The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Hey all, this is my first post and I have a weird one I was hoping someone could identify or offer an opinion. The headstock is reminiscent of some Matsumoku guitars, but I'm not sure. Here's a pic:

And this is the website I've started to chronicle my weird collection, and I wrote about the guitar here:http://drowninginguitars.com/2011/12/27/1960s-unknown-japanese-electric-guitar/
There's plenty of mystery guitars up there and I'd love to connect with people who have the same passion for the vintage Japanese guitars. I'd really love to connect with someone living in Japan so I could help research all these cool guitars. Again, any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!!!

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www.drowninginguitars.com

Welcome Charlie. I am not the most experienced eye 'round here but that guit you have says Teisco to me.

I'm sure a more seasoned pair of peepers will be along soon to point you in a finer direction.

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....right. They always crack in the end.

Welcome Charlie

Looking at the body shape I see a Teisco "TG" series guitar . The tremolo , bridge and tuners screams the same thing . I see nothing Mat's here . The style was introduced in '64 BUT , judging by the headstock , having sliders rather than rocker switches , and other variances . I'd guess this is a very late 60's model . Even though a quick google search wont bring up this exact guitar , there are close variations . In my experience , seeing how old these guitars are , there have been many times Ive come across Teisco's that have been pieced together from other Teisco's . An other thing to always keep in mind when looking at any guitar . Specification are subject to change without notification . Use your own discretion to determine if the guitar is 100% original , look for extra screw holes anywhere , under the pick guard , and especially check the neck where it connects to the body. Unbolt the neck and check to see there are no extra or sloppy holes. Hope this helps .

Hi guys, thanks for the welcome and the information. Lurchin, a couple of things you said really intrigued me! Thanks so much for pointing out the TG series Teisco guitars. I never made that connection but the body shape looks very similar to a couple google images, just like you said. I have a vintage Conrad guitar that I always thought was built by Matsumoku (maybe Columbia?) and the headstocks seem awfully similar. When Kawai bought up Teisco it seems to me like they were using up leftover parts from older body styles and components. Does anyone else find this to be true? Here's a couple more thoughts:

Was there a certain time frame for the switch from slider to rocker switches? Can this be a somewhat accurate way to date Japanese guitars?

What about the tuners, pointing to Teisco rather than Mat?

What other variances point to this being late 1960s?

I've had this guitar apart and had the neck on and off so many times it almost made me sick! The neck angle was so poor, but this one is all original. And the middle pickup was wired out of phase from the factory! Again, thanks for the input!!

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www.drowninginguitars.com

Nice site! I'm diggin' the guitars and your writing style. I've owned a bunch of those (the four-pickup-green-sunburst in particular), but can't say that I know much about them that you don't already know.

Search around here for a member named "Lord Bizarre", he's your guy for this stuff.

Welcome!

je

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...doing bad things to good Vantages since 1985...

1981 AV-320
1981 AV-320
1981 AV-325
1982 AV-320
1982 VS-695-12
1982 VSH-445
1983 AV-330
1995 VST 33 CE TBK

Hey, I'm glad you like the site! I knew there were other lovers of oddball guitars out there, but not too many in my neck of the woods. Figured it was time to go GLOBAL...and try to connect with a bunch of like-minded folks!

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www.drowninginguitars.com

Hi Charlie and I'll add my welcome to the others!
Yeah, the first impression I had was that it was a Teisco as well. Gotta confess though that this would not have been my first choice if I had a chance to obtain one, but having listened to the video, well...I'm very surprised indeed. Nice tone.

All those sliders would still make my head explode though.

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Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
Music/Pix/Videos: https://getback.barryeames.com

Ha, yeah the sliders...not very user friendly. I was so broke as a youngin', that I had to get really good at setting up these cheapos! I'm a big believer in almost all of these dime store guitars having some potential. The thing I liked most about this guitar were the pickups. Never seen those before! I used to judge a guitar by how weird the pickups looked! Young and dumb. Now older, but still...well you know.

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www.drowninginguitars.com