Thinline Fender Jaguar

guitarz.blogspot.com

There is a Jaguar Thinline and noone ever told me!

Ach ja, it's from Fender Japan, they have much cooler Fenders there for some reason, with plenty of Mustang variations,  Teles with Filtertrons, colors you've never seen on a Fender... Check their website and cry!

Bertram

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

1960s Guyatone LG130-T

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Ugh! I'm still feeling a bit unclean after that previous post. This 1960s-era Japanese-made Guyatone LG130-T in original cherry/pink finish is the perfect antidote. Seriously, what can I say about this vintage piece? The pictures speak for themselves.

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

ESP FT-300K Fanatic Crisis Shun signature guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

We here at Guitarz have looked at a fair few weirdly-shaped contemporary guitars from Japan, most notably from makers Fernandes and ESP. This particular guitar, an ESP FT-300K Fanatic Crisis Shun signature no less, takes the familiar Strat layout and gives it a twist - or, should I say, a stretch. Despite the Strat layout of the three single coils, those are in fact Jaguar-style pickups. The guitar also seems to be equipped with a kill switch near the lower horn.

Fanatic Crisis, by the way, were a Japanese Nagoya kei rock band active from 1992–2005; Shun was their guitarist and, no doubt, endorsee of this model guitar.

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Yamaha SX 900 B

guitarz.blogspot.com

I don't have much information about this Yamaha SX 900 B - but that it's the 3 single coils version of the SX series and that its shape is brilliant (and there was an Ibanez copy of this model)... Again one of these great Japanese guitars from the early 70s - pre law-suit era - before they started to clone American guitars better than the originals...

Bertram

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Ibanez

Ibanez Roadstar II from 1984

guitarz.blogspot.com:

MIJ (Made In Japan) Strats from the 1980s have a particularly good reputation. The enthusiast of such guitars could do far worse than this 1984 Ibanez Roadstar II. Whilst not a direct Strat copy, you can't deny the obvious Strat influences. Indeed, some would say that its an improvement on the Strat design. Personally, I find the shape quite pleasing. It is very yellow though and with matching pickup covers - perhaps it's a nice change from the multitude of all-red guitars we have shown on this blog before.

If you're interested in bidding, the auction is up in just over 4 hours as I type this. No-one has bid - as yet - and the starting price is $299 (item location is California), so someone could get a good bargain here. (Let us know if it's you).

Thanks to Oren Clark for pointing this one out to me.

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

1960s Decca Bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I don't always get around to blogging about guitars I'm watching on eBay before the auction ends. I try my best to feature guitars while the auction is still active just in case some of you guys want to place a bid or hit that Buy It Now, but I'm usually watching so many at any one time and it's not possible to feature everything at once.

Sorry, that's a long-winded way of me saying this auction has already finished. This Decca-branded bass had a starting price of 99c and sold for $261.79. It's a Japanese-made instrument, and the seller claims that:

It is clearly an early product of the Matsumoko (whose Guyatone bass guitars had these pickups as well) and the pre-Kawai owned Teisco guitar factories as it has recognizable parts from each of those plants.

Well, the neck definitely looks Teisco with those inlays along the bass side of the fingerboard. The metal control plate is an interesting shape and incorporates an angled outward output jack (NOT "input jack" - sorry, pet hate of mine) which calls to mind a Strat style output socket mounted upside down and inside out.

The seller believes that the brand ties in with the Decca records label and that this brand of instruments was primarily produced for sale to small record shops. All of which sound highly feasible, but is conjecture.

Does anyone out there remember the Decca brand or know any more about this?

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Norma bass from the 1960s

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Norma solidbodies with their distinctive N-shaped fingerboard inlays were built by the Tombo Instrument company in Japan and imported into the US by Strum & Drum of Chicago. We've previously looked at two guitar models (here and here), but pictured above we see the bass variant, currently being offered for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $399.99.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

1960s Japanese Barclay Bison

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This made in Japan 1960s Barclay guitar looks to be inspired by the Burns Bison, albeit with a hugely exaggerated body, which features some interesting carving to the top (and hopefully slims it down in a couple of places and maybe reduces the weight too). I know nothing about the Barclay brand - I seem to be discovering brandnames I've never heard of before all the time, mainly from Japan of the 1960s and 70s - but this guitar does seem to be in superb condition and would appear to be complete. Hey, the trem is still there, that's got to be a good thing on a vintage piece like this.

G L Wilson

Edit: I thought it seemed familiar; we've already looked at a very similar Hy-Lo branded guitar with two pickups and a different headstock shape, but undeniably the same guitar!

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Teisco / Kay upgrade

guitarz.blogspot.com:

If I'm not much mistaken, guitars like this were rather ubiquitous in the 1970s in mail order catalogues and on displays in Woolworths and bearing the "Kay" brand although they were most likely made by Teisco in Japan. They are not really what you'd call desirable guitars today, although you do see one or two eBay sellers proclaiming their alleged "rarity" and being somewhat optimistic with the pricing.

