The Last Bass Outpost
Gear Discussion Forums => Guitars Etc. => Topic started by: gweimer on June 05, 2017, 04:18:33 PM
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I need the experts here. I'm helping my girlfriend clear out her basement of her late husband's stuff, including 17 guitars/basses, a number of amps, telescopes and camera gear.
Among the guitars is a Sunn plexiglass guitar. She thinks there were very few of these made. What can anyone tell me about these?
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Gotta be rare. You can try asking on the Sunn forum, but it's pretty ghost towny over there lately (like 1 post per week).
http://sunnforum.ampage.org/
I'd try selling it to the Sunn o))) dudes (band)
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I'd proceed slowly on that one and do a lot of searching. I've never seen a Sunn plexi bass before - I've seen some other makes.
I'd be surprised if it weren't worth more than $1000...perhaps twice that.
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From an article in Vintage Guitar (http://www.vintageguitar.com/3810/renaissance-t-200g/) about a Lucite guitar called Renaissance.
"John Dragonetti’s efforts actually briefly looked like they might be successful. At the summer NAMM show of 1980, Sunn amplifiers, enamored of Renaissance basses, approached him about building a line of guitars. Just at that moment, another company’s sales rep knocked a bass over and broke it, pointing out how poorly made it was. Sunn got spooked and backed out. Which probably was okay, because they promptly went out of business. And Renaissance’s number finally came up at the I.R.S. By the fall of ’80, Renaissance guitars were no more."
Maybe Sunn didn't back out and a few were made, or maybe this is a prototype. Must be very rare.
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Excellent! Thanks. She told me that she had heard that only 3 of these were ever made, and the Sunn connection to Renaissance makes sense.
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I'm one of the few active members over there, and I don't think I can recall ever seeing anything like this. I know there were some Sunn branded guitars made post-Fender buyout, namely the Mustang, which was a cheap Strat variation. Never seen anything like this. Given the red logo, it definitely fits into the Hartzell-era, and the 80s. Best of luck with the search for info, let me know what you manage to find out. It's a rare one if it's legit, that's for certain. Whether that make it valuable or not is hard to say.
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Cool find (both the guitar and article!). Wouldn't have made that connection to Renaissance visually...
17 guitars and basses... amps? Maybe share a FS list here as you get things sorted 8)
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Cool find (both the guitar and article!). Wouldn't have made that connection to Renaissance visually...
17 guitars and basses... amps? Maybe share a FS list here as you get things sorted 8)
They will be going up for auction on EBTH next week. There's a cool Samick Greg Bennett a/e bass in the bunch. Here's a crude copy/paste from the list
Taylor
910 (made in 1994)
Taylor
XXMC (made in 1994)
Ibanez Classical six-string acoustic
AE450 (1983)
Ibanez Artist electric semi-hollow body
AM255 (1983)
Hohner 12-string acoustic
HG731
National Estralita resonator
Made in 1999
Ventura Bruns 12-string acoustic
7390 (needs neck adjustment)
Ibanez Artist 6-string acoustic w/star inlay
2603 (mid '70s)
Samick Banjo
(very heavy)
Charvel by Jackson – 4 string electric bass
Samick – 4 string electric/acoustic bass (Greg Bennett designed)
S00105414
Epiphone 6 string acoustic/electric
PR7E
Taylor – Baby Taylor acoustic (signed by Sonny Landreth)
301
Gibson Les Paul Studio electric guitar – black no binding
Studio (1990)
Danelectro – 6 string electric
Dual pickups ('98-'01)
Charvell – 6 string electric – w/Floyd Rose tremelo bar
Charvette model 4 ('81-'86)
Ibanez Talman – 6 string electric w/three lipstick pickups
Talman
Samick – 6 string electric Telecaster copy – Gregg Bennett design lipstick S-S-H
Fender Stratocaster 6 string electric w/whammy bar
Stratocaster ('92 made in Japan)
Fender Stratocaster 6 string electric hardtail
Stratocaster ('92 made in Japan)
Fender Telecaster 6 string electic
Telecaster ('95 made in Japan)
Ibanez Flying V 6 string electric
Flying V copy (Korina)
Sunn plexiglass 6 string electric w/two humbucker pickups, probably designed by John Dragonetti – EXTREMELY RARE
Possibly a prototype. From Vintage Guitar Magazine (Feb 2009) in an article about Renaissance guitars:
"John Dragonetti’s efforts actually briefly looked like they might be successful. At the summer NAMM show of 1980, Sunn amplifiers, enamored of Renaissance basses, approached him about building a line of guitars. Just at that moment, another company’s sales rep knocked a bass over and broke it, pointing out how poorly made it was. Sunn got spooked and backed out. Which probably was okay, because they promptly went out of business. And Renaissance’s number finally came up at the I.R.S. By the fall of ’80, Renaissance guitars were no more."
