Wandre Blue Jeans/Teen Ager Model 900 Semi-Hollow Body Electric Guitar (1960)
1
/
of
16
Regular price
$3,950.00
Regular price
$3,950.00
Sale price
$3,950.00
Unit price
/
per
Item #13981
Wandre Blue Jeans/Teen Ager Model 900 Model Semi-Hollow Body Electric Guitar (1960), made in Cavriago, Italy, tricolor lacquer finish, laminated wood body, aluminum neck with rosewood fingerboard, black hard shell case.
After creating some wildly eccentric designs like the extreme cutaway Rock Oval, Italian guitar artist Wandre Pioli decided to put a few more broadly marketable instruments into production for his dealers. The "Blue Jeans" model was named as a nod to the youthful rebellion of blue jeans and rock'n'roll that was sweeping the world in the late 1950s. A year or two into production, he was able to get a few into the American market via New York Jobber Maurice Lipsky's Orpheum catalogue. Part of the "Orpheum Colorama" line, this design was renamed the "Teen Ager Model 900" for the US market and listed at a very reasonable $109, plus $10.50 for the case. While these are sometimes referred to as "Tri-Lam" models Marco Ballestri's wonderful Wandre book notes that this is a misnomer referring not to a specific model but to the triple laminated plywood body thickness which over time became synonymous with them.
This fairly conventionally shaped guitar was unsurprisingly more successful than many other more outrageous Wandre creations, becoming one of the handful of models that remained in production for most of the company's existence. We place this one around late 1960 by the style of the Davoli pickup, with the older style electronics mounting on the pickguard and headstock shape. This Teenager sports a funkier gradient of blue and red; if Wandres are known for anything besides the whimsical and wild body shapes, it is their whimsical and erratic finishes! It has heavy white plastic binding around the edges and the rim of the abstract soundhole. Inside the catseye soundhole is a calling card of the "Teenager" variation: a decorative white plastic grid detail.
This guitar bears a single c. 1960 Davoli-branded pickup with embossed circles on the cover situated in the neck position on a plastic pickguard assembly, which was molded to also allow a second pickup to be cut in. Thie unit is attached to the neck at the front end and runs all the way to the bridge, which is molded to the back end. The entire assembly is adjustable for height on two legs at the rear under the bridge. The bridge itself is a Hofner-style slotted design, but molded directly into the pickguard with 6 fretwire saddles instead of the separate rosewood piece used on earlier models. It also features a snap-on plastic cover, with the strings running on to a sleek minimalist stamped metal tailpiece. The output jack and volume control are mounted directly to the pickguard as well.
Besides the unique aesthetics, the most trailblazing aspect of Wandre guitars is the bolt-on aluminum neck. Over a decade before the likes of Travis Bean or Veleno, Pioli's instruments featured a thin, rounded aluminum neck attached so the angle is adjustable to the body. The flat aluminum headstock is milled separately and bolted to the neck. This non-export does not bear an additional crest for a foreign exporting company, just a plain aluminum headstock with plastic grommet strips for the tuners and a small Wandre sticker. The bound rosewood fingerboard has simple large-dot inlays (oddly with a blue dot at the 12th fret) and a zero fret. The fretboard is wider than the aluminum back which can feel odd without the sometimes fitted plastic neck sheath, but it is more comfortably playable than one might imagine given its unique structure.
While no Wandre is particularly "normal" this Teen Ager Model 900 handles more conveniently than some; it plays and sounds fantastic and certainly looks like nothing else. This is a very rare, wonderful and iconic instrument from the most inspired oddball Italian '60s guitar designer: Wandre Pioli, a true artist of the electric guitar.
Overall length is 44 1/4 in. (112.4 cm.), 16 in. (40.6 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 7/8 in. (4.8 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.).
This Teenager is as clean as a crisp pair of new jeans in this special and somewhat pre-psychedelic colorway. Generally it is very well preserved for its age with just some minor check lines and scuffs to the body, with some heavier scratching on the back. Wandre instruments are notoriously made up of many virtually irreplaceable (often plastic) parts, and this one has held its own better over the decades than most; All components are original and intact including the somewhat fragile molded cream pickguard that houses the pickup and bridge. There is a bit of glue residue under one or two sections of the original binding that may have been reglued. An authentic vintage blue-and-silver Wandre sticker adorns the top face of the headstock though generally they did not leave the factory that way.
The electronics work as they should and appear untampered with including the original Italian 5mm Geloso jack that was the choice of many Italian consumer electronics of the time. They are obsolete now and we are happy to discuss replacing it with a standard 1/4" jack upon the buyer's request; that said, this guitar does come with a specially made adapter cable from Geloso jack to 1/4" to use the guitar in its current unmodified state. Overall, this now 65 year old Teen Ager is a light and cheerful ode to Mr. Pioli's love of youth culture and Rock'n'Roll, a handy to play and very pleasant guitar. It comes in an older non-original hardshell case with "SEGGS" and "PS" stenciled on the lid. Excellent Condition.
