Bacchus, Bacchus, Bacchus!

Yes, it has been almost a year since I posted anything here but no, Aoyama Oyaji is not done yet. I have been meaning to post a bit about Bacchus guitars which have been around since the 1990s and are made by Deviser in Nagano. They have been making Gibson and Fender copies and They don't have much recognition outside of Japan and even in Japan compared they are not well known to Tokai and the older Burny and Greco guitars. Bacchus also has guitars made in China and the Philippines and it is hard to find clear information about specs and years for older guitars so you can say that there is some confusion around the Bacchus brand. I've had a few strats, teles and LPs over the years and am always tempted when I see a Bacchus classic or vintage series for sale. Deviser makes these guitars in small runs and there is lots of variation in the wood used and the finishes. They aren't all to my liking as they have even had some pink and green LPs but each to their own, right? In any case, here are a few examples for reference.

Here is an oil-finished Bacchus vintage series LP. It had a 1-piece body and stock zebra pickups. The neck was fairly thin compared to the more recent LPs.  

This Classic Series flametop is a recent acquisition. One-piece back, lacquer finish and a fat 58'-style neck.  

Super flametop 2012 BLS-FM Classic

This is one of the early Classic Series plaintops. Lots of mild flame with a lemon drop finish.

2011 Bacchus Classic BLS-STD

I don't know why I ever sold this. I bought it new direct from Deviser and ended up selling it for the same price after I had a few too many guitars (is there such a thing?). The new owner thought the nut was cut a bit high and I think he was right. I guess nothing is 100% perfect. 

2012 Bacchus BLS-FM

This tele from Yahoo Auctions was a nice surprise. One-piece body, all-nitro finish, birdseye neck and light at 3.1 kg. It came with a Bacchus rectangular hardcase and Lindy Fralin pickups.

Vintage series special run tele, same as below.

Special order? Nitro finish, 1-piece body, birdseye neck and only 3.1 kg.

Bacchus has had relic models for several years now and do a decent job. They are not in the same league as  Fender custom shop or Tom Murphy work but for the price and quality I think it is pretty decent. I think this strat is done tastefully and plays great. A relic LP model I had also had decent simulated wear without looking too fake.

Bacchus Classic Relic and Vintage Series Tele

I wish I knew more about this model. Solid flame top, lacquer finish and a red top. Perhaps it was a custom order of some kind. There are some later Bacchus models that are all-nitro finish and have Brazilian rosewood fretboards (look at the BLS-DX model on this page!). I haven't been able to find one of those but will keep looking.

Classic Series Flametop. Special order?

Greco "Mint Collection" guitars

Some pictures of the nice Mint Collection guitars I have seen. These were made from 1982 to 1990. 

EG59-100 and EG59-50

EG58-120

EC68-55JS

Rare EG60-150

EG59-50

EG59-85

EG-600 Goldtop

EG57-60

EGC-750

Likely EG60-150

1990 EG-600

Fretboard EG59-100

EG-1700 from 1990. Must have been a shop order.

VanZandt '57 model strat

VanZandt '57 Strat

Thin Nitro Finish + flame maple

Goodbye and farewell!

In the bowels of the Peninsula Shopping Centre in Singapore are several guitar stores. Hiding out in one was this Japanese ex-pat guitar, VanZandt stratocaster homage number 1833. Beautifully done thin nitrocellulose lacquer finish on a one-piece lightweight ash body. The flame-maple neck is has a fat C-shape and is also done in a thin nitro finish. 7 lbs 3 oz. 

I haven't had the guard off yet but assume that it has VanZandt pickups. Fullertone pickups were used in some models.

I ended up trading the blonde VanZandt and a couple of other guitars for this one. Sad to see blondie go but it was a great introduction to VanZandt guitars. 

VanZandt STV-R1 I presume

Tales From The Woodheap : So it arrived...along with 4 others =/This Ornetts...

Tales From The Woodheap : So it arrived...along with 4 others =/This Ornetts...: So it arrived...along with 4 others =/ This Ornetts is one killer machine...7.9 lbs, solid no chambering. Thin lacquer finish, 1 piece ...

