beautiful giannini craviola for sale in centurion. unfortunately the seller doesn't know anything about it, other than it is rare & old, and seems to have some unrealistic price expectations.

i knew someone with one of these back in the 80s, & they do sound very, very good.

http://www.gumtree.co.za/a-musical-instruments/centurion/1970s-giannini-craviola-model-awkn-6/1001143828470910037163909

how's this for scary?????

for all the ipeople.....


http://www.onedayonly.co.za/guitarconnect-pro-1632.html



(guitar & ipad excluded :?)

yep. bellini was indeed built in / around pinetown. my recollection - which may be incorrect - is that sipho mchunu (other half of juluka) played one of these specifically for the cheap & nasty sound.

i know that they did have an arrangement with gibson to use the maestro trademark (i still have & love my maestro guitar even tho it is a pos), but using the actual gibson name seems like stretching it a bit far.

Sneaky Pete wrote: The guitar was a Maestro and looked vaguely like a Les Paul.
Not sure if Maestro were part of Gibson at that time....maybe
it was before they were taken over.
I seem to remember it was 12 pounds (cost not weight).
They also made a solid plank version which in retrospect looked vaguely like today's Tele.......

Naturally, in those days we knew nothing about pickups, string height, intonation etc.

this is the first reference i have found to maestro guitars - i still own one today & what a unique instrument it is. and actually quite cool within it's boundaries - apparently the manufacturers were also unaware of intonation....



as far as i have been able to find out they were built in the durban / pinetown area, by the same factory that was guilty of the "bellini" guitars, using the maestro name under license from gibson (what was gibson thinking.....??)

of course there were cheap guitars - joni mitchell even sang about it "Cheap guitars eye shades and guns" (apparently there were also rappers......

mu first guitar was a "gallo" branded special from game in durban - a whole r12 back in the early '70s. was a nylon string pos which i fitted with steel strings 'cause someone told me steel string sound better (i was real young...)....was real easy to play until my fingers bled - took around 5 minutes iirc.... :-[ :-[ :-[

result was me thinking i could never ever play guitar & not picking up another one for more than 10 years...

first time i heard of her was a while ago on this forum. someone posted a link to a youtube of marrow. i listened & went straight out & bought all her albums i could get...

when the david byrne / st vincent came out, i was also waiting in line & bought the vinyl..

terrific stuff......

i see that there is a link through to the fresh music website which has some quite interesting old albums for sale.

no secure payments though - do an eft & e-mail details - has anyone used this site & any comments / recommendations / reservations?

which area are you?

i have an '81 xt500 black/silver tank - i wanted to get a 70's model - but couldn't find one

the go-to guy for xts in pretoria area is a bike shop just off zambesi drive in breed street.

- along zambesi
- right into breed (assuming you are travelling from n4 towards colonnade)
- on rhs after the circle

sorry i cant be more specific. it's a while since i was there, & there doesn't seem to be google earth pics of the area.

maybe drop this bidorbuy seller a message & see if he knows anything about them since he sold one (different model) a while back

http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/65893121/Acks_acoustic_guitar.html

or try this guy in new zealand who seems convince it is a mexican guitar

http://www.trademe.co.nz/music-instruments/instruments/guitar-bass/acoustic-guitars/auction-187362621.htm

but, based on this page:

http://www.chandlerguitars.co.uk/product_Detail.php?ItemID=3069

with an identical label it seems that the suzuki connection may well be there..

how does the guitar sound?

i saw him at centurion theatre. i thought it was a truly great, superb show. some really interesting re arrangements of some old standards...

definitely highly recommended for any guitar enthusiast - though some dan fans may find it a bit of a stretch from his last tours which were tending towards the rock end of the blues spectrum..

the guitar he played was, i think, a martin of some kind. sounded really good.

am i the only one who thinks the airline staff heard this guy's music & were simply putting the guitar out of it's misery :? :? :? :? :?

i tried a cane & coke again a while back - was surprised to find i really enjoyed it & have had a couple more since....]



i don't think i'll be doing the cane & black label thing again tho (what was that called) - horrible, horrible memories of polishing of a bottle of cane using a dozen black labels as mixers while doing national service on the border.............didn't move from bed or eat for 3 days afterwards.......

majestikc wrote:
No one has really said on this thread that Dan Patlansky SUCKS, he doesn't, technically he's quite good, just not very original at all.

The main test would always be if SRV or John Mayer where playing a gig in your neighbourhood and at the same time so was Dan Patlan, who would you pay to go see.

well i'd definitely go to see srv. & expect to see dan in the audience as well having ditched his show ? :?

personally wouldn't bother with john mayer, though i can see why some people would choose him.

to be clear - i still think dan is an extremely talented musician. i just think that he has lost a lot in his live shows since he started paying so much attention to the audiences. but clearly this is not the popular view as the audiences have grown so much......

evolucian wrote: But I didn't enjoy the show because of his excessive wanking that did NOT contribute to the song. Yeah, its about a live thing in the end and showmanship and all that blessed stuff, which was cool and I could understand the audience perspective....

i have the same problem with dan's shows lately.

a couple of years back dan's shows used to be attended by a handful of people - his dad, me & a buddy, & a random drunk (there always seemed to be a random drunk no matter where it was....) i can remember going to the radium for a show of his & there were only 4 people in the whole place..

i loved it, he was totally into the music, completely oblivious to the audience - what there was - & doing his normal thing of screwing his face up & pulling funny moves. it was all about the melody & immersion in the music. i used to come away from his shows feeling so good...

now - not the same...... just seems to me that he focuses too much on the flashy aspects. i just don't feel the same involvement on the same core, fundamental emotional level that i used to...

so - yeah i'm happy for him that he's popular, & i will still go to see his shows - but only if it's convenient. i will not go out of my way like i used to.....

chris77 wrote: Have you checked out their Pawn Shop amps as well?

http://www.fender.com/en-ZA/products/pawnshopamps/#PSA-excelsior

No idea if they will sound anything other than crap, but damn - that little Greta is cute as a button.

sudden, major attack of gas.......

i want one of these. badly.

did you buy the guitar?

i am looking for one to replace the one i sold a couple of years back - cash or trade if i have anything of interest to you..

http://www.guitarforum.co.za/index.php?action=classifieds;sa=view;id=887

so no one hurt then?

make and do wrote: Annie Clark (St Vincent)
=

someone posted some st vincent elsewhere on this forum (i think in the "what are you listening to" thread.

loved it so much i went (figuratively - actually i bought it on the internet...) & bought everything she had for sale....absolutely love it.