Conrad electric baritone guitar model 1247/Conrad electric guitar

 

Shouldn't be hard to look at this photo and tell which is the baritone.  Scale length differential is very apparent.  Its like a sibling photo where the big brother towers over the little.  As with many of these Japanese guitars it is difficult to nail down their birthplace and birthdate.  It is believed that these two guitars were Matsumoku products and wholesaled by a distributer out of Chicago.  Depending on the wholesaler as well as the company that was doing the retail these guitars came under a variety of names including Aria, Domino, Electra, Lyle, etc.  These Conrad guitars were distributed between the mid 60's to the late 70's.

On the left you have a baritone that I had fixed up by James Ralston.  This thing sounds crazy now, like you are plucking on piano strings!  It is tuned b to b and aside from giving you some incredible ethereal sounds it also gives you that great tic tac bass sound that Nashville was employing in the 50's.  James had to get the neck straightened out(which is a requisite repair on just about all of these Japanese wonders) and added a compensated saddle to help out with intonation.  It plays great now and is already providing inspiration in the studio.

These rocker switches were the low point of engineering on these guitars.  They have almost always been problematic and while James got these cleaned up and working pretty good, I am still searching for a better switching system that will fit the bill.  

It is tough to see, but there is a little treble boost switch east of the neck pickup - fender jaguar style.  These types of switches might be the answer to replacing the rocker switches.  

A little closer look at the pickups.  These pickups were seen on these offset models.  I have seen these Conrad guitars have anywhere from a one to four pickup configuration.

Many of these came with a straight metal bar saddle.  It was hell on the intonation, especially when you put a whammy bar into play.

Big, honking headstock!

The baritones little brother on the right came with an intonatable bridge and is all original.  Again, the rocker switches are less than desirable, but this guitar has some spunk and a chunky neck that I always personally desire.  Still in the process of dialing this one in and hoping to use it more once I do as it is a fun instrument to mess around with.

Harmony H72V Electric Guitar

 

Some might say..."Why didn't you just go for a Gibson ES-335."  I would bet that the 335 feels a little more hefty in your hands and is the right choice for Larry Carlton, but as with all these Harmony and Kay guitars, so much of it comes down to vibe.  I am not a road guy so I don't need the reliability and something as easily replaceable as a 335.  Vibe counts, and this guitar has tons of it.

This is a Harmony H-72V.  It is the brother of the H-72.  The only difference is the H-72V has a Bigsby, which is pretty high cotton for a Harmony.  I am still in the process of dialing in the setup on this guitar, but it has already found its way into some recordings.  Those Dearmond pickups are where all the vibe exists in this guitar.  They are killer.  Crunchy or smooth, they are pretty versatile.  I have yet to experiment much with their smoothness, but was able to get some Stones like crunch on a recording, and therein lies the vibe.  

Some of the features on this guitar include an intonatable bridge which helps with the Bigsby.  The body and neck are very slim, and as stated earlier, the 3 position switch and those pickups make this a very underrated and versatile guitar.  What I wouldn't give for the neck to be nice and fat on this one, but it is about as slim as any electric neck I have ever played.  It is funny that many of the Harmony acoustics have big, fat necks and just about all of these semi hollows have really slim necks.  The Harmony Meteors also have real slim necks.  This is the trade off a guy like me has to make for that cool tone.  These were made between 1966-1971 and though there are a couple of them around, they are not that prevalent, especially with a Bigsby.

 

This guitar looks in pretty damn good shape, doesn't it?  That's what the seller led me to believe.  He took pictures from every angle except for the angle that showed how the guitar had been dropped at one time on the instrument jack.  He never mentioned it, and when I confronted him on it he said he didn't see it and that it happens to him all the time(being sold a bill of goods).  What a fucking douchbag!  Many of the guitars you see on this sight have been sold.  Never in a million years would I not describe an instrument as perfectly as I could.  I truly believe we are caretakers of these instruments, not shyster salesmen trying to make a buck at every turn.

You tell me if you wouldn't have noticed that!!  Oh well...I just don't know how some people sleep at night.

Fenderish headstock is a unique feature on these instruments