Anybody playing a Galama guitar?

harryland · #1 02-12-2007, 08:53 AM

Galama guitars were made by mr. Anno Galama in The Netherlands between 1978 and 1986.
Most of them stayed in western Europe, few went to the U.S., and about 30 guitars were shipped to Sweden.
All Galama guitars have a cedar body and neck, often with a maple, rosewood or bubinga top. (and back!)
It would be great to meet some other Galama players. Here is a picture of my Galama firebird.

This is a Galama telecaster with a rosewood top. (and back).

Galama guitars can be recognized by the inlay on the trussrod cover.

All Galama guitars that I have played over the years have a beautifull singing voice with lots of sustain and harmonics.
Makes me wonder why so few luthiers use cedar for electric guitars. As far as I know Juha Ruokangas from Finland is the only luthier who uses cedar on a regular basis.
Harry.

gitman · #2 02-12-2007, 08:58 AM

what happened to Anno Galama- why did he stop building guitars ?
i have a custom guitar by Ellio Martina !
groeten, Christian

harryland · #3 02-12-2007, 09:29 AM

Serious health problems forced him to stop building guitars around 1986.
I am not familiar with Ellio Martino guitars. They look great from the picture I have seen.
Harry.

gitman · #4 02-12-2007, 04:26 PM

Ellio is concentrating on building basses most of the time, for at least 10 years now ... builds custom order acoustics and archtops though. he lives in Eefde, near Zutphen.
http://www.elliomartina.com/

Guitarpentry · #5 02-12-2007, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by harryland

Makes me wonder why so few luthiers use cedar for electric guitars. As far as I know Juha Ruokangas from Finland is the only luthier who uses cedar on a regular basis.

There are several bass builders/luthiers who have been using cedar (mostly spanish cedar) for bodies over at the luthier's corner at talkbass.com. These guys know their stuff, too!
Guys like Cliff Bordwell http://www.cbbasses.com/
and Bud Lecompte http://lecomptebass.com/
to name a couple.
They are getting great results!

Those guitars are absolutely gorgeous, by the way!

r9player · #6 02-13-2007, 08:22 AM

I was going to say that Spanish Cedar seems to be used fairly regularly now by various luthier.
Firsts one that comes to mind is Ben Chafin.