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I'll post the list of amps, and a list of pedals later.
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Thanks, Gary. I signed up there- neat site!
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Oh man, teenage me wanted one of those earlier Ibanez Talmans so bad. Especially if hard tail.
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Amps
Univox combo amp U-45B (and includes an extra amp for the cabinet)
Tube Amp Factory (still checking the model)
Fender Pro Junior
Fender Champion PR723
Revenge L'il Rock 5 Head 30 watt
Reverend King Snake 20 watt (2005)
Kustom Defender power head
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And pedals/effects....
Digitech RP12
Ibanez ECC83/12AX72
Ibanez Tube King
Boss Harmonist
Boss RT20, Dimension C (DC-2), Chromatic Tuner (TU-2) in a 3 pedal carrying case
Boss Octaver (OC-2), Tremo Pan (PN-2), Auto-Wah (AW-2)f in a 3 pedal carrying case
Usual Sound Open Road
Garage Tone Drive Train
RotoVibe JD-4S
Mackie 1202 Mixer
Dan Electro Shift Daddy
Dan Electro Dan O-Wah
Dan Electro
10 – small pedals
Corned Beef, BLT, Tuna Melt, Pepperoni, Hash Browns, Milkshake, T. Bone, Grilled Cheese, Pastrami, Surf&Turf
Extra knobs
Snarling Dogs
Boss Enhancer (EH-2), Noise Suppressor, Hyper Fuzz (F22), Bass Limiter (KN2B), Line Selector (LS2), Power Supply (PSM5) in a 6 pedal carrying case
Boss Duel
Electro Harmonix Octave Multiplexer
Tech 21 XXL
Garage Tone Axle Grease
Octavia Roger Mayer Zoom 9002 Advanced Guitar Effects
Boss Micro Rack Series -
- RCL-10 Compressor
ROD-10 Overdrive
TU-50 Tuner
RCE-10 Chorus
RPH-10 Phaser
RPW-7 Power supply
Assorted patch cords and power jumper
Boss Micro Rack Series
- RBF-10 Flanger
RPS-10 Pitch Shifter
RSD-10 Sampler/Delay
RDD-10 Digital Delay
RGE-10 Graphic Equalizer
RPW-7 Power Supply
Assorted patch cords and power jumper
ART FXR Elite
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Thanks, Gary. I signed up there- neat site!
cool. Make sure to list me as your reference. I get money apparently when my friends log in. 8)
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Hardtail Strat? Interesting.
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Well, the sale ended, and she did quite well. I don't know if anyone here bid on anything, but if you did, Thanks!
I pushed the Sunn up on Facebook, too. The final price for that was $1625.
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That's pretty good, considering how few people knew that Sunn ever made a guitar.
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Hello, I'm actually John Dragonetti's son. Happened across this looking into my dad's old business stuff - shame I missed this by a few weeks. Apparently he tried selling off the others at 400 in the 80s when he was stuck with these guitars. (so take that as you will with inflation). Only other plexiglass Renaissance guitar I can find is about 2500 now.
From an article in Vintage Guitar (http://www.vintageguitar.com/3810/renaissance-t-200g/) about a Lucite guitar called Renaissance.
"John Dragonetti’s efforts actually briefly looked like they might be successful. At the summer NAMM show of 1980, Sunn amplifiers, enamored of Renaissance basses, approached him about building a line of guitars. Just at that moment, another company’s sales rep knocked a bass over and broke it, pointing out how poorly made it was. Sunn got spooked and backed out. Which probably was okay, because they promptly went out of business. And Renaissance’s number finally came up at the I.R.S. By the fall of ’80, Renaissance guitars were no more."
Maybe Sunn didn't back out and a few were made, or maybe this is a prototype. Must be very rare.
And the competing sales rep had been drinking and knocked a guitar sitting on a stand on top of a table onto the floor, snapping it at the headstock. It wasn't even the plexiglass that broke. That said, we've never seen the article referenced before and got a good laugh out of the phrase "John Dragonetti’s efforts actually briefly looked like they might be successful"
Glad the auction went well!
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Thanks for the info! Glad to see you here.
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Thanks for expanding our knowledge! Too bad there weren't more of these.
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Great name by the way. Any relation to Domenico, the bass chair for Beethoven?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgLh_0yVyv0