Post by hdcorvette on Aug 31, 2011 16:47:09 GMT -5
SOLD!
Here is a RARE signed by Rick Excellente American Showster A-57! They are so rare, this one came back home from Finland. This is a solid rocker that is all original with case. You cannot find these and I have not seen any in yellow. The finish is superb,except for weather finish checking on the back(see pics)which happened during a shipment. The ebony board plays fast. Electronics are excellent, the pickup is an EMG. This guitar is solid ,heavy, and WELL built. The Floyd Rose is nice and the whammy lights up the taillight!!
Here is my ebay link.
www.ebay.com/itm/170689009531?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649
Do NOT mistake this for the newer ones, and this is NOT a Kramer(notice rounded headstock and logo). This is an American made,Limited Edition and more than likely built by Rick himself. No one knows how many of these are out there.
You will enjoy this guitar in your collection or on stage. If you are a 57 Chevy guy you will LOVE this guitar. I have no problem keeping this if it doesn't sell.
This appears to be a post by Rick in 2009
THE AMERICAN SHOWSTER '57 CHEVY GUITAR
By Rich Excellente
The idea for a guitar which resembled the tail -fin of a 1957 Chevrolet first came to me while helping a neighbor wax his �57 Chevy sometime during the fall of 1967. This fella died in Viet Nam, but the memory of that day remained with me.
In 1983, I started a custom guitar shop known as �American Showster Custom Guitars" in Maplewood, New Jersey. My specialty was building custom guitars to order...mostly vintage style Strats and Teles. My customers were not only locals, but professional players like Richie Sambora, and Alec Such of Bon Jovi.
Sometime during the spring of 1984, Alec Such stopped by. We got into a conversation about classic autos, which shifted to custom guitars. I mentioned that I had a long-time idea to create a guitar that looks like the tail fin of a 1957 Chevrolet. Alec immediately gave me a standing order to build him one.
I contacted a long time friend and associate, sculptor Mark Dornan of Point Pleasant, New Jersey. In the past, Mark and I worked on several original custom sculpted guitar projects. I then commissioned him to build me a guitar body that resembles a 57 Chevy Tail-fin. I supplied him with a rough template which I sketched to show dimentions and size. The main difference between the actual Chevy fin and the much smaller proposed guitar, was the angle of the fin, which , unlike the straight top edge of the actual Chevy, the guitar fin angled more diagonally (about 15 degrees), much like a �Flying V�.
The following month, Mark drew a scale rendering, which I approved. He then began sculpting the body from a solid plank of mahogany, complete with detailed tail-lamp, bumper and top molding strips made from maple. But the original mahogany prototype was too heavy (about 12 lbs.). I then suggested the body be made from basswood, a lighter wood used in guitar manufacturing. Mark re-worked the body using basswood. I completed building the guitar by having Rich Koener of Time Electronic configure and route the neck pocket and electronic control cavities.
During May of 1985, six more wooden Chevy bodies were hand sculpted by Mark Dornan. Rich Koerner was again hired to mill the pickups, trem and control cavities routes, and calculate the neck pocket routes, which require strict tolerances.
Kramer Guitars in Neptune, NJ, was contracted to paint these Chevy guitars (which were then displayed at the 1986 NAMM Show). By the time the 1986 NAMM Show arrived, in addition to the costs I incurred in out-sourcing various work to others, the Chevy guitar project had already cost me a great deal in patent fees, and tens of thousands for the tooling of aluminum castings (bumper/moldings, ect.), including chrome plating them.
Between 1986-1990, I basically hand-built and signed more than 50 Chevy guitars. During that time, the '57 Chevy guitar had gained world-wide recognition with write-ups and photos in publications such as Car & Driver (winning 10 Best "Cartifacts"), Playboy, The Robb Report, and U.S.A.Today.
