NGD x 2 for me!
Bought at Vermont old family farmhouse from great guy seller who is packing it up and moving to Poland.

First guitar I chased thru FB Marketplace for last 3 weeks waiting to get to Vermont:
( I had recently lost out on a Steinberger Spirit Pro at a pawn shop on Cape Cod for $300 asking – didn’t make it back to Cape in time to see it).

– “Mr. Elephant”. aka ZO-3 aka Fernandes Nomad

An excellent little travel guitar. Nice backstory too. Like Joe Bonamassa said in the Gibson interview: You get the guitar free, you’re buying the story!

This one was bought in Kentucky while guy was in service. He had tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and said this little guy traveled to almost 30 countries with him.

Also, finally a RED guitar for the collection. Last thing I need is another damn black one. These are hard to find, not too many for sale, and now mostly newer China reissues.
This one is old(er) made in Taiwan which is as good as it gets for the Nomad unless you get a bona fide MIJ Z0-3 badged model.

Really funny little guy, you can see why it’s called “Mr. Elephant” in Japanese.

Second guitar:
Ok, was set on buying both for $400. A 1977 Univox Coily U1825, a bolt-neck ES-335 style thinline.
So where is that on in the pic?? Right, I passed on it. Way too thin neck and narrow nut, so not my bag.

The seller murmured something and ran off to his attic.
He then said before I told him what I wanted to do, I’ll throw this parts guitar in for free if you get the Fernandes and Univox (!)

So I had ruled out the Univox at $250 which I know is a hell of a deal in today’s market. I could easily flip it for profit. But I’ve bought every guitar with intention of keeping and playing it originally, I just move ones along I don’t get along with.

So I told him, yep, getting the Fernandes. Univox is out. But what about the parts one??

It has a nice wide and Thick neck, just my style 🙂
It’s also beaten up badly, been in attic for years, a hot mess, and like the little adorable runt of the liter or super underdog. I knew I had to get it and have a real project on my hands.
It’s missing a bridge altogether, pickguard needs attention – seller was going to transplant that to the Univox which was missing it’s pickguard and never did 🙂
Nut is not good, way too low. Missing 1/4″ jack and V + T knobs missing.
Neck a mess. Dust, grime, dirt, debris, cobwebs everywhere. It was love as I held it for inspection.

The Fernandes was asking $150. Screaming deal. He said $200 for both, how’d that sound, and accepted $175 counter! Happy happy day for me!

Ok, so anyone know much about ‘Hy-Lo’ or this model? I recalled the brand, and it IS Made in Japan.
So that was great. On site, I thought it might be a sleeper Matsumoku guitar.

Later online research that night shows it is not a Mats.
It’s either:
Teisco built (I hope not, had one and it was trash),
Hoshino (early Ibanez) built, or maybe other.
It looks very similar to 60s Ibanez but the faux Bigsby is solid on this one and doesn’t have same cutouts. I’ve seen these pickups somewhere too, and hoping they are good to really good vintage single coils.

Thinking it’s not newer than 1965, maybe 1960, perhaps older?? I’ve also read there is a ‘Hi Lo’ brand and this “Hy Lo” brand and they likely have no connection.

Thoughts?