VILLAGE VANGUARD

Jazz and Hollow Body Guitars




Harmony L4-C





FG-100

 Sunburst. Serial No. G83. Original case. Inquire



Blonde FG 100

 Serial No. F82. 70s Ibanez Jazz guitar. 16 inch lower bout. Like Gibson ES-175. Original case included. Inquire



7-string Jazz Guitars

 Charlie Hunter got a 7-string carved-top archtop thatwe made years ago. Since then I've been creating various 7-string instruments. (From left) The first one is a 330 thinline-style with Lawrence Blade humbuckers $500. It even has a fancy ebony fretboard. A friend of mine supplies us with the second one -- the double-cutaway. Fairly modern for $450. The third, the most poppular in the stable is the big L-7 style with the floating pickup. We've made alot of these out of new/old stock 60s parts. That one is $500. It comes with the Lawrence A-400 pickup. The fourth one is excellent. I make it with a solid rosewood neck and a tilted peghead. This provides incredible sustain and tone. Its glued into a Honduras mahogany body. I use the Blade pickups. $800.




Gibson ES-225

 An early historic example of when guitars went electric. This is a thinline, hollow Gibson that went on to become an entire style of guitar called the "330", "335", "355", etc. Its in very good condition, with one old P-90 pickup and a primordial trapese bridge tailpiece, similar to what you would find on the early 50s les pauls. I never liked them, but there were some rationalizations for their design. It can be easily modified to play more in tune. Comes with an old Gibson hard case for $1250.




FD-10

 Another version of our mini jazz guitars. This is one of the nicest ones ever that was unearthed -- a mini full-scale length jazz guitar. Note the 1964 hang tag. $350




Silvertone L-7

 with beautiful rubyburst and floating Lawrence pickup. A typical Fatdog guitar from the 50s. $400




Gene V with RMC electronics

Gene V with RMC electronics (full body view)

The custom request for the Gene V with RMC electronics system. It has a Piezo bridge with individual saddle. Use it with a synthesizer -- OR it has a really good acoustic sound. Blend it with the passive Dunkmore Semen pickups. Its a very simple and tidy installation and has a lot of control over the voicing and shaping of the sound. For an extra note, we decided to go with an ebony pickguard (which I think we might start including in all models). It gives a handsome and elegant touch. (The RMC system is not as expensive as it would seem....)




Big Mama, Pops and Baby -- the nuclear family

 Black Heritage 335 (left), used by T. J. Kirk ("the funkmeisters" John Schott and Charlie Hunter), playing Thelonius Monk, James Brown and Roland Kirk on their guitars. $1000 The 3/4-size Ibanez -- Baby 335 (middle) -- passed around Berkeley for years. $550 Gibson's big-time loser -- ES 325. This was a 70s dog, but in actuality, it was a revival of a 60s USA Epiphone Riviera with hot Firebird mini-humbuckers $800




Big 17 inch (45 cm) version of the Gene V




Gene V

 Locking Gotoh Magnums. Roller Schaller tunamatic. $700.




Voss 60s f-hole with toiletseat and floating pickup $350

Silvertone archtop. Laminated sunburst top. Reset neck. $150

50s Harmony Patrician. Solid top. 16-inch jazz guitar with wooden tailpiece. Very nice. $275.

Red Kay big hollow SG $325

50s Kay cutaway L-7 with Bigsby and two soapbars $600

Suziki blonde 60's solid top jazz guitar with cutaway. Fancy $600

Coronado copy. Fancy chrome control plate and tailpiece. Asymetrical cutaways, Thinline hollow body. $200

FD-30: Subway's ES-330

60s NOS coral firefly body, long-scale six-in-line silvertone neck OR 3X3 rosewood heritage-style neck, 2 chrome P-90 pickups, tunamatic bridge, sealed gears, ornate trapeze tailpiece. from $400



The FD-10. Mini-single cutaway jazz guitar, is usually dressed up with P-90s, good gears and bridge. Its a great mini-jazz guitar, similar to the Ibanez "George Benson" model -- or similar to the Guild BluesBird -- but has a more 50's tone. It's actually a very high quality instrument; this one has a five-piece neck. Simple and compact. One time "The King"-- who's actually a real king -- Sonny Adé, was visiting with us and spotted an FD-10, got that look in his eye and proclaimed: "That was my first guitar when I was a boy!" I remembered seeing in the old 60s EKO catalogues that they had a big distribution in Africa. I have some great photos of King Sonny Adé with his FD-10; maybe I'll put them up soon. Many players have bought these from us, and love 'em. $350

Purple Fawallesque gold hardware L-5 with Bigsby and whammy.

