GIRLBRAND GUITAR GALLERY PART 1. GUTARS BUILT BY CHRIS LARSEN.

Chris Larsen`s logo from his old Girl Brand Guitars Website which unfortunately doesn`t exist any more.

Girlbrand Guitar Gallery

Part 1

Intergallactic Spaceranger Girl by Chris Larsen. Serial Number 60. The concept behind this guitar was that it was found while exploring a distant planet, and was an artifact left behind by an unknown alien race with obviously advanced technology.

Chris Larsen aus Tucson, Arizona, baute anfangs des Jahrhunderts im Alleingang all diese total einzigartigen und abgedrehten, wunderbaren Gitarren. Es gibt wohl weniger als 100 davon, wieviele genau, das weiss Chris selbst nicht mehr. Ich hörte neulich, es wären 96.

Alle haben sie Zargen aus Aluminium, sind innen hohl, bis auf eine kleinen Holzstütze unter dem Steg und nutzen je zwei Pickups, die per Transformatoren je drei Klangoptionen bereit halten. Ein einzigartiges System, das von Dave Schecter entwickelt wurde.

Mehr Details zur Konstruktion hier.

Hier zeige ich Girlbrand Gitarren, die gemeinerweise NICHT mir gehören. Ich habe all diese Fotos vor Jahren von Chris` alter Website kopiert und kenne zum grössten Teil nicht mal die Namen dieser Girls. Chris` alte Girlbrand Website (http://girlbrand.com/) war lange Zeit leider ziemlich derangiert und ist nun sogar völlig tot. Viele Bilder, die dort zu sehen waren, sind inzwischen verloren gegangen. Darum mache ich hier ein bisschen Werbung für seine atemberaubenden Werke. Der Typ ist doch einfach genial!

During the first decade of this century Chris Larsen from Tucson, Arizona, built all these crazy and unique, beautiful guitars.

There are less than 100 instruments of that kind. Even Chris himself doesn`t know how many he has built. I recently heard that there must be 96 Girls out there...

Although each one is different than the next one, they all share the same construction: There is a rim made of aluminum and the body is hollow except for a piece of wood under the bridge. The two self-wound pickups work in conjunction with transformers in order to produce three different sounds each. This system was ionvented by Dave Schecter. More details about the construction can be found here.

This is a small Girlbrand guitar gallery. Unfortunately all these guitars don`t belong to me. Years ago I copied the fotos from Chris` old website which meanwhile is totally gone, unfortunately! (http://girlbrand.com/ ) Regrettably many, many pictures of Girlbrand guitars were lost. With Chris` permission I`d like to share these fotos with you in order to praise his fantastic work. Isn`t he a genius?

Girlbrand. This industrial look takes my locomotive breath away.

The owner of this amazing

"Intergallactic Spaceranger Girl"

was wondering "What DO all those tubes and dials do? How can we decipher the writing on the fret board and pickup selector?"

Chris Larsen`s reply in 2015: "The

"Interstellar Band Battle Artifact Girl"

is one of my very favorites and in many ways the direct ancestor of the guitars I am doing now (see M9 model from 2014 below). I managed to find a close up of the toggle plate but it is very low rez so probably not much good. Only new information I have is that the neck inlay is really only a very stylized rendering of the numbers of the frets. three, five, seven, nine, twelve, etc.

Interstellar Band Battle Artifact Girl: Alien typography, read from right to left: 1,3,5,7,9,12,15,17,19,21

Alien typography no one understands. The guitar was left behind by E.T. after an intergalactic band battle.

This Girlbrand model has the same cryptical cypher inlays as the Interstellar Artifact Girl above and a very particular scratchboard... Chis thinks it could be "Launch Girl", a guitar that was built for a perished online magazine called "Launch"

Girlbrand. Note how my computer refuses to enlarge all these pictures to the same width... I just don`t get it! And I strongly feel that I don`t deserve this...

Girlbrand. Looks a bit like the one Meredith Brooks posed with. Check the cover of her 1997 album "Blurring the Edges"

Album Cover: Meredith Brooks with a sexy Girlbrand "Bitch". It is NOT exactly the same as above: Check the pot on the scratchplate. I was informed that Meredith never owned this guitar. Just posing with it.

Girlbrand. Not the same as Meredith posed with. Look at the fretboard: The Devil at the crossroads.

Is this Girlbrand guitar called Robert-Johnson-Girl or Crossroads-Girl?. Top by Janet K. Miller

ANOTHER Girlbrand Crossroads-Girl with Janet K. Miller top and this devilish fretboard inlay again. And case candy. All 6 photos by Rob in California who recently sold it.

