Return of the Rapier 33

guitars4you

A rave from the grave 

impmann

One question: why?

guitars4you

JHS, in a collaboration with legendary UK guitar builder and designer Alan Entwistle, launch the new generation Rapier 33.  With a career legacy like Alan Entwistle, a genius guitar designer responsible for a host of successful guitar lines and accessories, who better to redesign the Rapier 33?  Guitar players of a certain age group will recall, back in the mid 60’s, noses pressed up against the guitar shop window, staring at the totally unaffordable solid bodied American guitar in red. It was always the red one that got the most attention.  There were indeed, less than a handful of influential British brands which could be classed as affordable alternatives.  These included the Rapier 33, the double cutaway solid bodied electric, instantly recognisable with its forward slanted middle pickup. A guitar that played a major role in the industry of British guitars, serving countless up and coming 60’s British Beat groups and helped launch the careers of many guitarists in the 60's and 70's.   Whilst Entwistle has successfully retained all the glorious charms and visual characteristics of the original Rapier 33, significant and meticulous attention has been made within hardware upgrades, construction and playability.   Selected specifically for its natural sonic characteristics, Okoume, from Central Africa, is the chosen tonewood for the body, whilst for speed, comfort and accuracy, the 4-bolt, soft ‘C’ profiled neck with fully adjustable truss rod, is now crafted from hard rock Canadian maple, with a 12in radius rosewood fingerboard, fitted with 23 medium jumbo frets (including zero fret).   For accurate intonation, tuning stability and perfect return to pitch from the original vibrato design, the new generation Rapier 33 now features a smooth, friction-free, precision cut 43mm GraphTech Nubone nut, Wilkinson E-Z-Lok machine heads and high spec’d roller bridge.   Rapier fans and collectors alike, will be aware that the two slide switches lower down on the scratchplate, Bass Cut and Pickup selector, were actually the same ones used on Pifco hairdryers from that era, these, like the all important pickups, internal wiring and controls, have all experienced the Entwistle magic touch.

“The new generation Rapier 33 will now include a trio of Entwistle EWR64 mini-humbucker pickups, with two blades”, says Entwistle, “Unlike the early models which had five, one of which was upside down. The intention was to boost the treble, it was a unique idea, but it actually made the top 3 strings out of phase and also resulted in loss of volume.   Combining the Bass Cut switch with the clarity, low noise operation, exceptional tonal response and balance output of the mini-humbuckers, creates that immediately recognisable 60’s jangle and, with the original Rhythm/Solo toggle switch, now rewired as a 3 way pickup selector accessing neck, neck/bridge, and bridge units, along with the first slide switch introducing the middle unit, the new generation Rapier 33, with 7 pickup permutations is an extremely versatile guitar.”  “Both Volume and Tone controls are wired with 500k pots, linear and log respectively,” says Alan “And, with jazz and blues players in mind, the Tone control includes a 0.015 mfd cap which retains clarity when wound back, whilst also delivering that classic, rich response when played with overdrive or distortion.”    Available in Fiesta Red, Daphne Blue, Arctic White and 3 Tone Sunburst, with 3-ply scratchplate and new Rapier headstock logo, the new generation Rapier 33 offers exceptional playability and performance, and will evoke nostalgic memories for old-school players and collectors, whilst being the professional choice for Britains new young talent.

impmann

I ask again: why?

Offset

Jeez.  I remember hankering after the 4-pickup model from pictures in a catalog in the early 1970s - was it Boosey & Hawkes?  

guitars4you

look to be around £429

Stuckfast

impmann said:

I ask again: why?

Maybe they wanted to create a reissue of something where no-one, however deluded, could possibly say that it was worse than the original. 

Teflon

impmann said:

One question: why?

Why not?  It's always nice to see another alternative to the usual run of Fenders; Gibsons, etc, particularly with a design that can evoke so many memories for a lot of folk. As the saying goes, "you can't have too many guitars" 

rossi

Looks fun .I cant remember wanting one with my nose pressed to the window in the earlyish 60's .Even Burns were /are clunky .I always wondered if any of them had actually looked at a strat for more than two seconds or even ever actually seen one .

impmann

Stuckfast said:

impmann said:

I ask again: why?

Maybe they wanted to create a reissue of something where no-one, however deluded, could possibly say that it was worse than the original. 

Yup. I'll give you that.

Genuinely it was an awful thing that nobody really wanted but was all they could afford. It was like someone designed it after having a faxed copy of a Fender picture described to them over a bad phone line. And they sounded awful.

Nostalgia-tinted glasses for older guitarists should be provided with each purchase.

Philly_Q

impmann said:

Stuckfast said:

impmann said:

I ask again: why?

