Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Guitars and Cars

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Guitars and Cars

    As a Marlin owner and acoustic guitar nut, I came across an interesting link between the two which may be of interest to others.

    One of the most prestigious britsh guitar luthiers of recent times is a man by the name of Tony Zemaitis who made acoustic guitars for the rich and famous including the likes of George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Marc Bolan and the list goes on.

    His acoustic guitars now after his death fetch anywhere between 10K and 40K, yes you read that right 10K to 40k for an acoustic guitar.

    Well it turns out thats not the only passion he had, he also liked cars and owned and maybe built a Marlin Berlinetta, pictured on the Zemaitis owners clubsite at http://www.zemaitisclub.com/zemaitis-history.htm

    the car now resides at the Tony Zemaitis museum in Tokyo shown on the website at http://www.zemaitis.net/zemaitis-museum-cars.htm

    Is this the most distant Marlin? probably the first to be exhibited in a museum.

    Thought it may be of interest to some fellow club members and wondered if anyone new him or his car.

    John

  • #2
    Re: Guitars and Cars

    Hi John very interesting I wonder if he was ever in the club and perhaps we can send the museum some details of the our club. I will air this at the next committee meeting in Feb

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Guitars and Cars

      Hi John, just read youre posting re Tony Zemaitis, I got to know Tony very well over the years firstly as a customer and then more as a friend and fellow guitar builder/repairer ( although my efforts are strictly amateur compared to the genius artisan that Tony was). I have a Greco Zemaitis guitar myself, the Greco part being the Japanese link, as they are renowned quality guitar builders and have the mfg rights to produce new replica Zemaitis guitars. The original jigs and tooling that Tony used are now held by "Dave of England" and he is a quality luthier and very highly regarded in the trade.
      As a bit of a muso yourself check out Ronnie Lane (also sadley missed) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYPTX12L5Uw the guitar is a Zemaitis acoustic that Tony built for Ronnie a couple of years earlier and then he Tony was a car nutasked Tony to mod` it for him by removing the resonator unit from a spare guitar and fit it to his "Z", there is another Ronnie video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYPTX12L5Uw with him playing said spare guitar and a peice of tonewood fitted where the reso` unit had been!!!.
      Tony was a car nut, he was great friends with the "Stewarts" (F1)and I know they did a lot of work on his berlinetta engine over at Stewart Racing. The museum as i understand it asked for Tonys cars, I`m pretty sure they have his Ginetta as well. Tony was really nice guy in all respects and is sadly missed by all, but he left behind a fantastic legacy of beautifully handcrafted guitars.
      Well i hope i`ve thrown a bit of light on the subject, if you need to know any more contact me (07966 201106) if it helps or email stephenhimsworth(at)aol.com

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Guitars and Cars

        Mr Himsworth of YKC fame?, if so long time no see, in the dim and distant past you once welded me up a custom rose jointed steering shaft for my JBA.

        Interesting info on Tony Z, did he build the Berli himself.

        Keep wondering if I should buy one of Tony's guitars as an iinvestment, there was one on flea bay recently for around 7K, trouble is I believe there are a lot of fakes around as well.

        John

        Comment

        Working...
        X