Watkins Rapier 33 (1967) - vintage guitar review
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ก.ย. 2019
- Gavin Lazarus reviews a 1967 Watkins Rapier 33:
"The 33 (named for its three pickups; the 22 has two), is a lightweight strat-style guitar developed to fill the market gap when many British players couldn't afford Fenders.
"This is an immensely playable guitar with a great 60s sound and a lovely tremolo system. Lots of fun to play. A very specific guitar that yields a unique sixties vibe."
Bath, UK - gavinlazarusmusic.com - ภาพยนตร์และแอนิเมชัน
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Wooa Just what I was looking for. Great presentation. Enjoyable and informative. Huge thnx ❤❤
Very Interesting indeed! I owned a Red Watkins Rapier 22 and played in a group in Liverpool back in 1962. In those days there wasn't a truss rod fitted, and as a result it had a very high action which could not be adjusted. One did appear on later models along with a coloured headstock (on my model the headstock was the same colour as shown in your video). Because these guitars were launched in an era when The Shadows were very popular most (but not all) the stock available had red bodies with white scratch plates to mimic the Fiesta Red Fender Stratocasters. This later model would suggest that Watkins followed the 'Shadows' trend and launched a white bodied model to coincide the The Shadows replacing their red Fender Stratocasters with white Burns guitars in 1964/5. This guitar in many ways is, on first appearance, a very good likeness to those Burns models.
Great stuff! Do you remember where you bought your Watkins?
I agree on the visual similarity to the Burns guitars, although I’d say this one looks almost more like a Burns Bison. I do have one of the later 90s Marquee series from Burns in the Shadows style. It has a very much more versatile set of controls than the Watkins.
I lived in Liverpool and would most likely have bought it from Frank Hessy in Stanley Street on the corner of Whitechapel. At the time I also visited Cranes and Rushworth and Draper, but Hessy's was always the favoured 'haunt' of most of the Liverpool groups of the time. I also bought a Watkins Copycat Echo from there along with a Watkins amplifier (which one I cannot remember). I later sold the Echo back to Hessy's in part exchange for a twelve string acoustic, but what subsequently happened to everything when I left Liverpool I cannot remember.
@@ianevans7110 Yes, I’ve heard of Hessy’s due to their connections with the Liverpool groups in the 60s, most famously The Beatles of course! Watkins made some funky looking amps back then, I like the Westminster back then and the dominator with its wedge shape.
I have a Watkins Rapier 33, red with white fingerboard. It was bought in 1963 at a cost of 29 guineas (=29 pounds + 29 shillings!). My mate Bob Berwick had a red one with black fingerboard. We formed a band - which now would be called a Shadows Tribute Band. I was 15 years old, and stopped the band when doing "O" levels. I kept the guitar, and about 6 years ago started playing in a band again, as a drummer (another story). However, during lockdown we decided to start recording stuff, separately at home, and I mixed it all together. When we decided to record Apache, the band let me play lead guitar (I was "Bruce" at 15) and I used my old Rapier! I always wanted to be "Hank", but I got there in the end! The guitar sounded great. When I post the Apache recording on TH-cam in a week or so, I'll stick the link in here! Also note that Wilco Johnson owned a Watkins Rapier, too! His first guitar was left-handed, his second a Watkins and his third the Fender that he tells a great story about its purchase. I think I've seen a picture of Danny Kirwen playing his Rapier.
Fantastic stuff! I look forward to your ‘Apache’, great that your Watkins is going well and with one careful owner.
The red and white Rapier 22 and 33 are quite widely available and look great but you don’t see many with a white fingerboard!
Thank you, good demo of the lovely Watkins.
Danny Kirwen from Fleetwood Mac played a Watkins in his previous band and later In his early years with Fleetwood Mac. It would be interesting to hear what numbers the Watkins featured on.
It was definitely used for Jigsaw Puzzle Blues, it was stolen not long after he joined FM
I'd love to pick up a Rapier 33 to compliment my '64 Rapier bass. (Totally original and in excellent condition) A good one's becoming rare and comparitively expensive these days, though.
Yes, I’ve noticed prices increasing on all Watkins gear over the last few years.