The most interesting part of the '57 Chevy guitar project, surprisingly, is the Chevy guitar had superior sustaining and sonic qualities, attrubuted to the natural shape of the tail-fin, and with the addition of the metal bumper assembly, which I coined "Metal-Loading". The Chevy Guitar design and Metal-loading generated more than 4 U.S. patents. In short, if you build a guitar that looks like a '57 Chevy tail-fin...you'll get a better sounding guitar. They really do Rock!
During the late '80's, I designed a series of tail-fin inspired "metal-loaded" guitars for Kramer, under the brand name of American Showster. These guitars were basically Stratocasters (with a sleeker "tail-fin" body sillouette), and the addition of a metal insert. I named these particular guitars "The Savant"; The Metalist"; and "The XML"; respectively. They were short lived and have become exceedingly rare since the demise of Kramer in the early '90's. But I continued to produce a limited amount of '57 Chevy guitars during that time.
Today, the Original 57 Chevy Guitars are owned by legenday guitarists such as Billy Gibbons, Slash, and Steve Miller, to name a few. Eric Clapton had also contacted me to build him one.
Here is an article which appeared in the Robb Report of Aug. 1987 -Pg. 79
CAR GUITAR
�Rick Excellente loves '57 Chevys almost as much as he loves guitars. To him it makes perfect sense that the two should meet.
While polishing a friends '57 Chevy as a high school student, Excellente remarked that the shape of the tail fin would make an ideal guitar design. Years later, when bassist Alec John Such of the rock band Bon Jovi stopped into Excellente�s New Jersey guitar shop and asked for something different, Excellente recalled that long-ago afternoon. The result was not only a guitar for Such, but a fleet of Chevy Guitars, with others on the drawing board.
Sculptor Mark Dornan shaped the body from basswood, and the guitar was then fit with an aluminum bezel to resemble a Chevy�s chrome tail light. After testing the instrument, Excellente discovered that the tear drop shape combined with the aluminum bezel maximized the sustaining quality of musical notes. He has since obtained a patent for his design.
General Motors has given Excellente permission to use its name and to offer the the guitar in 12 original Chevrolet colors."
----------------------------------------------
Mike ... fixed the link for you .... RCE
Here is a RARE signed by Rick Excellente American Showster A-57! They are so rare, this one came back home from Finland. This is a solid rocker that is all original with case. You cannot find these and I have not seen any in yellow. The finish is superb,except for weather finish checking on the back(see pics)which happened during a shipment. The ebony board plays fast. Electronics are excellent, the pickup is an EMG. This guitar is solid ,heavy, and WELL built. The Floyd Rose is nice and the whammy lights up the taillight!!
Here is my ebay link.
www.ebay.com/itm/170689009531?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649
Do NOT mistake this for the newer ones, and this is NOT a Kramer(notice rounded headstock and logo). This is an American made,Limited Edition and more than likely built by Rick himself. No one knows how many of these are out there.
You will enjoy this guitar in your collection or on stage. If you are a 57 Chevy guy you will LOVE this guitar. I have no problem keeping this if it doesn't sell.
This appears to be a post by Rick in 2009
THE AMERICAN SHOWSTER '57 CHEVY GUITAR
By Rich Excellente
The idea for a guitar which resembled the tail -fin of a 1957 Chevrolet first came to me while helping a neighbor wax his �57 Chevy sometime during the fall of 1967. This fella died in Viet Nam, but the memory of that day remained with me.
In 1983, I started a custom guitar shop known as �American Showster Custom Guitars" in Maplewood, New Jersey. My specialty was building custom guitars to order...mostly vintage style Strats and Teles. My customers were not only locals, but professional players like Richie Sambora, and Alec Such of Bon Jovi.
Sometime during the spring of 1984, Alec Such stopped by. We got into a conversation about classic autos, which shifted to custom guitars. I mentioned that I had a long-time idea to create a guitar that looks like the tail fin of a 1957 Chevrolet. Alec immediately gave me a standing order to build him one.
