Any hungarian vintage guitars expert around here?
Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2020 1:13 pm
I picked up this one 5 years ago on ebay. I wasn't expecting much of it, and I bought it possibly only as a decoration piece because I liked the aesthetic and it was cheap (I paid 100€ including shipping). Then we moved house right after, and I more or less forgot about it.
Not sure what made me remember I had this guitar still packed in the cellar, but anyway, I unpacked it today.
Let's be honest, I expected an unplayable cheesy guitar, similar to soviet and czech production from the same era. But I was pleasantly surprised. It's totally playable, even with the old strings the previous owner had attached in his own fashion (see picture of the headstock).
The action isn't bad at all, except past 16th fret, where the fretboard has a dive to the body, but I never go that high on an acoustic anyway. Seems like the neck is screwed to the body, so resetting it, if needed ,should not be too difficult either.
Big neck, but as someone who enjoys old National Style O's and Triolians, that's not a complain.
It doesn't sound bad either. Of course, it's not a Martin, but for a100€ guitar, it deserves better than just hanging on the wall.
Anyway, I don't know much about it. The EMG pickup, obviously, can't be original, and the seller included a "similar pickup to original" because apparently, they're still in production. It's a Balogh pickup (or it was because I can't find it, so I might have lost it when we moved).
I can't tell how it sounds amplified, because with the phospor bronze strings and magnetic pickup, it's totally unbalanced as is, but at least it seems much more immune to feedback than expected.
The label inside reads "Szegedi Butor, Hangser Vallalàt", and it has a date stamp from january 9th, 1964.
I couldn't find much info on the factory, except they produced also double basses (and probably various other stringed instruments). I found a couple of pictures of guitars similar to mine, but without the bass side cutaway. Also one identical in shape but all natural finish, so mine could have refinished top and sides. They all seem to have a floating pickguard/pickups assembly. And mine has screw holes on the side where it would have been. So the ugly (but somehow fitting in the soviet era) green thing is a later addition. Not sure about the odd knob provenance, but probably not original to the guitar either.
It's not a valuable guitar, it's not a very good one either, but it's definetely not a bad one. If anyone knows more about these obscure hungarian instruments, I'm interested to hear!
Not sure what made me remember I had this guitar still packed in the cellar, but anyway, I unpacked it today.
Let's be honest, I expected an unplayable cheesy guitar, similar to soviet and czech production from the same era. But I was pleasantly surprised. It's totally playable, even with the old strings the previous owner had attached in his own fashion (see picture of the headstock).
The action isn't bad at all, except past 16th fret, where the fretboard has a dive to the body, but I never go that high on an acoustic anyway. Seems like the neck is screwed to the body, so resetting it, if needed ,should not be too difficult either.
Big neck, but as someone who enjoys old National Style O's and Triolians, that's not a complain.
It doesn't sound bad either. Of course, it's not a Martin, but for a100€ guitar, it deserves better than just hanging on the wall.
Anyway, I don't know much about it. The EMG pickup, obviously, can't be original, and the seller included a "similar pickup to original" because apparently, they're still in production. It's a Balogh pickup (or it was because I can't find it, so I might have lost it when we moved).
I can't tell how it sounds amplified, because with the phospor bronze strings and magnetic pickup, it's totally unbalanced as is, but at least it seems much more immune to feedback than expected.
The label inside reads "Szegedi Butor, Hangser Vallalàt", and it has a date stamp from january 9th, 1964.
I couldn't find much info on the factory, except they produced also double basses (and probably various other stringed instruments). I found a couple of pictures of guitars similar to mine, but without the bass side cutaway. Also one identical in shape but all natural finish, so mine could have refinished top and sides. They all seem to have a floating pickguard/pickups assembly. And mine has screw holes on the side where it would have been. So the ugly (but somehow fitting in the soviet era) green thing is a later addition. Not sure about the odd knob provenance, but probably not original to the guitar either.
It's not a valuable guitar, it's not a very good one either, but it's definetely not a bad one. If anyone knows more about these obscure hungarian instruments, I'm interested to hear!