Very cool looking chromed aluminum rim. Rob told me, people don`t know this guitar brand... What a pitty.

Girlbrand Crossroad-Girl in black. What does it say? My old eyes refuse to read that but Rob sent me the text:

"If you want to make a contract with the devil . . . Take a black cat bone and a guitar and go to a lonely fork in the roads at midnight. Sit down there and play your best piece, thinking of and wishing for the devil all the while. By and by you will hear music, dim at first but growing louder and louder as the music approaches nearer . . . After a time you feel something tugging at your instrument . . . Let the devil take it and keep thumping along with your fingers as if you still had a guitar in your hands. Then the devil will hand you his instrument to play and will accompany you on yours. After doing this for a time he will seize your fingers and trim the nails until they bleed, finally taking his guitar back and returning your own. Keep on playing; do not look around. His music will become fainter and fainter as he moves away . . . You will be able to play any piece you desire on the guitar and you can do anything you want to in the world, but you have sold your eternal soul to the devil and are his in the world to come."

Taken from "Folk Beliefs of the Southern Negro", by Newbell Niles Puckett (1968 or originally from 1926) and this is exactly what Robert Johnson is said to have done at the crossroads of the highways 61 and 49 in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Some say the guy was not Robert but a dude called Tommy Johnson and he didn`t meet the devil but "Legba" a devious African god.

Legba, the voodoo-dude, found on Wikipedia. Not sure if that thing in his lap really is a guitar... but anyhow ... it can be enlarged ... if you feel like clicking on it.

Girlbrand Crossroads Girl. This is how Chris Larsen sees him. Click to enlarge a bit.

Girlbrand Crossroads-Girl. The serial number.

Rob`s Girlbrand Crossroadgirl has a one of a kind headstock. Very rare. Thanks for the fotos and information Rob!

Girlbrand Rococogirl or Spanishrococogirl...and again the RobertJohnsongirl

Not the same as the one above: But some kind of Rococo as well!

UPDATE

December 2016:

This

"Spanish Rococo Girl 1"

from 2001

reappears at ACME GUITARS in ST. Louis, MO, and on "Reverb.com" and was sold for 7696.60 $

(Wow! Is that true?)

This is the info, that ACME provided:

From the ultra Creative mind and hands of Chris Larson, this guitar is a very unique piece. Made by hand in Tuscon, AZ, Girl Brand are renown for not only their one of a kind design, but their supreme playabillity and innovative electronics. In addition to the standard three-way, there are two additional switches that activate transformers that add more winds to the pickup, giving you vintage, hot, and overwound tones. It is semi hollow with a Formica back, aluminum sides, and acrylic top with beautiful ornamentation all topped off with an asymmetrical neck that feels beautiful in the hand. I've owned this for years and its time to move her along. Chris never built the same guitar twice so this is as rare as it is beautiful. Talk about tone! there's not enough room. Number 31 of approximately 100 total Girls.

The following 3 photos were made by ACME GUITARS, thanks!

Thanks as well to Bernie, the owner of "Opium Girl" who sent them to me!

Spanish Rococo Girl 1 photo by ACME GUITARS, St. Louis, MO.

No idea how this one is called. Propably the same fretboard inlay as RococoGirl. An early model without toggle inscription.

...but the "GIRL BRAND-GUITARS" inscription is unique as far as I know. Inleay an top pattern look like #22 Homegirl (see below) but other details are different ...

Girlbrand, name unknown to me. The rare details here: volume pot on the scratchboard, red switch, no inscription for the toggle positions. Maybe a very early Girl?

Girlbrand Electrongirl. No point to point wiring on that top. and yet it looks better than any boutique amp!

Unfortunately this beautiful Electron Girl was destroyed in a fire!

She was either Girl Brand # 33 or #37.

Owner Jerry tells me that the only thing recoverable was the top.

A friend of Jerry`s is restoring it.

The guitar top was trimmed to fit a tele body that the top is going to be inlayed into.

There is still lots of work ahead.

(all fotos below by Jerry)

Thanks very much and good luck!

Jerry`s Electron Girl that was destroyed in a fire

this new neck will not be able to fully repalce the original one that had a beautiful inlays.

The shape of the top had to be trimmed to fit its new body.

the original body "frame" of aluminum is still around

the electronic guts ... who could fix this?

one of the two tappable extra coils that come with the pickups.

Jerry will keep us posted

Looking forward to see this beauty alive again.

