I was interested by this, and decided to do some further research, all gathered from multiple sources Salvador Ibáñez (1854-1920) Valencia, Spain was a Spanish luthier and the founder of the "Salvador Ibáñez e Hijos" brand. When he died in 1920, his workshop continued to be managed by his two sons until it was sold in 1933 to Telesforo Julve, also of Valencia. Julve bought the Salvador Ibáñez name, personnel and machinery and incorporated it in its own enterprise. In 1944, Julve was still using "Salvador Ibáñez e Hijos" labels. The Hoshino company was founded in 1908 by Matsujiro Hoshino originally as the Hoshino Shoten bookstore which mostly sold books and sheet music and then gradually over the years also began to import musical instruments into Japan. Matsujiro was succeeded by his son, Yoshitaro Hoshino. Beginning in 1929, Hoshino Gakki imported Spanish guitars of Salvador Ibáñez e Hijos of Valencia, which was bought in 1933 by Telesforo Julve, also from Valencia. In 1935, Hoshino Gakki began manufacturing their own stringed instruments, using the name Ibanez Salvador, later shortened as "Ibanez". The company had little presence in the Western world until the mid-1960s. By 1965, Harry Rosenbloom (the founder of Elger) stopped manufacturing guitars and become the exclusive North American distributor for Hoshino Gakki instruments. It was decided to market the instruments under the brand name Ibanez. In 1971, Hoshino Gakki purchased Elger Guitars, renaming the company “Ibanez U.S.A.” and retaining the company headquarters in Bensalem, Pennsylvania as a distribution and quality-control center. What i'm gathering from this is that Ibanez had already been a thing for a while, and Elger had served as Ibanez and Hoshino Gakki's introduction into North America. Pretty interesting topic if I do say so myself
I think every second-hand instrument has a story behind it. If the instrument itself doesn't have a story, im sure the previous owner definitely has. But what's impressive about this channel (aside from his music) is how good his research skills are, and how good he is at telling them. My favorite video from this channel (so far) is about that old music toy from Ukraine
@@jerrysoncallado8709 Yeah, for sure. Generally I've found out that if you research *anything* with enough depth, you'll find out something really cool.
@@End-Putler4eva Maybe the F dude was raised with a f*ckbox vocabulary where the versatile word could be is a noun, pronoun, verb, or an adverb and that can have a varieties of meaning for the listener to fill in the meaning for. For instance "F*ck the f*cking f*cker for f*cking around with his little f*cking friend. If he weren't such a potty mouth, he could has written "Dude[,] What the heck? Why [is it that] every time you find a guitar [to buy] you have such a cool story to tell [about the guitar? I'm amazed]."
I have a really cheap old romanian made classical/parlor nylon string acoustic guitar from I believe the 60s which has one, they were definitely a lot more popular in the 60s and 70s. I've still never really identified the guitar fully but all I got is that it was romanian and has the brand name "kansas" on a sticker in the inside
This is why you don't get information from RUclips. Both the OP and the reply are categorically wrong. Zero frets were used because the cheap plastic nuts from this era wore down too quickly, and sourcing bone nuts was too expensive for the selling price of these replicas. The zero fret was a compromise.
The fact you could pick up an unfinished "project guitar" for so cheap, fit some parts in, and make a really good sounding electric guitar is so cool to me
it is worth pointing out that the sound and quality of an electric guitar primarily come from the electronics and not the body and neck assembly. If you use known good quality pickups and the distance from the pickups to the strings is set right you can 100% make a 2x4 sound like any other high end guitar.
If you have the body and find the electronics, it's quite simple. The internet has all the info you need. Carving and shaping the body is the hard part. If you go to an acoustic, it's tenfold worse. With an electric, you just need to fit the electronics in.
@@TheTechnosasquatch The electronics and pickups do make much of the sound, and also the scale length. But having re-fretted a cheap Squier once, there's also "Fret Compression." My Squier sounded snappier and less dull, if I can describe it that way, after I re-fretted it. It's because the neck was more rigid than it was when I bought it. HOWEVER (for any DIY enthusiasts who may have been inspired, read on...) You can't just take frets out and put new ones in, it doesn't work that way. Frets need to be level with each other, too, and there's not a lot of room for error. If you have one fret that's too high, it's going to choke the lower note before it, and that can happen if a fret is sticking out of the fretboard because it's not seated properly. And you also need the fret tang and barbs to be biting into the wood, so there are a bunch of little adjustments that need to be done properly. Oh, and if you did get a fret leveling, then the fret tops are going to be flat. Then (unless you like flat frets and don't mind having difficulty bending notes,) you will need the frets to be crowned properly (that is, rounded at the tops.) Then they need sanded a bunch with finer and finer sandpaper until you get somewhere in the Micro-Mesh Level, which is upwards of 12,000 grit, but you don't need to go _that_ far. And you need to mask off the fretboard before crowning the frets or sanding, or you'll rough up the fretboard.
