Kosh Naranek
New member
As funky as the decade it was built in, this is a Rennaisance guitar. This was my second electric, after a Fender Strat. I decided I wanted a guitar with humbuckers too. I bought it used sometime in 1980 or '81, either toward the end of my sophomore year or during my junior year of high school.
From what I've read and been told, these were built in the late 70's in Connecticut.
The original pickups were a Dimarzio Super Distortion, which was terribly microphonic, and a Dimarzio PAF. A common 70's combo. Right now it has a Dimarzio Steve Morse bridge model and a Carvin V22 neck pickup. The bridge pickup looks a little closer to the bridge than is typical on most guitars.
The body is plexiglass. This particular guitar is almost opaque, but I have seen a couple of others that were see-through, either clear or smoky gray.
The electronics were 70's state of the art. An active preamp powered by a 9 volt battery. Separate volumes for each pickup. Active bass and treble controls with center detent. A switch to defeat the tone controls. The other two switches are the 3 way pickup selector and a phase switch.
The bridge, tailpiece, nut, truss rod cover, control cavity cover, strap knobs and neckplate are all brass. Very 70's.
The headstock has a rosewood overlay with the logo.
The neck is lightly figured maple with what look like strips of mahogany and rosewood down the back.
The fretboard is bound, very black ebony with no inlays.
The guitar made its way back to me a few days ago. It had been at a friend's house for several years after I gave it to him. Before that I had it for a few years. Before that, it was with another friend for quite a few years who I'd sold or traded it to. And before selling it to him, I had bought it used in 1980 or '81. I played it a lot in high school, but never really bonded with it. The neck is rather beefy which I didn't like. There were a couple of frets that weren't quite even so there were spots where it buzzed (probably still does). Maybe most odd is that the fretboard has a very flat radius, which I like, but the bridge saddles were made for a much more curved radius. So the middle strings were always much higher than the high and low E's. They're not individually adjustable. At one point many years ago I decided to do something about it and sanded down the middle saddles. That helped a lot. I played it a little bit since I got it back and it didn't seem quite as bad as I remember it.
The sound is a little odd too, as you might expect from a plexiglass bodied guitar with active circuitry and brass hardware. No full woody resonance, no bloom. Jerry Garcia tone! Not that it sounds totally bad, especially with the pickups in it now.
Just thought I'd share these pics and info. Every so often I do an internet search out of curiosity and there is virtually no info out there that I've found about these guitars or the guitar company from CT, which closed in the late 70's. The company is mentioned in the blue book of electric guitars. But I've never seen one of these for sale on E Bay, and I don't think even Wikipedia has any info on them. There's info on Rick Turner's guitars, but that is a completely different company.
From what I've read and been told, these were built in the late 70's in Connecticut.
The original pickups were a Dimarzio Super Distortion, which was terribly microphonic, and a Dimarzio PAF. A common 70's combo. Right now it has a Dimarzio Steve Morse bridge model and a Carvin V22 neck pickup. The bridge pickup looks a little closer to the bridge than is typical on most guitars.
The body is plexiglass. This particular guitar is almost opaque, but I have seen a couple of others that were see-through, either clear or smoky gray.
The electronics were 70's state of the art. An active preamp powered by a 9 volt battery. Separate volumes for each pickup. Active bass and treble controls with center detent. A switch to defeat the tone controls. The other two switches are the 3 way pickup selector and a phase switch.
The bridge, tailpiece, nut, truss rod cover, control cavity cover, strap knobs and neckplate are all brass. Very 70's.
The headstock has a rosewood overlay with the logo.
The neck is lightly figured maple with what look like strips of mahogany and rosewood down the back.
The fretboard is bound, very black ebony with no inlays.
The guitar made its way back to me a few days ago. It had been at a friend's house for several years after I gave it to him. Before that I had it for a few years. Before that, it was with another friend for quite a few years who I'd sold or traded it to. And before selling it to him, I had bought it used in 1980 or '81. I played it a lot in high school, but never really bonded with it. The neck is rather beefy which I didn't like. There were a couple of frets that weren't quite even so there were spots where it buzzed (probably still does). Maybe most odd is that the fretboard has a very flat radius, which I like, but the bridge saddles were made for a much more curved radius. So the middle strings were always much higher than the high and low E's. They're not individually adjustable. At one point many years ago I decided to do something about it and sanded down the middle saddles. That helped a lot. I played it a little bit since I got it back and it didn't seem quite as bad as I remember it.
The sound is a little odd too, as you might expect from a plexiglass bodied guitar with active circuitry and brass hardware. No full woody resonance, no bloom. Jerry Garcia tone! Not that it sounds totally bad, especially with the pickups in it now.
Just thought I'd share these pics and info. Every so often I do an internet search out of curiosity and there is virtually no info out there that I've found about these guitars or the guitar company from CT, which closed in the late 70's. The company is mentioned in the blue book of electric guitars. But I've never seen one of these for sale on E Bay, and I don't think even Wikipedia has any info on them. There's info on Rick Turner's guitars, but that is a completely different company.
