Sold: Antoria (Ibanez) rocket roll Flying V £875. Sold:Eccleshall firebird, Sold:Dearnaley Tele

MikeC

Decided I have too many guitars, so having a clear out.

They can be collected from me in East Finchley in North London, or I can drive a little distance (say 45 minutes) to pop it off. Else I will post at extra cost and your risk (I can try and buy insurance, but its not easy, as you know).

OK, back up for sale after a 6 month pause...now changed my mind again about selling this guitar that I love to look at but is a little too heavy (8lb 1 oz) and they are hard to play sitting down.

Antoria Rocket Roll from mid to late 70’s..

It has taken me many many years to find a Rocket Roll for sale in decent condition, but we are not bonding. And I've spent a small fortune getting it fettled. It's an MIJ Antoria Rocket Roll senior /  flying V, the first and very rare version. Same as the Ibanez Rocket Roll, just a different logo - but I've never seen another Antoria one. So it's the set neck one in a Korina look alike wood (I think it is made from Ash or Sen wood). No serial number, so probably made c 1976 ish. Has a stinger (black paint) on the back of the neck that I think was done as standard - looks cool!. 

Bought this from Edgware Music and was told (with no provenance) by John the owner that it was owned by Boz Boorer (ex Adam Ant guitarist). 

Work I have had done to it by the wonderful team at Feline:

- changed the non original yamaha tuners to ratio non locking tuilip buttons that work really well
- changed the nut to a white earvana one
- fitted a faber ABRM bridge (and new faber stud conversions) for better intonation
- refret with Dunlop 6155 and set up

That was over £900 of parts / labour alone!!

Bits taken off are in the case. 

I put double white Wizz pickups on (as per photos), but these have now been sold and the original pickups (unlabelled, probably Maxon) are back on with covers. 

So it's all ready to rock and roll (ok, that is a very bad pun).

Bad points / niggles?

- original flying V case is a bit knackered, bottom hinges broken (probably repairable) - but it will be fine to ship in this;
- one of the photos shows what looks like a partial crack near the neck join, but it looks like the laquer on top isn't disturbed and it isn't moving. Feline looked at it and agreed that it doesn't need fixing - it's not going anywhere;
- its hard to play a flying V sitting down.  

Good points?

- it's a flying V rocket roll! With good upgrades! Try finding another at this price!

Pricing is hard as it took me years to find it, it owes me a lot (Feline work and original purchase price). I may still keep it but need to thin the herd. I've seen the Ibanez ones in worse shape go for £1,500 plus plus. Looking for £900 ppg plus postage. Might consider a px / swap for a very lightweight telecaster with a rosewood board.

First photo is pre upgrades...but shows what the current pickups look like. the rest is post upgrades but includes the Wizz pickups I've now removed and sold. 

https://i.imgur.com/OK7CmAS.jpg
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Next 2 are sold:

Next up is a lovely telecaster, handmade by Dave Dearnaley in Wales.  This one is a 'Taff Delta Custom Bound Relic' in faded Fiesta Red.

The body and neck are hand made by him with a light weight swamp ash body and Brazilian rosewood fingerboard. Lovely old school nitro-cellulose finish, gone a bit pink in colour, lightly relic'd. 

The pickups are hand wound Shed pickups, oil and paper caps, CTS pots, brass saddles, Kluson machine heads.

It's a lovely resonant tele, weighs at about 6lb 7 oz. I don't have a hard case.  

Had it re-fretted and set up nice by Stairway to Kevin. He discovered that the neck was a little twisted so he sorted that as well, and he replaced the nut with another bone one. So should be good to go for a few years!

https://imgur.com/sesKBKt.jpg
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Next one needs to go as it is just too heavy for me as my back is going in my old age...

Hand made Chris Eccleshall Firebird. Chris was a well renowned UK luthier - this was probably made in the late 70's judging from what papers were in the hard case. It's a lovely non reverse firebird, with Kluson deluxe tuners, unbranded P90's. They sound nice! I had a bigsby added, and stuck the firebird sticker on (will just peel off if you don't like it) and changed the pickup selector to white from black.

It's recently been fettled by the brilliant team at Feline. The rosewood fretboard was lacquered, so I had that removed and the fret board levelled, it was re-fretted with Dunlop 6155 wire, an earvana nut was added and a TP6R roller bridge added and it had a set up. Comes with a rather large rectangle case. It's a beautiful thing, but at 4kg (8lb 8oz) is a little too heavy for me. 

https://imgur.com/OKcWXOk.jpg
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https://imgur.com/19LxV6V.jpg

ellwood

That Bird is lovely. GLWS!

Lewisph

I have an Eccleshall Falcon, it's a great guitar so I'm sure the firebird is too! 

MikeC

Dearnaley now sold. Got an offer about 5 seconds after posting the ad!

I suspect the firebird might take a little longer to leave the nest.

MikeC

Bump, set this bird free

surfguy13

Just love the Firebird.  I had a Chris Eccleshall solid body electric mandolin and it was just wonderful.  Although it may be a tad heavy for you, and I can understand that totally, I don't think 8.8lbs is that heavy for a 2-pickup Firebird?  

I doubt the pickups will be anything other than very decent quality if they are the originals. 

Give me the Eccleshall Firebird over a Gibson any day of the week!  GLWTS..... 

MikeC

I agree, its not that heavy for a firebird but after 4 hours of rehearsal it feels it! 

Jackson853

'Dearnaley Telecaster £1,300 (on hold)'

It actually sold didn't it?
Nice guitar and weight.

MikeC

Yes, the dearnaley is sold, heading to the ad updated

Jackson853

Lovely guitar I was secretly hoping it hadn't.

surfguy13

MikeC said:

I agree, its not that heavy for a firebird but after 4 hours of rehearsal it feels it! 

To be honest, I don't think the dead weight is actually the issue with firebirds, it's the location of strap buttons and the shape of the body.  However, a decent wide strap seems to resolve any of those issues.  

Mind you, after 4 hours of rehearsal anything is going to feel heavy! 

MikeC

Gentle bump on the firebird, might be open to px. 

Parker

I remember speaking to Chris in his Dartington workshop about the firebird builds. He couldn’t understand why Gibson did the through body construction to add resonance….and the mount the pickups on the top rather than in the body. Glad he practiced what he preached with the sunken pickups. I’d love this guitar but sadly I can afford to buy and then import to Oz. GLWTS. 

MikeC

Just played this again, its still lovely and still a little too heavy, so open to offers here. 

Panama_Jack666

Can't believe I've missed the Dearnley! They're great! 

MikeC

Gentle bump on the firebird. Will take sensible offers as something on this forum has caught my eye. Because of that, may also list my Antoria (Ibanez) rocket roll flying v which I've had upgraded a lot including wizz pickups.    

MikeC

And Antoria rocket roll / flying V added for you 70's rockers out there...

MikeC

Bump for 2 great guitars. 

MikeC

And firebird price drop to £1100. 

MikeC

Gentle bump for these two wonderful guitars

MikeC

Sorry, Antoria off sale after playing it again.