Anyone know what this is?

robgilmo

Found it for sale locally.

Sarge

Looks like a Hondo 

KKJale

Inlay says Kay to me. 

sweepy

Looks like a Kay as well

Funkfingers

Tap around the arched top. This will probably reveal where the top ply’s connected to the back ply and, hence, where the hollows are.

Could make a fun project, sorting out all of its deficiencies. Could make a garden ornament for HarrySeven.
.

english_bob

70s-80s MIJ of some brand or other, but not one of the better ones.

I'd be quite surprised if it didn't have a bolt on neck.

ICBM

Japanese, 1970s, possibly made by Matsumoku.

It will have a bolt-on neck and an arched plywood top. You can just see the gap on the treble side of the neck. The original pickups are single coils inside the humbucker casings, but I think those have been changed - the polepieces don’t quite line up with the holes in the covers, at least in the bridge pickup.

They’re generally a bit rough but can be made into usable guitars with some (usually quite a lot of) work, and have a cool trashy character to them - although it will never be a proper Les Paul. The worst problem is that some of them have poor fretting, but not all - check that first, it’s the one problem that’s hard to fix economically.

They can sell for up to £250-£300 fully fixed, but in unknown condition I would try to pay no more than £100.

I know some people will laugh at the sale price but I know that for a fact, from experience! The problem is that sellers often ask that sort of price for ones that still need the work doing.

robgilmo

But the work would cost more than its worth, if it needed any?

ICBM

robgilmo said:

But the work would cost more than its worth, if it needed any?

That's exactly why you shouldn't pay too much unless you know it's already been done, or is one of the rare ones that aren't too bad to begin with. They usually need totally stripping down and rebuilding - I would estimate £100-£200 depending on whether the frets need tidying up.

richardhomer

A friend had one which was branded ‘Columbus’ but there were multiple brand names used. I wouldn’t pay much for one - though as as @ICBM says - they can bring ‘silly’ figures these days.

prlgmnr

It looks like the one from that "how to clean guitar" video where a guy's washing it with a bucket of soap and water.

Funkfingers

robgilmo said:

the work would cost more than its worth

The economics only make sense if you already have a parts drawer full of leftover hardware from other Gibson copy guitars. Even then, the keen project enthusiast would still be saddled with the ply body. It has potential as a slide guitar.

ICBM said:

The original pickups are single coils inside the humbucker casings, but I think those have been changed - the polepieces don’t quite line up with the holes in the covers, at least in the bridge pickup.

I reckon that the neck/Rhythm position pickup is original. Its narrow polepiece spacing looks familiar.

I agree that the bridge/Treble position pickup (or, at least, the cover) is less likely to be original.

ICBM said:

trashy

An excellent one word summary.

ICBM

Funkfingers said:

I reckon that the neck/Rhythm position pickup is original. Its narrow polepiece spacing looks familiar. 

I agree that the bridge/Treble position pickup (or, at least, the cover) is less likely to be original.

I think the cover is the original, it's still got the distinctive 'soft' outline and dishing around the polepiece holes. But the pickup inside has slightly closer-spaced polepieces, if you look at the low E one. The neck pickup could be original.

For what it's worth I've rebuilt quite a lot of these by halving the number of them . You can very easily fit two of the original coils inside one casing and make a proper humbucker out of them .

So it's just possible that that's been done to this one as well - both of the original coils now being in the neck pickup.

guitars4you

Eros - Satellite - Kay - Columbus are just 4 of the names you can find on what are effectively the same guitar - Trying to recall, did Rose Morris put their own name on the guitar as well, or a 'branded' name

ICBM

guitars4you said:

Eros - Satellite - Kay - Columbus are just 4 of the names you can find on what are effectively the same guitar - Trying to recall, did Rose Morris put their own name on the guitar as well, or a 'branded' name

Not *just* Rose-Morris, I don't think - but Avon had the subtitle 'by Rose-Morris' on a raised plastic badge.

p90fool

Don't dismiss it if it's playable though. Judged as a Les Paul copy they're pretty crap, but they can still sound great, hollow plywood body, crappy microphonic pickups and all.

This is a similar thing, and one of my favourite ever videos...

Funkfingers

Rose-Morris applied the name "Avon" - to name but one.

Within the last eighteen months, I sourced a guitar of similar excellence on behalf of HarrySeven. It carried the brand name Country. The previous owner bought it in France.

guitars4you

ICBM said:

guitars4you said:

Eros - Satellite - Kay - Columbus are just 4 of the names you can find on what are effectively the same guitar - Trying to recall, did Rose Morris put their own name on the guitar as well, or a 'branded' name

Not *just* Rose-Morris, I don't think - but Avon had the subtitle 'by Rose-Morris' on a raised plastic badge.

That's it - Avon - I was trying to think what they were called - Thanks

Philly_Q

ICBM said:

guitars4you said:

Eros - Satellite - Kay - Columbus are just 4 of the names you can find on what are effectively the same guitar - Trying to recall, did Rose Morris put their own name on the guitar as well, or a 'branded' name

Not *just* Rose-Morris, I don't think - but Avon had the subtitle 'by Rose-Morris' on a raised plastic badge.

I was looking at it and thinking all those names, they were all available from the Littlewoods and Freemans mail-order catalogues around the time I got interested in guitars, 1979-80.... I've always wondered if they were all made at the same factory (or factories), they're so similar.

I ended up with an "Arbiter" LP copy - no actual name on the headstock - which was the same thing, arched plywood top and weird single-coil pickups.  The Hondos of the time had DiMarzio humbuckers (not sure if they were actually proper USA ones). 

I also remember seeing slightly older, secondhand LP copies at that time with Jedson and Vox brand names.  More of the same?

ICBM

Philly_Q said:

The Hondos of the time had DiMarzio humbuckers (not sure if they were actually proper USA ones).

Only some, and they were ‘under license’ not USA-made. I had a Hondo with the single-coil tin cans as well.

Philly_Q

ICBM said:

Philly_Q said:

The Hondos of the time had DiMarzio humbuckers (not sure if they were actually proper USA ones).

Only some, and they were ‘under license’ not USA-made. I had a Hondo with the single-coil tin cans as well.

You're right, of course, they didn't all have them.  But I still have a mental image of those guitars with double-creme, Super Distortion lookalike pickups with DiMarzio stickers.  I didn't really know what DiMarzio was but it still seemed impressive.