1960s Goya (Zero Sette-Made) Rangemaster Hollowbody Electric Guitar

Overview: I was (luckily) schooled on the maker of this guitar -- Zero Sette -- by an Instagram fella. Thanks! I had immediately assumed it was made by EKO as it bore a "Made in Italy" mark and the overall design, build, and finish style is very much like an EKO product. I like learning new things every now and then! Anyhow, the brand name of Goya was a US importer's mark used on instruments mostly made by Levin and Hagstrom in Sweden, so it's interesting to see it on an Italian instrument.

There are several "Rangemaster" guitars under the Goya brand but this seems to be the most common -- a hollowbody, Guild Starfire-looking thing. It has two "twin coil" humbucking pickups (like on a Precision Bass or Fender XII) but is equipped with an intense, push-botton control plate that allows switching between sections of both pickups to get all sorts of odd tones. I like it rather a lot -- it's very "future forward" thinking, even if in practice a lot of these "in-between" sounds are not terribly useful save as a hat tricks. The "tone button" lower control plate just adds/takes-away fixed capacitor settings to suck the life out of the instrument.

Tone: With the tone controls bypassed (ie, the "high" push-button engaged) it has a bright, chimey, Fender-like sound. It's very '60s and very usable, especially when you consider that so many similar guitars coming from Japan, instead, tend to sound fairly dark and thuddy.

Feel: The neck is quite fast and modern and it has a very "Gibson-like" feel to it. The frets are very low and narrow, though, so that "Gibson-like" feel reminds me of, maybe, a first-issue SG model or a Mosrite.

Interesting features: Well, I've mentioned the splittable pickups and bevy of controls. Maybe I should talk about the rest? It has a whammy unit (but no bar) that appears to function decently when I stick a screwdriver into it to use as a bar. The adjustable bridge works just fine. It has a bolted neck joint and that's tight and functional, too.

Repairs included: Jose gave this a level/dress of the frets, sprayed-out all of the wiring, cleaned it up, and set it up beautifully. It plays great! I helped him figure-out a "ramped-up" fretboard extension problem and pontificated, but he did all the hard work.

• Weight: 5 lbs 13 oz
• Scale length: 24 5/8"
• Nut width: 1 11/16"
• Neck shape: slim C
• Board radius: 10"
• Body width: 16 3/8"
• Body depth: 1 3/4"
• Body wood: ply mahogany
• Bridge: ABR-style
• Fretboard: rosewood
• Neck wood: maple
• Pickups: 2x split-coil humbuckers
• Action height at 12th fret: 1/16” overall (fast, spot-on)
• String gauges: 46w-10
• Truss rod: adjustable
• Neck relief: straight
• Fret style: very low/small

Condition notes: It's all-original and quite clean save for the usual weather-check to the clearcoat in the finish and a little handling wear here and there. The controls were all fairly scratchy before cleaning and I expect that if it sits for some time before use again, they will get scratchy again as well. When sprayed-out with contact cleaner, however, they all became nice and functional. To solve a ramped-up/warped-up fretboard extension (over the body) issue, I cut a slot under the fretboard (in the heel) and then used a small screw to "pull down" the board. If you take the neck off you can see this solution but it's invisible on top of the guitar.

It comes with: It actually has its original, molded, plastic case and that's in decent shape as well.

Consignor tag: LIWL