@@Lazurini1 It's funny, really. I remember in the late 60's and early 70's when second hand Fenders and Gibsons were filtering their way down to semi-pro and amateur guitarists, you could pick up Watkins and Burns guitars for very little because no-one wanted them any more. A friend got a lovely Burns 6-string guitar (don't know the model, but it had the Trisonic pickups and a Strat-like headstock) as a swap for an old piano, while I think I paid £20 for my first Rapier bass.
Had to pay £800 for the one I have now, but I don't mind that because you won't see a better one. Sounds great through a good sound system ! 😄
@@Kevin-mx1vi The Burns you describe sounds like it might be a Bison perhaps?
I bought one of the Burns Marquee series remakes a few years ago, in the Red (more like Salmon pink) and I only paid around £200 for it. The vintage Watkins in the video was a good deal less than that, but I don’t see any in that sort of price range now.
The Burns guitars are really interesting. Hefty slabs of wood too!
@@Lazurini1 My mate's guitar was definitely not a Bison, but was otherwise very Stratocaster like. If memory serves, it was in greenburst, if that helps ?
My Rapier bass is one of the less common Ice Blue ones. Only has two very tiny cracks in the finish and a couple of very minor dings, but it was well stored for many years so really it's hardly been used. I'm very proud of it.
i had a watkins 22 but i didnt keep it long as it was a wreck, i see they have recently brought out a reissue of the 33, which i am seriously considering!
Only 3 years ago you could pick up an original 22 or 33 at a very affordable price, anywhere between £200 and £300, but the used market is more expensive now. You are right though they are doing a reissue this year of the 33.
www.google.co.uk/amp/s/guitar.com/news/gear-news/watkins-rapier-33-returns-with-updated-model-2021/%3famp
Can you tell us what the controls do?
On the Rapier that I owned, nothing much at all.
I had a red 33 Rapier, got it in 1969, fourth or fifth hand. It looked much more basic than your demonstration model, no decals, tremelo arm missing of course, big dings in the very plastic -y finish. It worked.........that's about all that could be said for it. Didn't have your array of pedals to help it along in those days, so it was very thin and underwhelming . The controls didn't seem to do anything much. Got rid of it for a Hofner President blonde semi acoustic, which was streets better in every way imaginable.
The Hofner President is a different beast altogether as you say, very nice and absolutely an upgrade! Do you recall what amp you had, and whether you had any feedback issues going to a semi acoustic?
I agree regarding the controls, they didn’t do an awful lot on the one demoed here but I like the lo-fi sound it produced and in fact used it on a track on an album I released this year!
They are flimsy things though, more substantial than the 60s knock offs from the Far East but nowhere near the Burns, Hofner or Hohner rivals.
@@Lazurini1 thank you for taking time to reply, Gavin. Can't recall what amp I used then, I did have a Sound City 30 watt reverb combo a bit later? My Rapier 33 had both the headstock and neck finished in the same plastic coated finish as the body, if I remember correctly. The action was quite playable, but it was set up by a very good guitarist called Bill, who sold the Rapier to me, when he upgraded to a Strat. The Rapier cost me 20 whole pounds..........which was a good weekly wage back then. Re the Hofner President, yes indeed, the feedback could be very lively if you moved near the amplification! And there was no pickup selector switch, just two volumes and two tones, so you needed to take care. A current opinion was to stuff the acoustic body with cotton wool to cut down the feedback, but I never saw how this would work, so never tried it. I had an old single cutaway semi acoustic Framus bass, which had the same feedback issue as the Hofner. The Framus cost a princely 8 whole pounds when I got it, also from a friend.
It sounds a lot like a Meazzi guitar from the 1960s. They both sound like Strats with a little more metallic edge in the pickups.
Interesting. I’ve never seen a Meazzi, don’t know if many made it to the UK, but looking at some of the models I’d say they are probably very similar.
@@Lazurini1 Meazzi had a fairly popular tape echo and their drums were endorsed by Max Roach. The guitars were exported and are more common in the UK than the US. It seems that most examples are in Italy these days.
@@forrolpgringoreturns5155 Great info, thanks! Max Roach is no mean endorsement! I’d like to hear the tape echo.
@@Lazurini1 Hi Gavin ,I think the Meazzi tape echo unit was used by Hank in the Shadows,I've no doubt you will have heard it.