Ebays of the Day: Five Vintage Guitar Synths

  • Roland GR-700: I once saw Mick Jones playing Prince's '1999' on one of these as an encore at a Big Audio Dynamite gig. At the end of the song, he threw it across the stage to be caught by a roadie. I thought that was really cool, and I didn't even realise it came in a flight case lined with pink fur!
  • Yamaha EZ-AG: Crap-looking midi headless acoustic guitar, with lights on the neck to show you what to play.
  • Roland GR-500:Almost the first Roland guitar synth, covered with knobs.
  • Casio DG-10: Comedy, spaceship-styled headless midi guitar, beloved of Electroclash groups a few years back.
  • Casio PG-310: Almost completely charmless 1987 strat clone, redeemed by a nifty little control panel. Built by the same company who make Ibanez guitars and Roland guitar synths.


  • Comments:
    hey! my band was on the Tube the same day as B.A.D & Mick let me have a go on his GR700. It played like a dog, as i recall. His Bond step-fret guitar thing was v.cool though.
     
    As I recall, the only one of the guitar synths that was actually any fun was the Roland GR-500. As things got more complicated, the tracking got worse and worse. The Ibanez was, I think, the worst in that regard. Glitch city. There's a thread about Yamaha EZ guitars as MIDI controllers here:

    http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=41787&highlight=yamaha+ezag
     
    You should check out the Hagstrom Patch 2000. Very early and very cool guitar synth and guitar. Pre-dates Roland.
     
    Uh, hello? You're missing the incredible and truly ahead-of-its-time Korg x-911!!!!

    I use it on every record, period. It's up there with my Realistic MG-1 synth and plastic tambourine as most-used instruments!
     
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