastwood reach their target! If they don’t reach at least 100% of their goal, the guitar won’t be made and those who left a deposit will be refunded.

Crowdfunding ends on April 27, 2017.

But, oh boy… it’s such a beautiful guitar, that we can only hope she’ll get made! It would be a shame otherwise, wouldn’t it?

New Jeff Senn & Eastwood Custom Shop Guitar from MyRareGuitars.com

All You Need To Know About… Wide Neck Guitars

Ivan Eastwood — Wed, 01 Mar 2017 17:09:29 +0000

Wide neck guitars – what’s it all about? Do you need one? Here’s a look at all you need to know about this niche (for now) market which is increasingly growing…

A few years ago, Gibson announced their 2015 range of electric guitars, which featured several changes that didn’t please many of their core customers – and one of those changes was a wider neck. The move proved a big PR fiasco, with many players thinking that Gibson had finally lost the plot, and that the wide necks were one of the most visible signs of that.

Looking back, perhaps Gibson had the right idea, but just dealt it the wrong way, by having all their 2015 models being made with wide necks – thus depriving their customers of choice: there is indeed an increasing market for wide neck guitars, no question about that… but it’s not for everybody!

Why play a Wide Neck guitar? Is it for YOU?

The fact is, if we’re honest, that a good chunk of the population is, well… getting chunkier! To be totally blunt about it – fatter people have fatter fingers, and it can (sometimes, for some players) make it harder for them to play a guitar which has a narrower neck. But also, anyone who’s bigger and thus got bigger hands might find it a bit troublesome to deal with a standard, narrow neck guitar…

For those players, opting for a wide neck guitar can make a huge difference! It’s in fact quite remarkable that for so many years, the industry has not focused on this problem, but now guitars with wide necks are not such a rarity anymore.

Please bear in mind that when we say “wide neck” we don’t refer to the thickness of the neck, which is something else altogether – as most players will be aware, different guitars my have different neck profiles, with different shapes and different thickness (which is a subject that’s itself worth a separate blog!)

We are, of course, talking about the actual width of the fingerboard. Visually, at a quick glance, many people might not notice any difference in some cases, but the relationship between the player’s hand and the fretboard is so crucial and subtle, that just a matter of tiny millimetres can make a huge difference – the difference in fact, between you loving a guitar or maybe even loathing it!

What’s the Nut Width of a Wide Neck Guitar?

A regular guitar may have a width at nut of 1 11/16″, while a wide neck would have a width at nut of 1 7/8″, for instance.

We’re talking about minimal differences here, but which play a crucial factor on how much playable you will think a guitar is – depending on how comfortable either of them feels on your hand!

Going back to Gibson, here’s another comparison: the maligned 2015 Les Paul had a width at nut of 1.795″, whereas “normal” Les Paul Standard has a width at nut of 1.695″. That’s right – 0.1″ of difference that’s enough to make someone simply hate an instrument!

But that’s the crux here – it’s not about the instrument, because there’s nothing wrong with a wide neck, it’s just a matter of: do YOU actually need one?

Guitar Companies Who Make Wide Neck Guitars

There are brands who’ve been adopting the wide neck design, over the years, besides Gibson.

The Zarley Wide Neck Guitars was founded by Tracy Todd, who decided to make wide neck models after years struggling with playing standard guitars, and their instruments have been welcomed by players who fancied wide necks:

Zarley Wide Neck

Many “Heavy Rock” brands such as Ibanez, Jackson, BC Rich also make guitars with necks wider than the usual Fenders, Gibsons etc you see around.

Best Fingerpicking (“Fingerstyle”) Guitars?

Another common use for wide neck guitars is for those who play guitar “finger-picking” style… whatever the size of your hand! Though most fingerpicking guitarists use acoustic guitars, you can also use electrics for that style, and wider necks offer a distinct advantage, due to the wider width at nut and string spacing.

Wide Neck Guitars: for Beginners, too?

Perhaps another angle we could look at, is that wide neck guitars are also perfect for beginners and less experienced players, as it may be easier to try chords. Many people start on guitar playing a cheap Classical acoustic guitar (also known as Spanish or flamenco guitars) which are usually about 2″ wide (approx 49-52mm).

So we can’t see why wouldn’t beginners opting for an electric guitar not enjoy a wide neck model, in fact it could make learning even easier.

Is wide neck right for you? Well… first look at your hands, then let us know!

All You Need To Know About… Wide Neck Guitars from MyRareGuitars.com

Forgotten Offset Guitars: Teisco TG-64

Ivan Eastwood — Thu, 17 Nov 2016 16:23:49 +0000

Offset Guitars have been, for a long time, a favourite amongst alternative rock and indie rock players. Let’s have a look at a forgotten classic – the Teisco TG-64, now being reissued by Eastwood.

Kazu Makino of Blonde Redhead, one of the players who discovered the joys of a Teisco offset – she plays the bass version of the TG-64, the TB-64 now being resurrected by Eastwood. VIEW INFO

Don’t get us wrong – we love a good Jazzmaster, Jaguar or Mustang. Fender was and still is the big daddy of the offset guitars. But if familiarity doesn’t always have to bring contempt, on the other hand many of us prefer guitars with that little spark of mystery, which add to an unique touch when you’re on stage, or simply helps making it more interesting to play. That’s why a few lucky guitarists can’t help but loving their rare, 1960’s Teisco TG-64. Let’s be honest, it has a certain mojo lacking in modern-day Jazzmasters!

The Forgotten Offset Classic?

While its shape is familar, it’s all about those other details: three single coil pickups stripy scratchplate, push buttons and that cut-out handle on the body – what’s it all about? One of those features no one really needs, but which in fact looks pretty cool. It was the Sixties, after all, and who knows what the designers were smoking, then!

Original Teisco TG-64

The thing about Teisco guitars, is that they were unashamedly cheap knock offs of bigger brands such as Fender – but with enough personality to stand out on their own. They were never meant to be GREAT guitars, but put them through a valve amp and a good fuzz pedal, and it could be the coolest thing ever. Originally unpopular offset models such as the Jazzmaster and Jaguar were affordable, and for this reason rediscovered in the Seventies by Punk and New Wave acts, but as soon as they became a staple in 90s alt-rock, thanks to Nirvana, Sonic Youth and others, they became prized commodities – and, somewhere along the way, lost just a little bit of their “cool” factor (for all it’s worth!).

Owning a Teisco TG-64 is a bit like owning a Jazzmaster back in 1976 – because it’s still an odd and rather cool choice, not seen too often. Some of the people who’ve used one recently include Blonde Redhead and Conor Oberst. But this model is still not the easiest to find! This is perhaps the coolest of all non-Fender offset guitars, and certainly a “forgotten classic”!

Conor Oberst and his Teisco TG-64

Eastwood Custom TG-64 Monkey Grip

It’s great news that Eastwood Custom are planning to reissue the Teisco TG-64. The plan is to make it even better than the original, but still quite affordable. While in the past Teisco were cool but cheap guitars, the new ones are of much better quality. If you’re looking for a cool alternative to a Fender Jaguar or Jazzmaster that really stands out, maybe the new Eastwood Custom TG-64 will do the trick for you.

Eastwood Custom TG-64 Monkey Grip

At the moment guitarists have to pledge a small amount to guarantee theirs… if you’re interested, hurry up, because opportunity ends TODAY (17th November)

VIEW EASTWOOD TG-64 PAGE FOR INFO

Eastwood Custom TB-64 Monkey Grip

Teisco TB-64… new Eastwood custom project. Find out more

The Teisco TB-64 looks very closely to the TG-64, but with a few differences besides the longer scale: a more “Fender-y” headstock, different neck joint and a vibrato arm closer to the edge of the body. Yes, it might’ve been inspired – in principle – on the Fender Bass VI but, frankly, has quite a marked difference… and, dare we say, looks much better?

Eastwood launched a custom shop project to reissue the TB-64, ending on April 20, 2017. They’ve successfully crowdfunded the TG-64 and it looks likely the TB-64 will also get made… but the best way to make sure this happens, and to guarantee yours, is of course to help crowdfunding and leave your pledge, too!

VIEW EASTWOOD TB-64 PAGE FOR INFO

Watch: Teisco TG-64 Demo

Forgotten Offset Guitars: Teisco TG-64 from MyRareGuitars.com

Tips on Tone – Issue #15

Vince Schaljo — Sat, 22 Nov 2014 14:07:17 +0000

For most guitarists, the go-to electric guitar layout is that of either a two or three pickup model. With either independent volume and tone knobs for each pickup, or a master volume with independent tone controls, these designs seem to have just what the player needs in an instrument. That said, there’s a whole slew of guitar designs beyond the realm of “what’s known and most common”, and you’d be missing out to not give some of them a second look! In this article I’ll be comparing two opposites: the “ol’ trusty bare-bones” one pickup guitar, and the “which-button-turns-on-the-space-ship?” multi-functional guitar.

The Minimalist

We had to start somewhere. The very first electric guitar was, of course, as simple as it gets: a neck, a small body, one pickup, and one volume control. Over the past eighty-something years, manufacturers have made additions and changes to their guitars to give more options to those who want them. You may think that if two, three, even four pickup guitars with all the bells and whistles are available, why would anyone ever settle for something with just one? Yet, many companies are still making one-pickups, and there’s only one reason for that… people still buy them!

There are definitely some advantages to owning a single pickup guitar, and there are those who argue the “less is more” idea in this regard. Here’s a few things to consider about this design:

1. Rock Out.

Just plug in, and play. There’s no second guessing anything here: you have your one pickup turned on full, and you’re always getting pure guitar tone through the amp. If you enjoy playing a style of music where all you ever need is that shrill, loud, bridge-pickup sound, then why not have a guitar that gives you exactly that?

No “Crutches”

You don’t have the option of switching pickups, rolling off any tone, or pushing / pulling any knobs. Everything you get from your amp is from you. Playing a single pickup guitar forces you to physically play different if you want to sound different. Having a good sense of dynamics is key, and exercising the use of different picking styles can get you a variety of tones you wouldn’t think possible from just one bridge pickup. Mixing these ideas with good use of your volume knob can easily turn a single pickup guitar into a multi-functional beast.

The “Rumours”

There’s a few arguments out there that suggest what’s going on inside a single pickup guitar, or rather, what’s not going on, can ultimately affect its tone. It is a fact that the magnetic field used by pickups to amplify your strings also has a small amount of “pull” on them. I’ve had players come up to me with a complaint that their guitar has a weird out of tune, double note effect when fretting notes all the way up the fret board. The simple fix is to lower the pickups – they were pulling too hard, interrupting the string’s vibrations. So, with only one pickup, perhaps it can be assumed that less force pulling the strings allows it to vibrate better, and longer. That translates to more sustain, which is always a sought after quality in a guitar.

Easy on the Workbench

If your single pickup guitar’s electronics start having problems, it won’t take long to fix it. When you open it up, you’ll see that there’s virtually nothing to it. One pickup, one volume control, and one input. That’s it. It will take no time to identify the culprit, fix it, and get back to playing!

The Everything-ist

It’s a natural thing to want to move forward, and it’s no different for guitar makers and players. It didn’t take long for the electric guitar to evolve, and have the number of options you can see on some models today. Below I’ll list some of the things that you can find on guitars with “way too many” knobs, and try to dispel some of the confusion surrounding their functions.

1. Blending Pickups

This is obviously something you can’t do with a single pickup guitar. Typically, with your toggle switch in the middle position on a 2 pickup guitar, both of your pickups are “on” creating a “blended” sound from both combined. If your guitar has independent volume knobs, you can then increase or decrease one pickup’s volume to further change how your guitar sounds. Better yet, some guitars come with a “blend” knob, which will fully sweep from neck to bridge pickup so you can hear everything in between, and dial in to that tone you’re looking for.

2. Coil tap / coil split

These are two different features that are commonly referred to as the same, or mixed up. While both change how your pickup sounds, each does it in a different way. A coil tap is used on single coil pickups, and works by essentially reducing your pickup’s full output. Think of it this way: your pickup is a magnet with copper wire wound around it thousands of times. When electricity passes through that whole distance of wire, it means you are getting your full output (unless your guitar’s volume is turned down). A coil tap takes the signal from an earlier point in these coils, thus reducing the overall power of the pickup. It will give you a softer, more “chimey” tone that will remind you of the old Fender sound.

A coil split is a function that refers to humbucking pickups. It allows you to cut out one of the two coils in the pickup to leave you with a single pickup sound, which is great if want to have the best of both worlds from one guitar.

3. Switches

You can have switches on your guitar that can have virtually any function. A kill switch that will essentially turn on or off your guitar’s output, a phase switch that will flip your pickup from being “in phase” to “out of phase”, or even having independent toggle switches for any number of pickups on your guitar.

It comes down to the kind of player you are. Do you want one instrument that can handle anything, and are you able to handle everything included on the guitar? Or do you want a guitar that can do one thing really well? Either way, I recommend giving both a try before dismissing them without playing. You might surprise yourself!

Happy playing!

Tips on Tone – Issue #15 from MyRareGuitars.com

BARITONE GUITAR: What It Is & Why You Need One

Mike Robinson — Sun, 05 Oct 2014 16:16:36 +0000

One of the best selling models from Eastwood Guitars is the Sidejack Baritone. More recently they have also introduced the Airline MAP Baritone. Why are they so popular? First, let’s take a look at what a Baritone guitar is.

Simply put, they are exactly the same as any standard electric guitar but with a lower voice. A standard guitars tuning (from lowest string to highest) is E A D G B E. Baritone guitars are usually tuned a fifth lower (A D G C E A), or a fourth lower (B E A D F♯ B). Therefore, all the chord patterns you already know are exactly the same on a baritone, but simply produce a lower voice.

Why use a baritone when I can tune my standard guitar lower?

“So why not just take my trusty Fender and tune it lower?” you might ask. If you did, you’ll find the strings to be too “floppy” and not enough tension to produce a useable sound. The solution? Make the neck longer and use heavier strings. More precisely, make the “scale length” longer and use heavier strings. What is the scale length?

Airline Baritone Guitar & Eastwood Baritone Guitar

The scale length is the precise length of the suspended string, the length between the nut and the bridge. Generally speaking, most Gibson style guitars have a 24 ¾” scale and most Fender style guitars have a 25 1/2” scale. String sets of 10-46 gauge are typical for these guitars tuned E-E. On the other end, tuned a full octave below the standard guitar at E-E, a Fender Bass has a scale length of 34” and strings in the 45-100 range. Eastwood produces a number of “short scale” bass models, with a 30 ½” and 32” scale, also with the 45-100 string sets.

Most Baritone guitars fit in the middle and have a scale length ranging from 27” to 28”. Eastwood’s Sidejack Baritone has a 27” scale and uses D’addario Baritone Light strings, 13-62, tuned B-B.

Tension Chart

		Diameter		Tension
Item #	Note	Inches	mm	lbs	kg
PL013	B	0.0130	0.3300	20.940	9.500
PL017	F#	0.0170	0.4300	20.100	9.120
NW026	D	0.0260	0.6604	25.020	11.350
NW036	A	0.0360	0.9144	25.920	11.760
NW046	E	0.0460	1.1684	23.020	10.440
NW062	B	0.0620	1.5748	23.780	10.780

Why is a baritone guitar useful and why should I buy one?

OK, with all that technical stuff out of the way, the next question, “why is a baritone useful and why should I buy one?” The real advantage is that ANY guitar player can pick one up and be an expert baritone player immediately as the tuning is identical to their standard guitar, just lower. So every chord pattern you play is identical on the baritone.

For example, when you play an open E chord on your guitar, you’ll do exactly the same on your Eastwood baritone, but it will be an open B. Get it? So you can play any song or riff you already know, right out of the box, but you’ll notice a darker, more haunting texture in your tone.

Jeff Senn Model One Baritone Demo

The Jeff Senn Model One Baritone is a new Eastwood Custom Shop model, and one of those guitars that really could tip you into falling in love with baritones! VIEW MODEL ONE BARITONE INFO

NEW: Classic 6 Baritone semi-acoustic

New Eastwood Custom Shop Classic 6 Baritone

Truth be told, baritone guitars are still a little bit of a niche, though not as much as it used to be, and we’ve notice a steady increase in the number of users over the years. But still, you won’t find many semi-acoustic models available out there, which makes this recent Eastwood Custom Shop very appealing: Imagine a George Harrison Country Gent-style guitar… but with longer scale for a slightly darker tone! Sounds amazing… at the moment, the Eastwood Customs Classic 6 Baritone is a crowdfunding project, and those interested need only leave a small deposit to guarantee theirs and make sure the guitar gets made.

A brief history of… Baritone guitars

Next, let’s take a look at the history behind the baritone. Danelectro was the first to introduce the electric baritone guitar in the late 1950s where it soon appeared in a lot of 60’s surf music as well as background music for many movie soundtracks, especially spaghetti westerns. These days you’ll hear baritone in all types of music from folk to rock to heavy metal. The voice of the baritone is low enough to stand out in the mix next to a standard guitar and is high enough to cut through well above the bass.

Ian McKeye and his baritone guitar, live with The Evens

Brian Wilson used baritones often in his arrangements with the Beach Boys. Glen Campbell used them in great songs like Wichita Lineman. Ian Mackaye from Minor Threat uses a Sidejack baritone with his band The Evens. Jazz guitarist Pat Metheny uses baritones in his arsenal of guitars. Pat Smear of the Foo Fighters also uses a Sidejack Baritone. Colin Newman of Wire (who came up with the idea) uses the Airline MAP Baritone. The great Richard Hawley (can you tell I’m a big fan?) uses a Sidejack Baritone on his recordings, many of which were inspired by one of the earliest adopters of the baritone, the fabulous Duane Eddy.

If you have a studio, you really NEED a baritone electric. You won’t have to invest any time in learning to play it and you will quickly discover many useful applications. Eastwood produces a few variations and price points to suit every need. The Sidejack Standard and Deluxe baritones are under $500, great bang for the buck. The new Airline MAP and MAP DLX are killer baritones and come in under $900.

