Here's a cool obscure Japanese guitar - one I found a few years ago on Ebay by searching under the term "project"- which is how I have found some of the weirder instruments I own!

Guyatone was one of the many Japanese manufacturers that cranked out all sorts of creative, wacky guitars during the 1960s, though not in the quantities that Teisco did. I had seen some fairly mundane Guyatones over the years, and a few that were pretty weird - they had been of OK quality - probably about the same as the better Teiscos. In fact, one of the ugliest basses I own is a 1966 Guyatone EB-8 - I promise I'll write a post on it someday!



When I saw the listing for this blue sparkle 350-T, I could tell it was a bit more of a "serious" instrument than the other Guyatones I had seen - it looked like it was built more to the quality of the 1960s Yamaha guitars, which are excellent instruments.

The guitar was listed as a project for a few reasons:
- there was a small crack showing in the finish behind the headstock, sign of either a repaired headstock break or a hard hit
- the control electronics were missing, though the knobs and pickup selector switch were present
- two saddles were missing from the bridge



But the instrument was really COOL looking - and at the end of the auction it was mine - for less than $100 !!

I have done some research on this guitar - and found that this style of Guyatone was associated with a Japanese guitar band from the 60s named The Sharp 5 - who were at one point Japan's answer to the Ventures. Guyatone built the members of the band guitars, though apparently their instruments were of a set-neck construction, as opposed to the bolt-on construction of my 350-T. There are some set-neck examples out there, but these are hugely sought after in Japan and very expensive. But I did find a catalog page from 1968 pointing out the Sharp 5 connection:



I have no idea how many of these instruments were made nor how much 35,000 yen was in US $ in 1968. But by comparison, the simpler Guyatone LG-125T and LG-127T are priced at 12,000 and 12,700 yen respectively. And I doubt many were exported to the US, since I haven't seen another one in my many years of guitar hunting!

Note the matching EB-9 bass !! OOOOO!!!!!

Once I got the guitar in my hands, the Mosrite and Fender influence became very obvious.

The two single coil pickups look almost like copies of Jaguar pickups, down to the metal "claw" surrounds. The bridge and tremelo are somewhat similar to those on the Jaguar as well, though the tailpiece is bit more substantial, and the bridge has roller saddles instead of Fenders "rocking" mechanism.





The deep German-carve and binding around the edge is pure Mosrite - beautifully done as is the binding. The back of the body has a Fender style rear scoop. The zero fret and chromed string nut are once again very Mosrite - but the headstock is pure Guyatone.



The body is fairly heavy, though I wouldn't be surprised if its carved from solid mahogany - as was used on the nicer Teiscos. The pickguard is thick dark blue plexiglas, in the style of Rickenbacker.



I managed to find some saddles that I could adapt to the bridge at a guitar show - I think from a Kawai or Telstar guitar bridge - and I strung up the guitar with some heavy-weight flatwounds - and after about an hours worth of soldering and fidgeting - I had it up and running!

The guitar is quite Jaguar like, though with a bassier-tone to it. The guitar sounds really good with an overdrive or fuzz pedal - a nice crunchy sound and not too prone to feedback it seems. The neck pickup is VERY bassy and loud - I may need to adjust the respective pickup heights to better balance the sound.

The string spacing is a bit narrow for my tastes, though that sensation may also be due to the very heavy strings I have on the guitar. The neck is dead straight - even with the heavy strings and no adjustment of the truss-rod - which I believe adjusts at the base of the neck (forget if I looked when I had it opened up - was a while ago!).

So who has the matching bass for me ???



UPDATE - 3/09/2010

This is a Guyatone LG-350T DX - DX for deluxe I assume !

I came across this instrument in an Ebay auction recently - it was in Japan, not surprisingly.

This appears to be the same guitar though in excellent condition and with the original hard shell case. The differences are that this instrument is equiped with gold-plated hardware (worn in the pics), fitted with three of single coil pickups, and actually has "Sharp 5" graphics on the headstock and case.

Very cool - not sure how the single coils are wired, but the listing noted that 7 combinations were possible with the combination of the regular and mini-toggle switch.

This auction did end at the astronomical price of US $1820 !!!

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I pulled this one right off of the "Wall of Shame" - my 1967 or so, Standel Custom Bass (that is the actual model name - creative ?). This bass is a good illustration of the obsessive nature of guitar collecting - I stumbled across one of these while out in LA for a friends wedding in early 2001 - but having just spent a ton of money on Christmas and travel, etc, I decided not to buy it, even though it was pretty cheap at $295 (see the price tag in the pic!). A month or so later, I did call back the shop - but it had been sold in the meantime - oh well!




The bass had caught my attention because I'd never seen anything like it before - I knew Standel made guitars, but the ones I'd seen had been made in NJ and actually were pretty nice instruments. And of course I knew of Standel amps. This weirdo bass not only had a unique headstock, and about the skinniest bass neck I'd ever seen - but it had FAKE stick on F-holes on a PLASTIC body !! Weird in a Supro sorta way.

