Rocky "Electric Guitar", 70's Japanese shortscale. Pics!

For guitars of the straight waisted variety (or reverse offset).
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Ceylon
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Rocky "Electric Guitar", 70's Japanese shortscale. Pics!

Post by Ceylon » Thu Apr 06, 2017 12:43 am

This oddity is for sale quite cheap close to me. I've never seen anything like it (well, except for a G&L Sabre and a Gibson Grabber) but it seems to be your average Japanese/Korean 70's or 80's cheap thin-piece-of-plywood-bodied guitar, Teisco or Harmony or something.

But then that bridge looks totally new, and I can't find a picture of a guitar with that Grabber-type pickguard online, and plastic-covered humbuckers on one of those guitars? The brand is Rocky, and I also can't find anything about Rocky instruments, unless it's the same Rocky that was Sundown's budget brand.

I had to enhance the image quite a bit to make the guitar clear, so sorry for the Instagram-look.

Image
Last edited by Ceylon on Fri Apr 14, 2017 8:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Here's one. Help me identify this one.

Post by raphaël » Thu Apr 06, 2017 12:59 am

It is a japanese badged guitar.
I saw them quite often here in France branded as Paul Beuscher.
It's for sale quite cheap...because it is :) !!!
They usually go for 50 to 80 euros here.

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Re: Here's one. Help me identify this one.

Post by Ceylon » Thu Apr 06, 2017 1:32 am

raphaël wrote:It is a japanese badged guitar.
I saw them quite often here in France branded as Paul Beuscher.
It's for sale quite cheap...because it is !!!
They usually go for 50 to 80 euros here.
Bingo! That's the one. Paul Beuscher sounds like a boutique brand or a luthier or something :D

The guy wants 50€ for this one as well. I guess it's not worth buying it to flip for profit or so? Do they sound and play OK?
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Re: Here's one. Help me identify this one.

Post by Pacafeliz » Thu Apr 06, 2017 5:39 am

That bridge looks massive!!! For €50 I'd take the chance!

(even if it isn't an offset)
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Re: Here's one. Help me identify this one.

Post by Ceylon » Thu Apr 06, 2017 7:35 am

Pacafeliz wrote:That bridge looks massive!!! For €50 I'd take the chance!

(even if it isn't an offset)
Right? Weirdly enough the bridge is what has me the most intrigued too. And there's always the off chance that it has nice pickups.

I think I'll offer him 40...
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Re: Here's one. Help me identify this one.

Post by Pacafeliz » Thu Apr 06, 2017 10:07 pm

I'm pretty sure I've seen such Ripper-a-likes with the early Ibanez logos, too.

Let us know if you get it!
i love delay SO much ...that i procrastinate all the time.

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Re: Here's one. Help me identify this one.

Post by Ceylon » Thu Apr 06, 2017 11:35 pm

I got a few more pictures and the bridge mystery deepens. It is definitely non-original, meaning some other things might be too, like that switch for example.

But the bridge puzzles me, it looks like a vibrato but bolted through the body?

Image

Image

Image
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Re: Here's one. Help me identify this one.

Post by PorkyPrimeCut » Fri Apr 07, 2017 12:48 am

Have you seen these pics? Might be the original, unmolested guitar. I can't get the pics any clearer, unfortunately...

ImageImage
Image

Different decal though.
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Re: Here's one. Help me identify this one.

Post by Ceylon » Fri Apr 07, 2017 8:06 am

Indeed, PorkyPrimeCut. I think that's exactly the one. No clue if this one still has the same pickups as it did from the beginning, but judging from the screw holes it had the same or a similar tailpiece at least.

I got it, by the way, so I'll report back once I pick it up.
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Re: Here's one. Help me identify this one.

Post by Pacafeliz » Mon Apr 10, 2017 10:42 am

:w00t: SO cool!!!
i love delay SO much ...that i procrastinate all the time.

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Re: Here's one. Help me identify this one.