OK… How does a baritone guitar sound?

Here is a great example, where RJ Ronquillo rearranges Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus using the new Airline MAP DLX Baritone. The result is a deep, dark, beautifully haunting and more tearful composition than the original – “stripped” down to just a Baritone, without the need for gratuitous nudity.

Check out RJ here again, riffing along with his Sidejack Baritone giving “Hey Joe” a darker bluesy vibe, then showing the versatility of a baritone in surf and western styles.

Here is Lance Keltner taking a Sidejack Baritone for a spin with his band. Note the clarity when played along with a Stormbird Bass.

The baritone is also very useful when paired with a wide variety of effects:

..and with a little dirt too to give you that garage rock sound.

..and you can have hours of fun driving the baritone through GuitarRig 4:

So there you have it. Starting at just $429, it’s time to jump on the baritone bandwagon! Take home one of Eastwood’s family of baritone guitars and add some punch to your playing and recording endeavors. You’ll be glad you did.

update Oct 5/2014: here is a link to a recent Premier Guitar review of the Airline MAP Baritone:

http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/20377-eastwood-guitars-airline-map-baritone-review

Also just announced the MAP Baritone received the 2014 “Premier Gear Award”

BARITONE GUITAR: What It Is & Why You Need One from MyRareGuitars.com

Vincent’s Guitar Workshop – Issue 3

Vince Schaljo — Sat, 17 May 2014 14:42:03 +0000

If you’re reading this, I’m sure you’ve heard or said the phrase “this guitar’s action is too low/high!” It either buzzes all over the neck, or it’s a pain just to fret a note. The reality is… Guitar parts move. With a piece of wood that’s constantly putting up with over 100 pounds of string tension, it’s understandable. Living here in Canada where the weather and humidity is ever-changing doesn’t help either!

Often times, a guitar’s poor action is fixed with an easy twist of a truss rod like I explained in my “neck relief” article. However, adjusting the truss rod should not be the primary source for fixing your string height! The guitar is built bearing in mind that the neck will be set properly. Putting too much relief in the neck in order to raise string height can lead to problems elsewhere, so it’s important to set the neck well and then adjust your string height at the bridge. To find a height that works for you, there’s no harm in experimentation! Try setting the bridge to where it’s uncomfortably low, and gradually raise it until you’re happy with the playability. Personally, I prefer to use a measurement tool to quickly dial in a height that I know I’m comfortable with. The “string action gauge” from Stewmac has everything you would need. The bottom of this tool has markings that go up in increments of ten thousandths of an inch beginning with .010. Placing this edge down behind the low E string, the distance from the fret to the bottom of the string should be around .075-.078, so, between the .07 and .08.

On the other side, again place the edge down behind the high E string. The distance I go for on this side is around .063-.065, or, you should just see the .06 marking peaking out underneath the string. The numbers I’m using here are for guitars around a 25″ scale length, assuming standard tuning, and neck relief set similarly to how I described in my neck relief article. From here, you can make minor adjustments to suit your needs! If at this point you are still experiencing fret buzz in certain areas, your neck or frets may need some extra work in order for the guitar to set up well. Sometimes the strings may be too hard to push down in the first fret, or may even play too sharp! It is not uncommon for the nut slots to be cut too shallow. With the right tools, this is an easy remedy. You’ll need a set of files, sized correctly for each string. You don’t want the slot to grab and choke the string, so you actually want to use a slightly larger gauge file than string gauge. As a general rule, try to go .003″ larger. So, for a .010 high E string, a .013″ file would be fine. Some stores offer double edged files that are marked 1-6 instead of a gauge – be sure you know which gauge they are before cutting!

In some cases the number may not necessarily pertain to the string slot you are trying to cut.
The other 2 tools I use are a straight-edge, and a set of feeler gauges to measure the height of your first fret. The idea is, of course, to not cut your slots too deep!

Remember to make sure your neck is set before making your nut adjustments. If you cut it with an over bowed neck, you run the risk of having open-note fret buzz once you straighten it out again.

Laying the straight edge down across the first two frets, try sliding different combinations of gauges underneath until you find a combo that just contacts the straightedge.

Let’s say .040 is the one that worked. Now, you want to add ~.005 to that number to make .045, find the two feeler gauges that total this new number (or close to it), and use them as a “shield” when cutting your nut.

In this case, I took size .022 and .024, stuck them together, and lay them flat on the fingerboard against the nut. Then, I cut each slot with the correct file until making contact with the feeler gauges. It’s a quick and easy way to get your proper nut height set without having to worry about going too low!

After you’ve got your neck set, your string height at both the bridge and nut set, and your intonation dialed in, you should be ready to play!

Happy playing!

Written by: Vince Schaljo

Vincent’s Guitar Workshop – Issue 3 from MyRareGuitars.com

Tips on Tones – Issue 3

Vince Schaljo — Sat, 17 May 2014 14:33:00 +0000

Signal processors, effects pedals, stomp boxes… What’s in a name? That which we call a pedal by any other name would sound just as sweet! What would not sound so sweet, on the other hand, would be a-million and-one of the things plugged into your rig not knowing why they’re there or what to do with them.

Last time I talked about the benefits of compression, which led me to want to talk about some of the other heavy hitters in the world of signal processing. The first thing you need to ask yourself is: “what am I looking for?” Are you looking for a boost or more gain? The opposite? Are you looking for something to thicken up your tone, or maybe just some fancy sounding effects? In this article I’ll give some examples for each of these, and an idea as to where they can be used.

Let’s say you’re looking to enhance the clarity of your tone, and perhaps even clean things up beyond what the EQ enables you to do. This is where a compressor pedal would come in handy (like I talked about in my last article) or even a filtration/EQ pedal. There are some pedals that allow you to dial in and adjust specific frequencies, which could be useful if you’re playing a venue that doesn’t have a professional sound system / technician. You could also purposely crank or take out certain frequencies to create interesting effects, or to make it easier to get feedback from your amp if that’s your thing! Other pedals have a pre-set frequency range that they alter, such as the popular Ibanez Tube Screamer. This guy pushes your midrange, and is a very effective way to make your lead guitar work…well… scream.

Perhaps rather than cleaning up, you’re looking to make things dirty or just give yourself a nice boost. With a tube amp, generally speaking you want your tubes to run hot to get your best tone. That said, the more gain you put in, the dirtier the signal will be when it comes out.

A good boost pedal (I’m partial to the MXR micro amp) will increase the signal level of your guitar before it reaches the amp, thus pushing the amp harder. Think of it as instantly raising the height of your pickups with the flick of a switch… Or stomp of a foot. You can use one of these in band situations during a solo section where you need to be heard, or just to enhance your tone if you like it dirty! Many boost pedals come with an output volume knob, so you could theoretically use it in the opposite way to quiet yourself down, or clean up your tone a bit.

Modulation and time-based effects processors are next: these are the ones that fall under the “fancy effects” category.
Modulation effects are things like chorus, flangers, phasers and tremolo. You can use any of these to add flavour to particular riffs, or in some cases drive the feel of the guitar in the entire song! Here’s an example of a heavy phaser effect used by Eddie Van Halen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-IUB62zDlA

And some chorus used by Kurt Cobain:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YyDg9tT0Vw
Time-based effects are things like delay and reverb. A lot of amps come with their own reverb installed, but you can always experiment with different pedals to try a variety of different sounding ones. Generally, reverb is used to thicken up your tone. Be careful not to use too much! While it may sound nice and creamy right next to your amp, in large rooms especially you can start to sound very muddy if you over do it.

A “slap-back” delay is another way of getting a thick sounding guitar tone. “Slap-back” is a term used to describe a delay of just one repeat that comes very quickly after the initial hit. Again, you can use a delay pedal not just as a tone enhancer, but also as an effects pedal by playing around with the settings!

Once you have a few pedals, it’s important to decide which order you’re going to chain them in. While the generally accepted rule of thumb is to start with your dynamics, then do EQs and filters, then modulation, followed by boosts, and finally time based processors… you’re always free to experiment! Maybe you want your delay to go through a boost, or maybe you want to boost everything before you put on that tremolo. After all, these effects you’re using weren’t created without experimentation! There’s a world of soundscapes to explore.

Happy playing!

Written by: Vince Schaljo

Tips on Tones – Issue 3 from MyRareGuitars.com

A Brief History Of Jack White’s Guitar Collection

Mike Robinson — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 20:28:54 +0000

In an era where guitar heroes are a dying breed, Jack White stands among the greatest guitarists of his generation. His preference for older, more primitive equipment came at a time when most guitarists were neck-deep in processors, pedals and preamps. Relying on his distinct style and killer tone, White became the touchstone for a new movement of more blues-inspired guitarists.

White used a truly unique collection of instruments to propel his no-frills style into the limelight. As you will see, his equipment choices evolved slightly through the years depending on which of his many projects he was working on. Here is a breakdown of the guitars he has used through the many phases of his career.

The White Stripes:

1964 JB Hutto Montgomery Ward Airline
This is the most iconic guitar in Jack White’s arsenal of rare axes. This model was made for Montgomery Ward department stores in the early 60s. This guitar was White’s workhorse throughout his time with the White Stripes.

Jack White with his 1964 JB Hutto Montgomery Ward Airline Guitar

White’s vintage JB Hutto Airline became so popular that Eastwood began producing a replica around 2000, however the replica features a chambered mahogany body instead of the original fiberglass model:

The new Airline 59 2P by Eastwood.

The one-pickup version from Eastwood, the Airline 59 1P, is also a good choice for players who aim to emulate Jack White’s tones:

It’s interesting to notice that during the Get Behind Me Satan tour, Jack started playing a modded Airline, with only one pickup – he removed the neck pickup and the control knobs:

24 Jun 2005, Somerset, United Kingdom — Jack White of “The White Stripes” performs on the first day of the Glastonbury music festival in Somerset. — Image by © Eddie Keogh/Reuters/Corbis

1950s Kay Hollowbody
This vintage hollowbody was one of the three guitars White used with the White Stripes. The Airline was his primary axe, but White frequently used the Kay Hollowbody as his slide guitar. Kay Instruments was one of the first companies to make an electric guitar. Blues legend Howlin’ Wolf–a major influence on White’s style–was among the most visible artists to use the Kay Hollowbody. This is the guitar White uses for “Seven Nation Army,” arguably the greatest guitar riff of the past decade.

Jack White with his 1950s Kay Hollowbody Guitar

1915 Gibson L-1 Acoustic
This guitar is commonly referred to as the Robert Johnson model. White began playing this guitar on the White Stripes’ Icky Thump album. For live performances, White uses a tape-on pickup. In an interview for Gibson’s website, White reveals that this guitar is his personal favorite.

Jack White with his 1915 Gibson L-1 Acoustic Guitar

The Raconteurs:

“Triple Green Machine”
This custom-made guitar started with a Gretsch Anniversary Junior. White enlisted Randy Parsons to modify the body and add a slew of bells and whistles, creating a truly unique instrument. He installed the same electronics from his Gretsch Triple Jet, a bigsby tailpiece, a lever-activated mute system, light-activated Theremin and a retractable bullet microphone. This guitar is also featured in the film, It Might Get Loud.

Jack White’s Triple Green Machine (Gretsch Anniversary Junior Guitar)

Gretsch Triple Jet
White is just as particular with the aesthetics of his equipment as he is with their performance. With the Raconteurs, White plated all of his equipment–pedals, amps, guitars–in bronze. This customized axe is based on a Gretsch G5445T Electromatic Double Jet. White added a third pickup (hence, “Triple Jet”) and an onboard MXR Micro Amp. The result gave White a a bronze-plated axe with built-in overdrive.

Jack White’s Gretsch Triple Jet Guitar

Dead Weather:

Gretsch G6199 Billy-Bo Jupiter Thunderbird
This guitar was intended for White’s tour with Alicia Keys in support of their James Bond theme, “Another Way To Die.” Keys had the box-shaped Bo Diddley model, and the idea was for White and Keys to re-create the image of Bo Diddley and the Duchess. When White’s neck injury sidelined that tour, he took up the same idea with Alison Mosshart in the Dead Weather.

Jack White and his 1957 Gretsch G6199 Billy-Bo Jupiter Thunderbird Guitar

1957 Gretsch G6134 White Penguin
Another one of the rarities in Jack White’s collection. Gretsch only produced 12 of this specific model. White found the guitar while touring through Texas in 2007. The white guitar was a natural fit in White’s Dead Weather color scheme. This guitar was also used on the later White Stripes albums.

Solo/Misc.:

Fender Telecaster
This may be the tamest piece in Jack White’s guitar arsenal, but this American classic was White’s main workhorse on his solo album, Blunderbuss. In typical Jack White fashion, the guitar has been outfitted with a Bigsby and painted blue to fit with the project’s color scheme.

Jack White’s Fender Telecaster with Bigsby

Gretsch G6022CWFF Rancher Falcon Cutaway Acoustic
This guitar has been a mainstay throughout White’s career. He has said that this model is favorite acoustic to play live, because of the bass tones. Given his flair for customization, White has three Rancher Falcons, each with a portrait of a different women on the back.

White explains that the women featured on his guitars are Claudette Colbert, Rita Hayworth and Veronica Lake, which gives him a brunette, a redhead and a blonde.

Jack White with his Gretsch G6022CWFF Rancher Falcon Cutaway Acoustic Guitar

Posted by: Jason Schellhardt, writer for the cheap ticket search engine, Rukkus.

A Brief History Of Jack White’s Guitar Collection from MyRareGuitars.com

Airline Twin Tone Honeyburst – Only 12 Made

Mike Robinson — Sat, 01 Mar 2014 18:05:50 +0000

Eastwood’s tribute to the SUPRO Dual Tone is the Airline Twin Tone. This limited color run of only 12 guitars features a beautiful Honeyburst finish. Each guitar will include a $60 accessory package: gigbag, strap, instrument cable and chromatic tuner. Grab this deal before they are all gone!

Only $499. North American shipping $49, UK/Europe $149, Australia and Japan $189. $289 Elsewhere.

SPECIFICATIONS

Colours:	Honeyburst, Optional BIGSBY $139 extra
Body:	Basswood
Neck:	Maple, Bolt-on
Fingerboard:	Rosewood, Block Markers
Scale Length:	24 3/4″ (628mm) 20 frets
Width at Nut:	1 5/8″
Pickups:	Dual Hot-Rail Humbuckers
Switching:	3-Way
Controls:	2 Volume, 2 Tone Controls
Bridge:	Tune-O-Matic, Custom Chrome Tail (optional BIGSBY, $129 installed, see Accessories)
Hardware:	Vintage Kluson Style Nickel/Chrome
Strings:	D’Addario #10
Case:	gigbag accessory package INCLUDED
Unique Features:	Pin Striped Dual Pickguard
Suggested Retail:	$679.00 US

Here are some additional photos, scroll down to the bottom for videos:

Here is Duke Robillard using his Twin Tone:

…and here is RJ Ronquillo taking his for a test drive.

Airline Twin Tone Honeyburst – Only 12 Made from MyRareGuitars.com

Warren Ellis Tenor Custom Special Order – Now Shipping

Mike Robinson — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 19:55:49 +0000

Warren Ellis Tenor – Metallic Margarita. ONLY 6 OF THESE ARE AVAILABLE. FIRST-COME-FIRST-SERVED – SOLD OUT

Warren Ellis Tenor – Metallic Margarita

SPECIFICATIONS:

Body: Solid Alder
Colours: Metallic Margarita
Pickups: Dual Mini Humbuckers
Switching: Individual on-off
Controls: 1 Volume, 1 Tone
Bridge: Fully adjustable Tele-Style bridge

Neck: Maple, Bolt-on
Finger Board: Maple, Dot Markers
Scale Length: 23″
Width at the Nut: 1 5/16″
Hardware: Kluson Style Nickel/Chrome
Strings: D’Addario .32, .22, .14, .10

Case: Extra
Unique Features: Warren Ellis Signature Design
Suggested Retail: $749.00 US

Here are the photos:

What does it sound like?

Warren Ellis Tenor Custom Special Order – Now Shipping from MyRareGuitars.com

NEW Airline Jupiter PRO – Metallic Black Finish – June 2013

Mike Robinson — Wed, 01 May 2013 18:20:50 +0000

We have a limited number of the new Airline Jupiter Pro Model coming in early June 2013. We are taking PRE-ORDERS now. (adjustment to shipping will be billed week of shipping).

This design is based around the early 60’s Silvertone Jupiter H49 which was also available with the Airline brand. Here we have upgraded our existing Airline Jupiter to create the Jupiter PRO. We’ve added a unique blend control that lets the player dial in a wide variety of tones. We have also replaced the wooden bridge with a Tone Pros Tun-o-matic, upgraded the bolt-on neck with a set maple neck and upgraded the hardware to create a solid, tour worthy guitar for today’s modern player.

This model features dual Airline Argyle pickups, three way flipper switch, two volume, two tone controls and a unique “blend” control that pans between the two pickups when the flipper is in the center position. The blend control ranges from hi-tone bridge pickup to neck pickup with the tone rolled off. Very versatile! Black finish with gold metal flake. Also check out the Jupiter PRO – Dallas Green Signature Model.

All PRE-ORDERS will receive a Body Glove Hybrid gigbag (factory list price $199) at no extra cost.

only $879. $49 Shipping to North America, $149 to UK and Europe. $189 Australia, Japan, etc. $285 South America.

Body:	Hollow-body, Maple Top, Back, Mahogany Sides
Neck:	Bound Maple, SET neck
Fingerboard:	Rosewood, Block Markers
Scale Length:	25 1/2″
Width at Nut:	1 5/8″
Pickups:	Dual Airline Argyle
Switching:	3-Way Flipper
Controls:	2 Volume, 2 Tone, 1 Blend
Bridge:	Tone Pros Tun-O-Matic
Hardware:	Gotoh style Chrome
Strings:	#10-46 DaDarrio
Case:	Hardshell Case Extra, pre-orders INCLUDE Hybrid gigbag
Unique Features:	Pickup Blend Control

All PRE-ORDERS will receive a Body Glove Hybrid gigbag (factory list price $199) at no extra cost.