 Ornetts guitars have their own unique thing going on with the truss rod design and headstock. A brand to keep an eye out for. The new Greco guitar lineup is made by the same manufacturer and the discontinued LPs are selling these days at a large discount.

A few good Burnys

From what I have seen 1980s were a good time for MIJ guitars, and Burnys were no exception with the FLGs and early RLGs. Here are a few "entry level RLG-50s" that I had the pleasure of seeing up close. For what were supposedly "plain-top" Les Paul copies they seemed to use a lot of nice maple for the tops.

You will notice in the photos belos the 30 degree angle pointers on the control knob. This is usually a pretty good indicator of an early-80's RLG Burny.  These RLG-50s had the lower-end pickups and wiring and poly finish but were very well made guitars, if not a bit heavy on average. Three of the four I had were around or over 10 lbs!

These models can be deceptive due to their looks and lack of a model number on the guitars. I have seen more than a few owners of likely RLG-50s assuming that the nice top on their guitar means they must be RLG-120/150/custom orders. That is a pretty good compliment to for the lowly RLG-50!

Deep in the Heart of Texas - VanZandt STV-R1

This recent addition is a VanZandt- brand Stratocaster model made for the Taurus corporation in Japan by manufacturer PGM (Professional Guitar Manufacture). I can't find any official page for PGM but the linked store has some pictures and Japanese info.

Taurus distributes several brands of musical equipment in Japan including VanZandt pickups. I got this one used in near mint condition from the good folks at A.T. Style guitars in Saitama, Japan. 

This particular one has 22 frets, a 9 inch radius fretboard and larger frets than the vintage-correct ones which makes it easier to play with a lower action.

It reminds me a bit of David Gilmour's mystery strat from the 50's. The "vintage" VanZant pickups are excellent lower output strat pickups and the noise level is very low for single pickups. Perhaps the aluminum pickguard has a lot to do with that. I can't find anything at all about this guitar that I would change other than it would be nice if they came with a hard case for the list price ($3000 or so US equivalent).

Reproduction paper-in-oil capacitor

From what I can tell the VanZandt guitar line has been going for about 20 years. They have no real low-end guitars as almost all are made with top quality materials. Lots of the older rosewood-board strats/teles use Brazilian rosewood. 

You can see the thin nitro finish that shows the grain of the ash body. No thick-finish Fender lacquer here.

VanZandt STV-R1 

Part II coming soon - VanZandt gold.

Greco "Super Real" Mint Collection EG60-150

Greco "Super Real" Mint Collection EG60-150

A rare guitar made right at the beginning of the Mint Collection line in early 1982.It has serial number 2 0376. It is the second to highest model in the 1982 Mint Collection Catalog with the only difference between this and the top EG60-180 model being a higher quality flame maple top. This one has a pretty interesting top in that the flame is very even but is not always that strong or noticeable depending on the viewing angle.
The back is made of two pieces center-matched.

The guitar is very light at 3.8 kg and has a thin 60's profile neck. It plays and sounds as well as the other Grecos I have had. The top carve as seen below is fairly steep up to the pickups.  

No black paint in the cavities here

Two-hole bobbin zebra DRY1982 pickups

The pickups are uncovered DRY1982 pickups with zebra bobbins.  These have to be among the earliest DRY1982 pickups as they only have 2 holes in the bobbins like the DRY-Z pickups and do not have the 3-hole bobbins that appeared with the Mint Collection series to more accurately replicate the original Gibson PAF pickup bobbins. What does that mean? I think it probably means that they are essentially DRY-Zs that were ordered with no stamp or covers for production of this guitar. There are examples of DRY-Z pickups produced in 1982 and these would have been made during the same period. To my ears they sound very close to the DRY-Zs 

The headstock has the "Super Real Model" script which only lasted for the initial period of the Mint Collection series. It was pictured on all the LPs in the 1982 Mint Collection catalog so it appears that there was originally an intention to continue using it but for some reason it was dropped on later models.

Beauty of the Japanese Burst ;-)

It came with the original Super Real hard case and all the original tags. You can see the Greco version of the original Gibson tag on the left, the blue"Mint Collection" tag with the model number, the Greco Handbook and a button from what was apparently a sales promotion at the time. 

Super Real hard case with case candy

Long tenon. "ラ" is for lacquer (ラカー)