Guitar
This refinished Maggie Mark III sold for $689 + Shipping. Wow! What a deal on an important early guitar in the hstory of the solid body electric. - JC
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These are just really interesting guitars. The Paul Bigsby designed Magnatones of the 1950's are unique, cool, funky, and extremely rare and hard to find. Ive never seen one sold anywhere for less than a grand so if this clearly refinished goes for under $750 that will still be a steal - check it out:
BTW - I like these neat little Mark III's much better than the larger uglier Mark IV.
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MAGNATONE 1950s MARK III Paul Bigsby Vintage Stratotone 1957 neck-thru guitar NR
Original 1957 Magnatone Mark III guitar, the first of two guitars designed by Magnatone’s LA Basin neighbor, electric guitar pioneer Paul Bigsby. Magnatone was banging out amps—used by the likes of Buddy Holly and Lonnie Mack—when they thought it would be nice to have some guitars to go along with them. Down in Downey, motorcycle machinist Bigsby had been making some of the earliest and most fabulous solid-body electric guitars ever for Merle Travis and others, along with designing the first useful vibrato unit (sorry Doc), so Bigsby seemed like a good guy to approach.
The result was Magnatone’s Mark series guitars. The first on the market was the Mark III, introduced in 1956. There is not a ton of information on these, but evidently the neck-thru models like this one are the earlier models. Production of the whole Mark series halted around 1958. These are rare guitars, and probably the closest most of us will come to ever owning a Paul Bigsby guitar.
It’s sort of a West Coast version of a Harmony H-44 Stratotone, sharing a neck-thru-body construction, with the neck shaped from the same continuous piece of wood as the center of the body, which then had two solid wings glued to it. That’s also the approach Gibson took a few years later with its admittedly more stylish Firebird guitars. This Magnatone, I should note, is a good deal more rare than Firebirds and Stratotones. That’s not to say that it’s a better guitar or worth more, just that you see more than 20 solid-body Stratotones turn up for every Mark III that does.
This one, as is obvious, has been refinished. The refin is old, and I’ve seen better. It’s certainly not a Gord Miller job, but it looks better than a garage door. There is a touched-up area under the strings near the bridge where some genius had begun cutting the outline of a second pickup and then thought the better of it.
The plastic nameplate is missing from the headstock. The original truss rod cover is present (the truss rod’s working fine, too). The original Kluson single-line tuners are there and doing the job. A metal serial number tag—similar to Magnatone lap steels—is on the back of the headstock, reading “52900.” I don’t know if the knobs are original; I’ve seen cooler ones on other Magnatones.
I believe the nut and frets are original. The 20 frets, and the rosewood fingerboard, exhibit very little wear. The scale length is 25”. The action is low and very playable.
The body is 11” wide at the lower bout. It is 1 ¾” deep. The entire guitar is just under 36” long. It weighs 6 pounds, 2 ounces.
The black pickguard is very thin plastic, don’t know if it’s original or not. The pickup is certainly original, and it’s a great, sweet-sounding one. The pots are dated 137-721 and 137-724 making them CTS ones made in the 21st and 24th weeks of 1957. The tone pot is a non-original Russian .022. It may not be wired in right; it does next to nothing.
The bridge/tailpiece is a unique and slightly infuriating design. It intonates well and has plenty of sustain, but if this is your only guitar at a gig, and you break a string, make sure you have a long story to tell while you thread the new string into this thing.
I’m not sure why, but I’m nuts about primitive little guitars: the Stratotone Newport and H44, some of the early set-neck Teisco and Guyatone models, etc. This Magnatone has been one of my favorites over the years, but I’m mostly playing archtops these days, so someone else can adore it and rock it to sleep now.
It comes with a non-original hardshell case of no repute.
- 1959 Barth Mark Viii Sunburst Electric Guitar
guitarz.blogspot.com: From one of America's forgotten guitar companies, this beauty is a Barth Mark VIII from 1959. Paul Barth was perhaps more famously a guitar designer for Rickenbacker which I think is quite apparent in the design here. He...
- Vox Mark Ix, Vintage 9-string Electric Teardrop Guitar
guitarz.blogspot.com: This isn't just any old Vox teardrop-shaped Mark series guitar. Just check out that headstock. Several manufacturers have dallied with 9-string guitars, that is, guitars with six courses, three of which are doubled. These have...
- 1965 Magnatone Guitar Designed By Paul Barth In Salt Lake City For $449
This seller is offering a very rare guitar - though it is missing part of the bridge so that could be very hard to find if you wanted to get an original replacement part. Magnatone produced several different lines of electric guitars over the years...
- Magnatone Custom 260 In Northern Michigan For $550
This amp may have already been sold but i just spotted the listing so here it is. Magnatone Custom 260 2x12 tube amp circa 1958-1962. Seller says that it is in great cosmetic and working condition - though there is no photo on the listing....
- Magnatone 130-v In Fort Worth For $90
I already called this guy and this amp was SOLD in one day (of course) but this would make an amazing Jazz amp since he told me it it had a 15 inch JBL speaker and the Magnatone true Vibrato in Stereo. It is a solid state amp but that is fine for Jazz...
