This is the info I gathered on the Ted Newman Jones made five-string guitar for Keith Richards. Build in late November / December 1972. Design is based on a drawing by Keith Richards, which where tow ellipses, one smaller than the other. Newman slightly tilted the ellipse. Body is made of 1 ¼ “ cherry wood, faced with Brazilian rosewood xylophone keys cut to 5/16” thickness. The Gibson PAF pickup was from one of Keith’s LP Custom, where Keith had taken out the middle pickup (the LP Custom used by Keith on the 1970 and 1971 tour was stolen at Nellcote and then purchased by Steve Marriott. It had the middle pickup missing when Marriott bought it). The first installment had a Leo Quan Bad Ass bridge for six strings, and the guitar was missing the Luftwaffe model kit decals. For the 1973 European tour the Bad Ass bridge was replaced by a crude strip of wood with Gibson tune-o-matic saddles. Tuners are gold Grover tuners.

When up close it is striking how crude the guitar is made. The head stock is rudely sawn and does not appear to be sanded properly, the pickup spaces look like they were chiseled out roughly and not properly routed. The bridge is just a crude strip of wood, with the ground wire wrapped around the strings and run to the electronics cover plate over the body. Neck shape appears to be fairly thick D-shaped, and in combination with the 5-string spacing I can imagine it must feel like a thick banjo neck.

Mathijs

Tuning? Is it just missing the low E string?

A couple of Mathijs's photos of the instrument - I'll add more when I have time:

Thanks for the infos and the photos, Mathijs and sssoul!

Just blown away how rough this guitar is. Mathijs uses the word 'crude'. Exact;y. I always considered this kind of a nancy boy guitar; a bit frou frou . It looks totally different up close. The craftmanship, but one also gets the feeling that Keith played it quite a bit. At least more than the live history pics show.

Quote
Palace Revolution 2000
Just blown away how rough this guitar is. Mathijs uses the word 'crude'. Exact;y. I always considered this kind of a nancy boy guitar; a bit frou frou . It looks totally different up close. The craftmanship, but one also gets the feeling that Keith played it quite a bit. At least more than the live history pics show.

I am not sure he played it a lot after the 1973 tour -the strap that is still on it is simply cut off, and this is the exact strap he used for the 1973 tour. The whereabouts have always been unknown, ranging from being stolen, lost in a fire, sold/given to the hard rock cafe. Now it seems more likely it simply has been stored since 1973 in a warehouse.

Mathijs

There aren't even that many photos of it from 1973, are there?

So who put the model airplane stickers on it? Are those coats of arms from model planes too? and the mosquito?
Bobby Keys was very into vintage aircraft - I wonder if he had anything to do with these stickers

Some more of Mathijs's Exhibitionism shots:









Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-08-09 11:09 by with sssoul.

All by Mathijs, 2016 ... Xylophone bars - who'da thunk it?!
Were they just lying around looking beautiful and resonant?

And what does the "high level +7" label mean?
That was on more than one of the guitars at the exhibition.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-08-09 15:54 by with sssoul.

A couple more of Keith behind this instrument - these are from the '73 Australasian tour:


- The Nicaragua Benefit, January 18th 1973, courtesy of open-g (don't know who took it, sorry!)


- Honolulu, January 21 or 22, by Robert Knight

That's all I've got :E

Xylophone bars - who'da thunk it?!
Were they just lying around looking beautiful and resonant?

Brazilian Rosewood is the holy grail of tonewoods. In the late 60s - early 70s its' supply was already drying up. If you had a large piece of BRW you wouldn't want to waste it on an electric guitar face but rather use it for an acoustic guitar back or sides.

great photos, crude P-90 pickup in the neck with the vintage PAF which in today's vintage market is worth BIG bucks !!!

thanks! love these pics!

Up close it looks as mean and nasty as it sounds during the 1973 tour.

wish he would drag it out once in a while.

Thanks again guys!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-08-09 14:16 by Moonlight_Mile@hotmail.com.

Quote
Mathijs
This is the info I gathered on the Ted Newman Jones made five-string guitar for Keith Richards. Build in late November / December 1972. Design is based on a drawing by Keith Richards, which where tow ellipses, one smaller than the other. Newman slightly tilted the ellipse. Body is made of 1 ¼ “ cherry wood, faced with Brazilian rosewood xylophone keys cut to 5/16” thickness. The Gibson PAF pickup was from one of Keith’s LP Custom, where Keith had taken out the middle pickup (the LP Custom used by Keith on the 1970 and 1971 tour was stolen at Nellcote and then purchased by Steve Marriott. It had the middle pickup missing when Marriott bought it). The first installment had a Leo Quan Bad Ass bridge for six strings, and the guitar was missing the Luftwaffe model kit decals. For the 1973 European tour the Bad Ass bridge was replaced by a crude strip of wood with Gibson tune-o-matic saddles. Tuners are gold Grover tuners.

When up close it is striking how crude the guitar is made. The head stock is rudely sawn and does not appear to be sanded properly, the pickup spaces look like they were chiseled out roughly and not properly routed. The bridge is just a crude strip of wood, with the ground wire wrapped around the strings and run to the electronics cover plate over the body. Neck shape appears to be fairly thick D-shaped, and in combination with the 5-string spacing I can imagine it must feel like a thick banjo neck.

Mathijs

I wouldn't wish to speak ill of him...but Ted wasn't exactly what you would call a luthier.

That's not to say that he couldn't put together a functional Guitar...just that they were hardly Jessellis [..or even Fenders ]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-08-09 16:15 by Spud.

Quote
Mathijs

Quote
Palace Revolution 2000
Just blown away how rough this guitar is. Mathijs uses the word 'crude'. Exact;y. I always considered this kind of a nancy boy guitar; a bit frou frou . It looks totally different up close. The craftmanship, but one also gets the feeling that Keith played it quite a bit. At least more than the live history pics show.

I am not sure he played it a lot after the 1973 tour -the strap that is still on it is simply cut off, and this is the exact strap he used for the 1973 tour. The whereabouts have always been unknown, ranging from being stolen, lost in a fire, sold/given to the hard rock cafe. Now it seems more likely it simply has been stored since 1973 in a warehouse.

Mathijs

Yes I don't think we ever see it before or after Australia 73 and Europe 73. Isn't there a shot of him using it in a studio somewhere? Maybe Munich 74?

Mathijs, was it possible for you to get a sense of the feel of the wood up there in the '20th fret'? Where there really is no more frets, but a good bit of open wood that looks like extremely rough surface?

Some profile shots (all by Mathijs):