# A Monster in the Closet



## Iluvstrats (Mar 4, 2011)

This beauty belongs to a friend...I asked to borrow it so I could snap some pictures and share it with this forum. It's an Odyssey (Atilla Balogh) Explorer Style, built many years ago in Vancouver CA. I was going to post it under a previous Odyssey thread but thought it deserved it's own post. It's a neck thru design and is fairly light weight cosidering it's dimensions. Plays well too. The only other Odyssey Explorer style I have seen was a bass. I'm not sure what type of wood the body and neck thru parts are made of, perhaps someone here could tell me that. Have any of you guys seen one of these before? Another member here (bluzfish) shared some great Odyssey model information but this one seems to fall into a different category. Sorry not sure how to get the images to show in the body of this post, so have provided the links to photo bucket. Please take a look and tell me what ya think....cheers!

http://i1259.photobucket.com/albums/ii558/fivestringtele/Guitars/OdysseyExplorerFront.jpg

http://i1259.photobucket.com/albums/ii558/fivestringtele/Guitars/OdysseyExplorerBack.jpg

http://i1259.photobucket.com/albums/ii558/fivestringtele/Guitars/OdysseyExplorerHeadstock.jpg

http://i1259.photobucket.com/albums/ii558/fivestringtele/Guitars/OdysseyExplorerHeadstockBack.jpg


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Hope this works....


Iluvstrats said:


> View attachment 711
> View attachment 712


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

That body looks like...spruce? I suppose it's probably maple. Love the shape and the colour, but the overall (no branding, no pickguard, etc.) is a little sparse for my taste.


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## Iluvstrats (Mar 4, 2011)

The lack of branding is a little bit disconcerting...I have an Odyssey myself and during an overzealous polishing the logo/waterslide came off...seemed odd that would happen on an otherwise well crafted guitar. I never quite got/understood these unusual shapes like Flying V's and such....but this one you can actually sit down with and play. It doesn't sit all that well in a stand either hee hee...but I guess it should be strapped on and rocked out with anyway.


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## bluzfish (Mar 12, 2011)

Hmmm... are you sure it's an Odyssey from Atilla's shop? If it is, it must be either a special customer request or perhaps a prototype I've never seen before. It looks like a rare and beautiful instrument, but it would be a major departure from anything Odyssey that would have hit the street. The workmanship looks certainly worthy of Odyssey, but as far as I know, they never chromed their hand machined brass hardware. The Knurled knobs look right but should be brass. Atilla did use Switchcraft mini-switches like that though. My memory fails me on exactly what his hand made bridges looked like, but the one in the photos looks factory made. Normally, it should be hand machined brass sitting on top of an embedded brass plate. The Grover machine heads would also have been a bit of a departure, but I do remember some custom guitars had them by special request and I do remember seeing a few production models with them. Also, the necks were normally 5 piece Maple and Mahogany, so again, a major departure from the norm.

Still... what a gorgeous guitar!

EDIT: BTW, the colours in the paint job are typical Odyssey.


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## Iluvstrats (Mar 4, 2011)

Your comments well taken bluzfish...the present owner of the guitar mentioned to me that he believed knobs and pickup rings had been changed out by previous owner. The saddles were changed by the current owner. Without the tell tale brass parts it is a bit of a mystery. Although the bridge is chrome it is much like the one on my guitar which is definitely an Odyssey...the mounting posts are like mine as well. I would have to take a closer look at mine to see if it is a five piece neck but I thought it was a three piece. The guitar was bought in a vintage shop in Lethbridge and was sold as an Odyssey. The owners of the shop seemed knowledgable when I visited there, next time I am in lethbridge I will pop back in there with a picture and ask a few questions...hopefully they will remember the guitar. You are right the color is very much like Odyssey. I searched the net for pictures of Explorer clones and could not find others like it. I guess that's why I posted the pictures...to see what others thought basically.


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## bluzfish (Mar 12, 2011)

One more thing I just remembered after looking at some old old pix of my music room way back in the day. I saw the Odyssey 12 string I used to have in one pic and now remember that Atilla's bridge was of bridge/tailpiece design and as hard as I try, I can never remember a wrap-around bridge being used in any production or custom models that I know of. I see my 12 string also had a bound birds eye maple top but it was a custom order.