Thinline Trini Lopez Japanese replica. Elongated diamond 4 f-holes, 6-in-line peghead, two chrome soapbars and Bigsby. $350

Harmony Rocket with D'Armonds, humbucking size, six-in-line peghead double cutaway $350

Red Harmony Rocket with Ric-style toaster pickups $350

Sunburst ES-330 replica with humbucker, high-tech gears and bridge. $250

Harmony Rocket with mini-humbuckers $350

Kay Kraftsman. Semi-hollow DBL. Cutaway-2, sealed gears. Tunamatic bridge. Red. $250

Sherwood jazz guitar

 Beautiful blonde 17" solid spruce top. Deco dressed Lawrence. A-400 pickup, good gears. 1951. $400 Good neck angle to drive top.



50s Silvertone. Rounded cutaway - L-7 size, 26" scale length. Ruby sunburst, 2 P-90's, blues, jazzabilly, fast slim neck. $600

50s Airline, L-7 style hollowbody, cool original Inca silver finish. 2 P-90's. $750

Electra 60s Japanese 330 copy. Curly maple top and back, sunburst. $200

Kay ES-125 style. 1 humbucker. Sunburst finish, tunamatic bridge, Tele® neck. $250

60s Espana--Vox ES-335 copy. Looks like huge Les Paul. Tunamatic, sealed gears. Italian. Rocks! $300

60s Hagstrom Viking -- quality Swedish ES-330 copy. Six in line peghead. Burst, 2 p-ups. $275

Rocket

 Po' man's Wretsch -- actually a rockin' axe. We upgrade the bridge to narrow-spaced tunamatic and Gotoh, Kluson or diecast gears. From $300. Many to choose from with single or double cutaway.



60s Mini ES-125 copy. Japanese 2 single coil, sealed gears; Tunamatic bridge. Black. $200

Silvertone, Jimmy Reed sunburst finish white p-guard and matching headstock. $400

60s Guild hollow Les Paul Bluebird thang. $600

60s FD-10. Favorite creation by Fatdog. Similar to George Benson GB10. EKO. Small cutaway hollowbody with floating A-400 p-up, sealed gears, tunamatic. Ruby burst; fancy binding. Guild Stairstep pickguard with 1 vol knob. $400

60s Suziki 2 p.u. ES-125. Fatbody, sealed gears, tunamatic, red burst. Three-way Tele® switch. Rock-a-billy. $200

60s Harmony Rocket. 3 p.u. D'Armond single cutaway, segmented f-holes. Three-volume, three tones, 3 on/off switches. Sealed gears, tunamatic fancy inlayed and board neck. $400

Big 17 inch (45 cm) version of Da Angel.

Da Angel

I want to offer Da Angel to all of you who want the forties and fifties archtop sound without draining your Swiss bank account. For hollow bodies, tone (to me) has always been a punchy, wide aperture single-coil in the neck position. I'm offering vintage, new/old stock, genuine D'Armond pickups on this art deco beauty. Its very zen with one volume knob on the stairstep pickguard. It has a decent sound acoustically and a tremendous electric tone that goes to the roots of electric jazz guitar voicing. Da Angel -- he's my Dude. Blonde, dressed in gold hardware, flame curley maple, back and sides. Great for be-bop, blues, even schmoltzy jazz. $700 (Not $70k)


* Fender® Stratocaster and Telecaster are registered trademarks of the Fender Musical Instrument Corporation.

Product Review: Fat Dog Da Angel

by Ray Matuza
20th Century Guitar July 1999

The past few years have brought us a pickle barrel full of fine quality guitars at dirt cheap prices thanks in part to the evolution the CNC cutting machine and the global work force.

