Tag Archives: Uke

The Down & Dirty on the Galveston B.B. Stone.

Posted on by Standard Reply

You know I have a collection of weird guitars. I know I have a blog. Sometimes I blog about my weird guitars.

I’ve written about my Galveston B.B. Stone before, and again more recently, but really I’ve only ever nailed down the whole saga of the Eagle brand… Not the origin of this specific model. (Check the comments on those posts too, people have reached out!) So I went back to the well and reached out to Örjan Jacobsson & Jerker Antoni again, hoping to finally close out the top trilogy of my wild axes.

Dewey Decibel FlipOut: A vintage-style sunburst electric guitar featuring an inverted S-style body shape, a white multi-pickup guard equipped with three single-coil pickups, a standard tremolo bridge, control knobs clustered on the lower horn, and a maple neck with a dark fretboard and distinctive headstock shape. Indy Custom FlyCaster: A bright yellow electric guitar with a custom modified shape combining T-style elements and sharp V-style bottom points, featuring a solid yellow finish, a black pickguard, two single-coil pickups, a standard bridge, and a matching yellow maple neck and fretboard with a pointed headstock. Galveston B.B. Stone: A honey-burst, flamed-top electric guitar boasting an aggressive, angular dual-cutaway body shape, a bound fretboard with large block inlays, dual black humbucker pickups, a Tune-o-matic style bridge with a stopbar tailpiece, control knobs placed along the lower right edge, and a dark headstock bearing the Galveston logo.

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I’ve already gotten some nice seriously in-depth info about the process of creation from the makers of the Dewey Decibel FlipOut and the Indy Custom FlyCaster. I even drew the FlyCaster into one of the maze designs available in my second book and on merch, like this shirt.

I needed to get to the bottom of the impetus of the B.B. Stone once and for all.

I consider these three my twisted trio. I’ll reach for one of these or my New York Pro Star Gazer before anything else, typically.

I reached out to Örjan & Jerker once again to try and get the inspiration behind the square guitar shape.

Örjan’s reply was short & sweet:

Contact my partner [______]@gmail.com. He was the designer of that model.

Hälsningar Örjan Jacobsson

Which, fair enough, tracks with everything he’s told me before.

Galveston B.B. Stone (Horizontal View): A horizontal studio product shot of the honey-burst, flamed-top electric guitar, featuring its distinctive angular dual-cutaway body layout, dual black humbucker pickups, Tune-o-matic style bridge with stopbar tailpiece, bound fretboard with large white block inlays, and the black headstock with the Galveston logo set against a clean black background.

Jerker sent over a chunk of his memoir, A Music Dealer’s Confessions, written in 2020, and it rules. Here’s the part that pertains to the B.B. Stone, straight from the source:

Eagle Instruments

JAM had the agency for very good sound cards from Korea in the late 90s. And when JAM was no longer allowed to buy Gibson and Epiphone from Luthman due to pressure from, among others, Estrad and others, Örjan and I started a new guitar brand, Eagle Instruments. I found a nice eagle online and fixed the logo that would be on the head and we also designed the shape of the head itself. The eagle I stole was actually a variant of Iraq’s state emblem. Haha!

During the Musikmesse in Frankfurt, Nysse and I got in touch with a very good guitar manufacturer in Korea called Unsung… We visited Unsung’s factory, which was located in Inchon, a port city not far from Seoul. The guy who was the sales manager, we became very good friends with during the Musikmesse in Frankfurt. He had a strange Korean name that I tried to translate because all Chinese and Korean names seem to mean something. He explained that it meant big brave stone. So when we were brainstorming and trying to put it together in English, it became Big Brave Stone. I ended up thinking that he should change his name so that he wouldn’t have that typical Korean name on his business cards that no one remembered anyway. I suggested the name B.B. Stone, and that’s what it was. He still calls himself that — several years after he left Unsung and started his own company, which of course is also called B.B. Stone.

Jerker Antoni

So there’s your answer on the name, at least. Not a bluesman. Not a nickname for the shape. A Korean sales manager Jerker basically rebranded on the spot at a trade show.

There’s a lot more in what he sent, including warehouses full of unpaid-for Epiphone stock because Gibson stiffed the factory, a bass player named Hazze Wazeen who used to end shows by launching his bass into the air, decibel police getting talked into letting the volume slide, a Sam Ash rep getting told off mid-pitch by Hazze himself. It’s a fun read and super inside-baseball to the industry.

I asked Jerker point blank: What was the inspiration for the B.B. Stone’s shape design, the squared-off body with the deep double-sharp cutaways? Buddy Guy meets Van Halen? This is the one that started my whole weird-guitar obsession… I need to know. Right?

His answer:

I dont really remember – just wanted it to stick out! Like my Penis guitar!

