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Instrument of the week
On this page every week a particular instrument from the collection will be highlighted. You get to see exampes from chapters that have not yet been published on this website, as a kind of preview. It will make you extremely curious and hungry for more.
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Herrnsdorf semi acoustic guitar
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The Gustav Herrnsdorf company was founded in 1865 as a musical instrument distributor. In 1927 recorder production began, and from 1953 on electric string instruments were made. The guitar and bass production was mainly specialized in the field of electrically amplified instruments, thanks to the integration of the “Elektroakustischen Werkstätten” founded by Willy Goller - hence the name “Rellog” for the pickups. In 1964 the company became semi-state and “Gustav Herrnsdorf” became "Herrnsdorf KG". They built archtop, solidbody and lap steel guitars. In the 1960s, approx. 6000 pieces were produced annually for the Soviet Union by approx. 16 employees. Annual production was 8000 to 9000 pieces. Finally on April 23, 1972 the company was completely nationalized and guitar production ceased. The secret of this guitar from the end of the ‘60s is the magnetic “Rellog” pickup hidden under the fingerboard and thus invisible from above. Such pickups integrated in the neck are typical for Eastern-Germany. The single coil pickup impresses with its very clear, slightly acoustic jazzy sound. Another peculiarity is the neck-joint with a bolt for easy resetting. The guitar is very comfortable to play due to the relatively thin body. The cutaway allows solos to be played in higher registers. The acoustic sound is mid tone to bright and surprisingly loud. |
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Rickenbacker
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In 1931 George Beauchamp, who was involved in the creation of the resonator guitar three years before, developed the first commercially successful electric guitar: the Rickenbacker Model A-22 Electro Hawaiian. Nicknamed the "Frying Pan" because of its shape, it was also the first solid body guitar. The 1/12 inch horseshoe electro-magnetic pickup, mounted on a cast aluminum frame with a gold enamel finish, sounded much better and louder than the Stromberg-Voisinet system brought out in 1928 (see the first item on the “Kay electrics” page). The electric sound was new, and for Hawaiian music it proved to be more than acceptable to the general public.
In 1935 the Bakelite model "B" with a more conventional outline was introduced. It was less prone to temperature changes than the amuminium A-22. To reduce the weight, parts of it are hollow, covered with white stainless-steel plates. Commercially, it was the most successful musical instrument manufactured by Rickenbacker. Production ended in the 1950’s, but the model is still being used and much sought after. |
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Watkins Rapier 22
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The London-based Watkins company was run by three brothers, Charlie, Sid and Reg, who originally produced amplifiers. They were already successful in the 1950s with the Clubman and V-front Dominator models. The Copicat, a band-echo device, became an instant best-seller in 1958. In 1959 they brought out their first guitar: the rapier Deluxe, owing more to Gibson than to Fender. Around 1961 Reg Watkins redesigned body and headstock to an approximation of Fender’s market-leading Stratocaster. They were the first guitars to incorporate the new polyester spraying technique. Rapiers were mostly produced in red but there are a few white ones about, the occasional natural wood and even a light ice blue. Sid and Reg Watkins made the guitars in their factory in Chertsey Surrey. In 1963-64 the Watkins company re-branded itself as Wem. In the late 60's the decision was made to split the guitars away from the amps as a separate company and the name Wilson was adopted, “Wilson” being the maiden name of the brothers' mother.
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Keykord (Kay)
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To attract non-musicians, and thus potential buyers, all kinds of devices were introduced by producers and publishers in the USA in the 1920s and '30s. So customers were led to believe they could learn how to play an instrument, no matter how untalented.
Thus the Keykord was introduced by Stromberg-Voisinet -later Kay- from Chicago, with a keyboard hiding a complicated mechanism for playing chords. The accompanying manual from 1929 reads: "the Keykord action removes the technical difficulty of playing these instruments". However, the Keykord guitar and banjo would never sell well. After all, the launch was badly timed: the ukulele hype was waning and the 1929 stock market crash heralded a crisis period of at least ten years. Moreover, the complicated key system proved not to be a good alternative to the "normal" fingerings of the real ukulele. |
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Crystal Radio Receiver, c. 1920
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Not really a musical instrument this time, but a device that allows us to explain why there is no point in developing electric guitars as long as decent amplifiers are not yet available.