As a deeply loyal Ibanez kid from 1978, this was an amazing story. In fact, I have 4 classic-era Ibanez guitars. If I knew the Elger connection story, I have forgotten the details. It was a thrill to see all the details tied together so succinctly in this video. It was like meeting the originator.
This is so cool. I just went down a similar rabbit hole trying to discover the year of an ESP bass I put in layaway. I ended up going though a bunch of those old Japanese catalogues. I love how you tie objects to art, to stories and history, and to enriching the experience of making music. There is so much to appreciate about the world! Thanks for all you do!
It's so good you were able to give the Unknown Twanger a new life. That flea market is legendary. I once bought a working Geiger Counter there. Then, five minutes later, another one! Good radioactive times.
The history of Japanese guitars is so fascinating. It’s a microcosm of the history of post war Japanese manufacturing. The went from being seen like “made in China” is today (also, often wrongly derided), to associated with superior precision manufacturing and engineering like “made in Germany” or Switzerland. Fujigen and Teisco had incredible business models as OEMs. No one knows how many brands they sold as. I’ve seen some completely unmarked. Danelectro would be the 50s and 60s equivalent (Silvertone for Sears, Airline for Ward’s). But the ones they made under their own or typically other Japanese brands that have all the crazy buttons and features are bizarre and innovative to me. I think I love all of that history as much as guitars. I’m a sucker for a rabbit hole that goes into the history of tech and manufacturing. I don’t like that those 70s models are still looked down on as inferior. Like US made always meant “quality.” 🙄 Solid body electric guitars’ history is entirely about cutting corners. Leo Fender produced the Tele with no carved top and often using pine for the bodies 😱. It was about mass production and profit margins…. Because it’s a business. Early amps and pedals can have random manufacturer or value parts, just based on what they could get quickly. (Again) Leo just used what radio and PA parts he could… 0 components were made for a guitar amp. Danelectro is the pinnacle of this with amps and then guitars, but their charm is recognized now. Cabinet speakers, vacuum tubes, germanium components, scatter wound pickups, etc. are all ways we pay to replicate inferior manufacturing and/or technology, cheapest or just available in their respective eras, that give us tonal quality we associate with how guitar should sound. It’s not better quality, and often suffers in consistency to modern manufacturing. It’s still awesome, but because of that consistency issue, make sure you try it and don’t just buy based on the spec. Only later do we see “made in the US” turn into essentially “boutique” and have the associated price tag. 80s MIJ Fujigen Fenders were derided at the time, but are now recognized as better quality than their US counterparts from that era because of their Toyota LEAN style manufacturing process. That wasn’t the parts, but the manufacturing process. But I’d like people to wait a few years before the 70s MIJ become more than niche collectible. I need to get my good deals while I can. I love the bizarre toggles and hardware on those and the bar-as-string-tree thing (I’m sure there’s a name for it). I’m always amused that you can turn off all of the pickups on those. I wish they had better tuners, though. Funny enough, I usually buy Gotoh for my builds. Only quality Japanese parts. 😊 I made a cheap Tele kit with the same hardware you bought. The pots are bizarre 500k audio and linear taper. A500k are totally normal for high output humbuckers, but the pickups are very weak even for Tele single coils. It works the same with them maxed out (resistance is still near 0), but the usable range of the knob is crap... really stinks if you use your volume knob to clean up a 2-3 transistor fuzz. They should both be A250k… the linear taper tone is especially odd to me. I bought Fender CTS pots (I was too lazy to find OEM)… and the holes are too small so I had to bore them out, then I had to replace the knobs because the stems on “real” ones are too large. Should have just bought Alpha, like I do for pedals and dropped them in 🤦♂️. But it just cost me $30 and an hour of work. I’ll replace those pickups someday. But I love that guitar more than I thought I would. It was fun to start from bare wood vs a trashed guitar…. I’m hoping to have a few built from boards up by this time next year. I don’t know if you had to, but I had to trim the spot where the control plate meets the pick guard back… may have been a quirk in the body vs the pick guard. If you’re ever in the Nashville area, Jack’s Guitarcheology in Lebanon has an amazing selection of Japanese and catalog guitars. I’m not affiliated, I just love that shop. They’re more famous as the Nashville rubber bridge folks and have plenty of normal vintage stuff. But my eyes always go directly to that great array of Teisco, Kay, Silvertone, etc. oddball guitars that you don’t often get to pick up and play. And it’s a 0 judgement shop. Jack and Kass (she’s the other main luthier) treat someone “just looking” and with $5k burning a hole in their pocket the same. Carter Vintage is gorgeous and has incredible, but expensive, vintage gear… a little more intimidating. Fanny’s has an amazing Dano selection, and is more chill, but the staff working aren’t super nerds. Eastside is pedal heaven. But Jack’s is super eclectic and both he and Kass are just as friendly with a “just looking” customer as one with $5k burning a hole in their pocket. So much cool inexpensive gear, I imagine they’ve launched 100 garage bands. Both are brilliant luthiers and I could spend years learning from them. I think loitering is encouraged 😂.