Jerker Antoni
Graphic illustration of a light pink, heart-shaped ukulele centered against a solid grey background. The instrument features a brown fretboard, four tuning pegs, and a round soundhole. The text at the bottom reads "EAGLE PRICK-U-LELE" and "Designed by Jerker Antoni" runs vertically along the right edge.

There it is, the whole story.

This is a guy whose first wild design was built as a novelty prop for Swedish rock legend Magnus Uggla’s live show. (See the video below.)

He also sent me pics of a coinpurse-bodied Eagle Prick-U-Lele, the Violele, and an Eagle Metal Vee. Talking all that in, I guess “I just wanted it to stick out” is the genuine answer. It’s bruh’s entire design philosophy in one sentence. It certainly grabbed my attention!

I didn’t get the deep origin story I went digging for, but I think I got something absolutely honest. It’s proof that the guy behind one of my favorite weird guitars genuinely does not design anything that isn’t weird. How can I not have mad respect for that?

Check out Jerker’s site at www.jerkerantoni.se and peep the memoir if you can read Swedish!

Eagle Metal Vee Specification Sheet: A product catalog page for the "Eagle Metal Vee" guitar, featuring a black-and-white illustration of the black Flying V-style electric guitar on the right, alongside the Eagle Instruments logo, model name, and a comprehensive list of technical specifications and features on the left. Eagle Metal Vee Solid Mahogany Vee Body with single cutaway for better balance than original Contour Back New double arrow head, black with white binding V shape chrome stringholder Strings thru body Tune-o-matic type bridge 2 All Chrome Humbuckers 1 All Chrome single coil 5-way switch, chrome knob Black finish, white binding Maple neck Maple fretboard Double line markers in black pearl (not just painted like on JJ Stage Blade) Grover type tuners Tone and Volume controls Chrome vintage Tele knobs Chrome hardware Also Blues Vee model: All mahogany body, flame maple top Brown sunburst with vintage white binding Finish like B.B. Stone model 2 zebra humbuckers, no single coil 3-way switch Top of headstock brown sunburst flame maple Rosewood fretboard, double pearl markers

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A newspaper clipping in Swedish with the headline "Jam klarar e-handel med enkla medel," featuring a photo of Jerker Antoni holding an electric guitar inside the Jam music store, surrounded by guitars on the wall. Here is a translation of the main article text and key elements from the Swedish newspaper clipping: Main Headline Jam handles e-commerce with simple means Section Header: E-COMMERCE Music store Jam generates more than half of its sales on the web. Jerker Antoni, who pulls the strings, believes the secret to their success is investing in simple solutions and providing plenty of information about the products. Body Text Jam in Stockholm was early out with a website in the spring of 1997. In 1998, web sales really took off. Since then, Jerker Antoni—who is a co-owner and responsible for web operations—has continued to develop solutions based on normal HTML pages and manual order handling. – Some of our competitors have fancy database-driven e-commerce solutions, but you won't find as much information on their websites as on ours, says Jerker Antoni. – We photograph most of the items we sell, rather than using manufacturer pictures, so the customer knows what we are selling. I spend between one and two hours a day updating the website, says Jerker Antoni. Mail and Order Unlike some other e-commerce sites that integrate their website with a back-end system, shopping with Jam involves sending an email and reserving the item. If the item is available, Jam sends a reply email, and the customer sends advance payment. When Jam's staff receives payment, they ship the goods at no extra shipping cost. For regular customers, goods are sometimes sent as regular mail-order sales. – Our motto is that we are scared of anything that makes us lose personal contact. Honestly, our system solves parts of the integration between different systems as a problem. We sell everything relative to value that costs relatively a lot of manual work, says Jerker Antoni. Belief in the Future Jerker Antoni is an old IT profile with a past in several pioneering computer initiatives, including Partille Megabyte and Svenska PC-fabriken. He thinks that the computer industry has been slow to transition to e-commerce, which is becoming more computerized. He notes that the computer industry is open and competition is tougher there than in the music industry. He definitely believes that the web will become even more important when it comes to selling musical instruments and that this will drive structural change. – We already source parts of our manufacturing directly from abroad, without going through wholesalers, which makes it possible for us to lower prices. Thanks to our web-based network, we can reach our products to the entire country, which would otherwise require two distributions in Sweden, says Lars Danielsson. Box: Jam Jam: Music store in Stockholm selling musical instruments and other music equipment. Turnover: Roughly 15 million Swedish kronor. Web sales: Roughly 8 million Swedish kronor. Website: www.jam.se
Jerker Antoni and Colleague with Violin-Shaped Ukulele: A candid photo of two men smiling together indoors, with the man on the right—Jerker Antoni—wearing a striped button-down shirt and holding a small, brown violin-shaped instrument or ukulele, with a conference badge hanging from a lanyard.

