For those of you not familiar with the Ampeg Studs:
We've talked about them in a couple of places. Here are two threads about them:
Ampeg Little Stud.
Ampeg Big Stud - plywood ?
For general reference, here's the quick summary:
The Ampeg Stud series guitars and basses are from 1974. They were made for Ampeg by one of the large Japanese manufacturers (I forget which one) and sold only here in the US for less than a year. There are five models, three guitars and two basses. The guitars are the Stud, the Heavy Stud and the Super Stud. The basses are the Little Stud and the Big Stud. The styling is a mix of Fender and Gibson; Fender bodies and Gibson headstocks. I have both a Little Stud and a Big Stud in my Ampeg collection.
The construction is typical for '70's Japanese instruments. The woodworking and paint are fairly nice, but the pickups and hardware are cheezy. Both the bodies and the necks are laminated up from thin layers of mystery wood. If I remember right, the neck is 11 laminations and the body is 22 laminations! They are heavy and stiff. Mine have good sustain, but a thin weak tone from the pickups. I've heard from a few owners who have modified their Studs with better pickups, tuners, and bridges, and made them into good solid players.
As far as I know, the Studs were only available in three colors: all black, a transparent golden yellow, and a dark transparent red. We've never been able to uncover the production numbers, but it's not many. I'd guess that only a few hundred of each model total were made. They are rare, but not worth very much. Not many collectors are interested.
