paulyc":13mhv4pd said:
Joe-TX":13mhv4pd said:
Wow! Nice addition to the collection.
There are some YouTube vids of a Viva live show from '83 but this guitar does not make an appearance. There is a black and yellow striped Charvel in it possibly the one from the same sales order.
https://youtu.be/s25yYsv-fo4
How wierd is it that Michael Schenker's sister was the in that band?
Couple things about this video...boy is it bad, Schenker looks like a late 80s rapper, and those Charvels both sport Rockinger tremolos on them in this video. The burst one looks to have a Bill Lawrence pick up too. Amazing how the video editors NEVER catch the guitar player that is actually soloing while he's soloing. Terrible production too...
Interesting thread in several aspects! To me this VIVA gig shows a typical german hard rock band of the early eighties trying to emulate their anglo-american idols. I mean they played a gig in Bremen which is a hundred miles away from Hannover where they actually came from and they're trying to talk english to the german crowd to pretend that they're some international act. Understandibly the reaction of the audience is a bit lame. Germans talking english to germans in Germany, how funny is that?
Obviously they spent quite some money to have their strange stage outfits made which look a bit like a misunderstanding too.
Now to the guitars: It is very likely that there are Rockinger trems on the guitars as the Rockinger company is also located in Hannover just as the Band was. The first generation Rockinger TruTune trems could be fitted to any guitar with a strat trem with no alterations to the body and almost no alteration to the neck. It bolted right on and all you needed was to fit the string lock to the headstock with two tiny screws.
The white/red burst star guitar is no Charvel. It is a Rockinger starshape. The band obviously covered the Rockinger logo on the headstock with a VIVA sticker but you can still see another Rockinger logo on the lower front part of the body. OBLs were quite popular in Rockingers.
The same goes for the black/silver (white?) burst starshape bass. Made by Rockinger as a one off as described and pictured in one of my old Rockinger catalogues. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some kind of endorsement deal going on. Here is some compact information about Rockinger guitars I posted in another forum some years ago:
In the US Rockinger was known for their TruTune tremolo units which can be found on some Kramer guitars of the pre Floyd era. Actually Rockinger (based in Hannover/Germany) was offering loads of guitar replacement parts and were constantly seeking to improve existing designs. Furthermore they offered complete guitar kits in various body shapes (Strat/Tele/Starshape/Explorer). The bodies were made (and also painted) in house in Hannover whereas the necks (Strat/Tele/Hockeystick/misc.) were sourced from up to 8 different suppliers until Rockinger was finally ready to offer their own design. Most of the guitars left the workshop in kit form to be assembled by more or less talented customers but Rockinger also made complete Instruments that were sold through their little showroom at the plant (5 digit serial numbers on the neck plate). They also had a busy custom shop going where you could order your dream Rockinger guitar (different 5 digit serial number system). All these guitars neckpockets show the typical Rockinger ink stamp, matching 4 digit work order numbers on body and neck (when they were sold together), what color the guitar was painted in very clean handwriting, and very often a stamped name of the person who made the guitar.
Obviously they tried to sell their own Rockinger tremolo systems (the 2nd generation TruTunes is working fine and sounds great as they were made from solid brass by ABM/Germany). The bodies were very often cut from relatively heavy mahogany, evenly heavy ash or much lighter alder. I found out the mahogany guitars sound fine with contemporary OBL pickups which you can still order new from the widow of Bill Lawrence (Wilde pickups?).
The early necks you find on these Rockinger guitars feel exactly like the old Strat head Kramer necks of the early eighties which were made by ESP. They also look exactly the same so I suspect they came from the same source.
These guitars and parts show up every now and then here in Germany, lots of them modified. Back in the eighties Rockinger guitars were actually considered good quality alternatives to US imports when you wanted a custom guitar but couldn't afford a Charvel. But if you had your dream guitar actually made by Rockinger as a custom shop order it was no bargain either.
I used to own a 82 "shazam" star strathead that i loved!
