Brand?

Nicholas Ackron · Post by **Nicholas Ackron** » 26 Jan 2015 10:18 am

Hi, I was wondering if I could get some help identifying this steel and how much would it cost to convert it to Keyless?

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 26 Jan 2015 12:33 pm

Groj.
Because it was made in some guy's groj.

John De Maille · Post by **John De Maille** » 26 Jan 2015 12:39 pm

It looke to me that is has a RusLer fretboard, bell ranks and at least one knee lever. Both the changer pull rods and the pedal rods look to be RusLer, also. Without a clearer picture it's hard to tell how much more is what. Also, the key head looks like it's from a ZB or early RusLer too. Could also be an old Flynn. Harold Flynn bought the parts from RusLer when they went out of business.

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 26 Jan 2015 12:43 pm

But such a weird cabinet?

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 26 Jan 2015 12:48 pm

I had a kitchen table that looked like that!

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 26 Jan 2015 12:50 pm

You had a 12 string universal kitchen table?
KEWL...

Dale Rottacker · Post by **Dale Rottacker** » 26 Jan 2015 12:51 pm

Kinda looks keyless now...

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 26 Jan 2015 1:25 pm

And the keyhead was never drilled for tuners...

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 26 Jan 2015 2:22 pm

already a keyless guitar. the headstock is just for looks, i guess. shortening the cabinet would be a major undertaking.

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 26 Jan 2015 2:44 pm

All the parts look well made, the rods (except that pedal on the end) look straight. While it looks garage made, it looks garage made by someone who knew what they were doing and built it to last.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 26 Jan 2015 2:50 pm

It's a FRANKENSTEEL!!!
As was noted above, it looks like the keyhead is just lying there and the guitar has strings on it. I wonder how it is being tuned?

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 26 Jan 2015 3:08 pm

Probably with a little allen wrench or hex driver...like most keyless guitars.

Ross Shafer · Post by **Ross Shafer** » 26 Jan 2015 3:10 pm

Interesting rig, I'd love to see some closeups of the various mechanisms. Shortening the body and squeezing everything that's under the key head elsewhere, would be a whole heck of a lotta work!

Ian Rae · Post by **Ian Rae** » 26 Jan 2015 3:28 pm

It does seem strange to design and build a keyless guitar that's as long as a regular one. This is my Groj - the bridge and nut are both 2½" in from the ends.

The pink one has a lot of cranks and stuff between the tuner and the end of the cabinet. Seems to be something to do with the knee levers. Now it's there I don't see where else it could go.

Ken Campbell · Post by **Ken Campbell** » 26 Jan 2015 4:21 pm

Groj, bwaaaaaahahahahahahahahaha.

Damn that's funny.

Clyde Lane · Post by **Clyde Lane** » 26 Jan 2015 4:45 pm

Looks like it has a changer at both ends.

Jim Pitman · Post by **Jim Pitman** » 26 Jan 2015 5:17 pm

I've often wondered how the length of the body affects the tone. My guess is that it is significant. Almost like how a conventional guitar with two pickups has a totally different tonality depending on which pickup is on. I realize there's electrical considerations with that scenario but I'll bet the distance the changer is from the end of a pedal guitar can change the acoustics/sustain/ects.

Charlie McDonald · Post by **Charlie McDonald** » 27 Jan 2015 4:49 am

Like Jim said; if it has good tone, I wouldn't shorten the body, it might impact the lower overtones.

Looks to me like there are just too many cross shafts on the head end to move; you'd have to lose pedals.

Keep the ZB keyhead for decoration, put some blue shelf paper and a pad over the formica and call it keyless.

On the other hand, if you were just joshing, it does go well with the window trim....

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 1 Feb 2015 8:11 am

Converting it to something else would be money wasted, as it's probably too time and labor intensive to yeild any positive return. Play it for what it is, or sell it and get something a bit more conventional.

Nicholas Ackron · Post by **Nicholas Ackron** » 9 Feb 2015 8:18 am

This is a cool Excel, anyone know anything about this?
http://nashville.craigslist.org/msg/4880881512.html

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 9 Feb 2015 8:32 am

Wow. Gotta be an early one. If you want standard E9th, it's not ready; would need parts.
It's pretty cool, though.

Nicholas Ackron · Post by **Nicholas Ackron** » 9 Feb 2015 8:36 am

I saw it and thought I would share, that's a nice part of history seems like to me. If I had it, I'll probably use it as a non-pedal console.