Trussart guitars

Trussart guitars; all steel hollow body

In my last post I wrote about "metal top" guitar builder Zemaitis, and the Greco Zemaitis. When surfing the internet for metal top guitars, I stumbled upon a full metal guitar, built by James Trussart. So there's more than just a metal top. Like the Zemaitis, James Trussart puts a lot of craftmanship in the unique building process and the different finishes of his guitars; they are stunning! 

trussart steelcaster ganja

James Trussart, Rust-O-Matic

James Trussart is a Los Angeles USA based guitar builder. In the USA, Trussart's name is well established, but in Europe, Trussart guitars are relatively unknown. Trussart guitars almost have a cult status in the USA, and lot's of famous guitar players / bands (for example: Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, Aerosmith, ZZ-Top, The Black Growes) have been pictured with one of Trussart's guitars. James Trussart primary works with metal as the base material for the hollow bodies and the headstocks of his guitars. To make his guitars look and feel like a vintage instrument, the metal is for a period of time exposed to the elements and then treated to stop the "rusty" process. As shown on the pictures, the metal bodies, as well as the pickguard or headstock are imprinted or engraved. The Trussart bodies finally are sanded and clear satin coated.
The only wood used on a full metal body Trussart guitar can be found in the neck / fretboard, where the common woods like Maple, Rosewood, and Ebony are used, and in the wooden block mounted under the bridge of a Trussart guitar.

trussart steeldeville barbwire

The full metal body Trussart guitar models

In contrast to the progressive, unique building technique and the material used, The Trussart guitar models are far from unique; as far as I can see, all full metal body Trussart models can be reduced to Les Paul and Telecaster copies. The Les Paul shaped Trussart goes under the name Steeldeville, and the Telecaster shaped Trussart carries the name Steelcaster. Trussart also offers the Steelcaster  in a DeLuxe version with one F-hole in the body. The attraction of the James Trussart guitar can really be found in the techniques and materials used, and in the perfection of the finish and sound, rather than in the shape of the instrument!

trussart steelcaster roses

The metal top Trussart guitar models

Apart from the full metal bodied Trussarts, James Trussart also builds metal top guitars. Metal top guitars are less rare than full metal body guitars. The Trussart Steeltop, Les Paul shaped, can well be compared with an original Zemaitis (also in price...). The other Trussarts steel tops, the Steelmaster and Steeltelemaster, and the Steelx have, like the Trussart Steeltop, a chambered wood body, and a recessed steel headcap. 

trussart steeldeville china

Hardware on the Trussart guitars

At present, Trussart guitars are equiped with Arcane Inc. pickups and single coils. Arcane Inc. was founded in 1990 by Rob Timmons and is located in California USA. All Arcane pickups are hand wound, and are considered one of the best in the industry. Arcane (Rob Timmons) is also a consultant for guitar companies who are searching for better tone and the best pickups for their guitar. I'm not sure in what year the relation between them was established; I read a review about a Trussart guitar from 1995, and they were talking about Seymour Duncans. Anyway, all reviews I read about James Trussart guitar, state that the Trussart guitar sounds incredible.
As for the rest of the hardware, Trussart plays safe: Tune-O-Matic bridges, optional Bigsby Tremolos, Kluson Tuners, nothing weird, all gear used by premium guitar builders!

James Trussart Guitars

Arcane Inc. Pickups

Greco Zemaitis

Greco Zemaitis, metal top

"Normally", a guitar is made of wood. Solid wood, laminated wood, all kinds of wood. Guitars made of other materials are "rare", eccentric, special, and in most cases, technical masterpieces and a feast for the eye. One of these other materials is metal, mostly used for the top of the guitar, and often engraved as part of the "theme" of the guitar. Some artists specialize in engraving these custom made metal tops, like for example Phil Cooper from engravedguitars.com. Other artists / luthiers take the whole picture; they actually build the guitar and provide it with a unique metal top. Guitar builder Tony Zemaitis was one of them.

