Givson Guitars "Beware Of Imitation".

[jps]

Do they make a Ghandilin?

[rickenmetal]

Bollywood Star model.
Tampura bass.
Sitarcaster.

(my imagination of course)

[paologregorio]

Bollywood Star model.
Tampura bass.
Sitarcaster.

(my imagination of course)

Too funny!!!

[blazer]

http://www.oddmusic.com/gallery/om13400.html

Shankar.

[1965]

Wow, ridiculous.

[paologregorio]

http://www.oddmusic.com/gallery/om13400.html

Shankar.

Does it come with a vintage style case?

[teb]

Just goes to show you how careful you need to be when making a purchase. If you've bought a Gibson and you're not sure whether it's real, just pull back and forth on the head a bit. If it breaks off, it's real . Just kidding (sort of) I've played one for 35 years. Man, this is one butt-ugly twelve-string!

[1965]

Man, this is one butt-ugly twelve-string!

Seriously, it's like someone squished the body and stretched the headstock!

[jingle_jangle]

Looks like the one in the Snuff Box guitar lesson video...or maybe that one is a Framus? I think it was chosen for its lack of redeeming values...

[paologregorio]

Just goes to show you how careful you need to be when making a purchase. If you've bought a Gibson and you're not sure whether it's real, just pull back and forth on the head a bit. If it breaks off, it's real . Just kidding (sort of) I've played one for 35 years. Man, this is one butt-ugly twelve-string!

That headstock looks dangerous! A bandmate standing to the left of that thing could end up with a nasty, on-stage concussion...or a really ugly gash in the skull!

[dain]

i'm quite embarrassed to have this be my first post on a rick forum...but my mind was seriously blown when i found someone mention the givson site. i HAD to post... i spent a year in melbourne, australia a couple of years back and i bought a couple guitars because i couldn't bring any of mine. i found a givson "challenger" bass in a pawn shop and paid 140 australian, about 70 bucks at the time. i sold it to a friend when i left but i still miss it and never thought i'd see it again. here's a pic (sorry for the posing!) but i wanted to remember how funny it was..



the funny thing is i thought it was made in the 70s, (it being a BCrich copy and all) but looking at the website makes me wonder if it wasn't brand new! couple of interesting points: the neck plate said "Givson, steel string bass gitter" i thought that was awesome that a company that MADE guitars didn't even research how to SPELL the instrument they manufactured! also all the screws were 50s style slot-head screws. do they not have phillips in india?

anyway, thanks for bringing back memories! i promise my next post will be more rick specific...

[jingle_jangle]

First off, Dain, WELCOME!

Second: That self-portrait has a lot of appeal; it's the type of photo I would think I'd see on the back of a CD release, taken by a pro photographer and art-directed to boot...but you nailed it with a mirror and a point and shoot! Congrats on that.

The bass, though Indian-made, looks pretty interesting oin the small photo. However, I don't think I'd want to get any closer than that...

I'm not surprised about the screws...although India is a huge country with a very vital and fast-growing industrial base, local manufacture of all sorts of goods is still very common, and to keep things streamlined and costs down, sourcing is more likely to be done from local suppliers than national or international. I lived in the Third World for awhile (Brasil, which is also quite industrialized and growing, too), and on my city, (2200 miles from Sao Paulo, where anything can be procured), Phillips head screws were impossible to find, and nobody in the trades used power tools, either--everything was still done by hand. Workmen were fascinated when I showed them one of my high-torque power screwdrivers, when they spent literally two hours hand-drilling pilot holes and screwing in 3" long #12 slotted screws by hand to install the tracks for my sliding plate glass entry doors...

[johnallg]

Welcome Dain! Your picture reminds me of my first pic of me and my first Rick:


Comment on mine was it looked so myspace!

Interesting aside - while I looked for that through the first Picture of You Playing Your Rick thread, it was enlightening to see how many Ricks John Biscuti and Brian Crisman have owned and sold, especially John. Also how many who used to post under the old forum format who don't now, and also two members and their Ricks who have passed on to that Great Gig In The Sky. And where has John Ashfield gone?

[rickenmetal]

hmmm, Givson Challenger bass (not to be confused with the Gibson Challenger guitars). Not bad looking. Is it short or long scale?

[dain]

hmmm, Givson Challenger bass (not to be confused with the Gibson Challenger guitars). Not bad looking. Is it short or long scale?

it was a long scale, and seemed to be a try at a bc rich "eagle". the materials were unlike any i'd seen, kind of like a 5th graders attempt at making a guitar. no offence meant to any indian guitar makers here...or any 5th graders for that matter. i really do miss it though... at some point i'll have to take a trip to mumbai and go "gitter" shopping..