Oh yeah, can you guess which guitar he designed here?

Also check out the Jam store and Orjan’s site: https://www.oscarguitars.se/en/ (& Facebook Group)

I wonder what Jerker & Örjan would think about the Shitar and the Bat Logo Guitar? I bet they would love to have their rigs rated & roasted.

Do you have a B.B. Stone? How about any other Eagle or Galveston instruments? Hit me up in the comments about how you found yours!

Posting #AllMyAxes. 🎸 (Part 2)

Posted on by Standard 6

Did you see part one?  I felt like posting all my guitars online simply for something else to look at, and I thought others might enjoy.

I still plan to blog about some of the more interesting ones.  Hopefully you guys enjoy the content.  Thanks for the likes on social media.  I don’t think anyone else started to use the #AllMyAxes hashtag.  Oh well.  Ha ha.

Show me some of yours in the comments, tag me on social media, or use your own hashtag!

 

The Family Ukuleles & Mandolin

The Kids' Guitars

 

Free Swag From Guitar Center!

Posted on by Standard 4

So, did you read the last post about the Guitalele & Guitar Center’s price match guarantee?  The whole thing is pretty awesome, especially if you’re a musician and you actively purchase gear.  It’s worth checking out, so click that link.

Once you’ve read that, this will make sense:

Free Stand From Guitar Center! (1)
Free Stand From Guitar Center! (2)
Free Gig Bag From Guitar Center! (2)
Free Gig Bag From Guitar Center! (1)

The gig bag & the stand are a perfect fit!  Thanks again to Luke for the excellent customer service, and to YaJagoff for sparking it!

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Guitar Center does me a solid, and I didn’t even initiate it.

Posted on by Standard 9

On the Saturday before Christmas, we were headed to a family gathering & gift exchange.  On the way, we stopped at Guitar Center in Monroeville so I could pick up a book of Christmas Carols that I had seen at the Guitar Center in Robinson.  I didn’t find the same book, but was pleased with two that I did find.

Guitalele GL1

Guitalele GL1 (Photo credit: matsuyuki)

Usually, I’m the one who lollygags in guitar stores, but the wife has taken up the ukulele, and over the past few years she’s the one that lingers near the ever-growing uke section at music stores.  In Monroeville’s Guitar Center, the ukes were right by the music books, so we both started looking.  Bethany was the first to spot our newest acquisition… The Yamaha GL1 “Guitalele“.  We both were fascinated by it, and I played with it a little as she asked “Do you want this as an early Birthday present?”

At first, I said no and went to hang it back up, but flipped over the price tag and saw that it was $99.99.  She gave me the “just get it” look, so we both new I just landed an early birthday present.  I do enjoy the wife’s ukulele, but the GCEA tuning did always mess with me.  Now I can play the ukulele without having to play the ukulele.  Although, if tuned “properly” the guitalele should be ADGCEA.  Of course, I dropped it to E because I didn’t like pretending it was a guitar with a capo on the 5th fret.  Although, I may have to get thicker strings or just suck it up & put it back in the A tuning.  They’re sort of like rubber-bands at this point.

Well, that’s just the first part of the story.  The second part stems from some interactions on Twitter.  I’ll try to post it all here as it happened, thanks to @YaJagoff and Luke from Guitar Center.

A simple question.  I gave the easy, flippant, and predictable answer.  Rock musicians are supposed to rail against the establishment and big business, right?  Well, Guitar Center proves to be awesome here…

These are the links I sent to Luke at Yourvoice@guitarcenter.com:

I only half-jokingly asked “Any chance I could get a gig bag or stand for free?”  I mean, it never hurts to ask, right?

I was met with a response saying I was getting both of them for free!  We discussed shipping details & the right size gig bag in a few more email exchanges… but they’re now on the way to me via UPS.

I’ve written to companies before, but I’ve never had any of them seek me out on a social media platform in a conversation that wasn’t even addressed to them.  It’s pretty cool that Guitar Center believes in their price guarantee so much that they actively go after any perceived detraction.  It’s also cool that they’ll not only go up against brick-and-mortar stores, but online retailers too.

That being said, the “little guys” could argue that they have no way to compete.  They can’t buy in quantities & therefore probably not at such a low price… so there’s no way they can pass on such savings.  Free enterprise, supply & demand, competition, it’s all very interesting & a continually evolving battle.

At any rate, I win out here… with a free gig bag & stand.  So, thanks to Ya Jagoff!!! & Luke for helping to set the whole thing into motion!  I’ll post some photos of the gig bag & stand as soon as I have them.

So, does the Guitalele count as a guitar in my “13 Guitars in 2013” goal?

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