Maybe they wanted to create a reissue of something where no-one, however deluded, could possibly say that it was worse than the original. 

Yup. I'll give you that.

Genuinely it was an awful thing that nobody really wanted but was all they could afford. It was like someone designed it after having a faxed copy of a Fender picture described to them over a bad phone line. And they sounded awful.

Nostalgia-tinted glasses for older guitarists should be provided with each purchase.

I'd agree with your original question.  Why?  And why now?

I'm 57 and the Watkins Rapier was before my time.  Well before my time.  Not quite my father's generation, but it was the guitar that people 15 or 20 years older than me started out on, if they were lucky (I say lucky, but I can't recall anyone saying they were any good).

The target market for these must be 70+ now... how many years' enjoyment are they going to get out of these guitars before (no offence to anyone in that age bracket) they become something their kids have to sell for next-to-nothing or dump in a skip?

Bigsby

Philly_Q said:

I'd agree with your original question.  Why?  And why now?

I'm 57 and the Watkins Rapier was before my time.  Well before my time.  Not quite my father's generation, but it was the guitar that people 15 or 20 years older than me started out on, if they were lucky (I say lucky, but I can't recall anyone saying they were any good).

The target market for these must be 70+ now... how many years' enjoyment are they going to get out of these guitars before (no offence to anyone in that age bracket) they become something their kids have to sell for next-to-nothing or dump in a skip?

Not quite, more like people 5+ years older than you; these were listed in the Bell catalogue I bought my first guitar from, c.1974:



Though I'll admit I never lusted after/desired/wanted one. Not even for a moment. A Columbus Strat would've appealed much more, and been about £20 cheaper, though I couldn't say (then or now) which was likely to be a better instrument.
(For reference, a Fender Strat was c.£300 at the time, so a very different market).

Philly_Q

@Bigsby point taken, but from my (very limited) knowledge 1974 would have been very much the tail end of the Watkins (or Wilson) era?
  
And by the time I started taking an interest in 1979/80 they seemed extraordinarily dated (as did the Bell catalogue itself!).  By then it was all Columbus and Hondo guitars which at least looked like Strats and Les Pauls.

Stuckfast

Interesting that they've revived the model but don't seem to have acquired either the Watkins or Wilson brand names.

impmann

Point being... you only bought one of these monstrosities because you couldn't buy a Strat. And when you did buy one they were made of disappointment.

When I first taking an interest in guitars you'd see these in secondhand shops, junk shops and the like - they were in the same category as the Audition Top 20 things. They were shite too.

I'm all for having something in the market that genuinely offers something different to the obligatory Strat etc - but the Watkins guitars were utter crap. And I say that as a big fan of Charlie Watkins and his amps... 

What next... reissues of the Audition Top Twenty, complete with a ply body and authentic scale length issues...?

Offset

I'd add that lusting after one through my 14-15 year old eyes has most definitely not translated down the years into lusting after one now.  They look shite and I suspect they sound and play shite too.  I really can't fathom the thinking behind this re-launch.  Who the hell are they trying to appeal to?  Young guitarists - nah, because they look uber-naff compared to the competition at this price.  Old fuggahs like me who remember them first time around?  Definitely not.  So to whom are they supposed to appeal?  I suspect the answer is 'no-one' (with the possible exception of Jack White).

Funkfingers

impmann said:

One question: why?

impmann said:

I ask again: why?

One answer: The Harry Seven phenomenon.

impmann

Funkfingers said:

impmann said:

One question: why?

impmann said:

I ask again: why?

One answer: The Harry Seven phenomenon.

There's only one of him... and I'm not convinced he'd spend £400+ on buying a new one.... :-)

roberty

Indie ppl will love this

Roland

Philly_Q said:

impmann said:

Stuckfast said:

impmann said:

I ask again: why?

Maybe they wanted to create a reissue of something where no-one, however deluded, could possibly say that it was worse than the original. 

Yup. I'll give you that.

Nostalgia-tinted glasses for older guitarists should be provided with each purchase.

The target market for these must be 70+ now... how many years' enjoyment are they going to get out of these guitars before (no offence to anyone in that age bracket) they become something their kids have to sell for next-to-nothing or dump in a skip?

A school friend of mine had a second hand Rapier which I borrowed for a while. My guess is that there will be players in the 60+ age band who will have had a Rapier pass through their hands and, at £429, will think “why not?”

JezWynd

I'm sure these modern ones will play better - they're intonatable (is that a word?) for a start and the electronics are likely a step up from the originals. I remember them in the Bells Catalogue (in B & W iirc) but I never lusted after one.

players in the 60+ age band who will have had a Rapier pass through their hands and, at £429, will think “I better save that for my gas bill"