NEW Airline Jupiter PRO – Metallic Black Finish – June 2013 from MyRareGuitars.com

Back Catalog Memories: 1960’s Airline Barney Kessel Swingmaster Guitar

Mike Robinson — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 05:19:51 +0000

Here are a pair of Airline Barney Kessel models from the 1960’s. It was also known as the Swingmaster, and could be found under the Kay brand and the Old Kraftsmen brand.

Vintage 1960’s Airline Barney Kessel Model Swingmaster Electric Guitar (Deluxe)

The natural color was unique to the Airline brand. All were outfitted with the “Kleenex Box” pickups. It was available in 2 or 3 pickups models, with or without the Bigsby style tremolo and a wooden, floating bridge. Bolt-on neck with a flamed maple bound body on top and bottom. Each pickup had its own volume and tone controls and there was a flipper switch for pickup selection.

Will Eastwood make a replica of this for its Airline line of guitars in the future? Pretty sure the answer is yes!

[See image gallery at www.myrareguitars.com]

Back Catalog Memories: 1960’s Airline Barney Kessel Swingmaster Guitar from MyRareGuitars.com

Happy Customers Check in with Eastwood HQ

Mike Robinson — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 04:00:34 +0000

The Happy Guitarist

We ship a lot of guitars every month, all over the world. Rarely if ever do we get to meet our customers face to face, but fortunately, some take the time to write. It makes everyone’s day when those letters/emails come back to Eastwood HQ. Here are a few from the past couple of months.

Eastwood Sidejack Baritone Guitar (Black Finish, Left-Handed)

“My leftie baritone Eastwood arrived today! It is gorgeous and the sound right out of the case is astonishing. I’ve been dreaming about this for quite awhile and all my expectations and more were delivered! You deliver dreams. Thank you so much. Keep us lefties in mind. Rarely anyone does these days and your consideration deserves a secret handshake!” – James Spina

Eastwood Classic 12-String Guitar (Walnut Finish)

“LOVE this guitar! It’s an extremely versatile 12 string, ranging from a total acoustic sound to the 60’s Beatle/Byrds/Tom Petty sound. I use a Janglebox effects box with it and it chimes! Also, the action’s great on it. It’s easy to barre chords, and do fast runs that are more difficult with other 12 strings. This guitar makes me sound like a better player than I really am! I own a Danelectro 12 string, but the Classic 12 has a much fuller sound being it’s a hollow body. I’m very happy!” – William Evans

“Guitar looks beautiful and plays like a dream. Excellent craftsmanship and bang for the buck. A great instrument!” – Robert Porembski

Eastwood Stormbird Bass Guitar (Metallic Blue Finish)

“What a very impressive example of this old gibson bass guitar design. This is my first experience with eastwood guitar. I am very happy with this bass and I am looking forward to owning it for years to come. Thank You very much for creating this trully killer bass guitar.” – Jon David Lippens

Eastwood EEB-1 Bass Guitar (Black Finish)

“The bass is fantastic and belies it price, excellent setup really helped show the bass in it’s best light. I just wanted to tell you how pleased I am with the bass and the whole experience. Much of my purchasing is completed on line (I live out of town by a beach) and so it is always a little worrying spending money with people I don’t know, but you made it easy and have really delivered with your product and its price.” – Paul West

Airline ’59 Custom 3P Guitar (G Love Signature Model)

“Thanks for the speedy delivery of my new Airline ’59 custom 3p G Love Signature. Wow what a cool guitar! The neck is perfect, very well intonation and low action. Really easy to play.” – Martin Hammare (Sweden)

Airline Tuxedo Guitar (Black Finish)

“I know I sound like a broken record but just wanted to say Tuxedo is beautiful and kicks you know what sound wise. Just spent the afternoon going from sweet clean sounding country blues to chest thumping boogie on overdriven sound. Construction is flawless. I salute your quality control which is sadly lacking in some of the top US made guitars.” – Michael Cefola.

Eastwood Mandocaster (Sunburst Finish, Left-Handed)

“Just wanted to let you know that I received the Mandocaster just now and am having a hard time getting back to work.I don’t want to stop playing it. Whoever does the setup on these instruments deserves a raise.Very low action,no buzz,intonation is spot on.Very nice quality instrument. It was just what I was looking for and I love the case it came in.Thanks for helping out us leftys.I will spread the word.” – Chris Thomas

Eastwood Warren Ellis Signature Tenor Guitar (Vintage Cream Finish)

“Just received my new W.E. Tenor and am compelled to write.When I was a kid I wanted to play the tenor banjo, ya know, Eddy Peabody, Dixeyland and all that stuff so my mom got me a little wonder tenor banjo, lessons and the rest is unfortunate history until this week. When I got into my late teens and early 20s and playin with other guys, Oh how I wished I had asked to play the 6 string guitar. Now having 3 sons, 2 of which are musicians, there are many trips to the music store. Ah yes, literally hundreds of guitars hanging on the walls and nothing for me. NOTHING! Until now. This jewel from it’s wider neck to the length of the scale is the nearest thing to tenor guitar perfection that I have held in my 61 years. And yes, I chose the vintage cream. Just beautiful. Not even my Martin 018-Ts really play in tune all that well. It seemed like all the other electric tenor attempts were really converted 6 string formats. Guild, Gibson, Harmony, etc. Not anymore. You guys have nailed this and I love it. Not only is it beautiful, but it feels great, plays in tune and finally a real electric guitar for ME! Will definitely be sharing with my other Goofball tenor playing friends. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Sincerely,” – Stephen De

Airline ’59 Custom 3P Guitar (White Finish)

“I just unwrapped the ’59 Airline 3p last week. It’s like love with a new woman. I was knocked out by the comfort and playability. The design is not just radical. It’s real. In forty years I’ve never played an axe that has it all. Sound, versatility, smooth action, and best of all — It’s a total knockout! I have 5 guitars. No junk. I own a Guild Nightbird; a ’64 Telecaster; a Danelectro Baritone, and a classic Gibson Les Paul Double Cutaway. In the ’60’s I got a Gretsch Country Gentleman w/Bigsby. The Airline does everything I was doing by changing out gear onstage. The unlimited sound settings of separate tone/volume knobs for each of the three pickups makes the sonics unmatched. I thought the Vintage voice single coil pickups might be limiting, but they create a foundation of graphics that unwraps into a full array of effects. I’ve heard a nasty lipturned overdrive snarl, a smooth womanly warmth, and a fully honed razor edge knife cut lead. This guitar whips the air unleashing slashes of sound when needed, or fills the background completely by expansive rhythm tones. The Bigsby gives the freedom of surf sounds, or bluesy bends with a wrist flick. Maybe it exists, but in forty years of professional playing, I’ve never seen a more powerful, responsive, eye-grabbing instrument. I can’t thank you enough. This will be my last guitar.” – Greyson Dyne

Happy Customers Check in with Eastwood HQ from MyRareGuitars.com

Customer Customizes Eastwood Breadwinner!

Guest Post — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 22:49:45 +0000

A few years back I bought the Eastwood Breadwinner … then last year the Eastwood P90 Special. As a product of the 60s and all the psychedelics that go along with “my era”, I decided to take the Breadwinner and have a custom paint design done to it. My wife is a fabric artist and located this guy named Rob Burger in St. Cloud, MN USA (www.burgerguitars.com) who made a name for re creating George Harrison’s design off Magical Mystery Tour. The famed Strat with the wild paint job.

Burger’s Guitars (St. Cloud, MN)

Anyhow, I sent him the Breadwinner and told him I wanted a totally mind blowing design and to keep these 3 things in mind:

Lava lamps
Acid trips
Beatles psychedelic

BUT to maintain the Eastwood badges on the headstock. When he got my guitar he was blown away with the design and playability. He wants one! ;o) Hope he pulls the trigger. I have officially nicknamed it “Hurdy Gurdy”. (Donovan). Band I play with does 60s thru 90s and I am the 60s psychedelic guru of the unit.

Custom Painted Eastwood Breadwinner Guitar

Wanted to share it with you. I hope you don’t hate me for doing this, but I wanted to make it “mine”. Man .. does it turn heads and get the comments …. Naturally I tell them it’s an Eastwood first and foremost! Gotta love it!

Wow, now there are at least 3 decorated Eastwood Breadwinners guitars out there. Here are the other two courtesy of Bill Nelson:

Bill Nelson’s Custom Painted Eastwood Breadwinner Guitars

by Rich Bittner

Customer Customizes Eastwood Breadwinner! from MyRareGuitars.com

Airline ’59 Coronado Introduces Two New Models

Mike Robinson — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 13:56:24 +0000

Last year Eastwood released the Airline ’59 Coronado. This September brings two new additions: a Left-Hand version in white and a stunning new Metallic Blue version with white binding. Same price for all, $1199, includes DLX hardshell case and FREE Shipping* until September 30th.

Airline ’59 Coronado Electric Guitar (White, Left-Handed)

Airline ’59 Coronado Electric Guitar (Metallic Blue)

Check out this video demo:

More pics of the metallic blue ’59 Coronado:

Airline ’59 Coronado Electric Guitar (Metallic Blue)

Airline ’59 Coronado Introduces Two New Models from MyRareGuitars.com

Eastwood Special Order Guitars – Order Yours Today!

Mike Robinson — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 05:23:34 +0000

Airline Map Electric Guitar (Custom Color: Black)

Is there an Eastwood or Airline guitar you’ve always wanted but in a different color? Different hardware? Or perhaps a left-hand model of something that is only available in right-hand? Well now it may be possible to have whatever you want. Read on…

Earlier this year a customer came to us asking for a custom shop guitar. He wanted an Airline MAP guitar, but he wanted it with gold hardware, gold switchplate and gold pickguard. Our standard reply was, “Any time we introduce a new color/model, our factory has to make a minimum of 8 pcs, so if you want to buy 8 of them, we’ll do it”. Typically at this point the customer will say, “Oh, I guess that’s out of the question then”.

But this customer was different. He said, “I’m willing to pay a LOT more for this, so name your price and let’s get it done!”. That got me thinking. I liked his concept of the gold hardware MAP model and I thought it would appeal to some of our existing customers, but did not want to make 8 of them only to sell just one. So I went back to him and suggested the following arrangement:

Send us deposit of $3,000 to commit to the order, and within 3-6 months, the 8 custom guitars will be completed.
Once complete, we send him his one guitar.
Then we offer the next 7 guitars at $999 each (including hardshell case) to our customers via www.myrareguitars.com
Once we have sold 4 of them, we refund $2001 back to him, making his cost on the custom guitar of his design only $999.

He agreed, and here is the guitar (sorry, they SOLD OUT within the first week!!).

So if there is something you are looking for that we do not currently make, send me an email and we can talk about it: michael@myrareguitars.com

More pictures of the Airline Map in black:

Airline Map Electric Guitar (Custom Color: Black)

Eastwood Special Order Guitars – Order Yours Today! from MyRareGuitars.com

The Ridiculously Comfortable Eastwood Breadwinner

Mike Robinson — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 14:30:59 +0000

One of our “not-so-best-selling” models is the Breadwinner. We made a replica of this guitar some years back just because it was always one of my favorites, and is stupid comfortable to play. No other guitar on the planet seems so ergonomically correct like this one does. So we keep it in production, because every now and again someone else will stumble upon its design brilliance. In fact, last month I got a letter from a customer – Matt Plummer – that I thought I would share with you. Here is Matt in his own words:

Slow Static's Matt Plummer with his Eastwood Breadwinner Guitar at Dallas Cowboys Stadium

Michael,

I just wanted to email Eastwood and say that buying an Eastwood Breadwinner was the best decision I have ever made. I have muscular dystrophy and am unable to stand or walk. I use an electric wheelchair for mobility and have been playing guitar for 8 years. One year ago, give or take, I came across the Breadwinner and thought to myself that it would be a perfect guitar for me because of the body style. Having to sit down and play made most guitars uncomfortable for me. I had the toughest time finding something that had that perfect fit. When I finally gave in and bought the guitar my mind was blown at how easily I was able to play it while sitting.

It opened up so many new things for me musically and physically. I now play quite often in a band of my own, Slow Static. This guitar, its shape, and lightness made playing guitar easier for me which, in turn, allowed me to expand my own musical ability. I play a style instrumental, cinematic, ambient music with my band. We have had the opportunity to play with many national acts such as Jeff the Brotherhood, Touche’ Amore, and many others. Also, we had the opportunity to play a show at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium this past spring which was an amazing experience for me. So if it hadn’t happened already Eastwood officially had someone play one of their guitars in that huge stadium! Haha.

Slow Static's Matt Plummer with his Eastwood Breadwinner Guitar at Dallas Cowboys Stadium

I just wanted to let you know that this guitar has opened up so much for me personally. We are recording our first album and I’m excited for what the future holds. Rest assured that I will always be playing music on my breadwinner. I don’t think any other guitar would do. I’m definitely saving up for another Breadwinner in the near future! Thank you and to the rest of the company. It might sound a little cheesy but that guitar has officially changed my life.

Thanks!

Matt Plummer

The Ridiculously Comfortable Eastwood Breadwinner from MyRareGuitars.com

New Eastwood & Airline Electric Bass Models – Moving Upscale

Mike Robinson — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 14:00:23 +0000

I started Eastwood Guitars over 10 years ago. Since then we have created dozens of guitar and bass models, focusing primarily on the 50’s and 60’s replica variety. As a guitar player, when called upon to play bass, I’ve always been more comfortable with the short 30″ scale as opposed to the traditional 34″ scale. They just feel right to me, and as most of the designs we tend to replicate from that era, they too were of the short scale variety. Consequently, most of the bass models we have introduced through the Eastwood and Airline brands have been short scale.

New 34" Scale Electric Bass Models from Eastwood Guitars & Airline Guitars

What is the downside to the short scale bass?

Shorter strings have less tension, and therefore the tone tends to sounds tubbier or even muddy, and with far less sustain. Not a bad thing for many 60’s style applications, but does not give you a huge, booming tone.
Longer scale basses have more overtones, clarity and punch.
30-inch scale feels noticeably short or awkward to a P-bass player and may be tough to make the adjustment.

Although I still feel every bass players needs a short scale bass in their arsenal, I too feel that Eastwood should have more 34″ scale options for our customers. In fact, we have had many customers over the years asking us to reach out to the 34″ crowd. So that time has come and we are now introducing 3 new Bass models this summer:

The Hurricane ($429)
The Stormbird ($469)
The 34″ Airline Map ($879)

Enjoy!

Order before June 30th and we will throw in a $99 hardshell case for FREE.

New Eastwood & Airline Electric Bass Models – Moving Upscale from MyRareGuitars.com

New Sidejack Bass VI from Eastwood Guitars!

Mike Robinson — Wed, 02 May 2012 05:47:29 +0000

Not surprisingly, Eastwood SOLD OUT of the initial March 2012 release of their Bass VI model in the first week of availability. Then the next shipment in May SOLD OUT in 2 weeks. Now, we have another shipment coming – including a new Black color – 1st week of September. We are taking orders NOW, they are only $649 plus shipping. All orders in the month of August will receive a free Green Room Gig Bag.

Eastwood Sidejack Bass VI Guitar (Vintage Cream)

All orders in the month of August will receive a free Green Room gigbag (value $29).

Three things make the Bass VI better than anything else on the market,

The tremolo makes for a much more versatile instrument
The P-90 pickups allow for a much brighter tone, most competitors use humbuckers and have a muddy tone
The price. This is a solid gig-worthy workhorse of an instrument at an unbeatable price.

Here are a couple of demos showing the versatility of the Bass VI:

New Sidejack Bass VI from Eastwood Guitars! from MyRareGuitars.com

Eastwood Classic 12 Guitar Now Available in White Finish With Gold Hardware

Mike Robinson — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 02:00:21 +0000

Eastwood has released a new version of their top-selling Classic 12 guitars in White with Gold hardware. Special price of $499 will remain in place for the next 2 weeks, the price increases to $549 on April 15th, 2012. Custom hardshell case is also available for $99.

Eastwood Classic 12 Guitar in White Finish with Gold Hardware (12-String Guitar)

BUY NOW before April 15th, $499:

The Classic 12 is also available in Walnut and Fireburst. Our good friend Wendell Ferguson takes the the Classic 12 for a test drive, take a look at this video:

Eastwood Classic 12 Guitar Now Available in White Finish With Gold Hardware from MyRareGuitars.com

Pre-Order your Eastwood Limited Edition Classic 6 DLX

Mike Robinson — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 11:23:14 +0000

Eastwood has built a new version of its best selling Classic 6 guitar, introducing the Classic 6 DLX Greenburst. Initial production will have only 20 guitars in this color/configuration and will be available to ship to you on March 28th, 2012. This limited run is available exclusively from this webpage and we are accepting pre-orders now, first come, first served.

Eastwood Classic 6 LTD Electric Guitar (Greenburst)

This model features a set maple neck with a flamed maple top, finished in a stunning Greenburst color and gold hardware. All DLX models come with the Bigsby B-70 tremolo. Each of the first 20 guitars in this limited edition run will include the deluxe 5-latch archtop hardshell Eastwood logo case.

Our Price: $799. FREE Shipping in North America. $129 Elsewhere.