In 5 to 10 years "Made in China" will be a badge of honor. After all, the same thing is going on that happened for Japanse manufacturers... the US wanna exploit us? We can do better.
Optics, electronics, measuring -especially precise ones- instruments, surgical machinery, automotive products (final products, as well as intermediary, and every kind of vehicle, from motorcicles to construction industry forklifts, as well as tractors -maybe the only thing they've never got into is the heavy truck sector), musical instruments (both analogic and digital), media players and recorders, and every combination of these I've named which would come after the 70s and 80s (like digital cameras, which are both optics and electronics, for instance) have always been the sectors at what Japan excelled since the 50s. There's no questioning of that. Maybe the lens which the japanese products were looked through in the US was different from the one here in the EU, but you either had the swiss, boutique-made alternative (take for instance Carl Zeiss vs the japanese optics and photography manufacturing giants, or the Lenco vinyl players vs. the Technics and the likes) which was several orders of magnitude in terms of price, or you accepted thankfully the japanese exports. They didn't were as strong with their motor companies as they would get after the 70s and 80s with the japanese automotive industry modernizing and barring strict regulations avoiding competitiveness against foreign alternatives. Hence, Yamaha made their main income by selling what they had always made, musical instruments, before diversification and shifting sources of income to what they rely on more nowadays, like motorcycles as well as professional audio and other ventures. www.yamaha.com/en/about/history/
To not to spread further misconception around should've been pointed out that Ibanez origins are in Spain where a luthier named Salvador Ibáñez manufactured guitars for Hoshino Gakki up until 1933, and that it starts to sell as Ibanez after they stopped receiving them from Spain and lost the Ñ on Salvador Ibanez. They bought the rights to the name in the 60's to start selling in the USA, then the shit that the video refers to happened
That's right! I couldn't figure out how to mention why they owned the rights to the name Ibanez without losing the momentum of the story. The struggle is real... :)
Well you could've said something to the effect of: "They've been selling under the name Ibanez for 30 years out of USA" or implied when mentioned in the video "by then they've bought the rights to do it in the USA"@@DavidHilowitzMusic It's just a minor thing (a little bit too big for me, personally) within the whole video anyway
As soon as I saw the zero nut I thought it was a Japanese guitar. I think it was Ibanez who advertised in the 1970s during the Midnight Special with the slogan, "I couldn't afford an expensive guitar, so I got a great guitar."
Medley Music was awesome. I bought my first guitar there, and in 1989 I went out instrument shopping with a couple of friends & saw a used Korg Mono/Poly there. When I asked how much, the guy at the counter said “A buck and a quarter” (meaning $125) so I emptied my wallet and walked home with it. I sold it in 2006 after Korg released the VST - it sold for $800 and upgraded my recording setup. Now it’s worth thousands. The experiences that Korg gave me are priceless. It was great to perform with live, and even better to explore with in the studio. I think of that store often, and I’ll always be grateful for the amazing deals on guitars and instruments that my friends and I got there ☕️
Dude, I had that exact guitar. Cream colored. Well, I still have the body and some hardware and I believe the pickups. I kept it intact for a long time because I didn't know what I had but finally decided to use the neck for a cigar box guitar build that I sold. I'm glad I stumble onto your video. Also, I also live in PA and worked at the Hoshino plant as a guitar checker for about a year. A real sweatshop, let me tell you. Anyway, thanks for taking the trip down the rabbit hole and solving this mystery. I feel somewhat complete now. lol
70s import. Plywood body. We used to modify a lot of those back then. That one was only stripped. My friends in high school would have me put humbuckers and intonatable bridges on those.