At least with this example, currently being offered with a starting price of £150 and a Buy It Now of £250, the guitar has seen some serious upgrades. If I were being uncharitable, I might say something along the lines of "polishing a turd", but the seller claims that this was always a nice player and deserved an upgrade to get the best out of it. Here's what he says about it:

The old, worn pickups have since been replaced with Rickenbacker-style "toaster" pickups, which produce a beautifully warm and unique sound (the scratchplate was carefully re-cut to accommodate them). The old vibrato/tremolo has also been replaced with a Fender Jaguar-style tremolo system, which works perfectly (some of the body was skilfully hollowed-out to accommodate this larger tremolo system).

Furthermore, a tune-o-matic bridge has been added; the tuners/machineheads have been replaced with Wilkinson Deluxe "Kluson-style" tuners; the volume/tone knobs have been replaced with Jaguar-style knobs; and, the input jack has been replaced. [Why do people insist on saying "input jack" when it is an OUTPUT jack? - GLW] The pots, switches and electronics have also been thoroughly cleaned. The cost of parts and labour exceeded £200.

The overall result is a revitalised, utterly unique and beautiful-sounding guitar. You simply won't find another one like it; the pictures alone demonstrate this. I also believe that the guitar has not so much been modified as improved.

No doubt the guitar has been improved - I'd say the pickups, trem system, bridge, etc are worth more than the original instrument itself. Whether it'll appeal to anyone other than the guy that put it together remains to be seen.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Unknown Teardrop guitar - not a Vox as far as we know

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's yet another one for all you guitar detectives:

Hi Gavin,

I bought a lovely vintage teardrop guitar off of ebay, but am struggling to find the manufacturer of it... It's likely Kawai or Teisco, but I can't find a similar/same one online in Google searches. Usually the selector switches/plate are what doesn't match. Any ideas?

Cheers,
Bobby

Hey Bobby, any chance of a look at the headstock? Also, is there any indication of where it was made, like a stamped neckplate saying "Made in Japan"?

My guess would be it was made in Japan, and I think I'd incline more towards Kawai than Teisco, but I have to confess that I really don't know. Perhaps other readers may have some better ideas.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

1970s Kay LP-type guitar with on-board FX

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here we have what is listed on eBay as a "Rare Kay Les Paul with onboard effects. Collectors item". OK, so I realise that as a seller on eBay you have to apply a certain amount of spin when listing your item, but really, these guitars are neither rare nor what would ordinarily be considered a collectors item. Seriously, these come up for sale all the time, and the fees slapped on them are somewhat optimistic. The singer/guitarist in a band I was in several years ago had one of these. It was alright, I suppose, but no great shakes. (It couldn't have been that great because he always wanted to borrow one of my Fenders.) The on-board effects were gimmicky and largely unusable.

What nearly everyone seems to forget, however, is that the guitar isn't an Les Paul copy per se, but is modelled after the Roland GS500 controller for Roland's very first guitar synthesizer, the GR500, which was introduced in 1978. This was back in the day when any new and exciting guitar spawned Japanese-made imitations - in this instance the guitar that was being "copied" was also Japanese. Obviously, it would have been prohibitive to make it a guitar synth, hence the on-board effects as a suitably high-tech alternative.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Goldentone from 1964

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's another Japanese-made Burns-influenced guitar, this one carrying the Goldentone brandname. You might want to compare and contrast with the Ibanez/Montclair guitar in the previous post. They are not identical, but very very similar.

Currently being offered for sale on eBay in the UK with a possibly optimistic Buy It Now price of £889.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

1960s Ibanez 3904 Montclair

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This rather wild looking guitar with four pickups, a bank of selector switches, multi-pickguards, metal control and output panel, and original vibrato carries the Montclair brandname but is - apparently - a 1960s-era Ibanez 3904 made at the Hoshino/Tama factory in Japan.

It's obviously heavily influenced by Burns, although I don't think it's a direct copy of any one Burns guitar. If anything, it's taken the Burns design and gone even wilder with it. It's a pity they resorted to using such a generic looking headstock on this - it's probably a stock Ibanez neck from that era - but it rather lets the side down.

Currently for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $849.50.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Hurricane Model BF-402

guitarz.blogspot.com:

These photos illustrate quite nicely the evil presented by stickers and why they should never be allowed to sully a guitar's appearance. This guitar had its stickers removed after many years and whilst the uncovered finish of the guitar's top had changed to a more golden colour with age, the area beneath the stickers has remained the original colour.

Actually, this is my guitar. I bought it in this condition last week, and despite the above little rant I really am not bothered by its appearance. In a way, it adds character, but more to the point I really don't care because I got an absolute bargain here. It only cost me £20 (OK, call it £30 with post and packing). I don't think anyone else was bidding because of the appearance of the guitar. But, it's a really nice player (much better than my Ovation "thing" with the horrible action and which set me back between £300-£400 a few years back). I can't tell you how pleased I am with this guitar.