What Mr. Fat Dog, proprietor of Subway Guitars in Berkeley, California, has done is factor in the aforementioned, and with a synthesis of foreign and domestic product, produced a line of archtop instruments based on the L-5 body design. With this body design as the constant, different pick-up types and configurations are the variables in the three models available.

The Da Angel features a laminated spruce top, 17 inch body with maple back and sides. The 25-1/2" scale length runs along the maple neck sporting authentic Grover Imperial tuners, bone nut and an "ebonized" rosewood finger board.

To further the journey into jazzland, a N.O.S. DeArmond pick-up is suspended from a bracket at the end of a finger board, much in the style of a Gibson Johnny Smith. A singular volume control capped with a "Gibson-style speed knob" sits atop the hand-fashioned art deco smoked plexiglass pick guard.

Output is terminated at the tail piece end; not in an endpin jack, but in a separate quarter inch jack above the strap pin. If you like using a thick leather strap, I could see a potentially territorial problem between it and your quarter-inch plug sticking out of the instrument.

To round out the 50-cent tour, the "aged" blonde acrylic lacquer finish gives a classic look accented by the gold-plated hardware.

Predictably, Da Angel does not have the complexity and vibrancy of a solid spruce top guitar, but I was quite surprised at its "au naturale" volume -- loud! Tonal response was fairly consistent and even throughout the instrument's range with good bass response due to the body size. The neck has a Gibson feel with a slight chuckiness to it. Also, the nicely crowned and polished frets made bumpin' through some Wes tunes a pleasurable experience. However, I did notice the 6th fret lifting out a bit on the bass side.

Through a small garden variety of amps, the DeArmond single coil pick-up had a nice clear tone reproducing the guitar's sound quite adequately. The factory-equipped bronze strings gave a piano-like sound, even though the difference in alloys created a slight imbalance between the first two strings and the rest of the set. An instant solution came in the form of changing to a set of nickel-plated steel round wounds.

The Da Angel offers an affordable way to dip one's toes into the jazz guitar's waters. The ruggedly constructed instrument might also serve well where safety or environmental conditions aren't exactly ideal. Could ya see Herb Ellis, Mundell Lowe, and Joe Puma hangin' at the beach in their baggies playin' these things? "Hey Herb, ya got the changes to....?"

Da Angel list: $700
Domestic hardshell case: $80
Other models available:

Reprinted from the July 1999 issue of 20th Century Guitar.


60s most weird EKO-like mini-mini ES-335, double-rounded cutaways, Les Paul size red burst. 2 p-up pushbuttons. Longest whammy bar in the world. 10-incher, solid steel. NOS. $300

50s Jimmy Reed Kay blonde curley bad blues git-tar. Iceburg pickups. Block inlays, Tunamatic, sealed gears. $400

60s 3 p.u. Kay Dormanmu flame 6-in-line peghead, sealed gears, tunamatic thin ES-125, single cutaway. $300

60s X-tra gold-tone Harmony Patrician. Acoustic f-hole. Solid spruce top; easy action. $225

60s Harmony Rocket, 2 p.u., single cut, sealed gears, tunamatic bridge. $325

70s Ventura 335 copy. No f-holes; rose wood-grained top and back. Gibson crest copy. $275

The Gene V

 I've been dreaming of his series of instruments for awhile. I love these big fat blonde jazz guitars, but I like them dressed more for the 50s. So we're offering three models: Gene, Lowell and 'da Angel. Here's a glimpse of Gene: get your blue cap out and ROCK! Loaded with two P-90s, Bigsby-style trem, Schaller tunamatic roller bridge and Gotoh locking magnum gears -- for those dudes who really want to yank their thang. The magnums have a piston in the shaft that locks the string -- you basically get half a revolution around the post when the thing's in tune. So wanking and yanking won't wack it out of tune. The other model -- Lowell -- will have 3 P-90 soapbar pickups, a master tone in the cutaway, three volume knobs in a line, and a fancy art deco tailpiece. This will be a great blues guitar in the tradition of T-bone Walker and Lowell Fulsom. Now for 'da Angel. We're gonna go the for art deco with a tailpiece and stairstep pickguard. There will be one genuine D'Armond pickup mounted to the end of the fretboard -- floating -- and a volume knob on the pickguard. This will be more of a zen jazz guitar. You can play smoltz on it that will have your grandmother exclaiming: "Marvelous!" She'll even miss her Arthur Godfrey Show to hear you strum a little concert for her. Here's the super good news: 7 bills each. Not $7000 -- but $700. The final touch on all three models will be a faux pearl inlay -- FatDog -- in the peghead. Finally, the FatDog brand will have a guitar who's styling deserves sporting the FatDog label. They will be in a blonde and gold tone finish. Of course we'll have custom permutations of the appointments -- bridges, pickups, tuners, etc. One guy has already put his name in for one black P-90 by the neck.

