Brandoni Guitars (revisited) - New pics.....

For guitars of the straight waisted variety (or reverse offset).
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Re: Brandoni Guitars (revisited) - A luthiers wet dream!!!....

Post by superduperpostrocker » Sun Jun 21, 2009 2:11 pm

im seriously considering one of these..
only 700 quid ish
does anyone have any experience with them? (other than chris martin shamelessly plstered across the 'site)
i can do the frug!

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Re: Brandoni Guitars (revisited) - A luthiers wet dream!!!.

Post by Gonkulator » Wed Jun 13, 2012 12:49 pm

Felt like bumping this for those looking for old Eko and Vox parts. :)

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Re: Brandoni Guitars (revisited) - A luthiers wet dream!!!.

Post by DrOctagon » Wed Jun 13, 2012 12:57 pm

Gonkulator wrote:Felt like bumping this for those looking for old Eko and Vox parts.
Glad you did! :w00t:

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Re: Brandoni Guitars (revisited) - A luthiers wet dream!!!.

Post by Amber » Thu Jun 14, 2012 3:29 am

My strat is from Brandoni. From what I remember they bought a load of Fender/Tokai necks bodies from the japanese factory. They had/have basses, teles and starts.

My dad bought a few of their kits (don't think the parts were fender) years ago and made some great guitars with them.

Reason why I'm pretty sure they are old Tokai/Fender MIJ bodies/necks is because my lefty maple strat neck has a slightly smaller headstock that the righty one, just like the MIJ Fenders do.

Great bodies/necks. Shame they don't do the kits anymore but I think the bodies and necks are £100 each.

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Re: Brandoni Guitars (revisited) - A luthiers wet dream!!!.

Post by PorkyPrimeCut » Thu Jun 14, 2012 3:58 am

Amber wrote:My strat is from Brandoni. From what I remember they bought a load of Fender/Tokai necks bodies from the japanese factory. They had/have basses, teles and starts.

My dad bought a few of their kits (don't think the parts were fender) years ago and made some great guitars with them.

Reason why I'm pretty sure they are old Tokai/Fender MIJ bodies/necks is because my lefty maple strat neck has a slightly smaller headstock that the righty one, just like the MIJ Fenders do.

Great bodies/necks. Shame they don't do the kits anymore but I think the bodies and necks are £100 each.
Correct.

The last time I went there (when this review was written I think) they had a good collection of Fender necks. I was hoping for a B & B one but I don't think they exist.
They had blank, paddle-headed necks too that looked great. Unfortunately there wasn't quite enough wood on them to cut a larger CBS headstock.

I wonder how much Vox & Eko gear they still have. I know that they were rapidly running out of chrome hardware in the Wembley workshop but they also had a load more stored in Italy.
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Re: Brandoni Guitars (revisited) - A luthiers wet dream!!!.

Post by Amber » Thu Jun 14, 2012 6:38 am

I know they still have fender necks/bodies about 6 months ago. One thing to note as well, my strat is very resonant. It's so loud unplugged. Louder than my PRS copy, the MIJ Tokai Les Paul, other strats I've had and my jazz master.

I think the bodies must be very old and dried out. My strat stays in tune like a champ as well. Wouldn't mind putting together a tele from them.

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Re: Brandoni Guitars (revisited) - A luthiers wet dream!!!.

Post by SpaceJan » Mon May 29, 2017 5:01 am

Hi guys, Jan from Italy over here

Sorry for resurrecting this thread, I am the owner of a Vox Starstream XII (1968) which belonged to my old man.

Since it's not in pristine conditions, I have been looking over the internet for ages to find some of the replacement it needs...with little to none success.
Just once I came across a set of overpriced tuners (I just need one, buying and paying postage/custom fees was not an option) but, aside from that...NOTHING.

Here's what the guitar is missing:

- Wah wah lever
- Repeater knob (it has one on, but it is half-broken)
- Pickguard
- Bridge cover
- One machine head
- Backpad

When I first found this topic I rushed on the phone to call mr. Brandoni, but no-one took the call...tried on a Friday afternoon at around 3:30 tho...
I then wrote an email, and here's the reply I got:

Sorry Jan Roberto doesn’t have any of these parts now

Ok, thanks...Then I replied asking if they could help in suggesting any place where I could at least try to look for those parts, and this is the reply I got

You could try ebay Jan – sorry can’t be more help - Roberto

I am a bit disappointed...Like if I hadn't already been looking on eBay for ages...

