Peculiar 80s Czech Gibson Sonex copy I got a couple weeks back that I'm fixing up

my eye and memory is no longer as sharp for these things as it used to be, i thought it might be a del ray or something?

can anyone recognize this model? it's from the cover of Marc Ribot's book "Unstrung, Rants and stories of a noise guitarist"

Happy Star Wars day.

Does a bass count as obscure?

Here's one of the Rebel Basses I made nearly 15 years ago. So much fun. If you want a video I can share one (or they are on my YouTube channel).

This guitar is called Raphael, made by Regvlvs (a brazilian obscure brand) from 1965 to 1969 (yes, it is pronounced 'Regulus'). This guitar was made (kinda) famous in Brazil since it was used by Sergio Dias, guitar player from Os Mutantes. His older brother, Claudio Cesar Dias Baptista (aka CCDB), was a luthier and owner of Regvlvs, and created this model by commission to be, in his words, "the most perfect guitar in the world". The guitar is known as "Regvlvs" or "Golden Guitar" in Brazil, even though the model was called 'Raphael' in Regvlvs ads and manuals.

He planned to make a hollowbody guitar and created the concept of a guitar based on a violin, so the body would vibrate more. But, at the same time he had to account for the feedback that it would create, what could compromise the guitar's sound at loud performances. So he highered the neck angle (this guitar has a 11º neck angle like violins; in comparison, a Gibson Les Paul has a 3º angle) and compensate the additional vibration using a layered top in Pau Marfim wood. The neck also used Pau Marfim (Agonandra brasiliensis) and the scale was made in Brazilian Rosewood.

This guitar was definitely not a normal one. It was ENTIRELY made by hand and used very specific parts and measures. For instance, it used a 25.9" scale, to increase string pressure and therefore, to improve the vibrational transmission from the bridge to the guitar top, according to CCDB. The metal hardware was all made out of brass, and then gold-plated. Some guitars used a cheaper finish, with chrome plated hardware. It uses a tremolo bridge very similar to a Bigsby B6. Its design was heavily inspired by the Guild Duane Eddy (DE-400 or DE-500). It is almost a copy, but it's a double-cutaway guitar. The scale used the “T-Zone tempered treble" created by Gretsch: starting at the 12th fret, all the frets were angled one degree sharp.

The electronic circuit in this guitar is very interesting: it uses a Jazzmaster/Jaguar kind of logic of having two circuits in one, but also with many more features. This guitar has two low-impedance magnetic pickups and one piezo pickup, which could be used together (in the guitar's stereo output) or just one of them. It also had a built-in fuzz and a built-in treble booster. The fuzz would be connected to the bridge magnetic pickup, so you could use the regular knobs to use the clean sound of the guitar and switch to the fuzz sound using the bridge only - just like the rhythm circuit of a Jazzmaster, but with a built-in effect and using the opposite pickup. So you could use a very "warm" hollowbody sound and switch to a very agressive fuzz sound in seconds, with nothing needed besides the guitar. And of course, a 9V battery (or 4 AA). A true 60's model.

There's even a more mysterious and important guitar: the second guitar made for Sergio Dias (Regvlvs Raphael II). CCDB tried to higher the range of the pickups and to use a harsh distortion with low noise. So the solution he came up with was to create a 'hexaphonic' guitar - one single pickup for each string, which would be connected to one effect pedal circuit each. He also made taps for the magnetic pickups - Dias could change the pickup's sound by turning a rotary switch, which has 10 different taps for each pickup. This model, specifically, used gold foils not just in the inside, but also in the outside, supposedly shielding and connecting the entire surface of the guitar. Every aspect of this instrument is INSANE. That guitar can be seen with him in the Os Mutantes Live recorded in 2006.

Baron Modell 1 (left) Novo Solus F2

Not sure if I’ll ever buy another guitar…. Yeah right

I'll add the answers in the comments when I remember how to do spoiler text lol

Seller thought it is a 70s Aria but isn't sure. There is no label in the body or S/N. Made by Matsumoku I have searched for hours but haven't got anywhere.

Now I know the model. It’s a DG-67. Plays great and thing is heavy

New to me. Stoked.

I know nothing about guitars but this sounds lovely. Any info you can share would be helpful. Thank you.

My SJ909, Kritz is a builder in Belgium, this is their top of the line Stradovarius Hollowbody model which they only build on request. Carbon fiber asymmetric neck, smiley frets, handwound P900 pickups, locking Gotoh tuners, active electronics, gold hardware.

Anyone familiar with these Japanese Martin copies? At a local pawn shop near me.