1960s Premier Multivox E-781 Scroll Electric Guitar w/Premier G2R 10w 1x12" Tube Amp Combo
Overview: This is a combo package -- a Premier E-781 "scroll" electric guitar with a matching, Premier G2R tube amp combo. Both have been fully-serviced. We did the guitar over and our friend down the street, Dave Fenity, overhauled the amp. These were bought new, by the original owner, as a package back in the day and then left in a closet for decades since they were last used. The current owner is the 2nd owner, now.
These scroll guitars are very cool entities. The bodies were made by Multivox and feature the scroll, of course, and tend to have accordion-style celluloid wrap (as seen on this guy) as well. The hardware is a mix of German and Japanese bits -- Japanese pickups, American wiring harness, German (I think?) whammy -- and the necks are apparently Hofner units repurposed for these Premier designs. In this way they're similar to KAPA guitars but the quality level is a lot higher.
The amp was made in-house by the brand and these G2Rs are prized as excellent harmonica ("harp") amps but will do killer garage-rock and blues sounds as well. The pickups are so hot on the guitar that they essentially do not allow for much clean tone through this 10w amp -- which is hilarious. If you put the guitar into an amp with more headroom it has much more of a surf-rock vibe, but on this G2R is simply pushes the thing into overdrive and fuzzy sounds straight-away. Plugging a Strat in, however, yields a much cleaner sound up into middle volumes. The reverb is fantastic and crazily-lush and gets overdriven as you turn it up. When you've got it on 4 or 5 it's already at "maxiumum Fender surf" sound and beyond that you just get into bizarro-land. I love it.
The only serialization that points to a date are the speaker codes which seem to suggest that they're Becker speakers and from '69, though this guitar style was mostly made a few years prior.
Repairs included: On the guitar, Jose gave the fretboard a plane and refret with medium-bigger, modern frets. The neck is now straight and stable in service where it was a bit wonky before. He then gave it a good setup and I mucked-about cleaning-up the original wiring to get it to behave. As it sits, with the wiring in "original configuration," the "middle" position (both pickups on) is out of phase which is a happy accident as it gives the guitar a third, less-drivey, easier to strum, Fendery sort-of sound. I can probably get it to wire-up in phase if desired, though. It's playing spot-on and ready to go. On the amp side, Dave replaced quite a few old capacitors and fit new tubes. It's ready to roll as well.
- Weight: 6 lbs 14 oz
- Scale length: 24 11/16"
- Nut width: 1 21/32"
- Neck shape: deep C
- Board radius: 9 1/2"
- Depth at first fret: 0.93"
- Depth at seventh fret: 1.02"
- Body width: 12 3/4"
- Body depth: 1 3/8"
- Body wood: poplar or similar
- Bridge: adjustable
- Fretboard: rosewood
- Neck wood: maple
- Pickups: 2x single coil
- Action height at 12th fret: 1/16” overall (fast, spot-on)
- String gauges: 46w-10
- Truss rod: non-adjustable
- Neck relief: straight
- Fret style: medium-jumbo
Condition notes: The guitar is in excellent health and the fresh refret gives it a more-modern feel despite the bigger neck. The amp's covering is beaut-up and torn a bit at the grill but it looks hale and hearty despite that. Everything is original except for caps and tubes in the amp and frets in the guitar. Oh -- also the two nuts at the back of the headstock that hold the string tree in place are not original but older.
It comes with: It actually has an original hard case for the guitar, too, in decent shape.
Consignor tag: JW/MTHL
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