I plugged it in and of course it was nearly unplayable with the skinny neck and sorta crappy action, but I was fascinated by its fine vintage cheesiness.


Flash forward several years - and I periodically do searches for some of the more obscure guitars from the 60s on Ebay - such as Murphs, Wurlitzers, Guyatone, Barths - and Standels. And one day - there's the same type of bass - in fact looks identical to the one I had seen, except someone has cleverly written their name in pearl nail polish across the back of the bass ... and it's in the Bay area - actually being sold by Jay Rosen (who sells some AMAZING gear !!). I do win the auction - and I think its for around $300 with shipping - so about the same as the bass I saw in LA several years earlier.

When I get the bass in the mail, and compare it to the pictures I'd snapped years earlier - I realize this IS apparently the exact same bass - it's also missing the pickguard and it also has some damage in the same spot to the f-hole decal !!

The nail polish on the back must have been added in the intervening years, but a little nail polish remover and a wipe down with naptha followed by some scratch-X polish removed the previous owner's name from the back cleanly.





















Since my initial sighting - I had seen other Standels with similar headstocks, but they were solid body guitars - no other basses. A few pics taken from Ebay auctions over the years - these look like pretty nice guitars!




I did find an article by all-around nice guy guitar geek and virtuous Deke Dickerson from late 2006 that helped narrow down the date for this bass:
"Manufactured from ’66 to ’67, the Custom was made in Bakersfield, California, but had no connection to the Mosrite company. Although hollowbody versions were available" ... and .. "Sadly, Standel closed its Bakersfield factory in 1967, with a bankruptcy sale that would keep smaller Bakersfield luthiers such as Hallmark, Gruggett, Epcor, and Buck-A-Roo knee deep in parts for years to come."

In addition - I found a page with a guitar version of this instrument, though in black, not sunburst - sounds very similar in construction to my bass



So details on my bass:
- plastic/fiberglass body, with paper decal F-holes
- bolt on maple neck, rosewood board, with 29 3/4 inch scale length and zero fret
- 1 low impedance pickup
- Mosrite style truss rod inserted into base of neck but with Fender style adjustment nut
- Kluson tuners as also used on Gibson EB series and Guild Starfire basses

I'm not sure how the finish was done on this instrument - it appears to have ZERO fading, making me suspect that its actually molded into the plastic - much as was done with Supros. Unlike Supros, there is no visible seam (Supro bodies were built in two pieces, with a rubbery gasket between the front and back pieces) - making it appear that these bodies may actually be vacuum-formed ?? It couldn't have been easy to set up manufacturing for these - anyone out there have any more info??

The close-up below shows the f-hole decal - this one has some damage.



Here is a closeup of the headstock - showing the logo and model name - the neck width at the nut is only 1 and 3/8ths of an inch at the nut and even more amazingly, only 1 7/8ths of an inch at the last fret !! Skinny skinny.



Here's the pickup - which looks suspiciously like a 1960s Kay or Alamo pickup, but with a plastic casing instead of metal. But apparently, there is a low-impedance, no-polepiece pickup inside the casing. Perhaps someday I will open it up and let you know what I find inside.



Finally - the floating bridge assembly - looking a little Mosrite with its roller-saddles. Notice that it is lowered MORE than all the way - in order to make this bass more playable, I should either shim the neck or else make a replacement bridge base from rosewood thats about half the height. Someday .. someday ...



If you have any more info on this bass - or have seen another - or other guitar versions, please let me know - either by posting a comment or emailing me!!


Update - March 1, 2010
Here's another example of a Standel Custom Bass, but this time in a very cool Sonic Blue finish.  This instrument is owned by Steve Hartman of LA, though it apparently originated from a music store in Detroit, Michigan !

Note that this instrument apparently has the original pickguard my bass is missing - I may have to go down to the workshop and fabricate one someday !!

Here is the story of this instrument in Steve's words:

"Around 1968 in Los Angeles I bought the bass for $25 from a teen  bandmate 
(Steve Deutsch), as I was learning to play bass (I was already playing  drums).
I liked the bass because of its easy to play thin neck (and being  plastic and
hollow made it very light, too).

I kept the bass although I did not play it much. Then in the early 90's I
lent it to my daughters friend who was learning to play bass. She had it a few
years and then I got it back. Interesting way of doing serial numbers: 5A 1(sideways) 07

This is a much traveled bass, considering it was (apparently) manufactured
in Bakersfield, and then shipped to Detroit, and then back to Los Angeles,
where  it has been since. It doesn't have a case.

You can see by the other photos that the bass exhibits metal corrosion
(minor, I think); lots of dings in the blue plastic that reveals a black
underneath. The wood parts are chipped and worn, but what a great bass!"

And another update - a Standel plastic guitar - in a different shade of blue !!

Note the tremelo tailpiece - and pickup selectors built into the guard.

Another Example of a Standel Custom bass in light blue


This instrument was spotted at Front Porch Music in Bakersfield, CA - was not for sale, just on display.  Appears to be identical to Steve's bass documented above.

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