Anyone willing to redirect me somewhere I can concentrate my researches?
Thanks in advance for your kindness!

p.s.- what's ironic is that I'm living in the same area mr.Brandoni is originally from...I even came cross a luthier who used to work in the famed Eko/Vox factory in the '60s...the only thing is that generally people over here tend to be drowsily unhelpful, they'll say they're too busy or they don't remember or that they're not able to help... :fp:

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Re: Brandoni Guitars (revisited) - A luthiers wet dream!!!.

Post by mgeek » Mon May 29, 2017 5:39 am

You just have to be patient...these bits DO turn up, but most often they are at the mercy of BIN part out gollums who want the same price they paid for the whole battered guitar for like, a set of original pickguard screws

I'm waiting patiently to hit at the right time for a Vox logoed bridge cover for my UK Phantom and I'd give my right arm (okay, about £35) for an original trem arm

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Re: Brandoni Guitars (revisited) - A luthiers wet dream!!!.

Post by PorkyPrimeCut » Mon May 29, 2017 5:41 am

SpaceJan wrote:Hi guys, Jan from Italy over here

Sorry for resurrecting this thread, I am the owner of a Vox Starstream XII (1968) which belonged to my old man.

Since it's not in pristine conditions, I have been looking over the internet for ages to find some of the replacement it needs...with little to none success.
Just once I came across a set of overpriced tuners (I just need one, buying and paying postage/custom fees was not an option) but, aside from that...NOTHING.

Here's what the guitar is missing:

- Wah wah lever
- Repeater knob (it has one on, but it is half-broken)
- Pickguard
- Bridge cover
- One machine head
- Backpad

When I first found this topic I rushed on the phone to call mr. Brandoni, but no-one took the call...tried on a Friday afternoon at around 3:30 tho...
I then wrote an email, and here's the reply I got:

Sorry Jan Roberto doesn’t have any of these parts now

Ok, thanks...Then I replied asking if they could help in suggesting any place where I could at least try to look for those parts, and this is the reply I got

You could try ebay Jan – sorry can’t be more help - Roberto

I am a bit disappointed...Like if I hadn't already been looking on eBay for ages...

Anyone willing to redirect me somewhere I can concentrate my researches?
Thanks in advance for your kindness!
You'll be lucky to find a quarter of those parts. I'd imagine the easiest bits would be the bridge cover & the machine head. The cover came on several models of Vox guitars. I actually almost bought one myself years ago but decided against it as I'm not 100% they were even on Ultrasonics.

I've never seen replacement knobs for sale. One of mine is missing its label (VOL, I think) so I've checked on a fairly regular basis.

There's a Palm Wah mechanism for sale on US eBay but it's missing the palm section. It's priced pretty highly too. I struggle to see out how it would actually work & you'd need to make a thick wire spring-like attachment to actually set it up properly. I know all this because I actually took mine out & stored it. I never really use it & feel it kinda gets in the way (sorry, it's not for sale).

As to the guard, I might be able to help you with a very good repro. I'm in the process of working something out at the moment as mine's missing its guard too. Feel free to PM me or just reply here, if you're interested.

The backpad will be very tricky but it might be worth finding out if they're the same a the ones on Gretsch guitars. Saying that, they're probably just as rare as the Vox ones & I've no idea if any of the new Gretsch guitars are made with them.

Another possible option would be to try & contact the guy in the states that does all the tech work for the Brian Jonestown Massacre (I think he made a Fuzz pedal based around the full Vox circuitry too). He apparently has a good stash of parts that he's acquired over the years. He has some pretty useful YouTube tutorials online for people who want to try'n do their own repairs.
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Re: Brandoni Guitars (revisited) - A luthiers wet dream!!!.

Post by SpaceJan » Mon May 29, 2017 11:53 am

mgeek wrote:You just have to be patient...these bits DO turn up, but most often they are at the mercy of BIN part out gollums who want the same price they paid for the whole battered guitar for like, a set of original pickguard screws

I'm waiting patiently to hit at the right time for a Vox logoed bridge cover for my UK Phantom and I'd give my right arm (okay, about £35) for an original trem arm
Yeah, you're right...I guess waiting for them to turn up is the key when it comes to those bits...

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Re: Brandoni Guitars (revisited) - A luthiers wet dream!!!.

Post by SpaceJan » Mon May 29, 2017 12:02 pm

PorkyPrimeCut wrote:
You'll be lucky to find a quarter of those parts. I'd imagine the easiest bits would be the bridge cover & the machine head. The cover came on several models of Vox guitars. I actually almost bought one myself years ago but decided against it as I'm not 100% they were even on Ultrasonics.

I've never seen replacement knobs for sale. One of mine is missing its label (VOL, I think) so I've checked on a fairly regular basis.

