I've always liked going through Reverb and looking at the more left field guitars from the 60's and 70's. If you are happy to own a guitar without Fender or Gibson on the head stock and are willing to wait, I'd say you can get a guitar that can be more than just a talking point, nestled in the back of your practice space.
I had a hankering for semi-hollow or hollow body guitar, for the purposes of recording. I'd had a Grestch in the past, but never really bonded with it, so it ended up as part of a trade for a Mesa Boogie amp, which I still have. Since it was home/studio recording, I wasn't too fussed about any feedback issues. When I'd rehearse with the Gretsch, the combination of volume we rehearse at and my basic gain level made it feedback (that lower frequency ooooooooohhh!) whenever I wasn't playing.
I wasn't really interested in paying too much money either. I had been eyeing up the Squier Affinity Starcasters, thinking that they would be serviceable and I could get it set up properly and maybe upgrade the pickups.
Then I saw this -
IMG_E2099 by 1983slowdazzle, on FlickrThis is a 1973 Jolana Rubin, built in Czechoslovakia. It immediately caught my eye as an interesting instrument. What are those pickups? There is a zero fret! Look at the pickup selector! The tail piece looks cool! The clear pickguard! Also, from looking at the technical detail of the bridge and the real binding, this meant the guitar was not a budget model in it's day, so it might be good. Although it is a bolt on neck. The seller stated that the electronics "needed a clean" but I was happy that my local shop would be able fix it up. I took the plunge and bought it for £160 (~ $198).
Right enough, it needed some work. The neck pickup had completely sunk into the body, the strings were rusted to hell and the electrics were scratchy and would drop out. Lots of the metal parts were rusted actually; most of which looked like they were machined in a munitions factory. It has a four way switch too, weird! I sent it to the shop and it was all cleaned up, the bridge was taped to the body and it's now a player. The pickups are wild and love a fuzz pedal, it just has that janky 60's tone to it. It very much reminds me of something you'd hear on a Brian Jonestown Massacre album.
Anyway, here are some more photos.
IMG_E2104 by 1983slowdazzle, on Flickr
IMG_E2101 by 1983slowdazzle, on Flickr
IMG_E2102 by 1983slowdazzle, on Flickr
IMG_E2103 by 1983slowdazzle, on Flickr
IMG_E2100 by 1983slowdazzle, on FlickrI'm delighted with this guitar, so glad I got this rather than a Squier Starcaster.
Jolanas. Does it have the screwdriver strap pin?
