Bacchus?59 clone

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throstur

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I have decided to edit this opening letter and take out errors and misleading information which have being pointed out to me during this thread :p Didn?t know better at the time.

Some months ago I bought a Bacchus ?59 clone made probably in 1999. I had been lurking on the Internet for a long time because I had heard many good things about Bacchus. I had rather high expectations.. BUT was I in for a surprise!! It even exceeded my expectations. It weights 9 lbs 7 oz. It?s handmade I am told, 17? degree headstock angle, long neck tenon, one piece back, laminated book matched hard maple top, nickel hardware, aluminium tailpiece, excellent pickups very good sustain. No fret end bindings. I have tried all kinds of standard, classic, reissue, custom e.t.c. Gibson's and non of them comes close to this guitar IMO. I have not tried the very expensive Custom Shop Historic Gibson's or the old Bursts but they have to be pretty damned good to catch the workmanship and playability of this one. :D I have nice picures of it on my PC, but I can?t figure out how to insert pitures here.
 
throstur said:
Hi, this is my first post at this Forum. Some months ago I bought a Bacchus ?59 clone made around 2000. I had been lurking on the Internet for a long time because I had heard so many good things about Bacchus. I had rather high expectations ...........BUT was I in for a surprise!! It even exceeded my expectations. It?s a dead accurate clone of a?59 LP to the smallest detail. It weights 9 lbs 7 oz. It?s handmade, 17? degree headstock angle, long neck tenon, one piece back, laminated book matched hard maple top, nickel hardware, aluminium tailpiece, excellent pickups very good sustain, beautifully handcrafted and cellulose lacquer of course. No fret end bindings (the ?59's didn?t have it I?m told). I have tried all kinds of standard, classic, reissue, custom e.t.c. Gibson's and non of them comes close to this guitar in any way! I have not tried the very expensive Custom Shop Historic Gibson's or the old Bursts but they have to be pretty damned good to catch this one. :D I have nice picures of it on my PC, but I can?t figure out how to insert pitures here.

Post pictures with a hosting site like www.photobucket.com

It's free. Load your pics there from your computer then copy and paste the image or link here.

Lets see it :wink:
 
head2.jpg
http://i415.photobucket.com/albums/pp231/throsturv/head_back.jpg[/IMG]
front.jpg

back.jpg

neck_joint.jpg

guitar.jpg
 
Hi throstur,

welcome aboard ... :lol:
Man ... that's an absolutely stunning guitar ... Congrats !!!!!
Looks like a BLP59 ... and what I can say (although I don't own one of Bacchus but I wish I would) you're a lucky guy !!!
I don't like 'reds', but this dark burst is beautiful ... and look into the cut - narrow binding ... you can see the thickness of the maple top ...
I'm blown away ... :lol: :lol:
Roger
 
tudor said:
I'm blown away ... :lol: :lol:
Thanks Roger, this is exactly what happened to me when I realised what I had in my hands! As I said I had high expectations, but.....WOW! And it sounds like nothing else I have tried in this category.
head_back.jpg

lower_half.jpg

knobs.jpg

body_neck.jpg
 
**** that's a nice one. FYI.... some foam on guitar stands can react with the nitro - particularly if it's fresh.

Maybe I'm dense but out of curiosity, why is it that people cover up serial numbers? I've noticed that on eBay too.
 
I was told to cover it up because there where some scumbags out there who could try to use your pictures and serial numbers to cheat innocent people.

By the way, one thing I really like on this guitar is how I can screw the tailpiece right down to the body without the strings hitting the rear edge of the bridge. It can be seen very clearly on the "knobs" picture above.

On all Gibson LP's and SG's I have had, and set up for others, this has always been a problem. I have "wrapped" my LP's and SG's tailpieces in order to be able to screw the tailpiece down to the body, as I like to have it on this type of guitars. :p
 
throstur said:
I was told to cover it up because there where some scumbags out there who could try to use your pictures and serial numbers to cheat innocent people.