Fortunately Jerry owns another Girl Brand guitar,

Frontier Girl.

see her and many more "Girls"

on page 2

of our Girlbrand gallery!

click here

Girlbrand, Isn`t that AMAZING? Must be one of the "Futuregirls"

Girlbrand guitar...jeeeezezzzchrizzzzz! There are at least 3 different "Futuregirls"

the same or and another Girlbrand Futuregirl? (The colors may differ a lot but I never trusted Photoshop)

Girlbrand, another beautiful Futuregirl, the third one says owner Robert Zott.It is called "The Nautilus" Look at that inlay!

Girlbrand Futuregirl 3, "The Nautilus" photo: Robert Zott. click 2 enlarge

Girlbrand Futuregirl 3 Inlays. Among the very best!!!

Robert Zott playing his beautiful Girlbrand #0063 Futuregirl "The Nautilus"

Here is what Robert Zott told me about the FutureGirl:

Adding to the mystery: In my correspondence with Chris Larsen -- probably around 2000-2001 -- he mentioned that he had made three FutureGirls, but the first was unsuccessful. The second (the gold one), I believe he named "The Florentine." He gave mine the name "The Nautilus." The silver one on your website could either be the first "unsuccessful" one, or a fourth -- although he mentioned that after mine there would be no more, since etching the tops proved very difficult.

Enjoy Robert Zott`s instrumental videoclip "Timepiece" on youtube

here

Girlbrand Futuregirl 3, "The Nautilus" photo/owner Robert Zott, click 2 enlarge

Girlbrand Futuregirl 3 "The Nautilus". Owned, payed and photographed by Robert Zott.

Check out Robert Zott`s beautiful website where you can hear his amazing music, read his lyrics and find some wonderful pictures.

Thanks for the link, Robert!

Click here

Chose between reality or illusion or mix them! Futuregirl 3 "The Nautilus" Photo by Robert Zott.

Girlbrand Futuregirl 3, a normal Girlbrand headstock but always nice and worth admiring.

Girlbrand, this must be Chris and his camera

Girlbrand guitar. NOT the same one as above. But it could be Homegirl from below ...

Girlbrand guitar #22 Homegirl. This guitar appears in a video demo on youtube and the guy describes it very detailed and well. But he says the back is made of mahogany which is probably not true. It`s more likely a phenolic board

Click the picture above to go to the video clip on youtube

Girlbrand Homegirl from the video above I think. Unusual switches from military surplus. Flip the cover up before you can flip the switch...it`s like engaging a big gun whil playing a session.

Girlbrand, What a top! Most likely Homegirl from above with some Photoshop added (not by me)

Girlbrand Societygirl! A different guitar with the same amazing engravings. Zemaitis or Trussart? Girlbrand!

Girlbrand guitar # 15. Maybe "Katsumi Girl". Same pattern as above and above above ... but a different guitar.

Girlbrand guitar # 15...maybe called "Katsumi Girl". Note: The volume pot is on the pickguard. Unusual.

Girl Brand Katsumi Girl (Katsumi is the first name of Chris` guitar dealer in Japan) Manga-style drawing by Katsumi. The drawn guitar seems to be #15, the one you can see on the photos above and below.

Girlbrand guitar # 15 gracefully aged. Most liekely "Katsumi Girl". These volume an tone knobs are one of a kind .

Girlbrand guitar. "Katsumi Girl", an early model.

UPDATE

December 2016:

This

"Rust Top With Filigree"

(earlier known as "Katsumi Girl")

Girlbrand #15

from 1999

reappears at ACME GUITARS in ST. Louis, MO, and on "Reverb.com" and is/ was for sale for 7696.60 $

This is the info, that ACME provided:

From the ultra Creative mind and hands of Chris Larson. Made by hand in Tuscon, AZ, Girl Brand are renown for not only their one of a kind design, but their supreme playabillity and innovative electronics. In addition to the standard three-way, there is an additional switch that activates a transformer that add more winds to the pickup, giving you vintage, hot, and overwound tones. It is semi hollow with a Formica back, aluminum sides, and acrylic top with beautiful ornamentation all topped off with an asymmetrical neck that feels beautiful in the hand. The transformer switch is off of a B-25 bomber and the pickup selector switch tip is made out of real fossil amber shaped and polished by hand. I've owned this for years and its time to move her along. Talk about tone! there's not enough room. Since Chris never made the same guitar twice, its rare as it is beautiful. Number 15 of 100 total Girls. Made before the 3 say tap for the pick-ups. this is one of Chris's best sounding guitars of this period.

The following 3 photos were made by ACME GUITARS, thanks!

Thanks as well to Bernie, the owner of "Opium Girl" who sent them to me!