More pictures of the Eastwood Classic 6 LTD in Greenburst finish:

Eastwood Classic 6 LTD Electric Guitar (Greenburst)

Pre-Order your Eastwood Limited Edition Classic 6 DLX from MyRareGuitars.com

Eastwood Celebrity Sightings (January 2012)

Mike Robinson — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:36:04 +0000

1) Tom Hamilton – Aerosmith – Airline MAP Bass

2) G. Love and Special Sauce – Custom Airline 3P ’59

G Love - Custom Airline 3P '59 Guitar

3) Miss Alex White – White Mystery Band – Classic 6

Miss Alex White (White Mystery Band) - Eastwood Classic 6 Guitar

4) Jay Codina – Blue Tattoo – Classic 6 Lefty

Jay Codina (Blue Tattoo) - Eastwood Classic 6 Lefty Guitar

5) Casey Crescenzo – The Dear Hunter – Coronado ’59 Custom

Casey Crescenzo (The Dear Hunter) - Coronado '59 Custom Guitar

6) Bill Nelson – Airline MAP

Bill Nelson with his Airline Map Guitar

7) Ripley Johnson – The Wooden Shjips – Airline 3P DLX

Ripley Johnson (The Wooden Shjips) - Airline 3P DLX Guitar

8) Tara Elliott and the Red Velvets – Airline 2P

Tara Elliot (The Red Velvets) - Airline 2P Guitar

9) Simonne Jones – Airline ’59 1P

Simonne Jones - Airline '59 1P Guitar

10) Milos Angelov – Matthew Good – Classic 4 Bass

Milos Angelov (Matthew Good) - Eastwood Classic 4 Bass

11) Abraham Millett – Third Eye Blind – Classic 4 Bass

Abraham Millett (Third Eye Blind) - Eastwood Classic 4 Bass

12) Creepoid – Classic 6

Creepoid - Eastwood Classic 6 Guitar

13) Rico – FOREVER THE SICKEST KIDS – Airline Town & Country

Rico (Forever The Sickest Kids) - Airline Town & Country Guitar

In Studio with Obie O’Brien – Classic 4 Bass

Obie O'Brien in studio with his Eastwood Classic 4 Bass

Eastwood Celebrity Sightings (January 2012) from MyRareGuitars.com

Two New Left-Hand Models: Folkstar and ’59 2P (February 2012)

Mike Robinson — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 02:50:00 +0000

Eastwood has just released their Airline ’59 2P and Folkstar models in Left-hand. Both models start shipping week of Feb 7th. The ’59 will be available in Red, the Folkstar in Red or Black.

Airline '59 2P Electric Guitar (LEFT-HAND) from Eastwood Guitars

The ’59 2P upgrades include: dual VVSC pickups, striped pickgaurd, chrome tone switchplate, rubber body binding and includes the DLX Airline hardshell case. Retail price $1299.

Our Price: $999.00 US

_________________________________________________________________________

The Airline Folkstar is a tone cahmbered mahogany body with a resonator cone adn piezo pickup. It also has a mini humbucker on the neck poistion and a blend knob to blend between the two pickups.

Airline Folkstar Resophonic Guitar (Red, Left-Handed)

Airline Folkstar Resophonic Guitar (Black, Left-Handed)

Shipping is $49 North America, $149 to Europe.

Two New Left-Hand Models: Folkstar and ’59 2P (February 2012) from MyRareGuitars.com

New Wandre Tri-Lam from Eastwood Guitars

Mike Robinson — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:05:14 +0000

In early 1960’s Europe, the Tri-Lam was one of Wandrè’s best-selling models. As all 60’s Wandre models, the original version had an aluminum neck. Our modern version sports a set maple neck, suspended pickguard, pickup and master volume, and a full hollowbody design that includes the unusually stylish grilled f-holes. The original 1960’s models fetch over $3,000. Shipping Now for only $799!

Wandre Tri-Lam Electric Guitar from Eastwood Guitars (Blue)

Wandre Tri-Lam Electric Guitar from Eastwood Guitars (Red)

Order before the NAMM show (Jan 18th) and get a FREE Custom Hardshell Case.

BUY NOW: $799

Colours: Blue, Red
Body: Full Hollowbody, Maple Top, Back, Sides
Neck: Bound Maple, Set
Fingerboard: Rosewood, Block Markers
Scale Length: 24 3/4″ (628mm)
Width at Nut: 1 5/8″
Pickups: New York MINI Humbucker
Switching: none
Controls: Master Volume
Bridge: Floating Tune-O-Matic, Custom Chrome Tail
Hardware: Grover Style Nickel/Chrome
Strings: D’Addario #10
Case: Extra
Unique Features: Custom Chrome tailpiece, grilled F-holes
Suggested Retail: $1029.00US

* North America shipping $49. Outside north America $149.

More Pictures of the Wandre Tri-Lam:

Wandre Tri-Lam Electric Guitar (Blue)

Wandre Tri-Lam Electric Guitar from Eastwood Guitars (Blue)

Wandre Tri-Lam Electric Guitar from Eastwood Guitars (Red)

New Wandre Tri-Lam from Eastwood Guitars from MyRareGuitars.com

YouTube Your Eastwood (January 2012)

Mike Robinson — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 15:00:28 +0000

Lots of people are getting their music out there on YouTube these days. If you put up something creative – featuring EASTWOOD or AIRLINE guitars – we will give you a shout out in our monthly newsletter. Here are the latest ones…

Roscoe Does BECK – Eastwood Ichiban

Jeffrey Beauchamp Art Show Promo – Airline Tuxedo

Floating Action – Eastwood Classic 12

Missle – Airline 2P and MAP Bass

Gearwire.com – Airline Mandola

THE BLACK LIPS using an AIRLINE TWIN TONE

The Surf Aces with AIRLINE MAP Guitar and BASS. WOW!

..and the Joey Leone Signature goes south with a great Chilean band, called “Voodoo Zombie”

Dutch band DEE STAAT featuring EASTWOOD Delta 6

Dirty Pavor – Knobs & Switches

Unfortunate Science – featuring Eastwood WANDRE DLX

Hospital Beds – featuring AIRLINE MAP

YouTube Your Eastwood (January 2012) from MyRareGuitars.com

New Airline Coronado ’59 Demo by Mason Stoops

Mike Robinson — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:38:43 +0000

New Airline Coronado ’59 Demo

Check out this new demo from our friend Mason Stoops. Mason does some great research and shares some interesting historical info about the origins of the Coronado model. Great job!

The Airline ’59 Coronado is our tribute to the Supro Coronado model used by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. The originals were made of Res-O-Glas, but we have upgraded the design to tone-chambered mahogany bodies. Upgrades to the standard Coronnado model on this ’59 include rubber body binding, zero fret, Tone Pros bridge and Deluxe Airline hardshell case.

The ’59 Coronado include the DLX Airline hardshell case. Only $1079.

SPECIAL OFFER: We will also include a white Airline leather strap ($45) and a white Airline Curly Cord ($39) and FREE SHIPPING for all orders until Dec 15 ONLY. ($99 shipping outside North America)

New Airline Coronado ’59 Demo by Mason Stoops from MyRareGuitars.com

TWO New AIRLINE Single Pickup Models – $549 DLX and $899 ’59 Custom

Mike Robinson — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 11:43:49 +0000

AIRLINE delivers TWO new Single Pickup Models – 1P DLX $549 and the ’59 Custom $899. The original Airline’s were made of Res-O-Glas and had a floating bridge. Eastwood has upgraded the design to a tone-chambered mahogany body / fixed bridge and reduced the signal path to a single pickup/volume control, allowing for crystal clear roll off tones to full on power crunch.

FREE SHIPPING until October 31.

Eastwood Airline 1P DLX Electric Guitar

Airline 1P DLX – $549 – Features tone-chambered mahogany body, bolt-on maple neck. Single Alnico HOT-10 Humbucker (case extra).

Or upgrade to the new Airline ’59 Custom 1P…

Eastwood Airline '59 Custom 1P Electric Guitar

Airline ’59 Custom 1P – $899 – Adds the Airline Vintage Voiced Single Coil pickup, striped pickguard, rubber body binding, Tone Pro’s Bridge, Wilkinson tuners, and the Airline DLX hardshell case.

Video Review:

TWO New AIRLINE Single Pickup Models – $549 DLX and $899 ’59 Custom from MyRareGuitars.com

New Model: Airline ’59 Custom Coronado Guitar

Mike Robinson — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 14:00:33 +0000

Airline '59 Custom Coronado Electric Guitar (White) from Eastwood Guitars

Eastwood Guitars has some new Airline models out this month, notably the ’59 Custom Coronado – a tribute to the old Supro used by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. The originals were made of Res-O-Glas and had a floating bridge. Eastwood has upgraded the design to a tone-chambered mahogany body and an adjustable roller bridge. Other upgrades to the standard Coronado model on this ’59 include rubber body binding, a zero fret for super fast low action, a Tone Pros bridge and Deluxe Airline hardshell case.

Pricing and Availability:
’59 Custom Coronado: $1079.00 US

Airline '59 Custom Coronado Electric Guitar (White) from Eastwood Guitars

New Model: Airline ’59 Custom Coronado Guitar from MyRareGuitars.com

Eastwood Celebrity Sightings (August 2011)

Mike Robinson — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 16:00:39 +0000

1) Mr. Uzaki Ryudo – Airline 2P Guitar (Red)

Mr. Uzaki Ryudo with his Airline 2P Guitar (Red)

2) Peter Silberman from The Antlers – Airline Town & Country Guitar

Peter Silberman from The Antlers with his Airline Town & Country Guitar

3) EELS – Sunburst Airline Bass

4) Voodoo Zombie’s Lu Cifer – Joey Leone Superfast (photo credit: Fotos: Ignacio Orrego G. – Fotorock):

Voodoo Zombie's Lu Cifer with his Joey Leone Superfast Guitar

Eastwood Celebrity Sightings (August 2011) from MyRareGuitars.com

John Varvatos Bloomingdales Window Display Features 100 Eastwood Guitars

Mike Robinson — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 14:00:13 +0000

John Varvatos Bloomingdales Window Display Features 100 Eastwood Guitars

As we speak, about 100 Eastwood guitars and Airline guitars are being installed in a window display in Bloomingdales on 3rd Ave, New York City for two weeks with John Varvatos. The display ends June 26th.

Send us a photo of you in front if this display, pointing at your favorite guitar!

John Varvatos Bloomingdales Window Display Features 100 Eastwood Guitars from MyRareGuitars.com

Joey Leone Superfast Guitar from Eastwood Guitars

Mike Robinson — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 12:00:21 +0000

Why is the New Joey Leone SuperFast The Best Semi-Hollow Guitar Ever Built?

Eastwood Guitars and Joey Leone wanted to improve the already sucessful Joey Leone Model, they wanted it to be more responsive and resonant. We decided to think outside the (usual guitar) box and use Alder wood as the centerblock instead of rock maple. This lightened the guitar and made the resonance of the strings more consistant throughout the guitar. We also used a two piece pancake laminate process to make the alder centerblock as stable as maple but with half the weight. We even used paduka wood for the tailpiece insert to add a bit of weight (ballast) to the trapeze tailpiece. This combined with the already popular longer scale length (25 1/2″) adds a livelieness to the scale behind the bridge. All Leone models have the 2mm additional wideness of the neck which allows your fingers to stretch out a bit and not be cramped together, aiding in finger fatigue and ease of fretting. All you need to do is play this guitar acoustically to actually feel the difference. We made the SuperFast with two (coil tapped) pickups instead of three to also lighten the guitar and make the top more responsive. But the best part, in an effort to get this guitar in your hands faster, Eastwood has lowered the price on the Joey Leone SuperFast, because we believe that our customers will, see, hear, and feel the difference.

Eastwood Joey Leone Superfast Electric Guitar (Black)

“It’s super light, super responsive, super versatile, super affordable, and its SuperFast.”

Includes hardshell case.

Trapeze Tail
PAYPAL $999

BiGSBY Tail
PAYPAL $1249

Check out this jam with Joey featuring Rick Redington on a Mandocaster:

Joey Leone Superfast:

Eastwood Joey Leone Superfast Electric Guitar (Black)

Joey Leone Superfast Guitar from Eastwood Guitars from MyRareGuitars.com

New from Eastwood Guitars: Airline Bighorn Electric Guitar

Mike Robinson — Mon, 02 May 2011 15:00:43 +0000

New from Eastwood Guitars: The Airline Bighorn Electric Guitar (Red, Sunburst & Green finishes)

We have a small pre-shipment of the new BIGHORN ready to ship today. Based on the original 1960’s AIRLINE Bighorn, it features an updated adjustable bridge and the popular Diamond Argyle single coil pickups. The first four orders for each color will receive a gigbag, tuner and strap so that your Bighorn will be ready to rock the day UPS delivers! Order yours today, only $469.

Airline Bighorn Guitar Specifications:

Colors: Red, Sunburst, Green
Body: One Piece Basswood
Neck: Bolt-on Maple
Fingerboard: Rosewood, Dot Markers
Scale Length: 24 3/4″
Width at Nut: 1 5/8″
Pickups: AIRLINE Argyle Diamond Single Coil
Switching: 3-way
Controls: 2 Volume, 2 tone
Bridge: Hardtail Strat Style Adjustable
Tuners: Chrome Vintage Kluson Style
Retail Price: $579

BUY NOW ONLY $469

Video Review:

More Pics of the Airline Bighorn:

The Airline Bighorn Electric Guitar (Red)

The Airline Bighorn Electric Guitar (Sunburst)

The Airline Bighorn Electric Guitar (Green)

New from Eastwood Guitars: Airline Bighorn Electric Guitar from MyRareGuitars.com

Eastwood Celebrity Sightings (May 2011)

Mike Robinson — Sun, 01 May 2011 14:00:47 +0000

PJ Harvey on Conan

WIRE on Jimmy Fallon

Panic at the Disco on Conan

Steve Earl on Letterman (Eleanor Whitmore on Tenor)

Mike Robinson taping Guitar Pics for Treasure HDTV

Eastwood Celebrity Sightings (May 2011) from MyRareGuitars.com

Limited Edition Warren Ellis Signature Tenor – CHERRY

Mike Robinson — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:00:23 +0000

Eastwood has announced the availability of the CHERRY Warren Ellis Signature Tenor. It starts shipping early April. Here are a few photos of the new model:

First Look: Eastwood Warren Ellis Signature Tenor Guitar with Cherry Finish

Model

Buy Now!

Warren Ellis Signature Tenor Guitar (Cherry)

It is only available in a limited run of 24 pieces this production, more coming in September. If you want one NOW order here only $499 (first come first served)

Notes:

If you want a hardshell case, send us an email after you complete your order and we can bill you for the case when we are ready to ship.
If you already have a Vintage Cream one on order and would like to switch to Cherry, email question@myrareguitars.com

Warren Ellis with his signature Eastwood Tenor Guitar (Cherry Finish)

Even Warren's Dad thinks it's cool!!!

Limited Edition Warren Ellis Signature Tenor – CHERRY from MyRareGuitars.com

Happenings Around Eastwood HQ

Mike Robinson — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 15:00:41 +0000

1) On Tour: Sons of OTIS

Sons of OTIS

If you purchased an EASTWOOD Guitar in the past two years, there is a good chance it was setup by Ryan Aubin. When Ryan is not acting as a guitar tech for EASTWOOD, he is teaching guitar at the local shop, PINECONE Music. But sometimes Ryan gets sick of looking at guitars, so he throws down his pic and picks up his sticks. As drummer for SONS OF OTIS, Ryan is off to Europe for one month to tour with his band. On behalf of everyone at EASTWOOD we wish him a safe and fun trip! If you get a chance, drop out to see their show, here is a link to the tour dates.

Sons of OTIS

2) Keri on the Ellen show

Mike Robinson with Keri (from the Ellen show)

For the past few years, every other month we have lunch at Alice Fazooli’s where our waitress Keri has a way to make every day seem a little brighter. As it is unlikely that any of you will ever get up here for lunch, it turns out Ellen found a way to make it seem like you were here. Watch this:

and here she is at the Grammy’s:

Happenings Around Eastwood HQ from MyRareGuitars.com

17 Days In Europe With Eastwood Guitars

Mike Robinson — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 15:00:42 +0000

To kick off the opening of our new Liverpool warehouse, I spend more than half of November in UK and Europe. We started in London, headed to Denmark Street to visit a couple of our dealers there – Macari’s Music and WUNJO Guitars – two of London’s finest guitar shops. Our 4-day road trip pushed on to visit existing and perspective dealers in London, Brighton, Southampton and in Thame – just east of Oxford – we visited new Eastwood Dealer VINTAGE and MODERN Guitars who were preparing for their grand opening.

Macari's Music in London, England

Brighton, England

We continued on to Birmingham then Manchester, which led us back to Liverpool. The next day I flew to Germany to visit our distributor – iMUSIC NETWORKS in the beautiful city of WURZBURG. Then it was off to Spain for a 2 day visit with EDEN ROC our distributor for Spain, Italy and Portugal. The trip started in the wonderful city of BILBAO in the north where I was treated to some fabulous traditional Basque food and a tour of the city.

Wurzburg, Germany

Bilbao, Spain

The next day we drove to Madrid for the grand opening of the EASTWOOD Guitars Showroom, featuring a great night out with live bands and an interview with local TV station.

I will be writing more details about the showroom later, but in the meantime here are a couple of photos from the showroom. Eden Roc is a great group of hard working people and we are proud to have them as our distributor in that region!

Eastwood Guitars Showroom in Madrid, Spain

With little sleep it was back to UK for the 2nd half of our UK tour. Before heading north I met with Will Seargent from Echo and the Bunnymen who was rehearsing for their upcoming tour. Pictured is his original VOX 12 string that was used on the 80’s hit song The Killing Moon. Will is using an EASTWOOD Classic 12 in the upcoming tour.

Will Seargent from Echo & The Bunnymen

Next we headed up to Glasgow where we had a great pub visit with long time Eastwood players Tippi and Greg Kane (Hugh and Cry). We dropped in to CC Music the next morning for a tour of their recently expanded shop, the best in Glasgow!

Eastwood Guitar Player: Tippi

CC Music in Glasgow, Scotland

We visited a few more cities and shops along the way including Edinburgh, then off to YORK for the annual NELSONICA event with Bill Nelson. This year Bill put together a live band for a Friday night show featuring some Be Bop Deluxe classics. Carl and I had dinner and a few pints with famous British music producer John Leckie. John shared some great stories ranging from the early days with Be Bop Deluxe to Stone Roses and Radiohead.

John Leckie (British Music Producer)

A few months earlier we sent a couple of BREADWINNER guitars over to Bill so that he could turn them into pieces of art. One came home with me to Canada; the other was auctioned off at Saturday nights Nelsonica.

