Luthiery Laboratories

Around the time that Evets was putting out their first round of Danelectro reissues in the late '90s, several disaffected Gibson employees started their own company, and put out two models - 'Mona' and 'Lisa'. The Mona is a copy of the Danelectro 1457 from the 1960s. It is a mix of old and new. The body is classic masonite over a hollow core, but lacks the Tolex edge binding of the original. While it has the speckles of the original, the finish is modern polyurethane. The pickups are true lipsticks, wired in series, but the pickguard is bevel-edged plastic, and the bridge is basically a Fender. The headstock is the right shape, but bent down to lessen the awkward string angles.

Telestar failed after a few years, but you can still find these on eBay at pretty reasonable prices. The quality of these guitars is first-rate. The 'Lisa' model was sort-of a Les Paul Lite, with humbuckers in a Danelectro-type hollow body. Both were produced by Samick in Korea, hence the high quality.