LaBaye 2-by-4

Dan Holland probably wasn’t the first person to ask “why does a solidbody guitar actually need a body?” In theory, as Les Paul clearly demonstrated when he built “The Log,” it could be any shape, so why not make it from a piece of 2×4 lumber? In typical 1960s fashion, Holland teamed up with guitar manufacturers Holman-Woodell in 1967 (who had already created instruments for Wurlitzer and a few other companies) and LaBaye was set up in Green Bay, Wisconsin. In all, only about 90 of these dual-pickup instruments were ever actually built, making this truly a “rare bird” worth searching for.