But... Has anyone heard of Hurricane guitars? The name sounds familiar, but I can't find out anything much about them. Apparently they made a few of the usual Fender and Gibson solidbody knock-offs. This acoustic was made in Japan - the seller reckoned 1970s but I tend to think 1980s is more likely - and the label inside the soundhole tells us that it's the Model BF-402. It's quite obviously a Martin copy, but its not a top of the range guitar. Witness the simple black binding on the body and total lack of neck binding. The tuners are also of the open-back type, although they function perfectly competently. The Hurricane logo is a quite a simple affair, if you could even call it a logo. It's just the name set in a particular font, and with the individual characters at different heights it looks as if it was designed using LetraSet letters (who remembers LetraSet? They were sheets of transfers that you had to apply to a surface by rubbing and peeling away the backing sheet).

So, anyway, the lesson is keep checking those auctions, and try to see beyond initial appearances.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

1960s Japanese Noble Thunderball

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This Noble Thunderball, to my mind, has the appearance of being the archetype 1960s Japanese generic guitar. It's like someone took a random selection of vintage Japanese guitar parts and bolted them all together. I think I've seen each of these elements - the body, the neck, the pickup, the bridge, the control plate - on numerous other guitars from the same era.

The action doesn't look too good so it probably plays like a dog, but its single pickup lends it an air of Les Paul Junior menace.

Looks cool, but probably isn't!

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Fernandes Nomad "Hello Kitty"

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I can't really add this Fernandes Nomad "Hello Kitty" to the "Hideous guitars" tag here on this blog, because - let's face it - it's not aimed at the likes of me. However, it's seems like incredibly lazy marketing. You can imagine the conversation:

"We want to market this guitar to young girls."
"Let's make it pink."
"Yes, good idea. And maybe add a cute cartoon character too."

I mean, c'mon... Am I the only one that finds this "let's make it pink and cutesy" attitude cloyingly sickening? And isn't it a little bit insulting to women? I'm all for "guitars for girls" but much prefer the designs of Luna Guitars who make guitars suited to the female form that are feminine without being nauseating - some of which appeal to male players too.

Yeah, I get that the "Hello Kitty" Nomad is aimed at a younger age group, but in some ways that makes it all the worse... but hey, this is supposed to be a blog about guitars and not gender politics, so I'll leave it at that.

Maybe I'm wrong but I feel that the seller is being a tad optimistic asking a Buy It Now price of $599. This guitar may well be "discontinued" (I wonder why?), "rare" and "mint", but I can't really see anyone but the most rabid Fernandes collector going for this one. Or maybe a "Hello Kitty" collector.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Prestige semi-hollowbody guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Additional to the previous post, here is another - quite different - guitar bearing the Prestige brandname. Unfortunately I can tell you nothing about this one because this was a photo I had saved to my hard-drive a little while ago. I guess I meant to blog about it before but unfortunately I have no record of the details.

If anyone out there knows more, please let us know in the usual way!

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Prestige-branded 1960s Japanese 4-pickup solidbody

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I find that this 1960s Prestige 4-pickup guitar bugs me a little, for try as I might, I can't think we're I've seen this guitar before - most likely with a different brand name. I may even have blogged about it before, although I've not turned up anything similar in a search through the archives. I've certainly seen those pickups before; they seemed to be on just about everything guitar-wise coming out of Japan for a period. It reminds me of those guitars we used to have for sale in Wolworths here in the UK, badged with the Top 10 and Top 20 brands. I believe those were made by Teisco; maybe this is too - even though, having said that, any "unknown" Japanese guitar usually ends up with Teisco being given the credit.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

1968 Kimberly Vamper by Teisco

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Next up today, we have another red Japanese guitar, although this one is from two decades before the Kawai Aquarius we looked at earlier.

This 1968 Kimberly/Teisco Vamper would appear to be a rare beastie. As the seller points out:

Aside from a picture on the Teisco Twanger's Paradise site, a few small mentions and queries by persons attempting to discover their value, there's almost no info at all on the 'Net about the Vamper.

Basically the same hardware and appointments as its sister instruments, the somewhat more common May Queen and the uber rare Fire Bird. Like her sisters, the Vamper is at least a level or two better quality than most ordinary Teiscos. Great playing guitar!

Semi hollowbody construction with an obvious Mosrite influence. Red/orange finish, almost like Fender Fiesta Red...

We looked at another Kimberly guitar in October 2008 - I couldn't find out very much information about that one either!

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Kawai Aquarius in Cellophane Red

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I know that Bertram is a fan of the Kawai Aquarius, but am not too sure if this example with all-over Cellophane Red finish would appeal to him.

We've seen a couple of cellophane red DiMarzio Strats on here before, including one that I own. (We've also looked at a similarly finished Ibanez DT-250 X series). I'm wondering if this Kawai guitar might have been made in the same Harayama factory that supplied the Strat parts to DiMarzio, or could this have been a finish that more than one Japanese manufacturer were specialising in?

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!