Bond Guitar(apologies if you've heard this)

DulcetJones · March 2019

I came across one of these at a local pawn shop, never heard of them. Some kind of composite body, works as a normal electric or through a maze of electronics in the body, and look at the picture to see the "frets". They told me they were only produced in 1984-85 and this one is mint and pricey($1600.00 CAN). The neck was really impressive, I'm surprised they never caught on. There is lots of info online, google, youtube etc.... <img src="https://i.imgur.com/vjuagqr.jpg" alt="" title="Image: https://i.imgur.com/vjuagqr.jpg"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/gdiiiaM.jpg" alt="">

HarrySeven · March 2019

Yup, got a few of these.<br><br><span>https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/science-and-technology/bond-electraglide-guitar/</span><br>;

Moominpapa · March 2019

<div>"Do you expect me to talk, Goldfinger?"</div><div>"No Mr. Bond, I expect you to rock out."<br></div>

Sassafras · March 2019

Refrets should present a challenge.<br>I hope the neck's a replaceable bolt-on.

ICBM · March 2019

<blockquote class="Quote"> <div><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank">DulcetJones</a> said:</div> <div><br>works as a normal electric or through a maze of electronics in the body</div> </blockquote> *Only* works through the 'maze of electronics', unless modified. The power supply tends to be unreliable too, in my experience - I've been asked to make several replacement ones.<br><blockquote class="Quote"> <div><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank">DulcetJones</a> said:</div> <div><br>They told me they were only produced in 1984-85 and this one is mint and pricey($1600.00 CAN).</div> </blockquote> About £900. Way too much.<br><br><b></b>A chap I know had a mint one, which he'd had since the 80s. He thought it was worth a lot and was trying to get a grand for it for years and years. He did eventually sell it for £500 I think.<br><blockquote class="Quote"> <div><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank">DulcetJones</a> said:</div> <div><br>The neck was really impressive, I'm surprised they never caught on.</div> </blockquote> I'm not...<br><br>The edges of the steps on the 'pitchboard' wear very quickly, looking unsightly and making it sound like a sort of crap electric sitar.<br><blockquote class="Quote"> <div><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sassafras</a> said:</div> <div>Refrets should present a challenge.<br>I hope the neck's a replaceable bolt-on.</div> </blockquote> Nope. The neck is set, although they do often suffer from cracking of the composite around the joint.<br><br>The only sensible way to fix them is to remove the entire 'pitchboard' and fit a conventional fretted fingerboard. Jimmy Moon in Glasgow did at least one like that which I've seen.<br><br>Just a whole host of bad ideas shoehorned into one package, which might have looked modern in a sort of Tomorrow's World way in about 1982, but was hopelessly clunky in practice and only actually got into production supported by a government business development grant to help provide employment in the north of Scotland.<br><br>To be fair, The Edge and Mick Jones did use them for a bit, The Edge on some of the Joshua Tree. So possibly not a *total* failure...<br>

Maynehead · March 2019

Which button do I press to activate the truss rod spear gun?

StuartMac290 · March 2019

I had one. It was pish.

stonevibe · March 2019

Luckily Henry never got his version off the ground with Gibson...

Bigsby · March 2019

<blockquote class="Quote"> <div class="QuoteAuthor"><a href="/profile/70/ICBM">ICBM</a> said:</div><div class="QuoteText"><blockquote class="Quote"> </blockquote> About £900. Way too much.<br><br><b></b>A chap I know had a mint one, which he'd had since the 80s. He thought it was worth a lot and was trying to get a grand for it for years and years. He did eventually sell it for £500 I think.<br><blockquote class="Quote"> <div><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Link: null">DulcetJones</a> said:</div> <div><br>The neck was really impressive, I'm surprised they never caught on.</div> </blockquote> I'm not...<br><br>The edges of the steps on the 'pitchboard' wear very quickly, looking unsightly and making it sound like a sort of crap electric sitar.</div> </blockquote> I did see one pop up in the used gear at guitarGuitar - perhaps just over a year ago. It was listed for an extraordinarily optimistic £2,000, so I figured it would be entertaining to see how long they were stuck with it. But it disappeared very quickly - I've no idea what they got for it. Until then, I'd figured they were about the £500 mark if in reasonable nick.<br><br>I did own one in the 80s - I actually liked it a lot for the versatility when recording. I don't think I ever gigged with it. In the end it got traded in for £300 when I needed a back up Strat for gigs. Even back then I suspected it would be a struggle to keep it in working order in the long term. <br><br>I do think it's a shame that they didn't survive longer - at that point guitars did still seem to be evolving, with Super Strats dominating the market, and the Bond Electraglide had picked up a few big name players. But I guess, in the longer term, the market was heading back to more traditional instruments, and they probably would've gone under at some point.

Henrytwang · March 2019

I was totally uninterested in these guitars when they were first released. I’m even less interested now . I guess that I’d probably pay about £50 for one at a car boot sale in the hope of selling it on to a mug on eBay for a handsome profit.

