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Lado guitars from the 70's and 80's.... poor man's Alembic?

Posted: Mon May 27, 2013 10:53 am
by mcjt
What's better than a New Guitar Day?
New GuitarS and BASSES day?

A fool and his money are soon parted.

i sold Lado guitars back in the 80's. i totally loved them for the neck through body construction, the overall quality, the mother of pearl inlays and the beautiful woods.
i never owned one, though.

So despite having NO time to work on my XII, my Bass VI, or Coronados due to my kid, wife and travel schedules, I had the brilliant idea to hunt down another guitar... a vintage Lado.

I found a high end one pretty quickly on ebay, though it had been stripped of all parts. "Even better, another PROJECT!", i thought to myself. But reason was out the window due to the cool laminated zebrawood, maple, bocote, wengé, and curly maple. i bought the husk of a body.

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But then i came across another Lado bass on Gbase, in pretty decent condition, with complete original preamp. i haggled with the dealer and he accepted my lower amount.
Ok, now i have another Lado coming to me.

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So, i am relaxing on the weekend, thinking about my basses that are on their way, and while drinking a beer, i thought i would Google for some more info. if i keep the zebrawood bass project, i'm going to have to source some EMG pickups, get some Schaller machine heads and a bridge, put together some sort of preamp...

And i found a Kijiji ad for the matching Zebrawood Lado guitar, 40 miles from my home.

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WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ME? i am putting on my coat and swinging by the bank- i bought the bastard!
No less than THREE late 70's, early 80's Canadian-made guitars to add to my vault!

This has been a VERY expensive week for GAS. i think i am going to take a vacation from eBay, Kijiji and Gbase.com.

Re: Lado guitars from the 70's and 80's.... poor man's Alemb

Posted: Mon May 27, 2013 11:06 am
by noisepunk
I've never been a huge fan of very woody guitars, but the shapes on these are pretty neat- more elegant than those Alembic uses if you ask me.

Re: Lado guitars from the 70's and 80's.... poor man's Alemb

Posted: Mon May 27, 2013 11:19 am
by mcjt
they might be a little dated, but i don't think they look too much like metal guitars either. :)
the 80's bring back some very good memories as well!!

Re: Lado guitars from the 70's and 80's.... poor man's Alemb

Posted: Tue May 28, 2013 10:12 am
by mcjt
Are there any Lado owners out there?
(did i hear an echo?) :)

Re: Lado guitars from the 70's and 80's.... poor man's Alemb

Posted: Wed May 29, 2013 1:39 pm
by ludobag1
:D if your wife stole your credit card ,don't blame :D
nice but indeed dated to 80 (not a reproch but often in eighteen guitar are made in wood :) this is before the shreeder with fushia guitar and
panty hose yellow fluo ,not so far in fact :D

Re: Lado guitars from the 70's and 80's.... poor man's Alemb

Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2015 11:48 am
by mcjt
i should take a better pic, and maybe a group one, but at least i have got the hump out of the neck, found gold pickup rings, pickups, bridge, tuners.....

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Re: Lado guitars from the 70's and 80's.... poor man's Alemb

Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2015 8:41 am
by slopoke
Here's mine, bought new in around 1991:

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Re: Lado guitars from the 70's and 80's.... poor man's Alemb

Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2015 2:40 pm
by shoule79
Funny story...the only music shop in the town I grew up near was a Lado dealer. They mostly had the cheaper, I think offshore made models that were usually pointy.

Teenage me walked in one day in the early 90's asking for a guitar 'just like Kurt Cobain's' and was told about how all those guitars are garbage, and that I should buy a Lado. I still associate them with the mullet wearing guys of my youth. Good times.

Re: Lado guitars from the 70's and 80's.... poor man's Alemb

Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2015 2:56 pm
by sessylU
So much wood, so much 70s. Love it.
mcjt wrote:i should take a better pic
You should move it away from that radiator!

Re: Lado guitars from the 70's and 80's.... poor man's Alemb

Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2015 8:29 am
by mcjt
indeed, before it come on full blast for a Québec winter!!!
sessylU wrote: You should move it away from that radiator!