Post by Ceylon » Wed Apr 12, 2017 6:08 am

So, I got it. Man, it's an odd bird. The bridge really seems to be the moving part of a Kahler-like vibrato that has just been bolted through the body. The saddles have tiny fine-tuners and you can see the hinges on which it would have rocked. A ground wire is clumsily attached to a screw on the back of the whole thing. The tiny screws that would have held the original vibrato in place are still there, too.

The fretboard is of the type that has been painted black and you can see where it has been worn through. It seems to have been played quite a bit, and despite feeling a bit cramped the neck is nicer than I would have thought. It feels like a really nice piece of wood was used for it, which is odd in itself, and the thick layer of clear over it makes it feel like the nice Eko guitar a friend has. Not bad at all. It seems to be some odd kind of short scale too, but I'll have to wait until I get home to compare it to my other guitars. The tuners are crap, 6 on a strip classic cheapos.

The body is rather thin, most certainly plywood with something like a mahogany veneer. All the screws are different, meaning it must have been screwed apart and together at least once. A 3-way mini-switch has been added, presumably as a pickup selector seeing as the originals seemed not ho have had those, and the tone control is busted. Right now I'm hoping that the pickups are cool.

Actually the whole thing is damn cool somehow in all it's mutt-ness, but I doubt I'll keep it for very long.
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Re: Here's one. Help me identify this one.

Post by Ceylon » Wed Apr 12, 2017 7:49 am

The mystery deepens. The bridge pickup is just one of those single coils that you can find disguised as humbuckers on old japanese guitars, one coil wrapped around a rectangular plastic frame with a separate magnets and a folded piece of metal holding the pole pieces that just sort of drops into it.

The neck pickup is two of those, stuffed into the same cover and seemingly wired together to work as a humbucker by someone.
If it works, that one might sound pretty good I reckon. But there must be an incredible volume drop when you switch from the neck to the bridge.
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Re: Rocky "Electric Guitar", 70's Japanese shortscale. Pics!

Post by AWSchmit » Tue Apr 18, 2017 5:47 am

Originally had no pickup selector? I wonder if the idea was to just turn down or up the independent volume knobs? I'd love to play this thing for a bit. Looks like a fun lay around the house guitar.
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Re: Rocky "Electric Guitar", 70's Japanese shortscale. Pics!

Post by Mad-Mike » Fri Apr 21, 2017 10:01 am

Hi, I know that bridge, it IS a PART of a Vibrato unit that used to be sold on 80's metal shred guitar copies from Korea called the Accutune II vibrato unit, it's a Kahler rip-off vibrato made of cheap metal.

Image


Some of the old Applause electric guitars had them. They are cast magnesium and had this problem of the spring retainer at the front breaking off. I had one on an Explorer mutt I built that had a Hondo Deluxe Series 780 body on it, I put a Harmony strat intertia block on it and it actually worked better than it did stock. LOL. This guitar seen below from one of my grainy old youtubes....I think the "bridge" was another one of those Accutune II units where the spring mount got ripped off because of the cheap pot metal frame.

Image

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Re: Rocky "Electric Guitar", 70's Japanese shortscale. Pics!

Post by Ceylon » Sat Apr 22, 2017 7:42 am

Mad-Mike wrote:Hi, I know that bridge, it IS a PART of a Vibrato unit that used to be sold on 80's metal shred guitar copies from Korea called the Accutune II vibrato unit, it's a Kahler rip-off vibrato made of cheap metal.

Image


Some of the old Applause electric guitars had them. They are cast magnesium and had this problem of the spring retainer at the front breaking off. I had one on an Explorer mutt I built that had a Hondo Deluxe Series 780 body on it, I put a Harmony strat intertia block on it and it actually worked better than it did stock. LOL. This guitar seen below from one of my grainy old youtubes....I think the "bridge" was another one of those Accutune II units where the spring mount got ripped off because of the cheap pot metal frame.

Image
Ah shit, I knew someone here would know where it came from. Thanks! It's been a lot of fun tracking it's mutty heritage and I think this is the last piece.

I managed to find the guy who owned it originally too, bought it in the early 80's for his first guitar and doesn't clearly remember modding it. I'm gonna sell it on, mostly because I have too many guitars in a small room already, but it was fun to have it for a while :)
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