A super rare English-made 1960s Hohner / Fenton Weil 'Amazon' electric guitar.
 
For a brief period starting circa late 60s, Fenton-Weill produced guitars for Hohner London as an 'in house' brand. Prior to this, Henry Weill had worked with Jim Burns (of Burns guitars) on the brief Burns-Weill guitar partnership. These were exciting times for British guitar builders - much like their American counterparts, they were striving to put out innovative designs in what was a new and lucrative market following the guitar boom of the 50s. 
 
Hohner's solution was the Amazon, one of a few electric guitars named after Earth's great rivers. Immediately notable is the inclusion of factory red plastics (including the nut) - highly unusual for an early 60s guitar. 
 
These were some of the first British-made electric guitars and as such have their quirks. The bodies (with set necks) were made by furnituremaker Stuart Darkins - consider that England did not have the same guitar building tradition as the USA. It's a big neck - wide and flat in profile. The pickups are rudimentary, simple in design and to my eye look very similar to Burns pickups. The tuners were clearly sourced from Van Ghent, a quality European producer at the time (they're the same closed-back design seen on Burns guitars).
 
Despite the lack of an adjustable truss rod the neck is straight and has held up well, allowing for a comfortable playing action. It has a very distinctive sound and both pickups have a good output, selectable via the pickguard-mounted switch lever.
 
It has had some minor splits to the finish on back of the neck, which are invisible to the touch and done to a high standard. It appears otherwise all original, including all of the often-lost plastics. There is no tremolo arm and I received it as such, though I'm sure one can be sourced with relative ease.
 
A really cool early British-made electric guitar - a true conversation-starter at your next gig?