Hair-metal Guitars of the '80s

[Chipps]

OK, there seem to be a few fellow fans of the classic age of back-combed hair and Floyd Roses... Here's a thread for you!

I'll start with a couple of my favourites...
First off - Kramer Nightswan...

24 frets, a pointlessly similar pair of humbuckers and some flamboyant paint finishes. My favourite was the polkadot one though. Vivian Campbell signature model.

And then the Charvel 3DR

One of which I have just bought. I lusted after one in the '80s, so when I found one recently, I had to have it!

 

[JohnA]

I have a video somewhere of me with a pink Kramer baretta and hair so big it's shameful

I'm off the pointy headstock look, but still have a soft spot for a superstrat!

 

[Chipps]

I had a pink, well more plum (cheaper) Kramer Beretta last year. It wasn't quite authentic enough for me and I traded it in again, but I do like the style though.

Unfortunately, I have the same issues with them as I have with Les Paul Juniors, I like to hide behind the sweeter tone of a neck pickup. Now perhaps I need a custom Beretta with a neck pickup? OK, maybe not...

 

[Dave_Mc]

I'm off the pointy headstock look, but still have a soft spot for a superstrat!

same here. to be honest, i was never that fond of really pointy headstocks, like esp or jackson, but i love superstrats.

 

[ned]

I would love a Night Swan. There is also a BC Rich that has a more traditional body style that looks pretty sweet.

 

[Mole Man]

The Kramer Night Swan is becoming very collectible, apparently. I happen to know a guitarist in a semi-pro Rock/Blues band who uses one at all their gigs and plugged into a Marshall combo through a rack multieffects set up (remember them?) the thing just kills!!

Always fancied a Hamer Steve Stevens myself, (in a retina burning fuschia finish of course)!! Saw a lovely looking one in red on eBay some time ago but decided that the combinaton of complicated Floyd Rose unit and the thin, flat backed neck profiles that abounded back in the 1980's would not be for me...

 

[Chipps]

Yes, I've been watching Nightswans on ebay - they're in demand!

I may have seen the same blues guy. There was a band playing at the Colne Blues Festival up here in Lancashire and even from the back of a gymnasium, I could immediately bore my friends by identifying his guitar. Seemed an odd choice given the lack of neck pickup, but if that's what he's into.

Seconded on the Steve Stevens - in pink natch.

I always wanted a George Lynch ESP with the funny camo, Japanese stickers and reverse headstock too...

 

[Mole Man]

I may have seen the same blues guy. There was a band playing at the Colne Blues Festival up here in Lancashire and even from the back of a gymnasium, I could immediately bore my friends by identifying his guitar. Seemed an odd choice given the lack of neck pickup, but if that's what he's into.

Go to the top of the class, young man! Yes you have, his name is Danny Gwilym and the band was Roadhouse. Although taken at a different festival, here is a link to some images that show off his guitar nicely:

http://www.earlyblues.com/Burnley%20National%20Blues%20Festival%202009%20Fringe.htm

Review of the band's set as written by yours truly:

http://www.roadhousegb.co.uk/reviews.cfm

Photos from the Colne Festival 2009 featuring that guitar again:

http://www.earlyblues.com/Colne%20R&B%20Festival%202009%20British%20Stage%20Sunday.htm

 

[Chipps]

Yay! All that and I was in the same venue as a Tokai Forumite!

Good review. I can't say I thought his guitar tone was er, blues-appropriate, but that's just me (someone who rarely leaves the neck pickup...)

See you there this year then!

 

[Mole Man]

Yay! All that and I was in the same venue as a Tokai Forumite!

Good review. I can't say I thought his guitar tone was er, blues-appropriate, but that's just me (someone who rarely leaves the neck pickup...)

See you there this year then!

Whilst it is true that Danny is a metal player at heart, I feel that he does complement the band's more recent rockier direction and material.

See you this Summer!

P.S. Hopefully this won't be the only opportunity for Tokai forumites to meet in the same venue, hint, HINT!! Shout out to JohnA & Mike, we need to kick start the 2010 convention...

 

[Ozeshin]

For the guys who like the super strat but DON'T like the pointy business...you could always go the Charvel San Demas series...they've been reissued and you can pick them up on the bay for around 1k...they've got everything a "I'm stuck in an 80's timewarp"player could ever want....Floyd and Fluro...what MORE could you want

 

[Chipps]

I don't know... surely it doesn't count if it's not pointy (Malmsteen and the Ibanez army aside...)

But then does that mean I need to get the stretch Wranglers out of the back of the wardrobe too? Hmm, maybe not...

Soon to come, my 'bolted together in the '80s and hand sprayed' home made job...