The Atilla line of guitars are a whole other story though and I had less experience with them. I believe that he did use factory parts on those instruments so the guitar pictured here may be something in between.


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## Iluvstrats (Mar 4, 2011)

Thanks bluzfish...your insight is appreciated...something you said has perhaps turned on a lightbulb here. Please check out the link below when you have time. This is a picture of the bridge on my guitar, it is a brass wrap around. If I am understanding you right we are talking about two different lines of guitars here, but still related. Odyssey (with Atilla) and Atilla Balogh on his own? The bridge pictured in the link below had an AA logo on the headstock...sort of two A's reversed to each other...apologies but hard to explain. Please see link to picture of bridge below...the rest of the hardware, knobs and such seem more typical?
http://i1259.photobucket.com/albums/ii558/fivestringtele/Guitars/OdysseyorAtillaBridge.jpg


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## bluzfish (Mar 12, 2011)

BTW I don't mean to try to pass myself off as some kind of Odyssey expert or anything. It's just that I was around those guys a lot and saw a lot of what they were doing.

That being said, The Atilla line was a less expensive production line aimed at the working musician who might not be able to afford the more expensive Odyssey line (they were mostly only slightly less expensive than Gibson LPs). They had bolt on necks and less exotic body woods but were and still are if you can find one, excellent guitars.

The one in your pic is most definitly typical Odyssey woods and neck through construction. The later deluxe models had carved maple tops with binding. It may be that model that I remember the 5 piiece neck laminations. The knobs with the knurled top, the brass PU rings and mini switches are also correct. It's been over 30 years since the hey-day of production, so it would appear I may have been incorrrect about the wrap around bridges - your's definitly looks like something Odyssey would have machined. It's just my memory is of brass bridges with brass tail pieces bolted 1" to 2" back.

They also used to put a round brass plate with, I believe, a simple "O" on the headstock and the fretboards were all ebony. But remember that although Odyssey made their lines of production guitars to put in music stores, they were also very much a custom shop. Back then you could go into Iron Music and specify exactly how you wanted to customize the basic builds. They would even call you at critical points in the construction and invite you to the shop to watch and kibitz, especially during work on the neck and finishing.

Anything out of that shop should be considered a keeper IMHO. Only high end custom shops will ever use that quality of woods and hand finishing again.


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## Iluvstrats (Mar 4, 2011)

Expert or not bluzfish...your input is greatly appreciated and helps fill the gaps in the history of these excellent Canadian built guitars.


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## danspiel (Mar 22, 2012)

What a beauty guitar!

I collect Odyssey's and have made a site dedicated to them. It is an Odyssey fan page/resource.

www.odysseyguitars.ca

Please let me know what you think, Thanks!


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## bluzfish (Mar 12, 2011)

Looks like there are 2 threads going here. Thanks danspiel for such an excellent link. I really enjoyed the history and pics.


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## Iluvstrats (Mar 4, 2011)

Wow danspiel...excellent job on the site! Where has this been hiding? I searched the net previously but info is wide spread. Just had a quick moment to take a look, but will dig deeper tonight. Thanks again for this!!


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## avalancheMM (Jan 21, 2009)

Yeah, thank you for the site - I have a 200 series carved ash model, great guitar, heavy, but terrific workmanship and build quality. Sounds really good by itself into tubes( Classic 30 or Classic 50, Marshall Class 5, Mesa 5:25 Express, really unfortunate that the company didn't survive. Anyways, I'll send pics in for your gallery page ASAP!

Regards


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## Exposey (May 25, 2012)

I have an Odyssey Explorer purchased a few years ago, nearly identical to Iluvstrats and mine also has the wraparound tailpiece. I couldn't figure out why it didn't have a serial number and am guessing it also was a decal that rubbed off. About the brass knobs, mine are nickel plated. They are identical to the brass ones that I bought from Atilla in the 70's and identical to the brass ones pictured in one of the posts from Greco I think! Atilla must have had some knobs plated per customer request.


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## Exposey (May 25, 2012)

Hey, Iluvstrats, I have an explorer just like yours only with large Grover's. Same truss rod cover but the knobs are genuine odyssey knobs only electroplated chrome or nickle. I put aside the dimarzio pickups and installed PRS Dragon I pickups and haven't played my stratocasters since the operation. Because of the bright sounding maple, I felt the guitar needed pickups that had strong midrange capabilities. I want to use the coil split capability of these pickups too, but don't want to do anything that will make restoration impossible, I love the tone the explorer has now!


