Help to identify old electric guitar please...

Neil

A friend of mine picked up a guitar a while back at a boot sale and is stumped by what he has. I'm no use either!

He thinks there is a chance it is home made as the jack socket is smaller than usual, about 3/16" and he heard tell that people used to use telephone exchange jacks/sockets in the past.

Any help would be great.








 
Came in the old Selmer case too - all for £25!

HarrySeven

Now that's very lovely!

Jez6345789

OK I have asked a friend of mine who was a 60's guitar dealer see if it rings any Bells. 

My view is it will likely be a model branded Dallas due to the rangemaster engraving on the trem and these were all featured on some of their other guitars such as the Tuxedo also Amps cabinets etc. As for the Trisonic pickups they may or may not of been stock but I think at one time Selmer distributed Dallas/Burns etc

Not really my era so thats a stab

But still a nice find for 25 quid

ICBM

The crude shaping around the back of the neck joint and the very uneven spacing of the machineheads also make it look DIY. The vibrato is a Dallas Rangemaster from around 1960 (same name as the later treble booster made by the same company), the pickups are obviously Burns Tri-Sonics, and the pickguard look like it might have come from a Vox of some sort… but i don't think they would all have been on the same original guitar. I could be wrong…

Still a steal at £25 - the vibrato, the pickups and the case are all worth much more than that each even if the guitar isn't.

Sassafras

Now look what you've done!
You've set off @HarrySeven ;
He's going to make it his life's work to find another one just like it.

Shark_Eyes

Obviously @HarrySeven would be my first port of call in Identifying this.

I'm thinking homemade as I seem to remember that Burns tri-sonics were one of the first pickups you could buy as a set.

Whatever it is £25 is a bargain!

Edit: Too slow!

Shark_Eyes

Found the vibrato donor:

https://68.media.tumblr.com/0af1ddd00b15c2afd5806c22c39bbc43/tumblr_n6y89argYK1te82eoo9_1280.jpg

Bucket

Shark_Eyes said:

Found the vibrato donor:

https://68.media.tumblr.com/0af1ddd00b15c2afd5806c22c39bbc43/tumblr_n6y89argYK1te82eoo9_1280.jpg

Isn't that an old Dallas Tuxedo? As was John Lennon's first guitar, IIRC.

HarrySeven

Yup - concur with posts above - Dallas Rangemaster vibrato ("Dallas Solid Special", etc), Burns Tri-Sonics, etc..

The whole thing does look a bit "home-brew" - I've got a short-scale bass with pretty much all-Burns hardware which is obviously home made (but to a very good standard). Interesting as a whole, but as @ICBM says, the parts are where the value is at.

Great snag @ £25 though!

Neil

Thanks for all the info Gents, I'll pass it on.

As usual this forum is a fount of knowledge.

Stuckfast

I guess it's possible it could be a Fenton-Weill guitar of some description. It doesn't look exactly like any of the models I know of, but apparently they bought in Eastern European bodies and fitted Burns pickups to them.

Sassafras

Shark_Eyes said:

Found the vibrato donor:

https://68.media.tumblr.com/0af1ddd00b15c2afd5806c22c39bbc43/tumblr_n6y89argYK1te82eoo9_1280.jpg

I want one!!!

Jez6345789

Certainly now searching on Google found more Dallas guitars with the trem and it would seem built by Fenton and possibly the pickups were from Burns. Hmm interesting not heard back from my friend yet he worked in London back in the early 60's through that era. 

Jack_

Shark_Eyes said:

Found the vibrato donor:

I LOVE that, seriously. How much are they and how rare are they?

wackojacko

Neil said:

He thinks there is a chance it is home made as the jack socket is smaller than usual, about 3/16" and he heard tell that people used to use telephone exchange jacks/sockets in the past.

Just to elaborate on that point - Switchcraft started in business manufacturing jack sockets and connectors for the booming telephone industry at the time, before Leo Fender approached them with regards to using their jack sockets in his guitars...they've been industry standard ever since.

Enough of the history lesson, that is a sweet deal at £25 all in. 

HarrySeven

Jack_ said:

I LOVE that, seriously. How much are they and how rare are they?

Not quite as rare or expensive as some would have you believe...they turn up fairly frequently. A friend sold one not long ago - wasn't too pricey, IIRC. I'll ask him.

Personally, I also like this kind of stuff (similar vintage):

HarrySeven

@Jack_ ; The last Dallas Tuxedo he sold was £300.

Jack_

@HarrySeven are many examples still playable or just museum pieces?

DulcetJones

I'm also thinking home build, I'm no expert but every guitar I've encountered with hardware of that ilk sports a usually clunky bolt on neck.

ICBM

DulcetJones said:

I'm also thinking home build, I'm no expert but every guitar I've encountered with hardware of that ilk sports a usually clunky bolt on neck.

The original Burns Sonic had a similarly clunky set neck, although slightly less crudely shaped. (But not much!) This might have been copied from one.

https://gbmedia.azureedge.net/usercontent/gear/3424313/p4_uvseebor4_ss.jpg

WezV

I have seen some things like Fenton Weill's with similarly chunky neck joins and crude construction.  That seems almost possible


cheaper Gretshes like corvettes can be pretty crude like that too.  Clearly not one of those though

i used to have a Dallas Scala amp.   Great sounding little thing and I wish I had kept it.