There's a Palm Wah mechanism for sale on US eBay but it's missing the palm section. It's priced pretty highly too. I struggle to see out how it would actually work & you'd need to make a thick wire spring-like attachment to actually set it up properly. I know all this because I actually took mine out & stored it. I never really use it & feel it kinda gets in the way (sorry, it's not for sale).

As to the guard, I might be able to help you with a very good repro. I'm in the process of working something out at the moment as mine's missing its guard too. Feel free to PM me or just reply here, if you're interested.

The backpad will be very tricky but it might be worth finding out if they're the same a the ones on Gretsch guitars. Saying that, they're probably just as rare as the Vox ones & I've no idea if any of the new Gretsch guitars are made with them.

Another possible option would be to try & contact the guy in the states that does all the tech work for the Brian Jonestown Massacre (I think he made a Fuzz pedal based around the full Vox circuitry too). He apparently has a good stash of parts that he's acquired over the years. He has some pretty useful YouTube tutorials online for people who want to try'n do their own repairs.
As far as the knobs, I found a website with some close-up pics but of course they were not up for sale...

Yeah, I think the wah gets in the way even without the mechanism...should the day you decide to sell it come...you've got a buyer!

Of course I'd be interested in the repro-guard, PM the details, thanks!

Actually I got the backpad made from a seamstress (as the original was torn), I just need to figure out how to take the press-studs out and onto the repro-backpad.
Nice hint on the Gretsch ones, gotta check with a friend of mine who owns a couple Gretschs.

Oh, you mean the guys from Acid Fuzz?
I was about to buy their Sonic Boom pedal before being deterred by the custom fees.
I will send them an email, just in case they might feel like helping out somehow.

Thanks a lot to you for the inputs, by the way!

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Re: Brandoni Guitars (revisited) - A luthiers wet dream!!!.

Post by PorkyPrimeCut » Mon May 29, 2017 1:39 pm

SpaceJan wrote: Of course I'd be interested in the repro-guard, PM the details, thanks!
Cool. I bought the acrylic sheet earlier today.
SpaceJan wrote: Actually I got the backpad made from a seamstress (as the original was torn), I just need to figure out how to take the press-studs out and onto the repro-backpad.
Nice hint on the Gretsch ones, gotta check with a friend of mine who owns a couple Gretschs.
Neat!

On mine the press studs are attached to the body with screws. I think the joining parts are just riveted into the fabric, rather like the ones you see on denim jeans.
I've never seen a Starstream in the flesh but I'm wondering if your pad is a different size to mine. I'd imagine the bodies are smaller than the 335-sized Ultrasonics.
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Re: Brandoni Guitars (revisited) - A luthiers wet dream!!!.

Post by mgeek » Mon May 29, 2017 3:45 pm

SpaceJan wrote:
mgeek wrote:You just have to be patient...these bits DO turn up, but most often they are at the mercy of BIN part out gollums who want the same price they paid for the whole battered guitar for like, a set of original pickguard screws

I'm waiting patiently to hit at the right time for a Vox logoed bridge cover for my UK Phantom and I'd give my right arm (okay, about £35) for an original trem arm
Yeah, you're right...I guess waiting for them to turn up is the key when it comes to those bits...
Yeah- I mean, for some other parts I needed, the various Vox groups on facebook proved handy, eg I managed to track down a couple of sets of the tuners I needed at FAR less than the BIN ghouls- so being vigilant and patient will do it, I'm sure.

Also, perhaps hitting up some of those awful robdogs and politely pointing out they've been re-listing the items you want for 7 years, you are their target market, and are unprepared to pay more than XX% of their stupid listing price will persuade em to budge?

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Re: Brandoni Guitars (revisited) - A luthiers wet dream!!!.

Post by PorkyPrimeCut » Tue May 30, 2017 3:45 am

Just out of interest, mgeek, what Facebook groups did you check? PM me if need be.
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Re: Brandoni Guitars (revisited) - A luthiers wet dream!!!.

Post by Gavanti » Tue May 30, 2017 5:46 am

PorkyPrimeCut wrote: On mine the press studs are attached to the body with screws. I think the joining parts are just riveted into the fabric, rather like the ones you see on denim jeans.
I've never seen a Starstream in the flesh but I'm wondering if your pad is a different size to mine. I'd imagine the bodies are smaller than the 335-sized Ultrasonics.
AcidFuzz was selling backpads for awhile, and they suggested that these were one size fits all.
PorkyPrimeCut wrote:Just out of interest, mgeek, what Facebook groups did you check? PM me if need be.
Me too, please. My Ultrasonic project is getting less basket case-y the more I mess with it. ;D A few key parts would be nice though.

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