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## Guitar101 (Jan 19, 2011)

That's one monster I wouldn't mind in my closet.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

There's an Odyssey for sale locally for $700. Is that high?

Looks like a nice guitar...

Atilla Balough "odessy" guitar - Sudbury Musical Instruments For Sale - Kijiji Sudbury Canada.


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## hummingway (Aug 4, 2011)

Beauty. Seems like a good price to me. A warning: I had a Leo Quan with tuners on a guitar once ... wore out a bunch of shirt cuffs before I learned to roll them up before playing!


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## Exposey (May 25, 2012)

Have you hugged your Odyssey today? Haha


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## Exposey (May 25, 2012)

I sawed off the long adjustment screws and slotted them with a dremmel tool and my sleeve doesn't get caught on them anymore!


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Love these old school neck throughs in natural finishes.

That's another nice example Exposey.


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## Exposey (May 25, 2012)

The only good Odyssey is the one you own!


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Another beauty! Is that a figured top?

You can tell that these are children of the eighties with all the brass.


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## Exposey (May 25, 2012)

O.K. so Atilla was a furniture manufacturer (finisher?) before becoming a luthier, so on this one he used birdseye maple for the top. I have not seen many birdseye maple tops, mostly necks. But there it is non the less. He even put brass where you can't see it. Under the bridge is a brass block because it just wasn't heavy enough yet! Haha.


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## Exposey (May 25, 2012)

I would say that that's an average price for an Atilla. So sulphur its up to you! It won't go down in price but it won't reach the price of a 57 strat either. A friend of mine who collects guitars and has had a few guitar shows would tell you the same thing. They seem to be well made, and the craftsmanship went into these guitars. I have heard that some models didn't have a badge or a serial number because they were made by an employee for themselves. The one you have posted looks like it has the Atilla double A logo. You could probably cut the weight of the guitar in half by replacing the brass with plastic and aluminum. These are heavy guitars. I paid that much for the Odyssey Explorer and if I had seen the one you posted at the same time and could only have one, I would take the Atilla instead. However, the tone of the explorer with the PRS pickups is very sweet! Rather than start yet another post, I wanted to add that I had talked to a music store owner in Crescent Beach about three years ago, and he was saying how the woman who did the welding on the stand for the piece of equipment that fell on Atilla and killed him, had came into his store and was bragging about having done the work on the equipment stand, and the store owner said to me if "if only she knew what she had done!" This store owner also showed me a newspaper clipping of him in the store standing with Joe and Atilla and Ken. Apparently he was the cleanup guy for the mighty trio. I trust what he says to be true. He also showed me some Odyssey parts, necks mostly, that had not been used or even finished. I have also spoken to Ray Ayotte (Ayotte drums) about Atilla also around three years ago and learned that the equipment was used for the finish sanding of the drum shells. Yes, Ray and Atilla shared the same shop for a while. Is that cool or what? Anybody please chime in and set me straight if I have erred! One final note: Joe told me that they forgot one major item in the construction of these fine guitars, quote: "We forgot to make money!" Thus the sad end of a beautiful thing!


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

I'm unfortunately humbucker heavy as it is with the guitars that I have.
I do like the one for sale here. I was concerned about it stating that the miniswitches have been disabled.
That just leaves me thinking of what could have been done to it, butcher job, possibly.
Then, how much it would cost to get it all working again.

It's a moot point though, as I have too many toys as it is. 8)


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## Exposey (May 25, 2012)

I hear you sulphur, too many humbuckers, and another guitar to restring!


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## Exposey (May 25, 2012)

Hey Danspiel! You have created a great website. Here's a reply to an email I received from Ken! Maybe you can add it to your site!

