SORRY THIS ITEM NOW SOLD
This guitar is a rare collectable Emile Grimshaw G3 made in the 40's-50's in London .England. It is in original condition with a refinish and new binding. The refinish and binding were necessary because when I got the guitar 7 years ago the body had been hand painted black! So a strip down to bare wood and lot's of time in preparation and with professional sunburst finish on the front by Paul Karslake we have her back to her original glory.
The body is huge ,typical of the dance band style of that era & gives a nice sound that would cut through a band of it's day.Original tail-piece , bridge,nut and machines finish her off beautifully. Lovely MOP inlays on the fingerboard & interesting headstock pattern including the block carved inlay. The mahogany neck is not 100% straight but is very playable and the action can be lowered on the bridge.
The arched solid spruce top is a fantastic shape with no faulty bowing or dipping but true to it's original construction, a testament to the skill of craftsmanship and quality of materials used some 50-60 years ago by Grimshaw.
Guitars made by the firm Emile Grimshaw & Son were used by noted musicians, including Peter Townshend of "The Who" and Alvin Lee of "The Jaybirds" as described : Pete Townshend used a three-pickup Grimshaw semi-hollow guitar from December 1965 to January 1966. He began using this guitar for stage work soon after the first use of the Marshall 100w amps and 8x12 speaker cabinets were delivered in November 1965.
Grimshaw guitars were manufactured in the U.K. by Emile Grimshaw and Son. Notable users of Grimshaw guitars from the late ’50s/early ’60s were Bruce Welch of The Shadows, Tony Sheridan, Marty Wilde, Joe Brown, and studio session player Joe Moretti (who recorded with Johnny Kidd & the Pirates — of “Shakin’ All Over” fame — among others).
Pete’s model is likely a late-1950s edition, and featured three “toaster”-style pickups, block inlays, trapeze tailpiece, tune-o-matic bridge. This guitar was fitted with a Rickenbacker truss-rod cover, thus causing considerable confusion about its provenance. How he acquired and lost this guitar is unknown.
About Grimshaw & Son
In 1934 he formed a company with his son Emile Jnr to manufacture banjos and guitars (which were becoming popular) he also continued to produce music and also his very popular guitar tuition book.
The early guitars were (not surprisingly) constructed in a similar fashion to the banjo, in that it had a separate detachable back. The main body of the guitar had a large hole in the back, this it was perceived would amplify the sound. It is open to debate if this form of construction worked or not, but they are very interesting and unique sounding guitars. This range of guitars were branded Revelation, they also made a range of standard format guitars under the Hartford brand. Both types were available as archtop "F" hole or flat top "round" hole.
After the death of Emile Snr in 1943, the business was continued by Emile Jnr and guitar production was increased and at this time all subsequent production received the 'Grimshaw' signature on the head , the resonator back guitars were discontinued in favour of the electric pickup which solved the volume problem.
During the fifties they made many archtop style acoustic and electric models including 12 string jumbo electrics. The most popular model of this period was the SS (short scale) deluxe and custom models, the later having humbucker pickups. These were good substitutes for Gibson guitars which were not imported into the UK (due to austerity measures post war). During the sixties in line with the boom in guitar groups they manufactured solid bodied electric models, some were based on the Fender/Gibson designs. I also believe that Grimshaw were granted a licence by Gibson to produce the humbucker pickup, if this is correct then it would be the only occasion Gibson have done this.
This from the web master of the definitive Grimshaw Guitar site on the web
"Hi Alan
Thanks for the photos, your guitar is quite a rare one in that it is
almost certainly 1940,s it was before Emile jnr started to sign the
guitars on the head stock. Your guitar seems to be missing a mother of
pearl triangular badge with "EG" inscription set into the recess.
Otherwise it is very original and I am sure sounds good."
