Rob’s World of Unusual, Unique, and Ugly Guitars

08/23/2025

These are La Baye 2x4 guitars. They have a 2x4 board as a body, a Holman Guitars neck and Holman-Woodell pickups. Not only are they stylish, they are also functional. You can use them for self defense or as a boat paddle In the case you have to row your way home after a gig. They really are pretty cool.

08/22/2025

A Bigsby style tremolo on a ukulele? Why the heck not?
Somebody at Steven James Guitar & Amp Centre has a sense of humor.

08/21/2025

Here’s one thst you don’t see all that often and it just happens to be mine. This is a Fender MB5.

Once upon a time, someone at Fender decided that the company needed to break away from traditional basses like the Precision, Jazz, and Jaguar basses and design something new. So, in 1994 they released the MB 4 and 5 string basses. The MB stood for ‘Modern Bass’. The design is supposed to be new and innovative but it really seems to me like they just copied an Ibanez.

These made in Japan basses were produced from 1994-96. They have a great feeling neck and came with factory passive EMG pickups, which are the best sounding J-style pickups I’ve ever heard.

When I got this it had a pretty rough setup but I’ve got it playing pretty good. I’m not really a 5 string player but I thought I’d give it another try.

I’ve had a few 5 strings in the past but didn’t really keep them that lomg. So far, I’m still not really digging this one, so we’ll see.

08/20/2025

It’s once again ‘Rockstar Wednesday’ and today we have a signature model Charvel based on one played by a guitarist who would “Lay it Down” for the glam metal band RATT.

Warren Justin DeMartini was born on April 10, 1963 in Chicago, Illinois. He was living in San Diego when he was asked to join RATT. He replaced Jake E. Lee when Lee left the band to join Ozzy Osborn’s band. This was just after RATT recorded and released their debut album.

In my opinion snakes and snakeskin designs are only good for three things - boots, belts, and hat bands. They should definitely not be used as a guitar finish. I like Charvel guitars but this one isn't really my style.

These guitars usually cost between $899 and $1600, depending on which version and options you get as well as the guitar’s condition and age. In addition, there is also a Custom Shop version of the DeMartini signature thsy will run you upwards of $3700.

08/19/2025

Today we have a six string that you don’t see too often. This is a Gibson Non-Reverse Firebird.

First introduced in 1963, the Firebird and its bass counterpart the Thunderbird, were Gibson’s response to Fender’s off-set body guitars, the Jaguar and Mustang.

Designed by auto designer Ray Dietrich, the Firebird (and Thunderbird) were Gibson’s first neck-through designs. They had a mahogany body and neck and a 24.75” scale length.

After a few years of rather disappointing sales the “non-reverse” version of the Firebird was discontinued and replaced with the “reverse” Firebird (and T-bird) that most of us are more familiar with. Since it was discontinued, there have been a few reissue “non-reverse” models released in limited quantities.

This guitar belongs to my good friend Kris Colson.

08/18/2025

Today we have a cool custom painted taxi cab themed Epiphone Les Paul Special. I love this! It’s definitely one of the most uniquely themed guitsr I’ve seen in a long time.

08/16/2025

To wrap up our weeks long look at promotional and product branded guitars, we have this Fender Squier Monster Energy Stratocaster guitar.

These were released in 2015 as souvenirs and contest prizes in support of the Monster Energy Outburn Tour. This was a series of concerts that featured metal bands such as Crystal Lake, Bury Tomorrow, Her Name In Blood, and others.

These guitars were not widely available for retail sale but can be found on the second hand market, usually for $150 to $350. These were Bullet Series guitars, one of Squier’s lower end product lines and without the Monstor logo can usually be found used for $80 to $126.

08/15/2025

Today we have a promotional guitar that holds a soecial place in my heart. I had one of these but someone made me an offer I couldn’t refuse and I got rid of it. This is one of a handful of guitars thdt I regret getting rid of for a number of reasons.

This is the Fender Squier Rolling Rock Beer ‘Town Fair’ Stratocaster.

These guitars were made by Squier in the early 2000s to promote the Rolling Rock Town Fair Music Festival. They were given as rewards to bars, salespeople, and distributors for their positive sales performance. The Town Fair was a music festival held at Westmoreland County (the county that I’m from) Fairgrounds as well as at PNC Park in Pittsburgh during the early 2000s. The festival was discontinued after Rolling Rock was sold to Anheiser-Busch.

Unlike other Squier Strats sold at the time, these guitars was unique for a number of reasons. Although these guitars were Strat shaped, they had a squared off, slab body profile much like that of a Telecaster. They had no body contouring or belly cut. They did have a cool “big” 1970s style hesdstock. Unlike most strats, these guitars had only a single humbucker pickup with tone and volume controls. Basically, it was built like a late 80s/early 90s Strat HM.

Besides being from the same area where Rolling Rock was brewed, Latrobe,PA, my dad drove a semi-truck for the brewery. I have fond memories of my dad and some of his buddies drinking Rolling Rock and Iron City, which was later made in the same facility. It reminds me of my childhood and a much simpler time.

These can be found on the second-hand market for $400-$750.

I wish I still had the one that I used to own.

08/14/2025

08/14/2025

This is a limited run Fender Squier Mustang guitar with a Snap-On Tools ‘Heavy Metal’ livery.

These guitars were made in 2019 as promotional items. They were given as rewards for purchasing a certain amount of Snap-On tools or won as prizes at various Snap-On Tool sponsored events and industry trade shows. This is one of two special edition Snap-On guitars with this paint scheme. The other was an ESP/LTD EC-1 that was a higher tier reward/prize.

The Fender Mustang was introduced in August of 1964 as a short scale student model along with the Fender Musicmaster and Duo-Sonic. Squier is Fender’s import budget line of guitars first introduced in 1982 as an affordable alternative to Fender Japan and USA models. 

These guitars can be found on the second-hand market, usually for $350-$650.

08/13/2025

It’s ’Rockstar Wednesday’ and today we have a couple of iconic guitars from a heavy metal heavyweight. This is the James Hetfield Iron Cross Eclipse from ESP/LTD.

Hetfield has been laying down guitar and vocal tracks as Metallica’s front man for over 40 years. Along with drummer Lars Ulrich, he’s lead the band through incredible highs and devastating lows, many world tours, 11 studio albums, and four bass players.

The James Hetfield Eclipse Iron Cross is based on his 1972 Gibson Les Paul Custom. Hatfield had taken an iron cross logo off of one of his custom built motorcycles and put it on the Gibson guitar. He was first approached by Gibson who wanted to make a signature model. Because of his long-term use of ESP/LTD guitars, he decided to let them develop his signature model Eclipse, which is based on a Les Paul.

The James Hatfield Iron Cross is available in both black and white. The ESP/LTD version of the guitar usually costs between $1100 and $1600 depending on condition and whether it is or new or used

I looked at one of these at Guitar Center back in June and it’s really a nice guitar.  I always thought that the iron cross was just part of the finish, but it’s actually attached to the surface of the guitar. Personally, I’m not a fan of the racing stripe, but it has come to grow on me and I like it a little better than I used to.