Bill Nelson art guitars

All-in-all a great trip and was good to see the EASTWOOD and AIRLINE brands continuing to grow in popularity in UK and Europe. I look forward to my next trip!

17 Days In Europe With Eastwood Guitars from MyRareGuitars.com

Eastwood Guitars UK: Now Up & Running in Liverpool

Mike Robinson — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 14:00:35 +0000

Eastwood Guitars announces the opening of Eastwood Guitars UK. Based in Liverpool, the facility will provide complete warehousing, distribution and set up of all Eastwood and Airline guitars for the UK market. In addition, to facilitate the growing demand for Eastwood and Airline products throughout the United Kingdom, Eastwood has launched www.eastwoodguitars.co.uk. This new website now offers the complete Eastwood catalogue of products shipping directly from the new Liverpool facility with all pricing in GBP (inc VAT).

“The new UK based operation and website makes our products easier and less expensive for our UK fans,” said Mike Robinson, President and founder of Eastwood Guitars. “Eliminating expensive North America shipping makes them more affordable and gets the guitars to our customers faster, without any unexpected import costs.”

The Eastwood Guitars UK facility is managed by Carl Cook, whose prior long standing association with Eastwood guarantees that the expert knowledge and enthusiasm that Eastwood Guitars have become renown for is brought to the UK shores. This new UK operation is part of the overall international expansion plan of Eastwood Guitars and it will also support the many new distributors of Eastwood and Airline products across Europe.

Eastwood Guitars UK: Now Up & Running in Liverpool from MyRareGuitars.com

Warren Ellis Signature Tenor Guitar from Eastwood Guitars

Mike Robinson — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 20:27:56 +0000

Last night on the popular UK Television show, “Later Live with Jools Holland” featured GRINDERMAN performing Worm Tamer from their new GRINDERMAN II album. Grinderman are kicking off a 3 month tour of Europe and North America this week.

Last year Eastwood Guitars got together with Warren Ellis of Grinderman to design a new custom TENOR electric guitar which starts shipping next month. The Warren Ellis Signature Tenor is on sale now and selling fast so get your order in soon, only $499!

Eastwood Warren Ellis Signature Electric Tenor Guitar

Model	Buy Now!
Eastwood: Warren Ellis Signature Tenor Guitar

…and if you want to see it in action, check out this video from the Jools Holland Show:

Be sure to check the Grinderman tour schedule as many dates have already SOLD OUT and for those Nick Cave fans, some classic lyrics are in store, such as “My baby calls me the Loch Ness Monster. Two great big humps and then I’m gone”.

Warren Ellis Signature Tenor Guitar from Eastwood Guitars from MyRareGuitars.com

Eastwood & Airline Celebrity Sightings

Mike Robinson — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:00:27 +0000

Over the past few months we’ve had many Eastwood and Airline celebrity sightings, so I thought I’d share a few to bring you up to date. Here’s the quick list:

Deerhoof’s Edward Rodriguez (Airline Tuxedo guitar)
Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen (Airline Map Guitar)
Nick Cave (Airline Tuxedo guitar)
Luke Doucet (Airline Map guitar at the Lilith Fair)
Super Satellites’ Christian Olguin (Airline Tuxedo Guitar)
1980 Ovation Breadwinner & Eastwood Breadwinner guitars
Hot Chelle Rae’s Nash Overstreet (Airline Map Guitar)
Amanda Zelina (Custom Airline 2P Guitar in Sahara Blue)
Design Star’s Antonio Ballatore &Timothy Gruse (Airline Map Guitar & Bass)

Deerhoof's Edward Rodriguez (Airline Tuxedo guitar)

Here is Edward Rodriguez from DEERHOOF with his AIRLINE Tuxedo.
Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen (Airline Map Guitar)
Lou Vito, one of Eastwood Gutiars Artist Relations people, snapped this one of Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick with his AIRLINE MAP guitar.
Nick Cave (Airline Tuxedo guitar)
This one is a number of months back, but a nice shot of Nick Cave with his AIRLINE TUXEDO. Nick’s band, GRINDERMAN will be touring this fall. Grinderman’s main instrumentalist – Warren Ellis – has been working with us on releasing the Warren Ellis Signature TENOR guitar, coming next month! Here is a sneak peak photo of the Tenor.
Luke Doucet (Airline Map guitar at the Lilith Fair)

Warren Ellis Signature Tenor guitar from Eastwood Guitars

Here is Luke Doucet using his AIRLINE MAP guitar on tour last month with Lilith Fair.
Super Satellites' Christian Olguin (Airline Tuxedo Guitar)
Another great photo from Lou Vito featuring Christian Olguin from NYC group, Super Satellites with his AIRLINE TUXEDO guitar.
1980 Ovation Breadwinner & Eastwood Breadwinner guitars
Not really a “celebrity” citing, but here is an original Ovation Breadwinner from 1980 pictured next to a new Eastwood Breadwinner. Cool!
Hot Chelle Rae's Nash Overstreet (Airline Map Guitar)
Another summer Warped Tour with Nash Overstreet from Hot Chelle Rae featuring his AIRLINE MAP in Seafoam Green.
Amanda Zelina (Custom Airline 2P Guitar in Sahara Blue)
Amanda Zelina dropped by Eastwood HQ to pickup her custom AIRLINE 2P Sahara Blue.
Design Star's Antonio Ballatore &Timothy Gruse (Airline Map Guitar & Bass)
And who would have guessed? Antonio Ballatore and Timothy Gruse from H+G TV’s popular show, Design Star with their AIRLINE MAP Bass and Guitar. Really? Is there no end to the “I Get It” craze!!?! I guess not…

Eastwood & Airline Celebrity Sightings from MyRareGuitars.com

The New Airline Electric Mandola

Mike Robinson — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 04:19:09 +0000

Eastwood Guitars began shipping the new Airline Electric Mandola this week. This is the third in a series of new stringed instruments from Eastwood, which includes the Airline Folkstar Resonator, Airline Ukulele and the upcoming Eastwood Electric Tenor Guitar.

Eastwood Airline Electric Mandola (Seafoam Green)

Following on the success of their top selling Mandocaster, Eastwood introduces the Airline Mandola. It features a solid Seafoam green alder body in a USA map shape with an 18” scale maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. A single Humbucker pickup with volume and tone controls delivers a deep, dark, mysterious tone that is completely unique sounding – like a baritone mandolin. The Mandola is tuned in fifths (C-G-D-A low-to-high) and a fifth lower than a mandolin. Historically, the larger Mandola is the actually ancestor of the Mandolin, the name of which means simply “little Mandola”.

“As with all our Eastwood and Airline models we are striving to offer something a little different for today’s modern players,” said Mike Robinson, President and founder of Eastwood Guitars, “Last year we introduced a Lap Steel and a very successful electric Mandocaster. The Mandola fits perfectly into this new family of instruments along with the Folkstar, Ukulele and Tenor. All of these models will continue to help our customers expand their sound.”

Airline Electric Mandola

Only $349

The New Airline Electric Mandola from MyRareGuitars.com

Throwback Suburbia on West Coast Tour

Mike Robinson — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 15:35:39 +0000

Portland, Oregon July 2010 – Power-pop rockers Throwback Suburbia are gearing up to bring their brand of classic, hook laden music to the masses and Canadian guitar manufacturer Eastwood Guitars has offered up their support.

Throwback Suburbia have long been endorsees of Eastwood Guitars and now the two have joined forces for the band’s summer tour, hoping to reach fans of both classic melody and stylish guitars.

Throwback Suburbia will play a series of shows up and down the west coast, promoting their self-titled album and the guitars they faithfully depend on. Throwback Suburbia will share their tour experiences with fans by posting daily video entries with ultimate plans for releasing an extended documentary in the coming months.

Come out to one or more of the following shows and mention the catch phrase “I Get It,” to receive free Eastwood swag.

July 23
Old Ironsides – Sacramento, CA

July 24
The Joint – Los Angeles, CA
International Pop Overthrow Festival

July 25
Cat Club – Hollywood, CA

July 27
Zia Records – Las Vegas, NV

July 27
Beauty Bar – Las Vegas, NV

July 28
Beauty Bar – San Diego, CA

July 29
Alex’s Bar – Long Beach, CA

July 30
Thee Parkside – San Francisco, CA

August 5
Oregon Gardens w/ Pat Benetar – Silverton OR

Eric, Mike, Jimi, Paul and Mark
Throwback Suburbia
Web: www.throwbacksuburbia.com
Email: info@throwbacksuburbia.com

Throwback Suburbia: Summer 2010 West Coast Tour

Throwback Suburbia on West Coast Tour from MyRareGuitars.com

The New Eastwood Doral Electric Jazz Guitar

Mike Robinson — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 16:06:32 +0000

Eastwood Guitars has started shipping the new Doral Electric Jazz guitar. This beautiful guitar takes over top position at the high-end of the Eastwood product line.

Eastwood Doral Electric Jazz Guitar

The Eastwood Doral is a full size archtop guitar, featuring a laminated spruce top with curly maple sides and back as well as a three piece rock maple neck. Where the Doral separates itself from other archtops is the versatility of the coil tapped humbucking pickups that afford you the opportunity to switch between vintage voiced humbuckers and P90 voiced singled coil pickups. Joey Leone, Doral design team leader said, “As a professional player I’ve always dreamed of having two L5’s, the mid sixties humbucking model Wes Montgomery played, and the 50’s era L5 CES Scotty Moore played with Elvis. This guitar delivers both sounds.”

Another feature of the Doral is the longer scale length (25.5”), this feature affords the player the option to use lighter gauge strings and still get some nice string tension. “I have noticed that over the past 20 years jazz guitar players have moved away from the heavier strings in favor of lighter strings. This also deals with the issue of hand and finger fatigue, as well as the long term degeneration of the joints of the player’s hands” said Leone.

Eastwood Doral Electric Jazz Guitar

One other feature of the Eastwood Doral electric jazz guitar is the pickup spacing, the neck pickup is spaced slightly away from the neck an idea that was used on several Gibson one pickup models in the 50’s and 60’s, and on the sleeper of a guitar, the Ibanez Joe Pass Model from the 70’s. This gives the front pickup a bit more of a low mid voicing, a real plus on a spruce topped guitar which can be a bit muddy and have trouble cutting through a larger ensemble. The Doral replicates the natural acoustic sound of the guitar more accurately. The bridge pickup is moved slightly away from the bridge as well, this gives you a more useable sound as opposed to the “treble pickup” with no treble sound found on L5’s. Lastly, this gives you a slightly different sound when both pickups are employed, very similar to the sound many players love on the short scale Byrdland.

“Since the overwhelming success of the Joey Leone Signature models last year, we have been looking for other ways to introduce high-end models at mid-range prices,” said Mike Robinson, President and founder of Eastwood Guitars, “Many guitarists are accustomed to paying $3,000+ for a “quality” high-end guitar. We’ve found a way to deliver that guitar, at half the price and twice the features.”

For a great review of the Doral, check out Guitar International.

The New Eastwood Doral Electric Jazz Guitar from MyRareGuitars.com

2009 Airline Guitar Contest Winner!

Mike Robinson — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:00:03 +0000

Congratulations to Beth McKeever from MN, USA. Here she is posing with her new ’59 Custom Airline 2P guitar. Great photo:

Congratulations to Beth McKeever from MN, USA

Here is Francois Ducrohet from Bagnolet France, who won the Draw Prize for the Airline 2P Guitar:

Francois Ducrohet from Bagnolet, France

Congratulations and thanks to all who entered!

2009 Airline Guitar Contest Winner! from MyRareGuitars.com

Eastwood Guitars Comes to the Aid of Squeeze

Mike Robinson — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:00:07 +0000

Mike Robinson, president of Eastwood Guitars, once again came to the aid of a band in need.

When Squeeze were coming through Toronto this August, Mike talked with the singer/songwriter Chris Difford, and found out that their two Eastwood guitars went missing. So Mike arranged to replace their guitars free of charge.

After the sold out show at Koolhouse, Mike Robinson presented Chris Difford with a beautiful Airline 3P DLX and handed Glenn Tilbrook an Eastwood Wandre DLX. The smiling British song writing duo were elated by his generosity.

Mike Robinson with Chris Difford & Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze

“When we found out that an amazing band like Squeeze had been swindled out of their guitars, we just had to put it straight. Talent like Difford and Tilbrook deserves great guitars” stated Robinson.

Eastwood is developing a reputation for coming to the aid of musicians. Last summer when Robyn Hitchcock had his guitar stolen in Montreal, Eastwood open their Georgetown, Ontario showroom to him where he selected his new main guitar, as he calls it his “Slinky Blue Airline Twin Tone”.

About Eastwood Guitars
Canada’s Eastwood Guitars is one of the world’s fastest growing guitar manufactures with over 40 distinctive models shipping around the globe. Eastwood is committed to developing and promoting independent music. To help foster the energy of independent music Eastwood has established the following initiatives: The Eastwood Artist Endorsement Program; The Eastwood Big Pick Program; and Eastwood Radio on www.eastwoodguitars.com.

For information
Grant Ivens
say what! communications
grant@saywhat.com
905-417-9428 x 25
http://www.eastwoodguitars.com/

Eastwood Guitars Comes to the Aid of Squeeze from MyRareGuitars.com

Airline Tuxedo Guitar in Metallic Copper Finish

Mike Robinson — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:00:46 +0000

Close-up pictures of the Airline Tuxedo guitar – now available in Metallic Copper!

Eastwood Airline Tuxedo Guitar with Copper Finish

Airline Tuxedo Guitar in Metallic Copper Finish from MyRareGuitars.com

Artist Page at Eastwood Guitars

Mike Robinson — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 13:00:01 +0000

Thanks to all that have participated in the Artist Page in the past few weeks. We are already up to 120 ARTISTS, and there are hundreds more that have not completed the application. Hey! It’s free promotion for your band…. Get on it. Here is the link.

If you are not an Eastwood Artist yet, here is the link to apply.

Artist Page at Eastwood Guitars from MyRareGuitars.com

Guitar Review: Eastwood Sidejack DLX Guitar

Mike Robinson — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 13:00:04 +0000

Every Sunday we are posting a single video demo paired with a recent review from Harmony Central. This week it is the Eastwood Sidejack DLX- I have no idea who did this, but it is cool and entitled “Wankin’ on my Eastwood Sidejack.”

Product: Eastwood Guitars Sidejack
Price Paid: $479
Submitted 04/28/2006 at 02:26pm by John W.

Features : 10
This is a follow-up to my review (John W. 2-28-05)

Same as review. Everything is working perfectly with no complaints. I am desparately trying to wear this thing out! I will perish before it does, place your bets now.

I didn’t know I would become accustomed to this flat (12.00″+) fretboard and slightly chunky neck (slightly larger than “standard thin”).I have gits from 7.500″ radius to 16.000″ and still play them and enjoy each one, but this particular set up at the 24.750″ scale is perfect for my hand @ 9.500″ hand spread (pinky to thumb).

I still dream about a Wizard neck with compound radius and a 24.750″ scale. Maybe someday I’ll throw some money at it. It would be soooo nice to have the best of both radius worlds! (I’m trying to get Warmoth to make one of these, but they don’t make a Wizard at shorter than 25.500″). Maybe Mike Robinson (Eastwood) will make us one??

One extremely nice change for the Sidejack has been loading it with D’Addario Chromes (ECG24). These are High finish ribbon wound that are ground FLAT. They call them jazz light gauge @ .011, .015, .022, .030, .040, .050″. These strings sound bright and clean and play so smoothly (NO FRICTION) that it is truly effortless which makes playing easier with obvious technique improvement. They bend very easily considering their gauge and chords blend so well it makes standard ribbon wounds sound terribly bad. Single notes have a quality that is clean with no overtones and they require LESS pressure to note, removing intonation sharping that can occur with light gauge strings.

I put a set of Chromes (ECB82) on my Bronco bass also. Perfect sound! Slap, flap, clean, mellow; it’s all in the tone knob and playing technique.

Sound : 10
You can get any sound out of this guitar with good amps, etc. It needs no mods or “hot rodding”. The pups are clear!

Action, Fit, & Finish : No Opinion
Constructed better than all the things I’ve played for years. I require extremely low action with no buzz. I have it with this guitar.

I always pay attention to the left or right of torso centering of the guitar’s scale. (Too far left of center chest, you have to reach abnormally far with the left arm as a RH player). It occurs on guitar models like the Mosrite and others. Just look at the amount of body real estate to the right of the bridge on some guitars (from playing position) and where the body relief shaping is located).

This guitar does shift the scale to the left 2.000″ more than my Fenders and Dano, so it would be a problem EXCEPT that it’s a mid-scale length at 24.750″. There is some extra reach but it’s ok with the shorter scale.

Reliability/Durability : 10
Durable period.

Customer Support : 10
Better than perfect. Just like my wife! (she will read this).

Overall Rating : 10

Guitar Review: Eastwood Sidejack DLX Guitar

Bonus clip: The Baseball Project on the David Letterman show (June 19, 2008, Steve Wynn, Scott McCaughey, Peter Buck and Linda Pitmon):

Guitar Review: Eastwood Sidejack DLX Guitar from MyRareGuitars.com

Guitar Review: Eastwood Airline H44 DLX Guitar

Mike Robinson — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:00:59 +0000

Who has the time to watch all the video demo’s at Eastwood Guitars?. For those who don’t, every Sunday we are posting a single video demo paired with a recent review from Harmony Central. This week it is the Airline H44 DLX being taken for a test drive by April Wine guitarist, Brian Greenway. Enjoy!

Product: Eastwood Guitars Airline H-44 Stratotone
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted 09/10/2007 at 06:24pm by daloco

Features : 10
The features should be well known from the reviews below. I bought two of them. A copper colored two PU DLX and a black one PU STD (black with two PU’s are sold out until december this year.)
I liked the slide sound of them so much but i’m not really a good slider.I’m a better lap steeler. So i customized one into a lapsteel (even a fake pedal steel). I mounted a higher nut and a “Duesenberg Multibender” bridge and it sounds amazing.

