OffsetGuitars.com

I bought this thing at a pawn shop several years ago, repaired, played and loved it. Now it's time to give it away as it's just collecting dust.
But what exactly is it?:











So the headstock says "GR Roland", just as the G-202 and G-505 guitars from Roland. Also, the headstock shape is quite similar. The body of my beautiful weirdo looks like a squeezed G-202 / 505.

So, here are some G-202 / G-505 pics from the net:







I think my guitar is either an old east european guitar that was trimmed to look like a Roland by a previous owner.... or a super rare Roland proto (hope it's a proto, but don't think so).
The neck plate looks similar to the of a 70s Klira I own (east german) and the strap pin reminds me of a 60's Jolana (czech) I used to own..


... what do you think? Am I going to be rich when selling this super rare G-202 protoype ??

That trussrod 100% screams Musima to me; inlays would make me think eastern European as well. Either Musima or Jolana I’d say.
Neckplate reminds me of Hagstrom.

Somebody put a lot of effort into hand painting that logo though; makes you wonder why.

I genuinely thought this was going to be one of those guitars with a Roland VG pickup somewhere in it, like mounted in or near the bridge, piezo style.

crazyzeke wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 13, 2024 10:53 am

whoa, what is that chrome adapter plate for the VG pickup?? I've never seen that before...

EDIT: I found it

OffYourFace wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 13, 2024 6:28 pm

crazyzeke wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 13, 2024 10:53 am

whoa, what is that chrome adapter plate for the VG pickup?? I've never seen that before...

EDIT: I found it

I know right, it's pretty cool. Roland VG stuff has moved on a bit.

Honestly I've wanted to add a GK pickup to the Jag for years (there's more space to do it between bridge pickup and bridge than on a Strat, pretty sure), however what puts me off every time I look into it is the cost - because most guitarists totally ignore it, there's a scarcity of VG gear on the used market, hence it tends to hold it's value, and the 13-core cables don't have a wireless equivalent. Plus the VG output would either need to go to the PA in stereo, where I don't have direct fader control should the levels get out of hand (shockingly easy to do with VG synths if you don't level match the patches, and sometimes even then) or yet another amp or pair of amps, and to be honest it's getting to the stage where to do what I'd want would require 3-6 amps (stereo guitar, stereo organ sim would be 4 right away) and an increase in setup time, loading/unloading the car time... basically this would be fine if I had a road crew, but I don't, and no amount of lifting weights will make me as fast as the Flash, so...

Regardless, it's still a cool concept, and I get lost in reverie thinking about the power, dynamics, variety and uniqueness of having dual amps for guitar, dual amps for organ sim, dual amps for VG synths, running it all at once and completely baffling people that it's all being done by one player. It's like a continuation of what Matt Bellamy used to do early in Muse's career (he is one of the few Roland VG players of note I can recall). I mean, people lost their minds when they saw Ed Sheeran do the most obvious stuff with a looper pedal, so that might make people's heads explode 🤯 haha okay I'm getting carried away I'll stop now.

Steadyriot. wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 13, 2024 10:38 am

That trussrod 100% screams Musima to me; inlays would make me think eastern European as well. Either Musima or Jolana I’d say.
Neckplate reminds me of Hagstrom.

Somebody put a lot of effort into hand painting that logo though; makes you wonder why.

Yea, probably the previous owner reshaped the body of an eastern European guitar to match the Roland GR body shape. Quite some effort.. must have been a real Roland fan

the neck and fingerboard look like it came off a Jolana Galaxis. The trussrod end is a dead giveaway.

Kinx wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 30, 2024 4:46 am

the neck and fingerboard look like it came off a Jolana Galaxis. The trussrod end is a dead giveaway.

Looks quite similar! Thanks for the hint!