1970s Roland GR-500 Guitar Synth

I had one of these for a short time in the early to mid '80s. It cost me $700 plus about $60 for repairs and I sold it a few months later for $630. According to Wayne Scott Joness site they sold for US$1000 in 1977 when new, which he says equates to about US$4300 in today's money! None of the pics on this page are of my guitar.

The guitar itself was bloody good, and was made by Ibanez although I didn't know that at the time. Ibanez made fantastic stuff in those days, easily the equal of Gibson. The normal guitar sound was very good and it felt and looked good too.

But the whole synth bit was very dodgy. If you didn't strike the string with just the right attack you ran about 20% risk of getting no sound at all. For that reason I never once used it live. I can't remember if I ever even took it to a rehearsal or not. And it had a 24 pin connection lead, without which it was about as useful as my wife's cat. And as far as I recall it was monophonic i.e. it couldn't play chords (but I could be mistaken there).

In any event I decided it was a major liability rather than an asset so thankfully I managed to sell it.

They go for pretty good money now but I have no idea why. They're more of a museum piece than a practical bit of gear.

One of these is used by the guitarist in the official video of Hot Chocolate's 1978 "Every 1's a winner". Look it up on YouTube. One of the most irritating songs of all time if you don't count Boney M.

More Info

• Wayne Scott Joness Vintage Roland Guitar Synth site
• Vintage Synth
• Lots more pics (this is where I stole the ones on the right)
• GR-500 on wikipedia
• A fairly amateurish history of Roland guitar synths