Micro-Frets Calibra Semi-Hollow Body Electric Guitar (1971)
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Micro-Frets Calibra Model Semi-Hollow Body Electric Guitar (1971), made in Fredrick, Maryland, serial # 2234, brown lacquer finish, maple body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, original black tolex hard shell case.
Some of the most unique and original American guitars of the late 1960s and early 1970s came out of Frederick, Maryland, where the small Micro-Frets company built their beautifully engineered if slightly oddball fretted offerings. This is a second series Calibra Model; a thin semi-solid guitar built with a two-piece maple sandwich body routed from the inside. It was one of the rather eccentric company's more conventional offerings, with symmetrical rounded deep double cutaway body finished in a dark brown stain.
It carries many of the firm's trademark elements: white plastic-encased pickups with adjustable poles, the patented Micro-Nut which allows harmonic compensation at the headstock, and a fully-adjustable bridge unit. This guitar is a non-vibrato model, so the elaborate "Calibrato" trem unit was never fitted. The maple neck has all frets clear of the body and is finished in natural lacquer with a thick unbound dot-inlaid rosewood fingerboard. The controls are simple: tone, volume, and a pickup selector switch carried on the lower half of the bi-level top-mounted pickguard. The sculpted space-age headstock carries the brand logo and model name, with simple openback Waverly tuners.
While one of the company's simplest and least flashy creations this is a very well-made and fine-playing guitar with a slim, comfortable neck and quite responsive pickups. The sound is crisp and hi-fi with surprising depth when needed; the tonal range is impressive. While they never made much headway in the rock market beyond Grand Funk Railroad, a number of prominent country artists endorsed the Micro-Frets line in the late 1960s and early '70s including Carl Perkins.
The Micro-Frets company may have had a fairly short history (although the company has seen a couple of revival attempts) but the high-quality, well-engineered instruments they left behind are very fine examples of American guitar ingenuity and worthy of the attention of both players and collectors.
Overall length is 42 1/2 in. (108 cm.), 14 1/2 in. (36.8 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 23 1/2 in. (597 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.).
This guitar appears all original with some light wear but no major damage or repairs. The all-original finish has minor dings, dents, and scrapes overall but no large areas of finish loss. There is some minor scuffing to the plastic pickguard and pickup covers. The neck and frets are excellent and the instrument is a very fine-playing guitar with a unique sound. It is housed in the original large rectangular HSC. Overall Excellent Condition.
Some of the most unique and original American guitars of the late 1960s and early 1970s came out of Frederick, Maryland, where the small Micro-Frets company built their beautifully engineered if slightly oddball fretted offerings. This is a second series Calibra Model; a thin semi-solid guitar built with a two-piece maple sandwich body routed from the inside. It was one of the rather eccentric company's more conventional offerings, with symmetrical rounded deep double cutaway body finished in a dark brown stain.
It carries many of the firm's trademark elements: white plastic-encased pickups with adjustable poles, the patented Micro-Nut which allows harmonic compensation at the headstock, and a fully-adjustable bridge unit. This guitar is a non-vibrato model, so the elaborate "Calibrato" trem unit was never fitted. The maple neck has all frets clear of the body and is finished in natural lacquer with a thick unbound dot-inlaid rosewood fingerboard. The controls are simple: tone, volume, and a pickup selector switch carried on the lower half of the bi-level top-mounted pickguard. The sculpted space-age headstock carries the brand logo and model name, with simple openback Waverly tuners.
While one of the company's simplest and least flashy creations this is a very well-made and fine-playing guitar with a slim, comfortable neck and quite responsive pickups. The sound is crisp and hi-fi with surprising depth when needed; the tonal range is impressive. While they never made much headway in the rock market beyond Grand Funk Railroad, a number of prominent country artists endorsed the Micro-Frets line in the late 1960s and early '70s including Carl Perkins.
The Micro-Frets company may have had a fairly short history (although the company has seen a couple of revival attempts) but the high-quality, well-engineered instruments they left behind are very fine examples of American guitar ingenuity and worthy of the attention of both players and collectors.
Overall length is 42 1/2 in. (108 cm.), 14 1/2 in. (36.8 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 23 1/2 in. (597 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.).
This guitar appears all original with some light wear but no major damage or repairs. The all-original finish has minor dings, dents, and scrapes overall but no large areas of finish loss. There is some minor scuffing to the plastic pickguard and pickup covers. The neck and frets are excellent and the instrument is a very fine-playing guitar with a unique sound. It is housed in the original large rectangular HSC. Overall Excellent Condition.