Guitar
Magnatone Mark III - Paul Bigsby designed & built electric on eBay
This refinished Maggie Mark III sold for $689 + Shipping. Wow! What a deal on an important early guitar in the hstory of the solid body electric. - JC
****************
These are just really interesting guitars. The Paul Bigsby designed Magnatones of the 1950's are unique, cool, funky, and extremely rare and hard to find. Ive never seen one sold anywhere for less than a grand so if this clearly refinished goes for under $750 that will still be a steal - check it out:
BTW - I like these neat little Mark III's much better than the larger uglier Mark IV.
************************
MAGNATONE 1950s MARK III Paul Bigsby Vintage Stratotone 1957 neck-thru guitar NR
Original 1957 Magnatone Mark III guitar, the first of two guitars designed by Magnatone’s LA Basin neighbor, electric guitar pioneer Paul Bigsby. Magnatone was banging out amps—used by the likes of Buddy Holly and Lonnie Mack—when they thought it would be nice to have some guitars to go along with them. Down in Downey, motorcycle machinist Bigsby had been making some of the earliest and most fabulous solid-body electric guitars ever for Merle Travis and others, along with designing the first useful vibrato unit (sorry Doc), so Bigsby seemed like a good guy to approach.
The result was Magnatone’s Mark series guitars. The first on the market was the Mark III, introduced in 1956. There is not a ton of information on these, but evidently the neck-thru models like this one are the earlier models. Production of the whole Mark series halted around 1958. These are rare guitars, and probably the closest most of us will come to ever owning a Paul Bigsby guitar.
It’s sort of a West Coast version of a Harmony H-44 Stratotone, sharing a neck-thru-body construction, with the neck shaped from the same continuous piece of wood as the center of the body, which then had two solid wings glued to it. That’s also the approach Gibson took a few years later with its admittedly more stylish Firebird guitars. This Magnatone, I should note, is a good deal more rare than Firebirds and Stratotones. That’s not to say that it’s a better guitar or worth more, just that you see more than 20 solid-body Stratotones turn up for every Mark III that does.
This one, as is obvious, has been refinished. The refin is old, and I’ve seen better. It’s certainly not a Gord Miller job, but it looks better than a garage door. There is a touched-up area under the strings near the bridge where some genius had begun cutting the outline of a second pickup and then thought the better of it.
The plastic nameplate is missing from the headstock. The original truss rod cover is present (the truss rod’s working fine, too). The original Kluson single-line tuners are there and doing the job. A metal serial number tag—similar to Magnatone lap steels—is on the back of the headstock, reading “52900.” I don’t know if the knobs are original; I’ve seen cooler ones on other Magnatones.
I believe the nut and frets are original. The 20 frets, and the rosewood fingerboard, exhibit very little wear. The scale length is 25”. The action is low and very playable.
The body is 11” wide at the lower bout. It is 1 ¾” deep. The entire guitar is just under 36” long. It weighs 6 pounds, 2 ounces.
The black pickguard is very thin plastic, don’t know if it’s original or not. The pickup is certainly original, and it’s a great, sweet-sounding one. The pots are dated 137-721 and 137-724 making them CTS ones made in the 21st and 24th weeks of 1957. The tone pot is a non-original Russian .022. It may not be wired in right; it does next to nothing.
The bridge/tailpiece is a unique and slightly infuriating design. It intonates well and has plenty of sustain, but if this is your only guitar at a gig, and you break a string, make sure you have a long story to tell while you thread the new string into this thing.
I’m not sure why, but I’m nuts about primitive little guitars: the Stratotone Newport and H44, some of the early set-neck Teisco and Guyatone models, etc. This Magnatone has been one of my favorites over the years, but I’m mostly playing archtops these days, so someone else can adore it and rock it to sleep now.
It comes with a non-original hardshell case of no repute.
- 1959 Barth Mark Viii Sunburst Electric Guitar
guitarz.blogspot.com: From one of America's forgotten guitar companies, this beauty is a Barth Mark VIII from 1959. Paul Barth was perhaps more famously a guitar designer for Rickenbacker which I think is quite apparent in the design here. He...
- Vox Mark Ix, Vintage 9-string Electric Teardrop Guitar
guitarz.blogspot.com: This isn't just any old Vox teardrop-shaped Mark series guitar. Just check out that headstock. Several manufacturers have dallied with 9-string guitars, that is, guitars with six courses, three of which are doubled. These have...
- 1965 Magnatone Guitar Designed By Paul Barth In Salt Lake City For $449
This seller is offering a very rare guitar - though it is missing part of the bridge so that could be very hard to find if you wanted to get an original replacement part. Magnatone produced several different lines of electric guitars over the years...
- Magnatone Custom 260 In Northern Michigan For $550
This amp may have already been sold but i just spotted the listing so here it is. Magnatone Custom 260 2x12 tube amp circa 1958-1962. Seller says that it is in great cosmetic and working condition - though there is no photo on the listing....
- Magnatone 130-v In Fort Worth For $90
I already called this guy and this amp was SOLD in one day (of course) but this would make an amazing Jazz amp since he told me it it had a 15 inch JBL speaker and the Magnatone true Vibrato in Stereo. It is a solid state amp but that is fine for Jazz...