Here's a really special, mostly original, Watkins Rapier 22 from the mid 1960s! It shows pretty common signs of play wear on the body, neck, and frets, but the instrument all around plays very nicely and is undoubtedly a cool, vintage guitar that is giggable and unique. All weighing in under 6 lbs!!!
A couple things to note on this guitar-
- Non-original toggle switch above the volume pots does not seem to affect the sound in any way.
- Black and Red pickup selectors are reversed (Black = Bridge, Red = Neck).
- Tone control is only wired to the Neck pickup.
- With both pickups on, the volume controls offer a variety of in and out of phase flavors rather than typical volume balances and adjustments.
The guitar is super fun to play as-is, and the original pickups do a great job of offering quacky New Wave/Post punk flavors, perfect for frenetic right hand picking, chunking, and subdividing. Action sits at about .07" at the 12th fret, and is playable all over without dead spots or string whine.
Tremolo arm not included.
Year: 1960's
Brand: Watkins
Country of Origin: England
Model: Rapier 22
Case: Gig Bag
Weight: 5 lbs 14 oz
Body
- Body Wood: Okourne
- Color: Red
- Finish: Gloss
- Pickguard: 3 Ply WBW
- Body Shape: Double Cut
- Body Style: Solid Body
Neck
- Neck Wood: Maple
- Neck Joint: 4 Bolt
- Neck Shape: C
- Finish: Gloss
- Fingerboard: Rosewood
- Nut Width/Material: 1.70"
- Scale: 24.5"
- Frets: 22
- Radius: 9.5"
- Action: 0.07"
- Strings: 10-46
Electronics
- Pickups: 2 x Low noise Alan Entwistle Single Coil Pickups
- Controls: 2 x Pickup Switches, Volume Neck, Volume Bridge, Tone (Only connected to neck), Toggle switch (Has no effect)
Hardware
- Bridge/Tailpiece: Watkins Hi-Lo Vibrato
- Tuners: Original
- Knobs: Chrome
- reverb_condition:
- Good
- reverb_shipping_profile:
- electric guitars