Similiar semi-hollow body to Gibson Howard Roberts ?

[Cellarstrat82]

As I cannot afford a Gibson Howard Roberts I was wondering if there is another guitar of reasonable quality with this guitars characteristics and being of thinnish body design ..not a jazz box but more manageable like a 335 depth...it was the Lifeson HRoberts that caught me ear/eye and liked the sharp cutaway lower horn ...yes cosmetic but wanted the H Roberts look. 3k is what they going for and that is way too much for me as non prof player.

Thanks for any suggestions .

T.

 

[Homer J. Simpson]

Quality may vary but AFAIK most of the usual suspects had a guitar like this in their catalogs in the 70s, particularly export labels - Ibanez, Aria, Electra, Epiphone, Ventura, Whatnot....?

 

[Voidoid56]

When it comes to Howard Roberts copies, The Greco HR680 is the only game in town, as far as I know. Pic from the '78 catalog.



There are two problems with these: they're a) super rare (like most jazz-style guitars except ES175 copies), and b) when they do come up for sale, they're expensive. Here's one listed at 297k JPY, just over 2 100 USD.

Greco HR680S | LAST GUITAR OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Otherwise, I don't know. A few may have been made under the Ibanez brand, they and Greco shared Fujigen as a manufacturer so stuff like that happened during the 70's. Aria Pro II had a pretty extensive range of copies, incl some oddballs (the only Ric 620 copy, for instance), they may have had a HR at some point too, but I don't know.

Greco did in fact have quite a few copies of Gibsons in this general style during the 2nd half of the 70's, incl the really tasty-looking BR-110 Byrdland. But they must have sold poorly, because they're really rare today, which makes the few that do turn up sell for big money. Pic from '77 catalog.

 

[Cellarstrat82]

Thank you very much for your detailed reply with options ....I guess tose guitars are rare to aquire due to age and low production but will do some searching on the topic ..cheers

 

[Sigmania]

As Homer said there were the Ibbys of course. Not sure about them being thin though.

And be aware that many Ibanez guitars had issues with celluloid pick guards off gassing in the case and it eating the binding. Called "binding rot".

Ibanez 2453 1974-1975 - Brown Sunburst | Reverb

 

[Sigmania]

Here’s a Greco, but note that it probably has binding rot. You can see the corrosion on the pickup from the pickguard off gassing. Heel cap is visibly crumbling. Sad to see this happen to so many Fuji Gen guitars.

Greco HR680S Howard Roberts Copy Model Sunburst Made in Japan '77 Vintage | eBay

 

[Voidoid56]

HR-680N (unusual finish) for sale in Japan right now. Priced at around 1060 USD. Looks like it's in fine condition.

check bost