Micro-Frets Calibra Formerly owned by Steely Dan's Walter Becker Semi-Hollow Body Electric Guitar , c. 1970
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Item # 9057
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Micro-Frets Calibra Formerly owned by Steely Dan's Walter Becker Model Semi-Hollow Body Electric Guitar, c. 1970, made in Fredrick, Maryland, serial # 1390, brown lacquer finish, maple body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, black 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 particular guitar is a second series Calibra Model; a thin semi-solid guitar with acoustic chambers routed out of the body. This guitar is more simply designed than some Micro-Frets models, with a one-piece body built up from laminates and then hollowed out rather than two separate halves joined at the center of the rim. It is also was one of the company's more conventional-looking 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 bi-level top-mounted pickguard with a clear upper half. The sculpted space-age headstock carries the brand logo and model name, with simple openback Waverly tuners.
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, a number of prominent country artists endorsed the Micro-Frets line in the late 1960s and early '70s including Carl Perkins.
Micro-Frets 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. This example is from the collection of the late Walter Becker of Steely Dan, who had a special affection for many of the more obscure American guitars of the past 60+ years.
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 is all original with some light wear but no major damage, repairs, or finish loss. The body finish has dings, dents, and scrapes with one patch of lacquer missing on the back/edge rim on the treble side. There is some minor staining 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 a period shaped HSC that is a functional if inexact fit. 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 particular guitar is a second series Calibra Model; a thin semi-solid guitar with acoustic chambers routed out of the body. This guitar is more simply designed than some Micro-Frets models, with a one-piece body built up from laminates and then hollowed out rather than two separate halves joined at the center of the rim. It is also was one of the company's more conventional-looking 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 bi-level top-mounted pickguard with a clear upper half. The sculpted space-age headstock carries the brand logo and model name, with simple openback Waverly tuners.
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, a number of prominent country artists endorsed the Micro-Frets line in the late 1960s and early '70s including Carl Perkins.
Micro-Frets 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. This example is from the collection of the late Walter Becker of Steely Dan, who had a special affection for many of the more obscure American guitars of the past 60+ years.
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 is all original with some light wear but no major damage, repairs, or finish loss. The body finish has dings, dents, and scrapes with one patch of lacquer missing on the back/edge rim on the treble side. There is some minor staining 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 a period shaped HSC that is a functional if inexact fit. Excellent + Condition.