Oh they still do - they just don't show the serial number picture. Gorgeous guitar.
 
marcusnieman said:
Maybe I'm dense but out of curiosity, why is it that people cover up serial numbers? I've noticed that on eBay too.

Ha ha, I often wondered that too but didn't want to sound like an idiot asking. Thanks for hopping on the grenade for us and getting that answered Marcus! :lol:

Jason
 
very nice catch, as these do not come up very often, and they are very well built.
I believe it's a BLS-120 model; looks like the one that John C. (mijguitar) had offered.

I previously owned a BLS-120; top was natural finish & back was also natural, like a gold top back finish.
Weight was 8 lb. - 9 oz., and I should have never sold it :( :cry:

I have owned right at 20 Bacchus examples, and they have the most consistant build quality of any brand I have ever seen.

If your BLS-120 is anything like mine was, don't sell your's :wink:
 
MIJvintage said:
I believe it's a BLS-120 model; looks like the one that John C. (mijguitar) had offered.
Yes your quite right, I bought it from John C at MIJ Guitar. John is a gentleman and I have bought from him before. And, yes it is a keeper, I somehow bonded to it right away, more then to other LP type guitars I have owned. In fact they have all been Gibson until now!! 8). I am told you know the BST-64V very well? I might be going for one of those to. The Bacchus virus has got to me. I have been playing for a long time and up til now I have only had USA made guitars, Gibsons, Fenders, Gretsch e.t.c.
 
John is a great seller & one Hell of a nice guy; I have a ton of transactions with him & it's always been a pleasure doing business :)

I have owned a total of six BST-64V models & I currently still have the two pictured in the link at the bottom of all of my posts.
The best Strats IMO & my favorite Strats too.

I've never owned a 'bad' Bacchus guitar, never 8)
 
Yes, John C is a superb guy and your two 64V's look amazing! I started a thread few day?s ago trying to find out which years Bacchus was making these very accurate replicas (the V series). I have been browsing the Internet but do not find any concrete info about when they started and when they stopped making them. (I understand they don?t make these any more). But this BLS-120 I bought from John is awesome and made me very, very interested in Bacchus :p
 
My BLS-120 had a 102*** serial number & I believe the pots on my BLS-120 were coded to about 2001

check your pots for codes; if they are coded you can determine an aprox. date of manufacture
 
I sent the pictures to Mister Aki Shiokawa at Deviser and just got a very interesting letter from him. :p See below:

2008/9/1 Aki Shiokawa 塩川彰規 (Deviser) <[email protected]>
Dear Mr.Throstur Ingolfur Vidisson,
Thank you very much for your enquiry.
I am glad to hear that you like the guitar.
Your guitar looks like BLS-59V HCS, not BLS-120.
I can not track it by the serial number because back then
we do not keep the record of of serial numbers.
But, we are selling this model between November 1997 to July 1999.
Should you have any additional questions, please contact me.
Best regards,
Aki Shiokawa
Deviser Co. Ltd.
7072-6 Sasaga, Matsumoto, Nagano, Japan
Mail: [email protected]
Web site: http://www.deviser.co.jp
Tel: 81-263-26-8798
Fax: 81-263-26-8324
 
Took off the cover and found out that the pots have no date. They are big and all of them stamped with ink "Made in Japan" and "500K". Nothing else.

When I bought it, it was said to be a BLS-120 from around 2000, and now Aki Shiokawa at Deviser tells me that it is called Bacchus 59V HCS from between 1997 -1999.

Not that it really matters. It?s a fantastic guitar and a keeper, for very decent money. Maybe I?ll start up a new thread one day and ask for information and options on this. It?s always fun to try to find out about things like that :p
 
BLS-95 1995-1997 not Log tenon
BLS-59V 1997-1999 Gibson head
BLS-120 2000-2003 The tip of the head is round
BLS-59 2003-2004? Lacquer
 
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