Sound : 10
I’m playing blues and if you do too, than this is the guitar to go for! The model with two pick ups is so versatile.
I’m playin them through a Fender Hot Rod Deville 4×10. Nothing special on the floor but a Ernie Ball Volume, a Whammy for octaving and a TS808. Compared to my Gibson Les Paul Std the sound is a bit warmer and got more bass. I could not say wich one sounds better… the 3000 Euro Gibson or the 300 Euro Eastwood. I actually bought it as a back up for the Gibson… it’s got my main guitar at the time… Amazing

Action, Fit, & Finish : 10
I mailed with Mike from Eastwood a few times and he told me that the H44 is the only model in their program under USD500,- made in Korea.
No flaws, nice finish. Setup was fine. I used that little trick with the ducktape for the bridge wich is loose on the guitar like on the original, so i would not have to calibrate so often. Works great.

Reliability/Durability : 10
Sturdy workhorse… you can play shows, or baseball with it. You even could defeate conan the babarian with it and play on.
I do not have the feeling i have to watch out all the time to keep it in mint condition. I think this is the kind of guitar where one will like every scratch, dent and ding that happens during touring. I’ll do.

Customer Support : 10
Contact Mike… absolutely fast and friendly. When i wrote him the first mail concerning shipping to Europe i got an answer within two minutes. He must have a blackberry in his pocket ore something like that!

Overall Rating : 10
I started playing when i was five years old, thats 24 years ago now. I’m a professional since ten years now (former major recording artist now indiependend and more happy). Got a couple of other guitars from larivee parlor acoustics to sitars from india. My current live set consists of a gibson les paul std hb, a epiphone j200 (’96 korea), a hoefner jazz guitar from the fifties and my two H44’s from Eastwood.

I came to the Eastwood Site cause of the replica of the airline 3p dlx. A friend of mine is playing a white original on stage. I wanted to check out the replicas and watched many video reviews on Eastwood Guitars. The H44 review and sound was so standing out, that i forgot about all the others and went for the H44. I might get a Tuxedo and a Airline sometimes but I’m not a lawyer hanging guitars behind glass in his office… so I’ll need a reason to purchase I’m shure I’ll finde one soon.

Guitar Review: Eastwood Airline H44 DLX Guitar

Bonus clip: Vince Lee and his H44 DLX:

Guitar Review: Eastwood Airline H44 DLX Guitar from MyRareGuitars.com

Guitar Review: Eastwood Classic 6 Guitar

Mike Robinson — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 13:00:10 +0000

Who has the time to watch all the video demo’s at Eastwood Guitars? For those who don’t, every Sunday we are posting a single video demo paired with a recent review from Harmony Central. This week it is the Eastwood Classic 6 guitar being taken for a test drive by award winning guitarist, Wendell Ferguson. Enjoy!

Product: Eastwood Guitars Classic 6
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted 04/05/2008 at 05:38am by grum

Features : 9
Eastwood Classic-6 double cut-away (similar to gretsch country classic style).

Walnut finish. maple body & neck.
Chinese made two filtertron style humbucker pickups.
3-way toggle switch, 2x volume 1x tone knob. tune-o-matic bridge.
case, cable & tools included.
finish on the guitar is great, really deep strong lacquer & nice binding.
Had one of these before that i modified with new bridge & bigsby but was stolen on me (filching gits!) that had a lovely abilone motif in the headstock that wasn’t present on my new one. but the bridge on this one is far superior to the old free-floating bridge so i can’t really complain!

Sound : 10
Beautiful range of tones available on this guitar, bridge pick up very bright & with the hollow body perfect for that gretschy twang. neck pick up lovely & warm round tone. great for jazzy/ country warmth. this guitar is great for my style, i play with various artists going from bluesy/gospel to country, rockabilly, rock n roll, and quirky rebo-esque stuff. its very playable & versatile. I use a fender twin amp and the valves really help getting tones to ring pure. for the price i can’t fault it.

Action, Fit, & Finish : 9
Guitar was set up really well, it’s shipped with .10 gauge strings which i replaced with my usual heavier gauge. minimal adjustment needed to raise action slightly to accomodate heavier gauge, absolutely no problems with intonation & pick up distances.
binding & finish very good quality, lovely grain in the top & back body.
1 volume knob was slightly loose but allen key was supplied so easily remedied.

Reliability/Durability : 10
Played my last one live & in studio constantly. very strong construction and never had a problem, even travelling by air with temperature changes from being in aeroplane holds & ham-fisted baggage handlers! so i’m not expecting any trouble with this one.
again for the price i can’t fault this guitar.

Customer Support : 10
played another eastwood guitar in a studio and was impressed with the quality so I emailed eastwood directly and asked Mike loads of questions. he was, and still is very helpful and i never have to wait too long for replys and assistance from him. Guitar is warrantied under usual conditions. company support is great, got loads of stickers & a dvd with this guitar too.

Overall Rating : 10
been playing about 16 years, used to use a 62 kay & various other old things which were lovely but very unreliable on the road. the eastwood classic 6 is a great replacement. I’ve had one stolen from me & I had no hesitation in ordering another one. It looks cool as **** & sounds great, whats to fault?!, nuthin! again, for this price you can’t go wrong. ——

NOTE: (Jan 2008) All Classic models now ship with an upgraded FIXED tun-o-matic bridge.

Guitar Review: Eastwood Classic 6 Guitar

Bonus clip: Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys and his Classic 12:

Guitar Review: Eastwood Classic 6 Guitar from MyRareGuitars.com

Airline H44 Guitar in Taxi Cab Yellow

Mike Robinson — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:00:04 +0000

Close-up pictures of the Airline H44 guitar – now available in Taxi Cab Yellow!

Eastwood Airline H44 Guitar in Taxi Cab Yellow

Airline H44 Guitar in Taxi Cab Yellow from MyRareGuitars.com

Introducing the Eastwood Messenger Guitar

Mike Robinson — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 13:00:58 +0000

What has become a rare and collectible American made guitar, the 1967 Messenger is being brought back to life with a tribute model from Canadian company, Eastwood Guitars, Inc.

The Eastwood Messenger Guitar

The original Messenger guitar was developed 40 years ago in California by a small company named Musicraft and is now best known as the guitar of choice by Mark Farner (Grand Funk Railroad) in the early 1970’s.

The new EASTWOOD model captures the seductive look of the original but simplifies the design with a Set Maple Neck mounted to a hollow body with Maple center block, Mahogany back, sides and a spruce top. The guitar features the distinctive cat’s eye f-holes giving it an unmistakable look.

The original Messenger guitars are now selling on the Vintage market in the $5-$10,000 range. The new EASTWOOD model starts at only $849. Limited Edition production run will be available in Greenburst or Cherry only, they start shipping in early April 2008.

Introducing the Eastwood Messenger Guitar from MyRareGuitars.com

Eastwood Guitars Announces Artists Compilation CD (2008)

Mike Robinson — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 13:00:40 +0000

Eastwood Guitars Announces Artists Compilation CD 2008

Although still in the planning stages, we are working on a new project here for 2008. The Eastwood Artists Compilation CD. We plan to release at least 2 CD’s per year, each featuring 20+ tracks from Artists that use Eastwood Guitars. If interested in having your song included, please send us an email.

Eastwood Guitars Announces Artists Compilation CD (2008) from MyRareGuitars.com

Pete Shelley Signature Guitar Contest (2007)

Mike Robinson — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 13:00:38 +0000

The contest for the Pete Shelley Signature Guitar has wrapped up this month, congratulations to Ken McKneely from Atlanta, GA. Plently of Buzzcocks fans have been scooping up this Limited Edition Guitar that is on sale now. Check out the pictures of Pete Shelley signing the guitar and watch the video.

11/15/07: Thirty years after its retirement, the STARWAY Guitar made famous by Pete Shelley of the BUZZCOCKS is back. Eastwood Guitars and Pete Shelley have teamed up to make a replica of the guitar Pete used in the early days of punk, including the recording of the famous SPIRAL SCRATCH record. Each guitar is hand-signed by Pete and includes loads of BUZZOCKS memorabilia. This Limited Edition Release will start shipping early in 2008. The FIRST one will go to the WINNER of this contest before Christmas Day 2007.

The contest? Guess the RETAIL PRICE. EMAIL your guess TODAY!

More info about the guitar:

Limited Edition, only 88 made in this initial production
Each guitar is hand-signed by Pete Shelley
Custom form fit hardshell case with original ’76 buzzcocks logo
Signed and numbered Certificate of Authenticity
8×10 Reproduction 1976 buzzcocks photo
Leather buzzcocks logo strap
Pete Shelley Signature strings from Rotosound

Pete Shelley autographs his signature Starway guitar

Pete Shelley Signature Starway Guitar from Eastwood Guitars

Custom Pete Shelley Starway Guitar Case

Pete Shelley Signature Starway Guitar from Eastwood Guitars

Certificate of Authenticity

Custom Buzzcocks Guitar Strap

Pete Shelley onstage with the Buzzcocks

Pete Shelley (the early years)

Pete Shelley newspaper clippings

Contest Rules:

Entry must be received before December 10, 2007.
Limited to THREE entries per email address.
You can guess in UK Pounds, USA Dollars or EUROS. We will convert the value on December 10th to determine the winner.
In the event of a DRAW, we will pick the winner at random from the DRAW pool
All shipping, duties and taxes for the prize will be paid for by Eastwood Guitars, INC.
The winner will agree to have their name, city and country published by Eastwood and Buzzcocks.
The winner will be notified by email on Dec 11, 2007. They will have 72 hours to respond and accept the prize. If we do not receive a reply in the allotted time, we will move to the next winner, and so on, until a winner is determined.

Pete Shelley Signature Guitar Contest (2007) from MyRareGuitars.com

Guitar Review: Eastwood Airline H44 DLX Electric Guitar

Guest Post — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 13:00:39 +0000

I love off the wall guitars. Always have, always will. At the January 2007 NAMM trade show in Anaheim, California I discovered the Eastwood Guitars booth and was amazed at the number of way-cool guitars they were producing, many of which were reissues of old Supro and Airline guitars.

I can’t help myself. I’m an especially big fan of old Airline guitars. I’ve owned many over the years and have always dug their quirky shapes and sounds.

Eastwood Airline H44 DLX Guitar

Catching my eye in particular was an Airline H44 DLX in a copper finish, reminding me of the old 50’s Harmony/Kay Stratotone, which in those days was considered kind of a poor man’s Les Paul.

The H44 sports a really cool small bodied, single cutaway shape with two mini-Humbuckers, a short trapeze tailpiece, three way selector switch and a master volume & tone control. When I got home after NAMM I kept thinking about it and ended getting one a month later.

When I unpacked it, I was immediately struck by how beautiful it looked in its copper finish with just a hint of sparkle to it. I took it out of the box and immediately began twanging away. True to the original Stratotones, this guitar came with a fat “baseball bat” type neck. The advantage of a fat neck is that it’s very stable and practically un-warpable. Also like the originals, these guitars have a movable non-adjustable wooden bridge with a fixed compensated saddle. With a set of 10’s the action was good, and the intonation was pretty darn close.

I noticed the bridge moved around a bit whenever I would bend the strings (just like the old ones), so I remedied the problem with an old bluesman’s fix; I just put a few short strips of double stick tape underneath the bridge and voila! It held like a champ even on my wildest bends.

The tuners are open-faced, again just like the old ones. Some people think open faced tuners “slip”, but that’s a load of hogwash. I always wrap the string around itself against the tuning post, which kind of “locks” the string, and when I do that along with stretching the string a few times it always stays in tune. No problems with the tuners here.

The string slots on the nut were a tad on the tight side, “pinging” now and then when tuning. A little bit of Big Bends Nut Sauce lubricant took care of the problem. Note: Tight string slots at the nut is the number one reason guitars don’t stay in tune. Always keep some lubricant handy and you’ll be a happy (and in tune) camper.

So how did it sound plugged in? Very cool indeed! Mini humbuckers typically have a darker sound than single coils, plus they’re more powerful, so it’s important to set an amp’s controls accordingly. I first revved it up through a small Roland Microcube amp. It was quite at home here. There were plenty of modeling amp settings that I could find to make it sound good. Then it was on to a Line 6 POD in my studio, going direct into the recording console. With a few little tweaks I had some very bluesy sounding tones happening through the studio monitors. Nice!

Next it was on to a Rivera 45 watt 1-12 Clubster combo amp. There was no problem dialing up a nice, slightly overdriven Mike Bloomfield “Super Session” kind of sound. I liked it mostly clean, but with just a hint of amp distortion. And finally, I ran it through a 15 watt Fender Blues Junior amp and it sang out like it owned the joint!

Will Ray with his H44 DLX

Here’s my take on guitars like the H44 ‘ they’re specialty instruments meant to create unique guitar tones that normal Strat, Tele and Les Paul guitars can’t do. I use guitars like this a lot in the studio when I’m looking for something different to add character to a track, or on a live gig to give a different mojo to a song. I find that when a guitar sounds a little different, it will make you play a little different. I already know what I sound like with my usual guitars. But what can I paint with a different paintbrush?

Conclusion? I like my H44. It’s built like an old guitar, but without old guitar hassles. It’s very cool looking and stable. Plus my wife digs the color. What can I say? She’s a keeper.

Post by: Will Ray

Guitar Review: Eastwood Airline H44 DLX Electric Guitar from MyRareGuitars.com

Joey Leone Signature RBC Eastwood Guitar (Rock, Blues & Country)

Joey Leone — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 13:00:48 +0000

I have always dreamed of a guitar that would combine the features of my favorite guitars, yet be able to get many sounds from it, all of which would be useable sounds. This guitar would have to be functional, beautiful, easy to play, and affordable – the Joey Leone Signature Model Guitar for Eastwood.

Headstock: Joey Leone RBC Guitar from Eastwood Guitars

Eastwood CEO Mike Robinson and I have been working together for years – improvements on existing designs, new ideas and alike. Mike has always encouraged me to think outside the box, and in turn I have given him many ideas and concepts, some discussed and put aside, but this Signature Moded was a concept we both loved. This guitar was to be a players guitar – one that offered an opportunity for guitar players to have a wide palette of sounds to draw from – yet did not look like a crowded subway car.

OK Joey, “what does this guitar do that is so special?” Here’s where the fun begins…. First I thought about some of my favorite guitar players and the guitars they played. I tend to think of guitars and players in groups, organized by styles and tones. Hmmm? Matt Guitar Murphy played an ES 345, T-Bone Walker played an ES-5 Switchmaster, Mark Knopfler a Strat, Roy Buchanan a Tele, double hmmm? Pickups?A triple hmmmm?

Pickups: Joey Leone RBC Guitar from Eastwood Guitars

I knew I wanted my first design to be a versatile guitar that would be a clean, and clear voiced guitar that could be played at a low volume and still be strong sounding, but also one that would sing and sustain at higher volumes. I wanted the guitar to cut through with a high mid voice that would be there even when mixed at lower volumes. Here’s how I did it!

First I decided to go with a semi-hollow archtop design like a 335, but use P90 pickups. I knew that there were very few if any semi-hollows with P90 pickups. Next I wanted to have the scale length be longer then the standard Gibson, so I created a Fender scale (25 ½ inch) on a Gibson style frame. This would afford the player the opportunity to use heavier gauge strings without the hand fatigue that we incessant pickers tend to experience. Also this would make bending strings more pleasurable.

Flamed Finish: Joey Leone RBC Guitar from Eastwood Guitars

I also asked the builders to make the neck a bit wider (2 mm’s) so the strings would not feel crowded. This is the feel you get when you play an L5 or any high end archtop, again wanting to give the player a really fine guitar for his or her money. I also asked them to make me a one piece mahogany neck; this design in my opinion gives the guitar a more consistent transfer of vibrations throughout the guitar. I have always felt that multi-laminated maple necks were strong and stiff to a fault as the glue joints make the neck dead. I also never liked the idea of guitar builders gluing together piece of wood that did not have consistent grain and or density. Yes, more expensive, but Mike said, “Let’s design the guitar FIRST, and worry about cost SECOND.”

I insisted that this guitar have a book matched flamed maple top and back of similar grain and density for the same reasons mentioned above. I also added flamed maple sides as well for aesthetics mostly. And speaking of aesthetics I also wanted real mother of pearl instead of “pearloid” or some other faux material. Tell me that never drove you crazy, over $3,000 for a guitar and when you friends say, “is that real mother of pearl?” you have to say… ahhh.. kinda…..no!!!

Switches: Joey Leone RBC Guitar from Eastwood Guitars

Now onto the electronics, an aspect of which I am most proud. I went to pickup visionary Kent Armstrong (son of Dan) and told him I wanted P90 pickups that would also be able to get a Strat sound as well as the standard P90 voicing. Through many, many hours of work in Kent’s workshop we came up with a hot P90 pickup with a coil tap that would yield the signature Strat sound. This is not one of those stacked humbuckers that I have always thought to be okay at best, but not having a single coil sound at all. These pickups sound great and they are potted with wax to avoid almost all microphonics. Then, three pickups like T-Bone’s ES-5 with the middle pickup reverse wound to get the humbucking sound when combined with any of the other pickups, this we did – but again through many hours of skull sessions – we made the middle pickup not only a coil tapped single coil but used AlNiCO 5 magnets like on the old 55 Les Paul Custom – but really closer to the McCarty Pickups found on the old L7 “pickups in the pickguard” design. These can be adjusted by simply pushing the pole piece up through the bottom of the pickup with a small screwdriver. This pickup when coil tapped sounds very similar to a Jazzmaster pickup but with a bit more balls. All these custom creations add expense? You bet it does, but when you play this guitar and start to explore the tonal palette, it will blow you away….

What we end up with is a guitar with 27 useable sounds – no throw away “excuse” sounds – with 9 humbucking combinations. All of this is easily accomplished by using the three full size toggles located between the master volume and master tome pots.

You will see some pictures here is this article of the first two prototypes. Production models will be available in April 2007. I’ve asked Mike to do two colors – Natural (pictured here to the left) and an Antique Sunburst (the Cherryburst will not be in production until later next year).