greco zemaitis black top

Zemaitis guitars, some history

Zemaitis guitars was founded by Tony Zemaitis, born in 1935 in London England. In his younger years Zemaitis was trained in cabinet making, and actually build for some years high quality furniture. As Zemaitis started to play guitar, he didn't have the funds to buy a decent guitar. Zemaitis borrowed a guitar, and using his skills, made a copy of the guitar. After this one he build more guitars, improving the guitars and his skills.
This eventually lead to the building of, in that time, "rare" 12 string guitars in the 1960's. Zemaitis name was established, and in 1965 Zemaitis became full time guitar builder. Zemaitis made guitars until he retired in 2000.
Zemaitis became famous with his engraved metal top guitars and his pearl inlayed top guitars. Zemaitis guitars were played, and collected by some famous guitarists like Ronnie Wood, George Harrison, Eric Clapton and Peter Frampton. Although Zemaitis was a master in making the guitar "look good", he never did any concessions to the purpose of the guitar: his guitars should play and sound great. Tony Zemaitis passed away in 2002.
Fortunately, Zemaitis legacy lives on in Zemaitis International, founded with the support of his wife and son, and Zemaitis friend and co-worker and engraver Danny O'Brien.
Lot's of information about Zemaitis and his guitars can be found on the Zemaitis guitar owners club website.

greco zemaitis black head

Greco guitars. some history

Greco Guitars is one of the famous Japanese guitar builders. Founded in Japan in the early 1960's, Greco at first built original, "non copies" guitars in the FijugenGakki plant. With the increasing popularity of, mostly, American guitars and models in the 1970's, Greco started to make clones of the originals: Fender's, Gibson's, Rickenbacker's, Ibanez's, and yes, also Zemaiti's. Around 1974, the quality of these copies made by Greco was excellent. Due to the sublime quality of the Greco guitars made in the late 1970's and 1980's, some Greco guitars are very vintage and collectible. Japanese guitar builders like Greco and Tokai have a good name when it comes to quality.
Greco guitars are still in production today; the current series is the Greco Zemaitis, licensed by Zemaitis International.

greco zemaitis top detail

Greco licensed by Zemaitis

Zemaitis International, Tony Zemaitis's legacy, currently runs 4 series: the Custom, Acoustic, Bass, and GZ (Greco Zemaitis) series. The original Zemaitis metal and pearl tops are highly collectible, as they were not produced in large amounts. No wonder the Zemaitis guitar owners club warns for fake, counterfeit guitars.
The Greco Zemaitis doesn't come cheap, but compared to an original metal or pearl top Zemaitis, for reasonable prices, considering the work and craftmanship which has been put into the guitar. I especially like the metal tops, as pictured in this post, but also the pearl inlayed tops are true masterpieces.
Greco has a long history in building quality guitars, and in my opinion, Zemaitis International did well in choosing Greco as a partner for their "budget" series. The popularity of Zemaitis in Japan even resulted in the building of the Zemaitis Museum, where lot's of Zemaitis guitars, two of Tony Zemaitis's cars, and personal items are on show. All part of guitar history!

greco zemaitis red head

greco zemaitis red back

Danelectro Dano

Danelectro Dano pro 1959 reissue

Danelectro (Dano), built some extraordinary guitars. All these Danelectro Dano guitars have been put in the market at affordable, budget prices. That doesn't mean Danelectro Dano guitars are cheap, crappy guitars; the Dano's are well built, and often reviewed "well worth the money". I was surprised to see that, despite the fact Danelectro Dano isn't a "grand" guitar brand, the Danelectro's have a large number of fans.
It's obvious, Danelectro surprised the world with some great guitars, each with unique looks, some with humbuckers, but almost all with the eyecatching lipstick pickups. One of my favourite Danelectra Dano models is the Dano Pro 1959.

danelectro dano

Danelectro, Dano, some history 

Danelectro was founded in 1947 by Nathan Daniel, who started in 1934 building amplifiers for Epiphone, which lasted till 1946. At that time, Epiphone was pushing Nathan Daniel to only build amplifiers for them. To stay independent, he started Danelectro. Danelectro, continued building amplifiers, and in 1954 Dano also started building guitars. In the years after, Danelectro build guitars under their own name, but they also produced guitars on request for sellers like Sears, who sold the Danelectro Dano guitar under the Silvertone brand.