The store in Vancouver where you bought the inlays and knobs was probably Iron Music. Attila was a great friend. He was trained as a furniture maker and apprenticed in a large custom furniture factory in eastern Canada - I forget whether it was Toronto or Montreal. He was born in Hungary and moved to Canada as a child. He'd always had a interest in guitars - he played a little, but not much - and opened a small repair shop on Cambie Street (around 18th or 20th) in Vancouver in the early 70's. Joe Sallay was also Hungarian, and worked as a salesman for Peate Musical Supplies out of Montreal. Attila and I both got to know him as he sold us product, and eventually we all got together. I had started Iron Music and allowed Joe to buy into the business. We used Attila for some of our major repair work and over time came up with the idea of merging and starting a guitar factory along with the retail store. Attila could be a bit of a wild man and we had some great times together, working long hours, always short of money, but having fun. Attila liked drinking and working late at night (which is what eventually killed him) and for years we would spend nights in the shop designing guitars and parts, jamming with friends, etc. Attila was very creative - a mad genius type - and was an endless source of ideas for the instruments and the design of machinery to build them. He'd design, I'd implement, Joe would sell. Most of the Vancouver musicians dealt with us in those days, and several of them used Odysseys and virtually all of them used us for servicing their instruments, including Bryan Adams, Bachman, Fred Turner, Terry Frewer (not sure that's the spelling), and many others who's names I can't recall. Outside of Vancouver we sold through other retail stores, and so I don't know where or to whom the instruments eventually sold. We never did endorsements. The guitars originally had a headstock similar to the Gretsch, but we changed it after a short time, redesigning the body shapes as well (longer horns on the upper side, especially on the bass). The first production models were made for a trade show in Toronto - 3 models, all the same basic shape but different body woods and top profiles... one using mahogany left flat, one using ash that was profiled, and one using bound maple that was also profiled. I've attached scans of the last catalogue we printed. I forget the exact serial number system, but it was based around the year, month, and unit, so that the 5th guitar produced in July, 1979 would have a number like 90705 or 07905... Yes, I knew Ray Ayotte - there was a time when we talked about merging both the retail stores (Drums Only and Iron Music) and the factories. Hope this answers some of your questions... if you have more don't hesitate to contact me.

Regards,
Ken


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## Iluvstrats (Mar 4, 2011)

Hey...Exposey, thanks for posting the picture of your O. Explorer.
It looks really nice...please do take some more pictures in better
light if you can! The Explorer in the pictures I posted actually
belongs to a friend and he will be jazzed to see another. The one
I have is like the the one in the kijiji link that Sulphur posted,
except it has a natural finish. Sulphur I live way west but if I
lived near where the kijiji one is I probably couldn't stop myself
from buying it.. assuming it looks and feels nice in person.
I agree their collector value is limited but there is enough interest
in them that I doubt with time it will lose value. I wouldn't say
mine is overly heavy, but yup all the brass does certanly
increase the weight lol. Over and above their obvious excellent
workmanship, I like Odyssey guitars because quite simply they are
Canadian built and very unique. Thanks all for posting the great
pictures and Info!


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## Exposey (May 25, 2012)

A shot of the Explorer with Cheap Trick guitar strap! As per Iluvstrats request!
IMG_1230.jpg picture by exposey - Photobucket


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## Iluvstrats (Mar 4, 2011)

Wow Exposey! Yours and my friends are near identical in color, they could be twins.
Nice strap too...if only Rick Nielsen had been lucky enough to play an Odyssey hee hee.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

How heavy would a five necked Odyssey be? 8P


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## Exposey (May 25, 2012)

I tried out a natural finish all maple odyssey six string guitar/four string bass double neck and it was very heavy. I couldn't imagine a five neck! On the Odyssey website mentioned in this thread, I read about the synth guitar Odyssey made. I actually played it unplugged. It was in a little guitar shop in Port Moody called Crossroads Guitars. It was for sale for about 600 dollars, this was about fifteen years ago. This synth guitar had about eight of those heavy brass knobs on it, the hex pickup was made of six cassette size tape heads, it had one of those db25 type connectors on it and a 1/8 in. Thick brass plate on the back to cover the electronic which took up more than half the back of the guitar. I have not picked up a heavier guitar than that one!


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## Iluvstrats (Mar 4, 2011)

A double neck bass/guitar...holy cow that would be heavy...and a synth guitar as well. I never knew either of those existed. I guess living on the west coast a guy would probably have more of a chance to stumble across different models. Have only seen the carved ash I bought as well as my friends explorer type in person. But I'm from small town Alberta so not a bunch of the unusual around here. Well....I better get my Odyssey out of the closet, time to give the Strat and Tele a break, this thread has been an inspiration. I find mine covers a lot of differnt bases...


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## Exposey (May 25, 2012)

:rockon: Enjoy the break!


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