Paul Barth had a guitar company?

Non-Rickenbacker Guitars & Effects

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Shea
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Re: Paul Barth had a guitar company?

Post by Shea »

I have an old Barth elec.guitar with case. It's a starburst in good shape. No strings though. Just tryin to figure out exactly what I have here. :) Made in Japan is all I know. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
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johnallg
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Re: Paul Barth had a guitar company?

Post by johnallg »

Shea wrote:I have an old Barth elec.guitar with case. It's a starburst in good shape. No strings though. Just tryin to figure out exactly what I have here. :) Made in Japan is all I know. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Got a picture? My first guitar was a 6-string Barth made in Japan also. It had a baseball bat for a neck. :shock:
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sloop_john_b
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Re: Paul Barth had a guitar company?

Post by sloop_john_b »

I found a really cool Magnatone/Barth guitar today at a shop here in Manhattan.

It is a WONDERFUL playing guitar! A really great "rhythmer" .The sound is somewhere between Rick and Strat. The thing literally weighs 3-4 lbs.

Finish has been crudely stripped and obviously the electronics have been messed with, but its pretty much all there.

I've put in an offer...

Image
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collin
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Re: Paul Barth had a guitar company?

Post by collin »

Good luck JB !

I dig the styling on those -- familiar enough without being directly Fenderish, Gibsonesuqe or Rick-like. :)
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sloop_john_b
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Re: Paul Barth had a guitar company?

Post by sloop_john_b »

Thanks dude! Yeah, I totally dig these, always have. Couldn't believe I found one today.

Very fun to play. Small and light like a 325 with nice low action and a "proper" scale length.
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jps
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Re: Paul Barth had a guitar company?

Post by jps »

And, it has Rick Barth-O-Sound, too. 8)

Nice find, JB!
FindingFretless
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Re: Paul Barth had a guitar company?

Post by FindingFretless »

Folks, Paul Barth has an incredible history, right up there with Rickenbacker, Leo Fender, Les Paul etc, in fact they were all very close, Les Paul was a regular dinner guest at the Barth home.
FC Hall is quoted as saying about Barth “Barth was a very good fella and a good manager.”
Paul Barth designed all of the early 50's Rickenbacker guitars after FC Hall bought the company. He goes right back to the creation of the horseshoe pick up with his friend and drinking partner George Beauchamp.
Barth’s DNA can be see all over, Electro, Rickenbacker, Magnatone, Bartell, St George and probably other brands. He set up the early jigs for Leo Fender.
Not only did he co invent the pickup giving us the electric guitar, his guitars were played by The Beatles Jimi Hendrix Frank Zappa Walter Becker John Paul Jones and many more. A guitar legend? Indeed, he should be considered one of the founding fathers of the electric guitar.

To update the records I have research much of Barth’s life with the support of the people who knew him best, family, friends and co workers.
If you are interested the story will be told in my book ‘Finding Fretless’, the story of George Harrison’s mad guitar

https://thisdayinmusicbooks.com/product ... -fretless/
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