Musima Nylon Parlor Guitar w/ Pickupless Electronics (1960s, Natural Finish)

Description

Straight from Europe! 

Here for sale is an East German made MUSIMA nylon string from the 1960s (Cold War Era) that we added a little pizzazz to. As many of you who follow my shop on Reverb or Instagram know, these electrified vintage acoustic and parlor guitars have been a little pet project of mine for a while now. I have probably made a hundred of them now. Usually, I would use goldfoil pickups to electrify these vintage acoustics, but I have had a few customers tell me something to the effect of “Well, I love the idea of electrifying vintage parlor guitars, but I don’t really like the pickup blocking the sound hole.” (Additionally, pickups do not pickup nylon strings very well.)

Well, buster, you spoke and I listened. Introducing the PICKUPLESS ACOUSTIC ELECTRIC! These use the same basic idea as my goldfoil parlors, but use piezo contact mic technology instead of the pickup. The end result is an electrified parlor that has a much more natural acoustic guitar tone and works great for classical guitars. The goldfoil models tend to sound more like a hollowbody electric guitar, while these pickupless parlors sound more like a mic’d acoustic guitar. Perfect for the singer-songwriters or the P&W crowd.

The only downside is that the Piezo mic is much more receptive, and thus, much more likely to feedback. In most situations, I recommend playing this guitar with the volume on 5-8. An unintended upside of this is that the guitar is also more receptive to taps and pops on the body, so if you like to play with a lot of percussive accompaniment or “August Rush” style tap craziness, this guitar would be perfect — the body is essentially an electrified Cajon.

Outside of that, nothing much else to say: it is just a nice little classical even outside of being a fun piece of acoustic guitar history. Plays great — sounds better! As always, I cleaned it up, polished the finish, oiled the board, changed the strings and set the action low and smooth. It is in pretty good shape with a patina to die for and it plays great. The action is surprisingly low for a guitar of this age without an adjustable truss. (Pics of action included)

As always, I cleaned it up, polished the finish, lemon oiled the board, flushed the electronics, changed the strings and set the action low and smooth. This guitar is proudly strung with Stringjoy Custom Guitar Strings, made right here in Nashville, TN. Comes with no case or gig bag, but I pack my guitars up tight and insure every package for the full sale amount, so you can buy with confidence.

Got questions? Shoot me a message, I love nerding out with other gearheads!