Staccato guitars were conceived in 1978 the first was cast in aluminium, all guitars after 001 were cast in magnesium alloy. At the time both Travis Bean and Kramer guitars were also cast in aluminium, Staccato was the first and only production magnesium guitars made to this day. The first 21 guitars made by staccato were interchangeable neck models. The neck section could be replaced in a second with alternatives of 6 string, 12 string or bass guitar. again a unique concept, doing away with the need for a heavy cumbersome double neck guitar. The prototype was commissioned by Yamaha musical instruments division in the orange country California. This was cast in Los Angeles and machined in John Carvthers guitar shop in Santa Monica. Pat did the final build, assembly and paint job at his home in Topanga Canyon, California.
A prototype bass was built in Norfolk England in 1983 and a business partnership was formed to produce Staccato guitars, at the old school house in Woodbastwick, Norfolk. The partners on equal shares were Pat Townshend, Bill Wyman, Chris and Mick Jagger.
This was something of a milestone in British music history for a musical instrument to be financially backed by members of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band in the world the Rolling stones.
The M.G. model was launched in 1985, this was along more conventional lines with fixed neck (not interchangeable) but retaining the cast magnesium alloy though neck, precision right hand turning system and fibreglass body. Just over 200 of the M.G. models were built with the production ending in 1987 after Pat resigned from the company re-entering the world of classic motorcycle racing, as a rider, tuner and development engineer (find out more in the motor-racing section)
The most famous and most seen M.G. bass was the chrome plated E.M.G. pickup model, specially commissioned by Gene Simmonds from the U.S.A. of mega band “Kiss”. seen firing rockets from the headstock in the crazy, crazy nights video. the chrome bass and also a standard M.G. bass painted gold which Gene bought from us first, can be seen in many Kiss music videos, Gene liked the Anglo Saxon look!
Our number one customer and staccato fan is Yoshio “Cain” Kubo from Japanese death-metal outfit “Shadow”. Yoshio brought his first M.G. bass in the 80’s when they were in production and owns around 6 or 7. we are currently building him a chrome plated replica of the Gene Simmonds model. We are building a second one alongside Yoshio’s so there will be No2 for sale.
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