Crystal radio techniques were invented in the late 19th century and gradually evolved into more and more practical radio receivers in the early 20th century. Radio had little commercial use at the time, and radio experimentation was a hobby for many people. Commercial radio broadcasts for entertainment only began in 1920. Crystal radios, named for their most important component -a piece of crystalline mineral- used only the power of the received radio signal to produce sound, needing no external power. They can be made with a few inexpensive parts, such as a wire for an antenna, a coil of wire, a capacitor, and a crystal detector. But they produce rather weak sound and should be listened to with sensitive earphones. From the 1920s, better radios could be obtained using an amplifier with vacuum tubes and powered by current from a battery or wall outlet to make the radio signal louder. This was made possible by Lee De Forest, who invented the first practical amplifying electrical component around 1912: the triode vacuum tube (or "valve" in British English) in 1907. But these factory-made, amplified radios were very expensive. Since less-affluent families could not afford to own one, newspapers and magazines carried articles on how to build a crystal radio with common household items. But soon the need for louder and better amplification grew, especially since the sound film came about in the second part of the 1920s. It wasn't long before the first guitar amplifier was made, and with it the need to commercialize the electric guitar. |
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Domino Californian
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"Domino" was the brand name of a Japanese company taking part of the 1960's guitar boom in the US. So this Instrument has nothing to do with the "Domino" Ukulele model from the 1920's. Domino guitars were manufactured by Kawai, founded in 1927 by Koichi Kawai in Hamamatsu, Japan, and imported to New York by Maurice Lipsky Music Co. The models were inspired by great American and British examples, without being slavish copies. The "Californian" was clearly modeled after the famous Vox "Phantom".
Other models by Domino included the "Spartan" (issued on the Fender Jazzmaster), the "Baron (Gibson" SG"), the "Tear Drop" (Vox "Teardrop"), Dawson (Gibson "ES 330") and a few others, offering a cheap alternative for the originals. |
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J.R. Stewart "Le Domino" ukulele
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During the “uke craze” of the 1920s, hundreds of painted, stenciled, or otherwise decorated ukuleles were made, but few are as attractive and instantly recognizable as the "Le Domino". Adorned with stylish decals of small dominoes, this uke simply emanates charm and delight. Each domino on the fingerboard bears the same number of dots as the fret it marks—a three-dot domino at the 3rd fret, a five dot at the 5th, etc.
Although the ukulele’s painted body and neck were built from inexpensive birch wood, the "Le Domino" was a relatively well-constructed instrument with some classy touches, including white celluloid binding around the top. Curiously, it has an unusually long scale for a soprano-sized instrument: 14-1/8 inches long, as compared to the 13-3/4-inch scale most commonly used on Martin, Gibson, Lyon & Healy, and other soprano ukes of the period. The "Le Domino" model was the brainchild of James R. Stewart, a Chicago luthier who, in the early 1920s, had worked for the Harmony Company. In 1925, he started his own fretted instrument company and within a couple of years, he had patented the Le Domino’s unique headstock design. After J.R. Stewart's bankruptcy in 1930, Regal of Chicago took over the company, including the "Le Domino" model. |
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Hopf Saturn 63
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This model, one of the successes of the Hopf company, became an icon since it decorates the famous "Star Club" in Hamburg. This is the place where the Beatles broke through for the first time on the continent in the sixties.
This guitars futuristic and slender outline, its drop-shaped soundholes and its chrome hardware and binding make it a unique guitar. Produced only a few years in the early 1960s, it later became legendary. |
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Egmond Rambler. Week 1
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After WWII one of four Egmond brothers started making guitars in Eindhoven (Holland), and in 1961 the company was big enough to establish a factory in Best. Everyone wanted guitars, but no one in Europe could afford expensive instruments from the US, so Egmond and their budget guitars became a big success. During its heydays up to 800 guitars a day were made by ca. 200 workers, mostly for export. Around 1970 the guitar market went down and Egmond was taken over by an American company. Unfortunately, a move to Boxel could not prevent the business from closing its doors in 1976.
This 2 pickup Rambler 2ES1, made around 1969, has a beechwood neck and a solid 28mm plywood body, covered with orange-green marbled vinyl. |