I contacted a long time friend and associate, sculptor Mark Dornan of Point Pleasant, New Jersey. In the past, Mark and I worked on several original custom sculpted guitar projects. I then commissioned him to build me a guitar body that resembles a 57 Chevy Tail-fin. I supplied him with a rough template which I sketched to show dimentions and size. The main difference between the actual Chevy fin and the much smaller proposed guitar, was the angle of the fin, which , unlike the straight top edge of the actual Chevy, the guitar fin angled more diagonally (about 15 degrees), much like a �Flying V�.
The following month, Mark drew a scale rendering, which I approved. He then began sculpting the body from a solid plank of mahogany, complete with detailed tail-lamp, bumper and top molding strips made from maple. But the original mahogany prototype was too heavy (about 12 lbs.). I then suggested the body be made from basswood, a lighter wood used in guitar manufacturing. Mark re-worked the body using basswood. I completed building the guitar by having Rich Koener of Time Electronic configure and route the neck pocket and electronic control cavities.
During May of 1985, six more wooden Chevy bodies were hand sculpted by Mark Dornan. Rich Koerner was again hired to mill the pickups, trem and control cavities routes, and calculate the neck pocket routes, which require strict tolerances.
Kramer Guitars in Neptune, NJ, was contracted to paint these Chevy guitars (which were then displayed at the 1986 NAMM Show). By the time the 1986 NAMM Show arrived, in addition to the costs I incurred in out-sourcing various work to others, the Chevy guitar project had already cost me a great deal in patent fees, and tens of thousands for the tooling of aluminum castings (bumper/moldings, ect.), including chrome plating them.
Between 1986-1990, I basically hand-built and signed more than 50 Chevy guitars. During that time, the '57 Chevy guitar had gained world-wide recognition with write-ups and photos in publications such as Car & Driver (winning 10 Best "Cartifacts"), Playboy, The Robb Report, and U.S.A.Today.
The most interesting part of the '57 Chevy guitar project, surprisingly, is the Chevy guitar had superior sustaining and sonic qualities, attrubuted to the natural shape of the tail-fin, and with the addition of the metal bumper assembly, which I coined "Metal-Loading". The Chevy Guitar design and Metal-loading generated more than 4 U.S. patents. In short, if you build a guitar that looks like a '57 Chevy tail-fin...you'll get a better sounding guitar. They really do Rock!
During the late '80's, I designed a series of tail-fin inspired "metal-loaded" guitars for Kramer, under the brand name of American Showster. These guitars were basically Stratocasters (with a sleeker "tail-fin" body sillouette), and the addition of a metal insert. I named these particular guitars "The Savant"; The Metalist"; and "The XML"; respectively. They were short lived and have become exceedingly rare since the demise of Kramer in the early '90's. But I continued to produce a limited amount of '57 Chevy guitars during that time.
Today, the Original 57 Chevy Guitars are owned by legenday guitarists such as Billy Gibbons, Slash, and Steve Miller, to name a few. Eric Clapton had also contacted me to build him one.
Here is an article which appeared in the Robb Report of Aug. 1987 -Pg. 79
CAR GUITAR
�Rick Excellente loves '57 Chevys almost as much as he loves guitars. To him it makes perfect sense that the two should meet.
While polishing a friends '57 Chevy as a high school student, Excellente remarked that the shape of the tail fin would make an ideal guitar design. Years later, when bassist Alec John Such of the rock band Bon Jovi stopped into Excellente�s New Jersey guitar shop and asked for something different, Excellente recalled that long-ago afternoon. The result was not only a guitar for Such, but a fleet of Chevy Guitars, with others on the drawing board.
Sculptor Mark Dornan shaped the body from basswood, and the guitar was then fit with an aluminum bezel to resemble a Chevy�s chrome tail light. After testing the instrument, Excellente discovered that the tear drop shape combined with the aluminum bezel maximized the sustaining quality of musical notes. He has since obtained a patent for his design.
General Motors has given Excellente permission to use its name and to offer the the guitar in 12 original Chevrolet colors."
----------------------------------------------
Mike ... fixed the link for you .... RCE