In 1960 Danelectro was sold to MCA (Music Corporation of America), and in 1969 the Dano plant was closed as a result of mismanagement.
For some period in the late 90's till 2001, Evets Corporation sold copies of the early Danelectro Dano and silvertone guitars. From 2006, the Evets Corporation focuses on building effect pedals for guitars, but, in limited numbers, they market some guitar models, based on the old Danelectro "vintage" models.
The 2007 Danelectro Dano Pro 1959 reissue is one of them.

danelectro dano

The original Danelectro Dano Pro 1959

The Danelectro Dano 1959 Pro was introduced in 1959, and has been produced until 1963. The original Dano 1959 Pro is a relative small guitar, 3/4 scale, with only 17 frets, and due to the shape of the body, the higher frets are hard to reach. The shape of the guitar and the pickguard are fairly unique, it's difficult to describe, but the pictures (from the 2007 Danelectro Dano Pro reissue) tell it all. Like most unusual guitars, you either love them or hate them. In the case of the Danelectro Dano 1559 Pro, I think it's an icon of it's time.

In 1959, the Danelectro Dano Pro came with just a single lipstick pickup. This unique lipstick pickup is a single coil pickup, with all electronics packed in a chrome metal tube. Originally, this tube came from the cosmetics, lipstick industry. Danelectro became famous with it. The lipstick tube fits the Danelectro Dano 1959, and all Danelectro Dano's from that period very well, and makes the Danelectro Dano's easy recognizable. The lipstick pickups have a kind of "twang" in the sound, and are very suitable for creating the "surf" and rockabilly" sound.

danelectro dano 

One other part of the Danelectro Dano 1959 Pro which makes the guitar easy recognizable is the "coke bottle headstock". This type of headstock was also used on other Danelectro Dano's. As much as I dislike the headstock from another "vintage" guitar, the (Danelectro) Silvertone 1448, amp in a case, pictured in my previous post, I sure like the coke bottle headstock on the Danelectro Dano 1959 Pro.

danelectro dano 

The 2007 Danelectro Dano Pro 1959 reissue

In 2007 the Danelectro Dano Pro 1959 reissue was presented. The Dano reissue shares the same body shape as the original Danelectro Dano Pro, but some major improvements have been made to "modernize" the guitar. The Danelectro Dano reissue has a full scale, 19 frets neck, instead of the 3/4 scale of the original. 

Furthermore the Danelectro Dano reissue is equipped with 2 lipstick pickups, for more difference in tones, and last but not least, the old fixed bridge of the original Danelectro Dano1959 Pro has been replaced by a modern fully adjustable bridge on the Dano 1959 reissue. The Danelectro Dano 1959 Pro reissue has the vintage looks of the original, but has grown to a modern mature guitar.

danelectro dano 

Silvertone 1448, amp in case

Silvertone 1448, amp in case, by Danelectro

silvertone 1448 guitar and amp in case

Sometimes I wonder why some original ideas have not been followed by others. One example is the concept of the changable pickups of the Ampeg Dan Armstrong in my previous post; in my opinion a brilliant idea, but it's not on a large scale embraced by other guitar builders, probably to expensive. Another example is the "amp in the guitar case", in this "case", the Silvertone 1448 amp in a case". One guitar, one amp, all in one case, brilliant!

The Silvertone 1448 is not the only guitar which came with the amp in the guitar case, for example Airline also produced guitars with the amp in the case in the same period, but the Silvertone models like the 1448, pictured in this article, are most known.

