1981

geemobee

Hey chaps,

Kiera's comment about her wanting a guitar that was made in the year she was born got me thinking.
Were there any interesting guitars made in 1981?

Cheers
G

Wizard

Your task is a little easier than mine.
Any idea how expensive strats from 1961 are?

Neon-Gecko

Wizard wrote: Your task is a little easier than mine.
Any idea how expensive strats from 1961 are?

lol, that also kinda puts me off from trying to find one from my birth year... ?

@ geemobee - Don't wait 20 years to find your era axe or you could be saying the same thing maybe... :-\

Bob-Dubery

Neon Gecko wrote:
Wizard wrote: Your task is a little easier than mine.
Any idea how expensive strats from 1961 are?
lol, that also kinda puts me off from trying to find one from my birth year... ?

They had guitars already when your were born?

Must have been loads of interesting guitars made in '81 - but probably not from the famous names, more likely from boutique builders.

shaundtsl

Maybe look for squires made in Japan from the early 80's.

Squonk

Peavey made their popular T-60 range in 1981, lot's on sale in the USA

IceCreamMan

zohn wrote: Was it September or October of 1981? - I remember one particular day like yesterday sitting in maths class at Wits Technikon and someone said: "hey it's snowing"...

Hey Wizard, I'm with you there, being a '61-ner myself - that era's Martins (Braz Rosewood) aren't too cheap either...

September 10th 1981...we were in the park building snow men ......

Squonk

IceCreamMan wrote:
zohn wrote: Was it September or October of 1981? - I remember one particular day like yesterday sitting in maths class at Wits Technikon and someone said: "hey it's snowing"...

Hey Wizard, I'm with you there, being a '61-ner myself - that era's Martins (Braz Rosewood) aren't too cheap either...
September 10th 1981...we were in the park building snow men ......

I was in Voortrekker Hoogte confined in a fine establishment... Detention Barracks.
That anti government stuff that my Mother taught me sometimes landed me in some very strange places

Wizard

zohn wrote: Was it September or October of 1981? - I remember one particular day like yesterday sitting in maths class at Wits Technikon and someone said: "hey it's snowing"...
Hey Wizard, I'm with you there, being a '61-ner myself - that era's Martins (Braz Rosewood) aren't too cheap either...

It snowed on 11 September 1981.
It was my 20th birthday ... and I was in Cape Town while it was snowing in my hometown of Jo'burg !!!

IceCreamMan

Wizard wrote:
zohn wrote: Was it September or October of 1981? - I remember one particular day like yesterday sitting in maths class at Wits Technikon and someone said: "hey it's snowing"...
Hey Wizard, I'm with you there, being a '61-ner myself - that era's Martins (Braz Rosewood) aren't too cheap either...
It snowed on 11 September 1981.
It was my 20th birthday ... and I was in Cape Town while it was snowing in my hometown of Jo'burg !!!

September 10th

http://old.weathersa.co.za/Pressroom/2007/2007Jun27GautengSnow.jsp

singemonkey

Yeah. It was my older brother's birthday. I played in the snow until I turned blue ?

Lots of good guitars from back then. Look into a 1981 Gibson Les Paul Custom. Ace guitars. My buddy just bought one just like the one he had stolen from him (perhaps the same one) and it really is top notch. The price is going up though, so don't wait too long. In SA you can still find them around R15K but that's starting to be a bargain.

The '70s and early '80s were a good period for LP Customs (think Randy Rhoads). Just avoid the really heavy ones. One guy on a forum had one that was 17lbs ??? But many more are very reasonable. My buddy's is under 10lbs.

deebee

Snow - 10th September, i was at Cape Town airport with a few thousand others trying to fly to Joeys en-route to America - it took a while.
1947 - could be a difficult year for an axe other than a Django Rheinhardt style Maccaferri, or maybe a Maestro

geemobee

singemonkey wrote: Yeah. It was my older brother's birthday. I played in the snow until I turned blue ?

Lots of good guitars from back then. Look into a 1981 Gibson Les Paul Custom. Ace guitars. My buddy just bought one just like the one he had stolen from him (perhaps the same one) and it really is top notch. The price is going up though, so don't wait too long. In SA you can still find them around R15K but that's starting to be a bargain.

wow - these are awesome... where could I get these in JHB?

regarding the snow ...Yes, I remember my milk bottle getting cold quicker on the 11th Sept.

Highway-Chile

deebee wrote: Snow - 10th September, i was at Cape Town airport with a few thousand others trying to fly to Joeys en-route to America - it took a while.
1947 - could be a difficult year for an axe other than a Django Rheinhardt style Maccaferri, or maybe a Maestro

August 1981 ?...... I left Durb's for New York and have stayed in the USA ever since.

My ex-Durb's best friend Chris "Polly" Hattingh, who I hooked up with in Indiana a few weeks later....bought a Les Paul Custom around that time exactly like that grey one in the top picture. Nice guitar. I know he wishes he still had it. Man...... we bought and sold guitars and amps back then like it was nothing....and the prices were very doable back then too. I think he paid $700 for it.

Lethe

I got a beautiful Ibanez Artist from '81.

rong

deebee wrote: Snow - 10th September, i was at Cape Town airport with a few thousand others trying to fly to Joeys en-route to America - it took a while.
1947 - could be a difficult year for an axe other than a Django Rheinhardt style Maccaferri, or maybe a Maestro

hey - the first mention i have found of a maestro, so my first post here after a year or 2 of reading the forum...& a bit of a hijack to boot - please forgive me :-[

do you know anything/have any info about maestros? i picked this up at a flea market in cape town a couple of years back & haven't been able to find out very much. i had some rewiring done by a tech from bothners in cape town who told me it was built somewhere in the pinetown durban area, by the same people who make (made?) bellinis - probably in the '50s, & using the maestro name under license from gibson.

a pic:

Highway-Chile

Wow that's a beauty! The pickups have been added after the fact, right? Is that metal actually what the guitar came with or is it also added later?

If the guitar has a nitrocellulose lacquer finish, you might not want to let it sit on the surgical rubber on that stand as the two together may cause the lacquer to discolor.

How much did you pay if you don't mind me asking? Ballpark is okay also.

deebee

Maestro and Ecko were fairly popular in the early 60's. I cannot remember who built Maestro tho', but i seem to recall that Ecko was Italian. The axe in your pic is unusual, i've ever only seen solid body Maestro's, b-u-u-u-u-t, i would keep it if i were you, it's not you every day guitar. Bellini, now there's a name that i have not heard in eons and eons, i think that they only made accoustic's.

rong

thanks - i paid around R300.00 for it if i remember correctly - was around 1998/1999 somewhere.

the metal appears to be original, & the pickup mountings as well. the pickups themselves are not - the front & mid are some no-name brand & the rear is an ibanez.

mounting of the pickups onto a metal resonator plate certainly has an interesting effect - feedback & a crunching sound which is actually very unique, and very nice. pity the intonation is so bad...

i have turned down some very enthusiastic & quite tempting offers. as the bothners tech told me - it's probably the last remaining one in the world - so rare & cool to boot..