Fender Prototype went for $1500 on Ebay?

westtexasred · Post by **westtexasred** » Mon Nov 05, 2012 9:40 pm

Anyone remember this guitar on Ebay in June? (Link)

"Up for sale is a Hobby shop Instrument that an Employee at Fender had made in the 70's. We are selling for orig owner family member. I dont particularly know much about it. (Electric Boozuki?) ( plectrem?) I've never seen anything quite like it. Has a Mahogany Body, Bolt-On Mahogany Neck,Rosewood Fingerboard, two pairs of octive strings and a pair of single strings. Comes With Hard Case."

So a guy on the Rickenbacker forum bought the guitar and made this vid

[youtube][/youtube]

This is what he found out about this guitar:

"Just spoke to Phil Kubicki, Roger Rossmeisl's assistant at Fender, on the phone and he said he recognized the thing!

Phil said that Roger tried to introduce so much into Fender's world from his experience at Rickenbacker. He talked a lot about how the checkered binding on the early Fender Coronados and some of the earlier acoustics were Rossmeisl's direct influence. So were the gold pick guards. At at first I was confused with what he was telling me because he said, "Yeah, this thing was from Rickenbacker," but after I got him to clarify a bit, he meant that it was a design Roger brought over from Ric.

Found a bit of photo evidence. The instrument on the table was referred to me by Kubicki. He told me to look for this photo in a book called Guitar Legends by George Fullerton. The guitar on the table with the same shape as mine is called a "Modern Rocker." check the photos on this page (Link)

This is the Ebay guitar below

Post script. He said he just listed the guitar on Ebay (Link)

westtexasred · Post by **westtexasred** » Mon Nov 05, 2012 11:50 pm

It's like a combination of the 5000 and 6000 series he designed for Rickenbacker.

Joey · Post by **Joey** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 12:57 am

Amazing story and history lesson.

Beautiful guitar.... only beef is that ugly headstock. The headstock should of been shaped like an arrow to flow with the body. 3/3 tuners instead of 6 in line.

DGNR8 · Post by **DGNR8** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 2:20 am

That's a Coronado headstock. I would totally believe it was RR's. I bet that will come back to haunt the seller.

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 4:46 am

What is really fascinating is the tremolo and bridge. That is a Bronco Tremolo and they replaced the original saddles for what appears to be Mustang type saddles. That could be an amazing tremolo.

westtexasred · Post by **westtexasred** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 8:52 pm

This is Fenders first Banjoline made for Eddie Peabody around 1962

[youtube][/youtube]

[youtube][/youtube]

moore65 · Post by **moore65** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 11:17 pm

At first this looked like a 12 string. It would look awesome as one

sangandongo · Post by **sangandongo** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 7:13 pm

Hi everyone, I'm the current owner of this Banjoline. It's still up for sale, though I've had a few offers on it. I'm also the dude playing the thing in the first video.

It's a pretty cool little instrument. I spent a lot of time on the phone with people at Fender, with Gruhn, emailing Tim Shaw and ultimately talking to Phil Kubicki. The mystery female Fender employee who also confirmed the instrument's authenticity was married to one of the tip top Fender founders. She asked politely I not use her name though, as she wants to remain private. I've also been contacted by an instrument historian who works for the Fender National Museum asking me about it, but she either doesn't like to reply to emails or is too busy to take my call - which was strange considering she contacted me, not the other way around.

It's a great instrument, but not something I'd ever play regularly. I have a far loftier goal in mind for what I want, though I don't think the price I'm asking is very unreasonable given the history and provenance of this instrument.

I just have to be patient, I guess.

If you want more of the story, I have all of my research posted here: Fender Banjoline Prototype

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 7:16 pm

This thing is really, really cool.

sangandongo · Post by **sangandongo** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 7:20 pm

Yeah. Check out the routing pics on the link from my last post. It's perfect inside. There are some really interesting oddities, like the knurled output jack, the mini toggle and the mini pots, but they are all consistent with other instruments and prototypes and are all dated to 1965.

sangandongo · Post by **sangandongo** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 7:27 pm

Here are some higher quality photos of the instrument.

Banjoline Photos on Picasa

Paradigmforcosmos · Post by **Paradigmforcosmos** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 8:57 pm

Imagine Wes playing that thing, that would have been pretty cool.

George · Post by **George** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 9:08 pm

sangandongo wrote:Here are some higher quality photos of the instrument.

Banjoline Photos on Picasa

amazing thanks for sharing

DGNR8 · Post by **DGNR8** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 11:45 pm

The bridge looks almost Bronco-like, and the pickups like a XII. Why sell?

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 12:30 am

Why sell? Buy for $1500, sell for $8000 = lots of dolla for buy many other interesting guitars?

sangandongo · Post by **sangandongo** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 1:01 am

I have it on ebay for $7500 BIN right now. I want a '60s reverse Firebird and that cash would go a long way towards my goal. I've been selling off lots of my vintage gear lately. This instrument is cool, unique, and very interesting, but it just sits in a case. I would like someone who wants it to own it.