UGLIEST GEAR

[Heraclitus Akimbo]

I kinda dig it.

[Dandolin]

nope - looked at it again - it's yours!

[Pepe]

[Blackened Soul]

NSFW: show

https://www.ebay.com/itm/285272659821?h ... R4apnpGDYg

[Pepe]

B.C.Rich guitars are already ugly, no matter which model. But this one is really embarrassing.

[Dandolin]

gatt damm't butt rockxers

[Dandolin]

https://reverb.com/item/50525422-vintag ... nd-grovers


hmmmmmm
sorry, Johnny M.

[dubkitty]

what on god's grey earth is that?

[dubkitty]

i don't find that "ugly" so much as puzzling. is there even any evidence that Melita built guitars? it sure looks like someone meant it as a test bed from the back plates. somebody with a degree of skill had to be involved due to the contours and binding on the body. i almost kind of like it? sure does have a lot of knobs, though.

just went down a Melita Synchro-Sonic bridge rabbit hole i wasn't expecting to be so complicated even though i'm familiar with these peculiar bridges from their use on many older and reissue Gretsches. that is one peculiar piece of work. i'm dubious that everything belongs together, though...that bridge is awfully new-looking--minty, even--for a guitar purported to be from 2 years before the Synchro bridge was introduced, and the string mute wasn't patented till 1968. look at the flawless finish on the metal piece that accomplishes the remarkable task of making palm muting even more impossible than the standard bridge. oh, the hatred some Gretsch enthusiasts have for those thumbscrew adjusters!

[Chankgeez]

This listing may add slightly more context?:

https://reverb.com/item/43527805-melita ... chro-sonic



I don't think it's that ugly either. Seems like something Pat Martino might play.

[dubkitty]

i swear to notional god that i've seen a similar tailpiece on some production-model archtop guitar from the 1950s/60s, but i can't find an example anywhere. maybe German or Italian? or some weird, ornate presentation-grade Gibson? i thought it was a Burns piece, but that's apparently incorrect. every time i see that homemade routed chamber i die a little inside. poor baby needs restored desperately, but nobody would do it unless it was a labor of love because you'd never recoup the investment.

the combination of the control chamber apparently routed with a hand drill and its custom-cut ornamental maple cover is a truly weird contrast. "i want to make something incredible, but i only have hand tools pre-1950." it's like a Bizarro World Bigsby guitar. (i'm still kicking myself for not buying one of the Bigsby reissue prototypes that Gretsch ran up as a thought experiment sometime in the 90s-early 00s and then sold off through their storefront location down in Georgia or somewhere like that. the better ones were extremely badass, and i'll never get a chance at anything like that ever again.)

with a second vintage Dyna that thing would probably be an absolute screamer once you cleaned the wiring up. that's some weird-ass heavy wiring there. looks like it's wired for 120V AC.

[Blackened Soul]

i swear to notional god that i've seen a similar tailpiece on some production-model archtop guitar

Like this? I know what you mean I've seen it on one of the large bodied ones from the back then, but this is what come to mind to me with that tailpiece
https://reverb.com/item/68540483-gibson ... n-90778596

[dubkitty]

that's probably what i was thinking of.

[Dandolin]

w5f - srry wrong thread

[coupleonapkins]

w5f - srry wrong thread

All threats are the rong threadts, but I feel this to my core

Anyways, gotta thank those Keeblin' elves & Doughboymanbear 4 creating the 1st (but certainly not last) pedal 2 cause Immediate Erectile Dysfunction :surprise:



Shoutout 2 BLEWCHEW 4 ailing my kneads after posting this pic & feeling no pain