Brian by Bacchus BLS-480, tobacco burst, made in Taiwan 1998. I'll admit it: the first time I bought a Brian guitar was for a joke: I mean come on, right? The plot twist was that they're actually very impressive guitars. Fellow MIJ enthusiasts will be aware of Bacchus: launching in the mid 90s as part of the excellent Deviser Group, Bacchus started off doing outstanding vintage style guitars made and sold in Japan. The Brian brand was their first experiment with offshore manufacturing, made in Taiwan for a year or two in 1998-9. These days they have a line called Global Series made in their own facility in Philippines, but these Brian guitars pre-date that by a decade or two. The build and finish quality is very good: this plays and feels better than almost all the Epiphone examples I've come across; it's similar in standard to stuff by Edwards or Fernandes. The finish is cool: moody tobacco burst on the top, cheeky red on the back and sides; an unusual combo but a cool little twist on the classic look. This one arrived with electronics that were worse for wear and wearing a coating of filth that's best lost to history, but our patient and kind house tec Mark has had his wicked way with it. It's now sparkling clean, with freshly levelled and polished frets and a full re-wire with tasty goods under the hood. It's playing very smoothly and feels fantastic. The tone is a clear, balanced take on the LP growl, with a nice balance of low end oomph and top end shimmer. "He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy!"

As I was walking through the exhibition, I began to think that we are now living in a time that perfectly reflects Weegees interest in naked, blatant reality and in the warped dreams spectators crave
485) world, or at least of Europe
Vacuum Sealing: For loose sticks or samplers, we utilize professional-grade vacuum sealing to lock in moisture for up to 60 days
This is a vigorous and highly labor-intensive activity because the quality inspection process and subsequent grade classification is done completely manually
Joining the OGT Cigar Society Becoming a member of the OGT Cigar Society is as simple as enrolling in our Cigar of the Month Club