Strangefan · March 2019

<blockquote class="Quote"> <div class="QuoteAuthor"><a href="/profile/70/ICBM">ICBM</a> said:</div> <div class="QuoteText"><blockquote class="Quote"> <div><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank">DulcetJones</a> said:</div> <div><br>works as a normal electric or through a maze of electronics in the body</div> </blockquote> *Only* works through the 'maze of electronics', unless modified. The power supply tends to be unreliable too, in my experience - I've been asked to make several replacement ones.<br><blockquote class="Quote"> <div><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank">DulcetJones</a> said:</div> <div><br>They told me they were only produced in 1984-85 and this one is mint and pricey($1600.00 CAN).</div> </blockquote> About £900. Way too much.<br><br><b></b>A chap I know had a mint one, which he'd had since the 80s. He thought it was worth a lot and was trying to get a grand for it for years and years. He did eventually sell it for £500 I think.<br><blockquote class="Quote"> <div><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank">DulcetJones</a> said:</div> <div><br>The neck was really impressive, I'm surprised they never caught on.</div> </blockquote> I'm not...<br><br>The edges of the steps on the 'pitchboard' wear very quickly, looking unsightly and making it sound like a sort of crap electric sitar.<br><blockquote class="Quote"> <div><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sassafras</a> said:</div> <div>Refrets should present a challenge.<br>I hope the neck's a replaceable bolt-on.</div> </blockquote> Nope. The neck is set, although they do often suffer from cracking of the composite around the joint.<br><br>The only sensible way to fix them is to remove the entire 'pitchboard' and fit a conventional fretted fingerboard. Jimmy Moon in Glasgow did at least one like that which I've seen.<br><br>Just a whole host of bad ideas shoehorned into one package, which might have looked modern in a sort of Tomorrow's World way in about 1982, but was hopelessly clunky in practice and only actually got into production supported by a government business development grant to help provide employment in the north of Scotland.<br><br>To be fair, The Edge and Mick Jones did use them for a bit, The Edge on some of the Joshua Tree. So possibly not a *total* failure...<br></div> </blockquote> So you're a big fan then?

ICBM · March 2019

<blockquote class="Quote"> <div class="QuoteAuthor"><a href="/profile/11821/Strangefan">Strangefan</a> said:<br><br>So you're a big fan then?

</div> </blockquote> Yes. An excellent way to learn about how *not* to build the ‘guitar of the future’.<br><br>I didn’t even list all the faults!

vimagery · February 2020

vimagery · February 2020

Lots of people talk about wear but I haven't seen one

jpfamps · February 2020

<br>A couple of other observations.<br><br>The power supply does not conform to modern safety standards. When I've had to make replacements I've got the customer to get an off-the-shelf power supply and I've made mounted the correct connectors in a Hammond box.<br><br>The volume adjustment is controlled by 6 buttons which allow the volume to be adjusted from 0 to 999 indicated on a digital display. The 6 buttons for volume adjustment simply up and down for each digit, which is not very practical for adjusting volume on the fly.

thegummy · February 2020

What other things did the maze of electronics do?

ICBM · February 2020

<blockquote class="Quote"> <div class="QuoteAuthor"><a href="/profile/13234/thegummy">thegummy</a> said:</div> <div class="QuoteText">What other things did the maze of electronics do?</div> </blockquote> Nothing much. On/off for each pickup and phase for the neck and bridge, and 0-9 for volume, treble and bass. It's not programmable and you can't save settings, and they reset to 0 when you turn the power off.<br><br>A really pointlessly complicated and unnecessary way of doing something that could be done simpler and better with three mini-toggle switches and three knobs, even if you want active circuitry.

Funkfingers · February 2020

Obsolete technology ... of interest to only one member of this forum.<br><blockquote class="Quote"> <div class="QuoteAuthor"><a href="/profile/296/HarrySeven" title="Link: /profile/296/HarrySeven">HarrySeven</a> said:</div> <div class="QuoteText">got a few of these.<br></div> </blockquote> How many of 'em are complete and fully functional? Outsized fly swat mode doesn't count!

DulcetJones · February 2020

<blockquote class="Quote"> <div class="QuoteAuthor"><a href="/profile/15808/Funkfingers">Funkfingers</a> said:</div> <div class="QuoteText">Obsolete technology ... of interest to only one member of this forum.<br><blockquote class="Quote"> <div class="QuoteAuthor"><a href="/profile/296/HarrySeven" title="Link: /profile/296/HarrySeven">HarrySeven</a> said:</div> <div class="QuoteText">got a few of these.<br></div> </blockquote> How many of 'em are complete and fully functional? Outsized fly swat mode doesn't count!

</div> </blockquote> Hey, even in non-functional condition they're still a really good conversation piece.

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Become a Subscriber!

Bond Guitar(apologies if you've heard this)

Comments