This guitar was built somewhere between 1985 and 1995, although it is so 'mint' that it could have been made even more recently. With a very different tonal quality to the Gibson, Epiphone and Fender guitars, and fitted with 'half-round' strings, this guitar is the perfect instrument for playing smooth jazz. Designed by Joe Pass himself, it has two extra frets, allowing the guitar to cover a range of 4 octaves in the key of D - if the bottom string is tuned down to a low D. There is a good acoustic sound from the instrument - for a relatively thin-bodied electric, that is. So you do need to use amplification. However, playing through a clean amp at low level, you get the best of both worlds - the depth of the bassy 'woody' sound from the loudspeaker along with the 'liveliness' of the trebly acoustic sound.