Sears and the Silvertone 1448 amp in case

Like the other Silvertone guitars, the Silvertone 1448 amp in case was sold by Sears (Sears-Roebuck, a chain of department stores) in the USA. Silvertone was, since the 1930's, the Sears house brand for electronics, and the Silvertone name became famous with the Silvertone radio and the Silvertone (1448) guitar. The Silvertone guitars were popular among beginners and young guitarists as they were, compared to major brands, "low cost" guitars. Especially the short scaled 3/4 sized Silvertone 1448 amp in case with 18 frets, model sold in 1962, which came with an instructional vinyl record, was young beginners material. Everything you need to start playing guitar, in one package.

In the 40's and 50's, Silvertone guitars were played by blues guitarists like Muddy Waters and Arthur Crudup. In the Silvertone 1448 era, Chet Atkins, Bob Dylan and James Hetfield were among the guitar players who's first guitar was a Silverstone.
On stage, the Silverstone was played by Mick Jagger (Rolling Stones), Melissa Ethridge and Pete Townsend (The Who), who smashed the Silvertone on stage.

silvertone 1448 body and neck

silvertone 1448 body with lipstick pickup

Silvertone 1448 and 1449 amp in case by Danelectro

The Silvertone 1448 and 1449 amp in case, sold by Sears, were produced by guitar and amp builder Danelectro. In 1954 Danelectro started building solid body guitars under the Silvertone name for Sears. They also build the same guitars under other names for other sellers. The Silvertone 1448 amp in case, pictured in this article is the Silvertone / Danelectro 1962 model.

The Silvertone / Danelectro 1448 only has one "lipstick" pickup, and the amp in the case of the Silverstone 1448 is a 3 watt amp with 3 tubes, 5 inch speaker and a gain control.

The more "mature" Silvertone / Danelectro 1449 - 1963 model has 21 frets and 2 lipstick pickups. Also the amp in the case of the 1449 is more mature: 5 watt, 3 tubes, 8 inch speaker, and more controls.

The concept of the Silvertone / Danelectro 1448 / 1449 amp in case in combination with the age of the guitar makes it very vintage and collectable! I really like the combination of the tube amp in the guitar case and the vintage body with the sleek lipstick pickup, but I can't remember ever having seen a guitar headstock as ugly as the one from the Silvertone 1448 amp in case!

silvertone 1448 headstock

silvertone 1448 headstock tuners

Ampeg, Dan Armstrong - plexiglass guitar

Ampeg, Dan Armstrong  - Plexiglass, "See through" guitar 

In 1969 Ampeg, known for its amps for guitars and bass guitars, together with guitar builder Dan Armstrong, presented their plexiglass guitar at the NAMM show in Chicago. It was one of the highlights of the NAMM show that year, as it was the first plexiglass guitar ever. Soon after, the Ampeg Dan Armstrong (ADA) was widely known as the "see through" guitar. The guitar was produced from 1969 - 1971, and several famous rock guitarists played the Ampeg Dan Armstrong, boosting its popularity. Between 1998 and 2001, the ADA, again for a short time, was produced in Japan. More than 40 years after the introduction of the original, the "see through" guitar still looks revolutionary. Since 2006, the plexiglass Ampeg Dan Armstrong is produced again; the same futuristic look, but with some significant changes.

ampeg dan armstrong plexiglass body

The original concept of the Ampeg Dan Armstrong

Dan Armstrong intended to build an electric guitar with excellent sustain, and came up with the idea of using plexiglass for the body of the guitar because of the rigid qualities of the material. Apart from the plexiglass body, the Ampeg Dan Armstrong has more innovative features. One of them is the presence of two strap-buttons on the body, which makes it possible to easily stand the guitar upright, still pretty unique. In my view, the main feature, besides the "see through" body, is the possibility to change the pickups by sliding them in and out the body, and connect them with two plugs. The original ADA gave the choice between 7 single coil pickups, designed by Arstrong and Bill Lawrence! A great idea, and I wonder why other guitar builders didn't "pick up" the concept.
The plexiglass body of the Ampeg Dan Armstrong is somewhat thinner than the average electric guitar body, but still, the guitar is relatively heavy, around 4,5 kg.
One of the main problems of the original design was tuning instability. The way the neck was bolted to the body, "clear off", using large bolts, resulted in less wood in the "tongue " of the neck, which caused the problem.