Natural Finish: Joey Leone RBC Guitar from Eastwood Guitars

Now onto some of the other design ideas that went into the RBC model. Medium jumbo frets on a slightly curved fretboard, this will make this guitar an axe blues players as well as shred guys who are used to flat fingerboards feel at home. Add some Grover Imperial Tuners, a tunematic bridge, and trapeze tailpiece to the design of the Joey Leone Signature RBC Model, and you have a guitar designed by a player for players. No B.S.

One more thing my friends, my buddy Mike Robinson at Eastwood Guitars has been behind this guitar from the beginning and will deliver this guitar to you with his usual rock hard, unsurpassed customer service that has helped make Eastwood the up and coming guitar company out there today. This guitar will be of the highest quality and be affordable. No B.S. there either!

Joey Leone Signature RBC Eastwood Guitar (Rock, Blues & Country) from MyRareGuitars.com

Report from NAMM 2007: Wow! What a Trip!

Mike Robinson — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 13:00:26 +0000

Like a tornado ripping through town, the 2007 NAMM show came and went. For Eastwood Guitars, it was our first – and what an eye-opening experience it was. Although exhibiting in the 4-day event cost as much as buying a first home in Winnipeg, in hindsight, it was worth every penny. What a trip! Here are some observations from the helm of Eastwood.

Peter McCracken and me after the booth setup

Dumb Luck Wins in the End – for our first 5 years we decided not to exibit in the NAMM show. Most companies would think this was a mistake – a new product, a new audience – damn, you have to get out there and tell the world!! But for five years we stayed at home and just serviced our customers on-line. In hindsight, (dumb luck) I think we were right to do so. By the time we hit the NAMM show last week, we had an army of friends and followers that were beating down the door to meet and greet us! It was a genuine Eastwood love-in. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life to finally meet face-to-face with so many customers that have supported us through the first few years.

We were espeically happy to expand the dealer network in USA and Europe with some of my favorite guitar stores picking up the Eastwood line. Although the list is too long, some of those new dealers include Rudy’s in New York City, True Tone in Santa Monica and McKenzie River Music in Oregon. Check the Eastwood Website for a full listing of new dealers in the next two weeks. Thanks to all the new dealers for joining us, and we look forward to a fun and profitable 2007!

I was fortunate to enlist the help of some friends and customers at NAMM to work the booth with us, we all had a blast! Thanks again to Pete McCracken, Don Mackrill, Phil Meyrick, Rob Roberge and my brother Peter for his on-booth Surf Cinema entertainment.

Who has more fun than Eastwood?

Peter Robinson from Surf Cinema entertains on the MAP guitar:

Peter Robinson from Surf Cinema

Danny Amis from Los Straitjackets takes an AIRLINE 3P DLX for a test drive:

Danny Amis from Los Straitjackets

Not sure who this guy is, but he dropped by the booth and posed for some pictures with our new AIRLINE MAP BASS prototype:

Our new AIRLINE MAP BASS prototype

This is a 30″ scale model that will be available in April.

Before heading home we did the Hollywood tourist trek. Here I am having a quick snooze beside Clint EASTWOOD mark:

Hollywood tourist trek: Here I am having a quick snooze beside Clint EASTWOOD mark

Report from NAMM 2007: Wow! What a Trip! from MyRareGuitars.com

What I Learned at My First NAMM Show

Rob Roberge — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 13:00:21 +0000

What I learned at my first NAMM show:

The NAMM show is incredibly HUGE. It’s fitting that it’s across the street from Disneyland, as you end up walking just as much as you would at the self-proclaimed happiest place on earth (not when there’s a million guitars across the street, Walt). On a further plus, there’s a lot less puke and fewer children at the NAMM show.
Parking is a slice of hell. Maybe two slices. And that’s with Disney running the parking, and Disney does parking with an efficiency that rivals the train schedules of Fascist Governments.
NAMM is, however, one of the most incredibly organized colossal endeavors I’ve ever seen. We’re not just talking about hundreds upon hundreds of booths with guitars and amps and accordions and ukuleles, but full rooms of grand pianos and other enormous instruments. Add to this the complexity of visitor lists, vendors, exhibitors, performers, and so on, and it’s just incredible that the whole thing comes off without a train wreck of disasters.
People who wear sunglasses indoors look like idiots. The NAMM show is no exception. Knock it off, people. If you don’t have some eye condition and you’re wearing sunglasses inside during the day, you look stupid. You do not look like a rock star. You look like a guy trying to look like a rock star. Which is really not an admirable goal for anyone over 14.
The guys at the Eastwood booth were a kick and a half to hang out with for four days. Many laughs, much guitar geek love and a cool surf guitar show for the first two days by fellow Buster Keaton fan Peter Robinson of the CA surf band Surf Cinema. Thanks for the great time, guys!
Metal and shredding are with us to stay. As is guitar-face. And sunglasses inside. And men in their fifties in leather pants. We can ask why, or we can accept it and move on.

I also learned there were a lot of guitars I wanted. The short list:

A radical Fritz Bros Jimmy Reed Thin Twin model (high end…got a spare four grand for a fellow down on his luck?)
A cheapie (retail under three bills) Dano Pro (in Aqua, and several colors that were not Aqua…which is what happens to me when a guitar is offered in Aqua and/or Sea Foam Green…I know only that it is offered in other, non-essential colors. Aqua, people!). It played really well, and it had an improved bridge over the last re-issues. And it comes in Aqua.
Some very cool Italia models, including an absolutely stunning twelve string electric with a beautiful headstock. Why aren’t there more sparkly guitars in the world? Well, Italia is doing their part to right that wrong. A big sparkly thanks, folks!
See-through Ampeg Dan Armstrong. I didn’t play it, but it’s see-through. That’s enough cool factor.
SEVERAL Eastwood models released at NAMM, but there were also a couple of others that will be ready in April – the AIRLINE Tuxedo “Kay Barney Kessel” Model and the Map Shaped Bass. The Saturn (man, that’s a fun guitar to play…and I got one!), The Town & Country (ditto), but the big hit was the Map Shaped Guitars. I’m guessing EASTWOOD sold out of those at the show. All great lookers and players.

And a bunch more. What else did I learn?

Peavey continues to make solid, well-made really ugly stuff. 40 years and counting of truly aesthetically challenged design. You would think they might have accidentally made a cool looking guitar by now, but nope, you’d be wrong.
There was a guy who always dressed in camouflage and sold machine-gun shaped electric guitars. I kept my distance.
In a world of large booths, Fender and Gibson have REALLY large booths. No stunner there, but the Fender booth did have some cool historic guitars. They also had a new Eddie Van Halen model that costs a lot of money for something that looks like it was made in a high school shop class by a stoner in 1982.
Randy Bachman seems like a nice guy in addition to being a legend who has played on lots of great tunes.
I learned there were a lot of amps I wanted.

Again, the short list:

The new. Which isn’t really a re-issue, as I don’t think they ever did a Jet with 6V6 output tubes (a early Reverberocket, yes, maybe a Jet, but I don’t remember that…I’m pretty sure they all had 7591’s). But, anyway, it sounded great, and had only Volume, Tone and Tremolo Speed and Intensity knobs. Cool. Low wattage, few knobs. Gotta love that.
Our very own Don Mackrill’s Airline 18 Watt amplifier. Just a great looking and sounding amplifier. Hand made, with style and care and great tone. What’s not to love? Don, I want one in Sea Foam Green! (Everything should come in Sea Foam Green with a Bigsby option. I’d put a Bigsby on my Sea Foam kitchen table if I could).
Ben Fargen’s 4x6V6 amp. Yummy. Four 6V6’s, which is such a cool way to get to your 30-40 watts, rather than the more conventional two 6L6’s.

What else?

Joel Weaver of Home Brew Electronics, in addition to making my favorite overdrive pedal (The Power Screamer), is a nice guy. Check out his pedals. Great stuff.
I begged Groove Tubes…I cajoled JJ Tubes…Nobody is going to make a new 7189A tube. Argh. This is sad news to a Magnatone M10 lover. They just don’t run on EL84’s, no matter how rugged, and there is an ever-dwindling (and ever-expensive) supply of 7189A’s. As my niece likes to say, this news is “poopy.” Poopy, indeed.
A lot more people that I might have expected wanted Paul Stanley’s autograph. But, hey, it’s a big world. More power to him, I suppose.
There’s one very cranky and not incredibly competent woman who checks your bags on the way out. There may be more than her, but I kept running into the same one. She would demand I open my bag, not really look in, and then bark at me to move on. I could have had a severed head in that bag for all she knew. (I did NOT have a severed head, for those wondering at home).
There are a LOT of people who play guitar better than me. That’s not a huge surprise to me, but when they’re all in the same room with you (albeit a VERY LARGE room), it’s pretty humbling. A lot of people who can play out there in the world. Pretty cool.
I learned that I had to sell some stuff to make some room for what I carried out of there. NAMM is a heady experience, a gear freak’s nirvana (or close…maybe it would be nirvana with vintage axes, too), and a tiring sensory overload that’s a ball.

There’s nothing quite like it, and I can’t wait until next year to see what’s new.

See you in next month’s newsletter.

What I Learned at My First NAMM Show from MyRareGuitars.com

Preview of NAMM 2007 in Anaheim, California

Mike Robinson — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 13:00:43 +0000

Looking back over the past 4 years – especially 2006 – I am amazed at the growth of Eastwood Guitars. We have doubled in size every year since the first Eastwood Guitar was shipped. Most of this growth has come by word-of-mouth – empowered by the Internet. In fact, only a small percentage of our sales are from our loyal dealers throughout the world. That is about to change!

We will be exhibiting at the 2007 NAMM show in Anaheim California

For the first time since we started Eastwood Guitars in 2002, we will be exhibiting at the NAMM show in Anaheim California. For those who don’t know, NAMM is the National Assc. of Music Makers. This trade show is a once a year event where music industry people meet to share their knowledge and check out “what’s new” in the world of music.

NAMM 2007 in Anaheim, CA

For many store owners and guitar dealers, this is their once-a-year trip to stock up their shelves for the coming year with some new and improved goodies. Although predominately a North American event, dealers come from all over the world to this 4-day convention. Since we have never exhibited at the show, this will be the first opportunity for most dealers to check out EASTWOOD. We will have most of our 30+ models at the show, including some new releases. Here are some sneak peaks at the new stuff:

Eastwood EEB-1 Bass (like the Ampeg AEB-1)

Full 34″ scale tribute to the AMPEG AEB-1 from the late 1960’s. Yes, those F-holes go right through the body! Available this month. Black or Sunburst.

Eastwood Red Special: our tribute to the beautiful Brian May model

Here is our tribute to the beautiful Brian May model. Set mahogany neck, bound mahogany body, replica switching system. Red or Sunburst. Available this month.

Nice huh? We also have a few other goodies up our sleeves for NAMM. We finally gave in to the pressure, and have created a “correct” 30 1/2″ scale model of the Hi-Flyer BASS. This might be the most powerful short scale bass on the market. Also, we are ready to release the production model of the MAP guitar. It will have all the standard components of the other AIRLINE models in that family, and will be available in Black, White, Red or SEAFOAM Green. $799. We will have the pictures ready in 2 weeks. Here is a picture of the LIMITED EDITION version that SOLD OUT last year:

Eastwood Airline Map Guitar (Surf Green)

NOTE: The new MAP production model will NOT include the case or the upgraded VVSC pickups.

So, if your are planning to attend the NAMM show this year, please send us an EMAIL to schedule an appointment or just drop by booth #`1151 to say hello and to test out some of these new beauties!

See you at NAMM!

Preview of NAMM 2007 in Anaheim, California from MyRareGuitars.com

Eastwood Webcast Replay (2006)

Mike Robinson — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 13:00:12 +0000

Eastwood Guitars Webcast with Joey Leone (2006)

Thanks for Watching! Our first webcast was broadcast on November 7th, 2006 – LIVE on the Internet. It was a huge success! If you were not able to “tune-in” at the time, we have pasted together some of the songs listed above. The entire Webcast will be available in the New Year on a full-length widescreen DVD.

Something Inside Me:

Bright Lights, Big City:

Early in the Morning:

Hip Shake:

As the Years Go Passing By:

Baja & Surf Medley:

Misty:

Thunder Road:

Wichita Lineman:

You Never Can Tell:

Hoochie Koochie Man:

Eastwood Webcast Replay (2006) from MyRareGuitars.com

Let’s Go Surfin’: How to Get the Classic Surf Guitar Sound

Guest Post — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 13:00:05 +0000

Since its inception, legions of surf guitar players have engaged in heated debate about gear. Suffice it to say, everyone has an opinion. However, newbies often want a simple answer to the question, “What do I need to get going?” Here’s our surf music guitar guide to help you out!

Below, I lay out the answers, based on the classic traditional surf sound of the Sixties. Whether you want to nail the sound with vintage gear, or whether you are on a budget, you’ll find useful guidelines here.

Surf Guitar Gear Basics

Instrumental surf music has its own distinct sound – influenced by both the natural sounds of waves crashing on the beach, the typically rudimentary skills of its early performers, and technological breakthroughs in amplified guitar technology during the hey-day of surf music, the early 1960s. In short, the key characteristics of the surf guitar sound are a clean tube-amp tone and heavy reverb. Not coincidentally, those sounds are closely associated with Fender musical instruments. Back in the day, all Fender instruments were made in Southern California, just a mountain range away from the Pacific Ocean. Naturally, Fender had a huge impact on the early surf musicians blasting out their instro tunes in the music halls of SoCal.

Surf Guitars

Most early surf bands made use of a full array of Fender gear, beginning with the famous single-coil guitars that still define “the Fender sound.” Dick Dale, the father of surf guitar, played his staccato machine-gun sound with the help of “the Beast” a highly personalized Fender Stratocaster.

Today, the Strat remains a favorite choice for surf guitar slingers. The most popular Fender surf machines, however, are the Jazzmaster and its twangy, shorter-scaled cousin, the Jaguar. While nothing tops a vintage Jazz or Jag dated anywhere from 1958 (the first year of the Jazzmaster) to about 1966 (the venerated “pre-CBS” era, when Fender was still owned and operated by Leo Fender), you’ll have to shell out mucho dinero for the authentic item.

Fender Jazzmaster.. proper surfin’ vibes!

Fortunately, Fender has created excellent reissues of its classic instruments. Most players would agree, Made in America (often designated as “MIA”) vintage reissues of the Jazz and Jag come very close to the sound and mojo of the originals, and can be had new or used for less than a king’s ransom. For those on a budget, the Made in Japan/Crafted In Japan models (often denoted as “CIJ” and “MIJ”) come very close to the feel and tone of the American-made models, at about half the price.

A minority of players seek out other vintage guitars popular among early surf bands. Mosrite guitars, made by California’s Semie Mosely, were made famous by The Ventures – not strictly a surf band, but still a vital group in the pantheon of surf music legends. Other popular surf guitars include single-coil models manufactured by Japanese manufacturer Teisco Del Rey, American-maker Danelectro, and the Italian firm Eko. Plus dozens of Japanese guitars churned out during the 1960s and 1970s.

Any of the recent Eastwood Mosrite Reissue models are a great choice if you want to go down the Ventures route:

Eastwood Sidejack, a great option for surf music

That said, anyone new to the surf sound can get by with most any solid-body electric guitar featuring single-coil pickups. For the economy-minded, a Fender Squier Strat is a good choice. Yamaha also makes some surfy guitars loosely fashioned after the wild SGV models of the late 1960s. Other brands to consider are the Danelectro-style guitars made by Reverend, the retro-60s guitars made by Eastwood, reissue Danelectros, DiPintos, and the many Strat-clones made by just about everyone.

Back in the early 1960s, strings were quite heavy when compared to the light, thin, slinky strings favored on most guitars today. If you want a dedicated surf guitar, as opposed to one set up for playing a wide array of rock music, you’ll want to stock up on the heavier guages – high “E” strings of 11, 12, even 13. The true surf sound was typically played on ribbon-wound or “flat” wound strings; these help reduce string-slide sounds and have a mellower tone than the more common round-would strings. However, this is an item of personal preference; many surf guitar players swear by flat-wounds, while most continue to play the cheaper and more widely available round-wounds.

The Ventures, one of the greatest surf bands ever, played Mosrites

One last note: one other characteristic of the surf sound is whammy bar dips. Not the dive-bombing acrobatics of Eddie Van Halen, but a nice quarter or half-tone warble. Any worthy surf guitar should have a bridge set up to create this sound; used judiciously, they will stay in tune. Hard-bridge guitars, such as most Telecasters, lack this feature, making them less desirable among surf guitar players.

Surf Bass Guitars

Surf music played a big role in the acceptance of the electric bass and the movement away from the standup basses used by Jazz, blues, and rockabilly musicians of the 1950s. The surf players ushered in the era of the electric bass, launching the modern rock bass sound. Of course, the surf bands used Fender basses, both the Precision bass and the Jazz bass. Another popular brand was the Danelectro Longhorn bass, with its distinctive double-cutaway body.

Just as if their guitars, Mosrite basses were also used by surf bands, such as The Ventures. The Eastwood Sidejack Bass 32 is a pretty good choice, if you want something similar:

The Sidejack Bass 32… great choice for surf music

Surf Guitar Amps

Think clean, sparkly treble and a round, clear bass tone. That’s the essence of surf amp sound. The most famous and venerable surf amps are the classic Fender Showman and Dual Showman. These were early amp “heads” intended to be played through Fender amp cabinets, typically with big 15″ JBL D-130F speakers. These setups have mountains of clean headroom, sufficient to spread the sweet surf guitar sound across an entire auditorium of stomp-crazed beach kids looking for some fun on a Saturday night. You can still find a bargain on Showman heads by shopping eBay, but snapping up the matching cabs with JBL speakers will cost you a month’s salary or more.

