Casio Computer Co., Ltd. is a Japanese electronics company established in 1946. The 1980s saw Casio venture into synthesizers and music keyboards, with their Casiotone, CZ and SD models. In the late 1980s Casio released the DG series for guitarists, essentially keyboards in the shape of guitars with PCM synthesis.
Blackmachine guitars are beautiful handbuilt shred machines. The brand was established in 2004 and there are now five standard models, double cutaway usually with reverse headstock. Custom variations are available for all designs. Bodies and necks are slim and ergonomic, making for light guitars well suited to fast playing styles.
Trevada Music sells a range of instruments. Electric guitar brands include Encore, Cruiser, Dean, LTD, Orange, Marshall and Kustom (available from their online shop), other brands might be available secondhand in the shop. They also offer a repair and maintenance service, tution and practice rooms.
Hours of opening: Sunday - Closed, Monday - Saturday 9.00am - 5.00pm
The Erlewine Chiquita has been around since the early 1980s. It is a travel sized electric guitar, just 28 inches long and weighing 4.5 pounds. Scale length is short, at 19 inches. Erlewine state that "Airlines accept the Chiquita in its hardshell case (with the mini practice amp!) as carry on luggage".
The lazer was designed by Mark Erlewine, and first patented in 1987. It is a headless design with a cut-down body. At a total length of 31 inches, and weight of 5.5 pounds, it would make a good travel guitar. Scale length is 25.5 inches, 24 frets, with neck-though construction. Pickups are a single-coil at the neck and humbucker at the bridge.
In the early 1960s the Unicord Corporation, a manufacturer of electronic transformers purchased the Amplifier Corporation of America of Westbury, New York. They began marketing a line of amplifiers under the brand name of Univox. The company was purchased by Gulf + Western in 1967. Guitar making operations moved to Japan in 1975 where they continued making guitars until 1982.
Every guitarist has a wish list of dream guitars they are never going to own. Some guitars are just too expensive, like the Gretsch White Falcon. Some are just not for sale, like Jimi Hendrix's psychedlic Flying V.
This giant Flying V style guitar was seen at the New York guitar show. The massive scale length means you can get almost subsonic notes on it. An even bigger guitar was made as a school project at the Academy of Science and Technology, Woodlands, TX. It is over 43 feet long but still playable.
The Buttocks Guitar is a surreal electroacoustic archtop jazz guitar. It has a soundhole at the side, a round back (shaped like a pair of buttocks), the flat ended body shape means the guitar can stand up on its own.
Sparrow Guitars boss Billy Bones began designing guitars while working as a furniture maker. He took a guitar building course in Calgary and launched Sparrow Guitars in 2004. The costs of building guitars from scratch in Canada meant it was more practical to import bare bone guitars from factories in Asia dismantle the instruments and add new hardware, fretwork, electronics, paint and artwork.
Iner Souster makes experimental musical instruments. His stringed instruments are often made from salvaged materials, and are art works in themselves.
The SWR is a solid body electric. The fluid looking body is made from agathis, and shaped to look like it is melting. The neck is maple (25 inch scale length) and has a Mosrite/Gibson-ish 3-a-side headstock with Grover mini-roto tuners. Its single humbucking pickup is governed by volume and tone controls. The jack is top-mounted. Comes in salmon-pink, black or ivory finishes.
The Rees Rambler is a travel guitar. It has a full size neck (25.5 inch scale), but the smaller body (with no wasted space behind the bridge) and compact 3-a-side headstock mean it is small enough to fit into aeroplane lockers.
