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Belman guitars, Australia,
Guitars page 2
Bass page 3
1994-2007
updated 12/8/2009
Image of last
Belman guitars home page from
Audiomastermind.
Belman guitars were handmade
in Melbourne, Australia from 1994 to 2007 by Tony Bell. Sadly Belman guitars are no longer
produced. The following Belman history is from the
internet archive and contributions from forum members:
"The
first incarnation of Belman Guitars was actually formed in the
class room of a Secondary Technical School in 1982, where
Anthony decided to build his first electric guitar. Craig Manger
also in the same class having already completed his project
asked Anthony if he would like some help to finish the project.
Thus the seeds were sewn for what would eventually become Belman
Guitars. The project was a major success for their grades and
confidence. With the help and support of Mr Hogg (woodworking
teacher), and working after normal school hours they proceeded
to build their first bass.
The major turning point for
the young guitar builders was the realisation they did not
posses any of the necessary equipment to continue building
guitars from home. The bass went up for sale in a local music
store. To their delight the bass sold in little over a month,
they had now sold their first instrument (circa 1984) and also
possessed the funds to buy tools and machinery that allowed them
to continue building guitars.
The early years were spent
working long hours in Anthony's
mothers tiny garage, both men maintained full time employment
and would perform all manner of guitar repairs long into the
night. Within this small garage was crammed everything that was
needed to build guitars, except for the space to stretch your
arms. In these confined conditions the pair were able to perform
some amazing repairs and produce incredible custom instruments.
These hard years honed the skills of both Anthony and Craig into
becoming one of the most sort after repairers in Melbourne.
Finally realizing that they
had to make the decision to go full time or scale back the work
load, they officially formed Belman Guitars in 1994. The name
coming from the abbreviating and joining of the two sir-names
Bell and Manger, Bel-Man, Belman.
From this point forward they
dedicated every spare minute into understanding all the workings
of electric guitars and basses. What timbers to use to achieve
certain tones, what colour effects could be obtained from
different staining methods. From re-winding pickups, to actually
creating their own personal pickup models. Putting their
instruments into the hands of as many professional players as
possible, and more importantly listening to the feedback given
by these players to help them achieve better results with the
next instrument.
As the workload grew they
knew it was time to relocate to a
factory. Enter Tino Maiorana, having known the guys for a number
of years and spent many hours in the garage, initially to have
work done and later helping out and performing repairs. Belman
Guitars relocated to their first factory in Thomastown,
Victoria.
From the early days of the
factory when the range offered 4 models, up to the current range
of over 18 different variations of models for the player to
choose from (including bass instruments). Belman stopped
producing early in 2007.
Dating Belman
Guitars Serial numbers
"...for the
serial numbers, ours work like this. You may have an instrument
that has HPG0124. The H is the shape so in this example Hornet,
the P is for the model which in this case would be a "Plus" and
the G is the alphabet number 7 (being the 7th letter in the
alpha) for the 7th guitar built that particular month. Hope I
haven't lost you yet. The numbers are for the year and month, so
the outer 2 numbers are the year, in this case "04" and the
inner 2 numbers are the month 12 which of course is December. We
then went to a simpler numbering system last year, which is for
example 06506. The first 3 digits are the number of guitar for
that year being the 65th instrument, and the last 2 digits are
the year 06. Hope this helps" [source: Tino, Belman, email
29/1/2007]
Images courtesy of
East Gosford Music
and Albatros:
2001
Belman Guitar Catalog courtesy of Daz, Australia.
(I have
only compressed the pricelist pages. Note the guitar picture scans are not
compressed and up to 1.3 mb.)
Belman
guitar reviews
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Belman
Belman bass reviews
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Electric+Bass/brand/Belman
Australian Musician 5 String Bass Review
Here are a few
sample pages from the internet archive:
Belman History from
2005
Hornet guitar
specifications
Standard bass
specification
Guitar models and
specifications
Bass models and
specifications
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