Fender Bandmaster

Other popular early Fender amps are the Twin Reverb, Deluxe Reverb, Bandmaster, Vibrolux, and Super Reverb. Any of these true vintage Fenders will likely put you deeply in debt. Fortunately, Fender has revived many of its timeless designs, which are available as the reissue series. The ’65 Twin Reverb, the ’65 Twin Reverb Special 15, Custom Vibrolux, and the Deluxe Reverb Reissue are all excellent choices for surf music. If you want to lay out serious dead-presidents, the VibroKing Custom comes with a built-in ’63 Fender Reverb (see “Reverb” section, below), while the new SuperSonic combines the tones of the classic Vibrolux, ’66 Bassman, and modern high-gain amps.

That said, there are many other affordable – and not so affordable – amplifiers from which to choose. For novices who want to play at home, the Fender Blues Junior gets great tube tone. Other good choices are the Fender Blues Deluxe, a 40-watt with great versatility, and its beefier brother, the Fender Blues Deville (also sold as the ‘Hot Rod’ series amps). A bargain-basement amp that has excellent surf tone is the Fender Frontline 25R, a surprisingly warm-sounding solid state amp. Of course, you can play through a classic Marshall stack or Vox AC30 (the amp used by the fab British instrumental band, The Shadows). Anything is possible – just bear in mind, you’ll be straying from the classic surf sound.

Another choice (and this is mainly for guitar players with lucrative careers as doctors, attorneys, business execs, and mafia captains) are boutique amps. Many makers, most notably Kendrick and Victoria, have re-created hand-wired amplifiers based on the classic Fender circuits. You’ll get classic Fender tone without having to worry about the reliability issues that come with owning a 50-year-old piece of electronic gear. Unfortunately, the boutique makers seem to focus largely on the tweed-era Fenders of the 1950s, rather than the black-face amps of the 1960s, when surf guitar ruled. So, some of the boutique amps seem better suited to mildly distorted blues than to crystal-clear surf.

Surf Guitar Reverb

Ahhh, reverb. One of the earliest effects created for guitar, and the essential ingredient of surf sound. Originally intended to create an ambient atmosphere, like a large music hall, reverb came to the fore in surf music with the creation of the Fender Reverb based on the G15 circuit. Turned up midway, they do capture the sounds of amplified music bouncing off the walls at a high school hop. But turn the dwell, tone and mix knobs up past the mid-mark, and you start to get the wonderful resonance of a guitar played at the bottom of a well, or in a long tunnel, or perhaps through the barrel of a breaking wave. Coveted by surf musicians, these original tube reverb units are the standard by which all reverb is compared – and by which most fail.

Basically a stand-alone box, tube reverb works by taking the original guitar signal, pushing it through a series of springs mounted in a box, then recapturing and amplifying the sound again before sending it along to the amplifier. Soon after the creation of the tube reverb effect, Fender began adding reverb to nearly all of its popular amp models; however, most will agree that the reverb effect built into the amp itself is a pale and sickly cousin when compared to a true Fender reverb.

Today, you can buy reissue models of the classic Fender ’63 Reverb, but bear in mind, these are not actual copies of the originals. While the circuits are similar on paper, the newer units have circuit board construction, rather than the hand-wired circuitry of the originals. You can, however, find hand-wired reverbs by boutique makers such as Victoria, Soldano, and Kendrick, all based more-or-less on the original G15 circuit. You can also buy a kit and build your own (Weber Vintage Speaker Technology of Kokomo, Ind., is a good source for such kits).

If you can’t spend the $250 for a used reissue much less the $600 or more you will pay for a vintage Fender reverb or a boutique clone of the original, you can go with a variety of pedals, starting as low as $35 for a Danelectro mini-pedal to about $150 for a Little Lanilei reverb pedal that actually uses a spring reverb tank. Other popular models include the Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail and Holier Grail, the Verbzilla, and the Digitech Digiverb, which all get excellent reverb sounds for just over $100.

Finally, you may find that the reverb in your amp works plenty good. You may not get the sputtering “boosh” sounds of a true Fender Reverb, but you may find that it’s enough reverb for your throbbing versions of ‘Pipeline’ and ‘Miserlou.’ Then again, you might be like surf guitar aficionado Jeff ‘Big Tiki Dude,’ who believes that there is no such thing as too much ‘verb.

Good surfin’!

Post by: Gavin Ehringer

Let’s Go Surfin’: How to Get the Classic Surf Guitar Sound from MyRareGuitars.com

I’m an Axe Victim: Reconnecting with Bill Nelson of Be Bop Deluxe

Mike Robinson — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 13:00:18 +0000

Twenty Eight years ago in Toronto, CANADA, an 18 yr old music fan slipped backstage, unnoticed by the distracted security people. Up a staircase, down a hall, then back down another staircase. He heard voices coming from the bands dressing room. He quietly stepped inside and said, “Mr. Nelson, will you please autograph my Album?” The memory seems like it was just yesterday. There, standing in front of me was my guitar hero, Bill Nelson of Be Bop Deluxe. He smiled and obliged. I turned to pose with Bill for a picture as my friend prepared to snap it. “What? No film?” My good friend Wally Moss had forgotten to load film in the camera. Go figure. People follow their passions – Wally’s was photography, mine was the electric guitar – and the musicians who made them sing. Bill Nelson remains one of the best.

Bill Nelson, guitarist for Be Bop Deluxe

Here we are 30 years later and after following my passion, I find myself as the president of EASTWOOD Guitars. My enthusiasm for music has not diminished one bit. I still seem to spend more money on CD’s than groceries. I have thousands of LP’s that have not seen a needle in years, due to the fact that I now have thousands of CD’s that for a large part, replicate my LP’s. Of course now that I have my 60G IPOD, the CD’s are getting a rest. Crazy? Perhaps, but I would not give them up for the world. Being surrounded by music and electric guitars, I find myself enjoying life more now than ever. How could it get any better? How about reconnecting with Bill Nelson!

As luck would have it, our paths recently crossed again – this time not through my pursuing an autograph – but through Bill’s on-going interest in Bizarre Guitars. I have followed the career of Bill Nelson since his first release in 1971, Northern Dream (which by the way was the album I had him sign). Most of us were introduced to Bill through the critically acclaimed 70’s band, Be Bop Deluxe. I still play air guitar when listening to riffs from LIVE IN THE AIR AGE, possibly one of the greatest LIVE band recordings from that era.

Bill continued through the next 3 decades with a solo career that amassed a staggering number of releases. I cannot remember a year going by without the purchase of at least one Bill Nelson CD, often two and three. Some of my personal favorites include QUIT DREAMING AND GET ON THE BEAM (1981), CHIMERA (1983), MAP OF DREAMS (1987), AFTER THE SATELLITE SINGS (1996), MAGNIFICNET DREAM PEOPLE (1997) and DEEP DREAM DECODER (1998).

If for some reason you missed the last three decades and are in need of a quick fix, run out and get WHAT NOW, WHAT NEXT?, it is an exceptionally good compilation of the Cocteau Years from 1980-1990. Also pick up SATELLITE SONGS, the perfect companion. More than enough to rekindle the spirit.

I am the proud owner of over 40 CD’s (and a few dozen vinyl LP’s) from Bill Nelson. Thirty years later, now that our paths have crossed again, Bill is the proud owner of an EASTWOOD Saturn ’63. How cool is that!? Imagine the smile on my face when Bill wrote back with the following message:

I’m one of those post-war baby-boomers who were born into the era of rock n’ roll and science-fiction. Like many well-known British musicians of my generation, I attended Art School in the ’60’s and have always had an eye for unusual visual design, whether that be in the realm of cars, clothes or architecture… guitars too. Especially guitars!

I remember standing outside local music store windows as a 12 year old, blown away by the exotic, futuristic designs of many ’50’s and ’60’s guitar manufacturers such as Fenton Weill, Wandre, Hopf, Guyatone and Teisco. These were not the big name, glamorous makes that famous stars played, but they were, for me and my budding young musician friends, even more other-worldly, more electric than the expensive mainstream brands. Their visual appeal went way beyond practical considerations and strayed into the realm of pure fantasy. They were aesthetically ‘out there’, super-modern, ultra-baroque. They embodied the essential, electrical essence of rock n’ roll.

Unfortunately, they were not the most player-friendly instruments in the world, often being manufactured cheaply, despite the avant-garde nature of their visual appeal. Nevertheless, 40 odd years later, these vintage designs have become rare and coveted instruments, (‘though sadly more suited towards the wealthy collector’s cabinet than the recording studio or stage.)

Hats off to Eastwood Guitars for their visionary mission to re-issue some of these rare designs yet keep the guitarists of the 21st Century in mind. Eastwood guitars look just like the original instruments, but with the added bonus of superior build quality, modern playability and a vibey, characterful tonality. These guitars go beyond retro-futurist nostalgia to expand any contemporary guitarist’s tonal palette. And separate you from the herd.

Magically, my Saturn 63 reminds me of just how I felt standing outside that music shop back in the late ’50’s, and confirms just why I fell in love with electric guitars in the first place, all those years ago.

Somehow makes it all worthwhile, don’t it? Well, if you are a regular reader of this newsletter, you know what I’ve been up to lately, but what about Bill Nelson? Quite a lot actually.

In the past 30 years, Bill has released close to 50 CD’s, many of which are double, triple and even quad disk sets. You wonder when he finds time to sleep! He has also worked on film, television and video scores, directed a variety of videos, toured as part of Heroes De Lumiere with his brother Ian, worked with Roger Eno, Gary Numan, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Harold Budd, Flock of Seagulls, John Cooper-Clarke, David Sylvian, Laraaji and Kate St. John under the Channel Light Vessel name and performed as part of the Japanese group Culturemix. Phenomenally busy, driven by his muse and an active imagination, Nelson continues to delight and confound.

No signs of slowing, either. Bill tells me he has got two new albums in the pipeline: ‘Neptunes Galaxy’ and ‘Return To Jazz Of Lights’ as well as some rare, previously unreleased Be Bop Deluxe material, all coming out later this year. You can get in line (behind me) to sign up for these releases on his website, Dreamsville (www.billnelson.com). There are plenty of things to do during your visit to Dreamsville – pack a lunch and have fun!

Here is a short list of recent releases from Bill Nelson (all available at DREAMSVILLE):

Gleaming Without Lights (CD)
Getting The Holy Ghost Across (CD)
Return To Jazz Of Lights (CD)
The Alchemical Adventures Of Sailor Bill (CD)
Rosewood Volume 2 (CD)
Rosewood Volume 1 (CD)
Atom Shop (CD)
Crimsworth (CD)
What Now What Next? (2CD)

I’m an Axe Victim: Reconnecting with Bill Nelson of Be Bop Deluxe from MyRareGuitars.com

Dealer Profile: Wade’s Guitar Shop (Milwaukee, WI)

Mike Robinson — Mon, 01 May 2006 13:00:02 +0000

Wade's Guitar Shop (Milwaukee, WI)

Wade Starck opened Wade’s Guitar Shop across the street from their current location in June of 1989. For five years it grew inside of that little 500 sq. ft. shop, selling and repairing only guitars. At that time they sold mostly used and vintage guitars. In May of 1994, Wade bought the building they am currently in at 3490 N. Oakland Avenue, on Milwaukee’s East Side, just blocks from the shores of Lake Michigan. This building has given them the room to grow and expand their selection, but stay small enough to be personal. They still carry a lot of used and vintage gear, but are also proud dealers of C.F. Martin, Rickenbacker, Alvarez, National, Regal, and now Eastwood Guitars. They also carry lots of parts, accessories, and effects pedals.

Wade's Guitar Shop (Milwaukee, WI)

In the shop are Wade, Alex Ballard, and Dan Hinz, and they all share in the responsibilities of sales, repairs, and ordering. They are all guitar geeks, so you can be sure that they are into what they do. They will soon be online @ wadesguitarshop.com

-Owner, Wade’s Guitar Shop

Contact: Wade Starck

Wade’s Guitar Shop
3490 N Oakland Ave
Milwaukee, WI 53211
(414) 961-0848

Cross Street: Near intersection of E Providence Ave and N Oakland Ave

Wade's Guitar Shop (Milwaukee, WI)

Dealer Profile: Wade’s Guitar Shop (Milwaukee, WI) from MyRareGuitars.com

MyRareGuitars Logo Contest (2006)

Mike Robinson — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 13:00:58 +0000

We are designing a new website and are in need of a fresh, new LOGO. Out with the old:

Old MyRareGuitars.com Logo

…and in with the new! What will it be? Go ahead, design a new LOGO, you might win a guitar! Your logo will find its way on to all our webpages, advertising and thousands of T-shirts all over the world!

Send an email with “LOGO CONTEST” in the subject line along with your LOGO.

It can be either: myrareguitars.com or My Rare Guitars or… you decide!

Entries must be received before May 20, 2006. Please, MAX only 3 entries per person. We will update this page with samples of recent submissions. (We will NOT post all entries as we get HUNDREDS, so please do not EMAIL us wondering why your LOGO is not posted). We have a panel of judges that will determine the winner. Winners will be notified by email on or about May 27, 2006. They will have 48 hours to respond at which time they may be disqualified and another winner selected. Winners agree to have their name and city published. The winner will receive a new EASTWOOD Sidejack DELUXE Guitar. We reserve the right to exchange prizes with alternate of equal or greater value.

Here are a few of the entries so far:

MyRareGuitars Logo Contest Entry

MyRareGuitars Logo Contest (2006) from MyRareGuitars.com

Bands On Tour with Eastwood Guitars

Mike Robinson — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 13:00:00 +0000

The Gathering (from Holland)

Holland’s The Gathering are in the studio working on their new album this month and sporting a rack full of new Eastwood Guitars. Also, fellow Torontonians Stars, Broken Social Scene and Metric are wrapping up their tours this month featuring their new Eastwood Airline Guitars, as is Maximo Park with Eastwood Airline and Ichiban guitars. Get out there and support live music!

Bands On Tour with Eastwood Guitars from MyRareGuitars.com

Eastwood Hi-Flyer Johnny Ramone Guitar

Mike Robinson — Sun, 01 May 2005 13:00:02 +0000

Eastwood Johnny Ramone Hi-Flyer Guitar

The Eastwood Hi-Flyer Johnny Ramone version is a beautiful reproduction of the Univox Hi-Flyer from the early 1970’s, but with a stop tail. The carved Basswood body is mounted to a set maple neck for an incredibly solid design that can take as much abuse as you can throw at it. Two powerful P90 pickups kick out an incredible bite for the buck. Available in Black, White and White left-hand.

Eastwood Hi-Flyer Johnny Ramone Guitar from MyRareGuitars.com

Ovation Ultra GP Tribute Guitar Is Here!

Mike Robinson — Sun, 01 May 2005 13:00:01 +0000

Back in 1984 Ovation put out a high-end guitar to compete with Gibson’s Les Paul. The Ultra GP Series. At the time, it was priced at about $400, the same price as a Les Paul. Guess what, they didn’t sell. Not because of the design – it was an incredible guitar – but tough to complete with Gibson head to head with a guitar from a company that is famous for acoustics. Consequently, only 400-500 were made. Recently the GP has become a sought-after vintage and prices have soared over $2,000 each. Last year I got tired of trying to find an original and decided it was time for Eastwood to get the re-issue machine cranked up again. Last week we finally received the prototype. OH-MY-GOD!!!! This baby is an absolute treat to play. I own a few vintage Les Paul guitars, and now I have a new favorite player, the ULTRA-GP. This might be the most well-balanced and comfortably guitars I have ever played! Limited Edition Release. We are building a very small run in Cheryburst or Black.

Eastwood Ultra GP Electric Guitar

Ovation Ultra GP Tribute Guitar Is Here! from MyRareGuitars.com

Earache My Eastwood: Meeting Tommy Chong

Guest Post — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 13:00:38 +0000

After his 9 month bid in the clink for selling bongs, Tommy Chong was released from prison and began his comedy tour. When I heard that he would be performing in my home town (London, Ontario) on Jan 28th, 2005, I was like “No way man! I can not miss out on the chance to see Tommy Chong do stand up at Yuk Yuk’s!” Luckily I was able to get tickets for this event; for he was scheduled to do 4 shows in 2 days and all were sold out.

Tommy Chong holding my Eastwood Phantom Guitar

Now Tommy Chong had other hits besides the ones with a bong, a joint. He was also in a band called Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers. While performing in a small club in Vancouver, Diana Ross discovered the band’s unique talent and brought them to the attention of Berry Gordy – who signed them to Motown. (Another fun fact: Jimi Hendrix, working as an R&B sideman, joined the group in December-1962 until he met up with Little Richard and left.)

Tommy Chong on stage at Yuk Yuk's in London, Ontario (Jan. 2005)

The group’s debut “Does Your Mama Know About Me” written in ’68 by Tommy Chong and Tom Baird, provided them with a surprise top-40 hit that managed to stay on the charts for ten weeks! Only later in ’69 for Chong to disband and team up with Cheech . A far cry from the stuff we all know Chong for playing; Beaners, Earache My Eye, and Up In Smoke – which he performed at his show.

Me with Tommy Chong

His passion for playing the guitar is what brought my Eastwood Phantom along with me. After the show, I had a chance to meet him. At a lose for words, I remember muttering to him: “Tommy Chong,I love you man!”

We both laughed. Then I asked him if he could sign my guitar with an inspirational message. As I took my guitar out if it’s box, I can hear the ooh’s & ahh’s, and the comments of it being a wicked guitar from the crowd & Tommy! His face lit up, to be given such a thing to autograph. It was the highlight of my life!

Tommy Chong signing my Eastwood Phantom Guitar

So I packed my Eastwood back in its box without looking at the graph and waited until I got home. I wanted it to be a surprise. Now the thing is – when you get something autographed, you are supposed to hide it in a vault and never touch it, or look at it again (so they say). However, it’s not that easy when it’s an Eastwood, and my only guitar. That’s like telling a kid he can’t have candy!

In result, the autograph is smudged and not getting any better, – so time to get a new one -and quick! I must salvage what is left as I leave you with some wise words left to me by Chong on my guitar:

Tommy Chong's autograph on my Eastwood Phantom Guitar

Post by: Ziggy Majewski

Earache My Eastwood: Meeting Tommy Chong from MyRareGuitars.com