ampeg dan armstrong plexiglass pickguard

The "new" Ampeg Dan Armstrong, major improvements

To resolve the tuning instability issues, the latest Ampeg Dan Armstrong has a new neck joint, with smaller screws, mounted on the back of the guitar, combined with high quality Grover tuners. With the original ADA equiped with 7 pickups, the new Ampeg Dan Armstrong only has 2 exchangeable pickup, so the original versatility is limited. Like the ADA's produced in Japan between 1998 - 2001, the pickups are designed by Kent Armstrong, Dan's son. Both pickups, one single coil Rock Treble, and one Sustain Treble humbucker, are huge; the room is needed for the large gauge wire, according to Kent Armstrong, used to create better tone.

Last but not least, the neck profile returned to the original profile, instead of the slimmer neck profile of the Japan made ADA's. 

ampeg dan armstrong plexiglass headstock

The Ampeg Dan Armstrong in the "Rock Scene".

Lot's of rockers were, and still are, happy to be seen with a "see through" Ampeg Dan Armstrong. From the original ADA, played in 1969 by Rolling Stones' Keith Richard and Bill Wyman, Leslie West and Paul McCartney, to the latest version, used by the Foo Fighters and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The plexiglass Ampeg Dan Armstrong hasn't lost any of it's attraction.

ampeg dan armstrong plexiglass body back

ampeg dan armstrong plexiglass pickup

Italia Mondial, retro design

Italia Mondial, retro design

In the same "retro design" as, for example the "old" Egmond guitars, Italia Guitars brings a range of retro looking basses and guitars. I never heard of Italia Guitars until I saw some images of different retro designed guitars this year. One of them was the Italia Mondial.

As I never heard of Italia Guitars, I visited their website, and, to my surprise, I didn't find any history, and the "place of birth" of Italia Guitars. Who, and what's behind Italia Guitars?

italia mondial classic with piezo bridge

Italia Guitars, design by Trevor Wilkinson

Well known (hardware) guitar "guru" Trevor Wilkinson is the designer behind Italia Guitars. The guitars are manufactured in South Korea, where Mirr Music Co. LTD is the owner of Italia Guitars. Italia Guitars was founded in 2000, and seems to be a typical marketing product. There is no "heart" in this brand. 

All the models from Italia are named after famous Italian places, like Modena, Maranello, Monza, and Mondial, names of well sounding Italian sportscars, marketing well done!

Trevor Wilkinson, initially known for his guitar hardware (humbuckers) is also the driving power behind Fret-King guitars and Vintage guitars, all designed in the UK, produced in Asia, and equiped with Wilkinson Humbuckers.

italia mondial body

Italia Mondial

Within the Italia Models, the Italia Mondial comes in two flavours, the solid body Italia Mondial Sportster, and the chambered (one f-hole) body Italia Mondial Classic. Both Italia Mondials have Wilkinson humbuckers, and the Italia Mondial Classic also is equiped with a piezo pickup (wooden) bridge, and an extra output for the acoustic pickup.

On Dutch internet forums, guitar players complain about the humbuckers sounding dull on the Italia Mondial; there is no brightness, and also the piezo bridge doesn't get a lot of credits. Perhaps the guitar needs some adjustments to get the best out of it.

One of the other complains is the plastic look and finish of the Italia Mondial. In fact the Mondial Classic has a plastic "Acousti-Glass" top instead of wood. The pickguard on some other Italia models, like the "Les Paul" styled Maranello series also has the plastic look.

Anyway, I kind of like the "plastic retro" look of the Italia Mondial, and the wooden piezo bridge on the Italia Mondial Classic is appealing to me; the concept of the Mondial Classic with one f-hole and an acoustic pickup resembles my Epiphone ES-339 Ultra.

