An original Musicraft Messenger, just like the one Mark Farner played in the early days. Been looking for one of these for years. My wallet is feeling the punch, but…hey, this is stuff a guy can use. 
Jeepers, where did you find it? original pickups?
Quote: (TomS @ Oct. 31 2010, 1:09 PM)
Jeepers, where did you find it?
original pickups?
Yup...original DeArmond's, Tone-messer fuzz switch, stereo outs, aluminum neck-thru....this thing is bliss. Found it up in Maryland.
Mine's a sunburst.
Those PU's squeal like a poached pig but that's ok...it's cool.
I just played it for a few hours through a SUNN.
Wish I could get my paws on some of those original West amps made in Flint.
Now I know how Farner nailed those fuzzy leads.
I've been trying to cop that early Live LP/Closer To Home tone using pedals and all kinds of stuff.
This is the real deal.
Now all I need to do is stuff foam rubber in the holes and put masking tape over them.
Wow! Excuse my ignorence but I’ve not heard of them but that is truly beautiful. Is all as well as you would hope - action and stuff?
Every guitarist in Flint knows about them, and no one is tepid. True of Grand Funk as well. Either you are fanatical pro or you are fanatical con. Well, at least that’s true of anyone over 40 or so…
OK, I admit it, I am jealous. I am not so tacky to ask about the price, but I sure would like to know.
Quote: (TomS @ Oct. 31 2010, 5:29 PM)
Every guitarist in Flint knows about them, and no one is tepid.
True of Grand Funk as well.
Either you are fanatical pro or you are fanatical con.
Well, at least that's true of anyone over 40 or so...
OK, I admit it, I am jealous.
I am not so tacky to ask about the price, but I sure would like to know.
I paid $5K for it and only discovered it through the "channels".
These are absolutely not to be had anymore considering they were only made between '67 - '68 by a small S.F./Astoria Oregon co.
Farner was a guitar god hero of mine, so this was a mandatory acquisition.
Quote: (TonyR @ Oct. 31 2010, 2:27 PM)
Wow! Excuse my ignorence but I've not heard of them but that is truly beautiful. Is all as well as you would hope - action and stuff?
They were actually considered to be fairly crappy guitars in their time, but I think they were ahead of their time. Intonation is off and it needs a setup, so I'll be doing some tweaking this week...nothing serious. Bought it from the original owner if you can imagine that and it's been barely played.
Cool looking guitar unknown but look what you could do to it with a bit of carpentry.
now I want one of those!
Tina
where’s your pic, Tina?
Mark Farner a hero, U1?
I give up, cant seem to post the pic
Hi All:
That is absolutely, a Gem … If you really want something, then Money should not be a constraint…
However, Have you done all the research? Is that the going value for that guitar? And You know all the History… Great… What is the History? Did/Is/Was he an active musician? Is that photo the same instrument? If it is, it looks like he didn’t abuse his gear… Where’s his Amp? What did he use? Lots of questions… Sorry… I’m one nosey Bloke… Hey TinaM… 
Do you have the original case? What condition is it in?
DeArmond Pickups are nothing to sneeze at… They were the company that made pickups for the Ricky 4001 Bass… I believe… If they feedback more than you think they should … That can be fixed…
If it were mine , I wouldn’t jam the body with foam or anything like that… I don’t believe it’s the body cavity that’s making the guitar feedback… In my humble opinion, that’ll keep the guitar from any natural acoustical/harmonic string/body instrument resonations…
However, if that’s what you want you guitar to sound like… Go Ahead…
Just my .02 cents worth…
Bill…
Bill, I don’t think that there is a going rate for that guitar. They simply can’t be found. And it is really a special guitar. Aluminum alloy neck through the body. I asked about the pickups because they are supposed to be cheap and bad sounding and so often when the guitar does turn up, it doesn’t have the originals. Of course, they are part of the sound, regardless of the original cost. If it is in decent shape, 5K is a killer price for it, I’d bet. Hang on to it for a few years and it will be 2x that. 
You guys are just too much fun to be around…
This Guitar…
Bob Says that these pickups(that’s if they are the originals) do not come apart…
There is some kind of rivet assembly that holds the chrome bezel-and-coil/magnet plate together…
Anyway, without seeing one of them, I think the chrome cover can be removed exposing the copper wire, to see if there may be some loose turns of copper wire on the bobbin…
If there happens to be some loose turns of wire, that causes the pickup(s) to act like a microphone…
Hence, Big-time feedback…
Two choices come to mind…
Wrap the coils in Waxed Dental floss…
or…
Dip the coil(s) in Bee’s wax…
Candle wax is too low a melting point…
Anyway, those are ideas to make the pickups less microphonic…
Just a thought
Bill…
Man - I wouldn’t make any assumptions on the value of vintage gear.
That guitar might be priceless or it might worthless.
Right now it has significance because it was Mark Farner’s guitar (for a short while) and because it’s rare, but it’s a company that didn’t survive and didn’t have much other significance.
Therefore, I wouldn’t invest 5K in it unless I was sure it was worth that as an investment, no matter how much I wanted the damn thing.
But that’s just the way I approach antiques and vintage stuff.
And also, it’s because my money is scarce and there is so many ways I could use 5K.
I onced owned a Gurian maple cutaway.
I decided to sell it no long after Gurian went out of business but I couldn’t even get my money out of it.
I end of waiting 20 years and found a collector who wanted Gurian guitars, so I sold it for $1,500.
My point is that I could not have predicted the value of the guitar all these years before.
I think $5K was a great deal. Believe it or not, it was part of an estate sale. I’ve seen these things go as high as $10K. I really think that these will hold their value and continue to climb. Sort of like artwork or any other collectable…the value is intrinsic and completely subjective, but the market has determined the value/price of these Messengers. Look at what old original Arbiter Fuzz pedals or TycoBrahe pedals are going for…or a Blackface Super Reverb…new/reissue pedals/amps sound waaaay better but everyone wants the original thing Hendrix or Iommi played in hope of getting some of that mojo.
In this case there is an objective property that makes me think that it will not go down at all, apart from the Grand Funk connection - actually, two properties - the metal neck-through-body construction, and the sound. I would have purchased it for 5k, if I had that kind of money, and held on to it for a few years, and unless our political leaders continue to destroy us, I’m pretty certain it would turn a very good profit. I do not have the kind of money, however, probably because I lack that killer entreprenureal instinct.
I suspect yer just not as full of it as U1 Tom. Cash that is.
Plus, three kids in braces is sort of like buying 3 of those in one year.
Should’ve been an orthodontist, Tom.