50s Kay hollow body.Arch top, sunburst. No cutaway, 2 p-ups; sealed gears, tunamatic. $300

60s Silvertone L-7 style 26" scale length. 2 soapbar p-up's; sunburst blues Jazzabilly thang. $600

Gretsch 1963 Anniversary w/D'Armond p-ups. Sunburst. Gretsch hardtail thumbnail inlays. $1000

Kawai 60s small 2X cutaway, 2 single coil p-ups. $150

50s Kay Archtop. One p-up neck position; no cutaway, sealed gears, Tunamatic bridge sunburst. $225

Subway Silvertone Longhorn Archtop sunburst. W/2 humbuckers, sealed gears and tunamatic bridge. $300

No-Name Japanese ES-330 copy. Sunburst, sealed gears. $200

7-string Jazz Guitar

L-5 size, big Florentine cutaway, sunburst, multiple bound body. Lawrence A-400 Johnny Smith-style floating p-up with active EQ preamp in shoulder. Special machined trapeze tailpiece. Available with a number of custom permutations of electronics systems. $500



70s Kawai L-5 copy. Sunburst, 2-P-90s, sealed gears, Tunamatic bridge. $450

Big L-7 size Japanese jazz guitar with 2 soap bar, Like old Gibson. $400

60s Wretch Gent. Walnut and gold. $1400

40s Epiphone "L-7" 1 p-up, sunburst $1400

Old Kraftsman 1950s . 17" jazz guitar. Black and white, stroboscopic binding, floating pickup, fancy hardware. $400

30s Kalamazoo Cromwell L-50 archtop. Real fancy bindings and inlays. Old sunburst, similar to 30s Kalamazoo. $400

All-black Harmony Rocket with P-90s. $350

Harmony L-4C

 I've always loved these guitars; they have a carved spruce top and the real sort of 50s jazz guitar look. To me, its similar to a Gibson L-4C, but I like the rounded cutaway even more. The peghead has a fleur-de-lis inlay in a Brazilian rosewood veneer. The f-holes are the segmented three-piece f-holes, one of my favorites. The 16-inch body gives you a very well-balanced sound with good mid-range, along with treble and bass. Of course, the D'Armond pickup, floating on the end of the fretboard, is one of my favorite pickups. It has a great sound; it picks up a little of the acoustic sound of the body, also. I string the guitar with medium bronze strings so they have a good acoustic sound; the cores of the bass strings pick up electro-magnetically, so its not an overloaded bass with alot of feedback. Its painful to say "bye-bye" to this one.

60s Framus rounded cutaway ES-175. Scarlet-to-black sunburst. Deep   cutaway. $400.

Ugly monkey-butt Gretch Rally. Wanted to be a car when it got its racing stripes, but its just a miserable puke green 60s guitar with built-in fuzz tone. $1000

1950s L7-style with solid spruce top and cutaway by Kay. Floating Lawrence A-400 pickup, volume knob on pickguard. Art deco tailpiece and Gotoh gears. Sounds good acoustically or amplified. $600

Giant satanic Barney Kessel copy. Cherry sunburst. Over-inflated horns. Two black P-90 soapbar pickups. Deco tailpiece. Gotoh-style gears. Made in Japan in the 70's with set neck. $450

Black. Big. L5 copy with P-90 soapbars. Fancy tailpiece, good gears. 70s Japanese. $450

Simple and Zen jazz guitar. Thinline. Italian Vox/Eko. One P-90. Rounded cutaway like Byrdland. Wine-red finish. $300

Black 1970s Japanese L-5 copy with soapbar pickups. Sounds as good as anything five times our price. $475

BIG, full-bodied jazz guitar

 Best buy ever for an L-5! Fancy appointments, available in a metallic red burgundy, black sunburst or blonde for $650.