One of the sellers of Italia Mondial guitars describes the Mondial as an affordable all-round guitar with retro looks, suitable for players looking for their first guitar. The Italia Mondial can't be compared with high quality retro looking guitars like, for example, the ones from Hagstrom and Duesenberg, or with even more expensive vintage guitars, but the Italia Mondial is very affordable, and therefore an attractive alternative.

Enjoy the rest of the Italia Mondial pictures!

italia mondial body and neck

italia mondial neck

italia mondial headstock

italia mondial pickguard and knobs

Egmond guitars

Egmond guitars, this years news

egmond guitar

This week I read an interesting article regarding the famous Dutch guitar builder Egmond. This company passed away some time ago, but still has a lot of fans, especially among the older generation guitar players who's first guitar often was an Egmond.

The article wasn't hot from the press, actually Egmond guitars was in the news in february this year, but as the Egmond guitar factory doesn't exist anymore, what news can you expect?

Egmond guitars, some history

In 1940 , former railroad station-chief Uilke Egmond and his three sons Gerard, Dick and Jaap started to build guitars in a small workshop in Best, Holland. This workshop burned down two or three times, but despite of that, production and selling of the Egmond guitars went up, and in 1961 the Egmond guitar factory was established. Beside of the Egmond guitar factory, the family also ran the Musica music store.

Guitar building and selling expanded, and after 1960 more than 200 guitar builders were employed by the Egmond guitar factory, resulting in the build of more than 125.000 Egmond guitars a year. At some point, Egmond guitars was the largest guitar builder in  Europe.

egmond guitar

The popularity of the Egmond guitar started with the introduction of Leo Fender's Stratocaster. The Stratocaster was the dream of every young guitar player but the price made the guitar unreachable. For a fraction of the price Egmond produced guitars, within the reach of young guitar players. The popularity of the Egmond guitar exploded. Egmond built electric guitars, acoustic and semi-hollowbody guitars, and amps.

Egmond not only built guitars under their own  name, but Egmond also produced other labels like Wilson, Miller, Manhattan, Lion, Caladonie, Lido, Frima, Rosetti, Orpheum,  Royal, Royalist, Alpha, Vega and Roderich Paesold; a long list. Most guitars were exported, and especially the Rosetti Lucky 7 was a hit, due to the fact it came in all kind of "hip"colors.

With the worldwide competition of very cheap, well built guitars from the asian countries, Egmond guitars hit rough weather, and it all came to an end in 1976.

Martin guitars bought the Egmond factory in Best, Holland and, for a while, produced the Vega and Alpha brands, copies of the Martin best sellers, which ended in 1983. It's all history now.

egmond guitar

Playing the Egmond guitar, what about the quality?

As mentioned, lot's of young guitar players in the 70's started with playing guitar on an Egmond, as they only could effort a cheap guitar. Among them some big names: Keith Richard, George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Paul McCartney, Brian May, Trini Lopez and Dutch players Andy Tielman and the famous Jan Akkerman.

The quality of the Egmond guitars is questioned. Some more expensive Egmond guitars were well built, but most of them were described "crappy". I read stories about paper sticking to the body as Egmond shipped the guitars with the paint still wet, Egmond guitars pulled crooked in the shop, and some even called the Egmond guitar "among the worst they have ever seen".

Despite of the supposed lousy quality, older guitarists remember their first Egmond guitar, and now the Egmond guitar is considered "vintage".

egmond guitar

This years "news" about Egmond guitars

Early this year news came out that Canadian company Audio One Corporation, musical instruments builders, worked in silence for already four years on the re-introduction of the legendary Egmond guitars. The plan was to build a serie of six of the Egmond top models in a limited edition. A lot of time and money were invested before the project came to an end, with the passing away of engineer Yuri Dmitrievski september last year. The project is in "the fridge", and there the story ends, much to my regret.

More about Egmond guitars

All about Egmond guitars can be found on the website egmondguitars.nl  from Wim Markenhof, who obviously is an expert on the Dutch Egmond guitars. Wim wrote a book about Egmond guitars (also in English) which can be ordered on the website. Among the information in the book is an article about the Paul McCArtney Rosetti Lucky 7 guitar.