View full details
After creating some wildly eccentric designs like the extreme cutaway Rock Oval, Italian guitar artist Wandre Pioli decided to put a few more broadly marketable instruments into production for his dealers. The "Blue Jeans" model was named as a nod to the youthful rebellion of blue jeans and rock'n'roll that was sweeping the world in the late 1950s. A year or two into production, he was able to get a few into the American market via New York Jobber Maurice Lipsky's Orpheum catalogue. Part of the "Orpheum Colorama" line, this design was renamed the "Teen Ager Model 900" for the US market and listed at a very reasonable $109, plus $10.50 for the case. While these are sometimes referred to as "Tri-Lam" models Marco Ballestri's wonderful Wandre book notes that this is a misnomer referring not to a specific model but to the triple laminated plywood body thickness which over time became synonymous with them.
This fairly conventionally shaped guitar was unsurprisingly more successful than many other more outrageous Wandre creations, becoming one of the handful of models that remained in production for most of the company's existence. We place this one around late 1960 by the style of the Davoli pickup, with the older style electronics mounting on the pickguard and headstock shape. This Teenager sports a funkier gradient of blue and red; if Wandres are known for anything besides the whimsical and wild body shapes, it is their whimsical and erratic finishes! It has heavy white plastic binding around the edges and the rim of the abstract soundhole. Inside the catseye soundhole is a calling card of the "Teenager" variation: a decorative white plastic grid detail.
This guitar bears a single c. 1960 Davoli-branded pickup with embossed circles on the cover situated in the neck position on a plastic pickguard assembly, which was molded to also allow a second pickup to be cut in. Thie unit is attached to the neck at the front end and runs all the way to the bridge, which is molded to the back end. The entire assembly is adjustable for height on two legs at the rear under the bridge. The bridge itself is a Hofner-style slotted design, but molded directly into the pickguard with 6 fretwire saddles instead of the separate rosewood piece used on earlier models. It also features a snap-on plastic cover, with the strings running on to a sleek minimalist stamped metal tailpiece. The output jack and volume control are mounted directly to the pickguard as well.
Besides the unique aesthetics, the most trailblazing aspect of Wandre guitars is the bolt-on aluminum neck. Over a decade before the likes of Travis Bean or Veleno, Pioli's instruments featured a thin, rounded aluminum neck attached so the angle is adjustable to the body. The flat aluminum headstock is milled separately and bolted to the neck. This non-export does not bear an additional crest for a foreign exporting company, just a plain aluminum headstock with plastic grommet strips for the tuners and a small Wandre sticker. The bound rosewood fingerboard has simple large-dot inlays (oddly with a blue dot at the 12th fret) and a zero fret. The fretboard is wider than the aluminum back which can feel odd without the sometimes fitted plastic neck sheath, but it is more comfortably playable than one might imagine given its unique structure.
While no Wandre is particularly "normal" this Teen Ager Model 900 handles more conveniently than some; it plays and sounds fantastic and certainly looks like nothing else. This is a very rare, wonderful and iconic instrument from the most inspired oddball Italian '60s guitar designer: Wandre Pioli, a true artist of the electric guitar.
Overall length is 44 1/4 in. (112.4 cm.), 16 in. (40.6 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 7/8 in. (4.8 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.).
This Teenager is as clean as a crisp pair of new jeans in this special and somewhat pre-psychedelic colorway. Generally it is very well preserved for its age with just some minor check lines and scuffs to the body, with some heavier scratching on the back. Wandre instruments are notoriously made up of many virtually irreplaceable (often plastic) parts, and this one has held its own better over the decades than most; All components are original and intact including the somewhat fragile molded cream pickguard that houses the pickup and bridge. There is a bit of glue residue under one or two sections of the original binding that may have been reglued. An authentic vintage blue-and-silver Wandre sticker adorns the top face of the headstock though generally they did not leave the factory that way.
The electronics work as they should and appear untampered with including the original Italian 5mm Geloso jack that was the choice of many Italian consumer electronics of the time. They are obsolete now and we are happy to discuss replacing it with a standard 1/4" jack upon the buyer's request; that said, this guitar does come with a specially made adapter cable from Geloso jack to 1/4" to use the guitar in its current unmodified state. Overall, this now 65 year old Teen Ager is a light and cheerful ode to Mr. Pioli's love of youth culture and Rock'n'Roll, a handy to play and very pleasant guitar. It comes in an older non-original hardshell case with "SEGGS" and "PS" stenciled on the lid. Excellent Condition.