Fancy Aria ES-330 copy. Gold hardware on red body. $225

Blonde 50s Harmony H-50. Like ES-125. Tortoise-engraved peghead overlay. Block pearloid inlays, soapbar. $350

50s L7-C Silvertone Kay. Beautiful ruby-sunburst, two cream soapbars, block inlay. Gotoh gears and tunamatic. FatDog's favorite! $600

Big L5 copy. 60's Japanese. Two black soapbars, thin neck. Sunburst, block inlay. $400

Beautiful dark candy-apple red L5 copy by Sebring. Gold hardware, rounded cutaway. Very expensive when new. $650

Generic ES-330 copy. Gold hardware, (Gotoh) black humbuckers. $200

Ugly Kramer Farrington. Small acoustic guitar that wants to be a Strat®. Super birdseye neck. $300

Kay hollow body. Thin, cutaway. Three pickup sunburst. Old. $275

Country Gentleman

 Newer, clean, case. $1500



Fancy red Vox. Like ES-330. 2 Strat®-style pickups. Ornate tailpiece. $325

Poor man's Gretsch. 60s Harmony Rocket. Thin, cutaway hollow body. Two single coil pickups. Sunburst. Upgraded bridge and gears. $325

60s dark sunburst L7 copy. Cutaway, stairstep pickguard, two soapbars. Gotoh gears and tunamatic bridge. $400

Harrison-style Gretsch Country Gent. Gold hardware, burgundy wine finish with painted on f-holes. $1400

The Famous FD-10. Half-size hollow jazz guitar with rounded cutaway, floating Lawrence A-400 pickup, white pearl pickguard with vol control. Tan sunburst. 1960's Eko NOS. $350

Big fat Kay. Hollow body with pickup and chrome pickguard. Tunamatic bridge. $225

Fancy 60s Japanese L5 copy. Sunburst. Floating pickup (Lawrence A-400). Vol pot on psychedelic tortoise-swirl pickguard. Thin neck. $400

1950s L7-size blonde Stewart. Solid spruce top. Fancy tortoise peghead. Vol pot on Stairstep pickguard. Floating Lawrence A-400 pickup. $400

Ornate Vox 330 copy. Block inlays in ebony fretboard. Fancy tailpiece. Three Strat®-style pickups. Good gears in bridge. Three-tone sunburst. $350

Dooky Electra 330 copy. Super flame maple. Three-piece f-holes with two single-coil pickups. Crappy hardware. $175

50s Bluestone Kay. One pickup, maple neck. Gotoh gears, tunamatic bridge. Clean old sunburst. Steve Cropper model. Hollow Les Paul shape. $225

Rhinestone Dreck-stick. Aria. ES-330 copy. Sunburst. Good gears and bridge, fancy tailpiece. Lots of rhinestones. $175

50s Kay Blues-Tone. Two pickups. Good gears and bridge. Push-pull pot for phaze. Old Craftsman-brand hollow Les Paul shape. This is a BAD BOY! $225


Ordering Merchandise

I understand your concerns about buying a guitar over the Internet. You can't put your hands on it. You don't know what it'll look like, what it'll sound like, how it will feel. Then there are the issues surrounding shipping anxiety: "Will it arrive undamaged?" "When will it arrive?" "WILL it arrive?" The concerns go on and on: "What's the tracking number?" "Will you ship it today?" "When will you ship it?" "Can I get it tomorrow?"

Here are five key points to put your mind at ease:


Policy

"Experience Ecstacy" for a week with your new guitar. If the instrument is not what you expected, then expect a full refund on merchandise returned in the condition of purchase. Fatdog considers this the backbone of good biz (and happy customers).

NOTE: There is no refund for shipping.

Trade-ins are seriously considered at a high value.

Subway Guitars
1800 Cedar Street
Berkeley, California 94703

(510) 841-4106
noon til six, Monday thru Saturday
Pacific Time


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