Cool video. Love the song. The guitar sounds perfect for the song. It’s amazing that the neck wasn’t all warped and you could get this thing to play so well.
Right? I was _shocked_. One thing I didn't show (because the footage wasn't great) was that I unscrewed the truss rod plate and turned the truss rod. The was probably the first time that had been done in decades.
Yeah! Another gem - thanks David! As a resident of Tokyo I regularly see a bunch of tiny music shops that almost exclusively focus on a particular instrument or music technology, and I understand from musician friends that the shop scene in the 70s-80s was massive compared to today. It must have been an exciting time for the entrepreneur looking to make it big in this industry, and your video sheds some light on this era. Tx again! 👍
I have my grandpa’s St. George bass. I only knew it was a St. George because my uncle remembers before my grandpa had it sanded and refinished. It’s current only identifying features are the on/off switches for the neck and bridge pickup, short scale, curly big headstock, and lipstick style pickups that only say “JAPAN” on them. I looked up that brand and found out it was also made by Teisco and occasionally rebranded as St. George for different markets. Either way, it’s a funky little short scale bass that is super light and fun to play. I outfitted it with my grandpa’s favorite tape wound strings that he used to use in his country band in the 70’s and 80’s.
Astonishing! I switched over from classical clarinet to blues, folk & rock guitar in 1960 at age 12. By '63, at age 15, I was in the musician's union & playing professionally. In the '60s' I lived in Haverford, which borders Ardmore. I was a regular at Medley on Lancaster Avenue & knew Harry very well. I never bought a guitar from them as in 1964 I had a sunburst '64 Fender Stratocaster (they auction off today with the original case & accessories at about $40,000 & I still have everything down to the polishing cloth that came with mine. I also had a '59 white pine Tele (since sold), a '64 Jaguar with the bridge-mounted mute (also sold), a 64' Twin Reverb (still have) and a Showman with custom twin-15" speaker cabinet (also sold). For a while I had an early '60s Gibson Les Paul custom, but my Strat on neck or neck-mid pickups produced the sound I loved the most & I've since used it in a lot of studio work. Even though I'm retired & could buy a lot of new axes if I auctioned off the Strat, that's my true love. I even wear a necklace with a Strat (my religious symbol as a Devout Guitar Player). I've had many custom hand-made acoustic guitars also in my life, including an early Dana Bourgouis OM Cutaway (when he hand-made them himself), a Lynn Dudenbostel Brazilian Rosewood & Adirondack Spruce '33 D-28 (sold regrettably) and my two current guitars, a well-checkered but never restored 1948 Martin D-18 (my birth year) of mahogany & Adirondack Spruce, which is mellower than the D-28's rosewood & my favorite wood for tonewood) and a 1964 Guild D-40 (I know they are built like tanks, but this one is a one in a thousand that Loves the mic in the studio & is strong enough to risk in airplanes on tours where I'd never think of taking the D-18). I got this when I bought the Strat at Sam Ash when it was still on 48th Street in Manhattan after a multi-week acoustic hunt) with a violinist friend from the Philadelphia Orchestra who helped tone-tap acoustics with me. I was looking for a new D-28, but got the Guild instead & have never looked back. It is hanging on my wall right now. I have an early Augie LoPrinzi '34-style D-28 made from his old stash of Brazilian Rosewood & Adirondack Spruce. Augie used to design guitars for Fender, but went out on his own & still crafts beautiful guitars near Tampa, Florida. Unfortunately, I lent this one to my nephew who does strictly studio work for Hollywood movies at Western Cine in L.A. and I doubt I'll ever get it back in my hands (sigh...). Love your stories on unique guitars & hope you appreciate some of the axes I have & have had over the years as much as I have. Keep up the posts.
Every time YT recommends me something from your channel it is something new. It is something insightful. It is something fascinating. And the core concepts that tie every video together are music, and how amazingly versatile and knowledgeable you are about music. I should have subscribed long ago.
Awesome video. The reference to Fuji-Gen Gakki completes the story. They made the guitars that Hoshino Gakki sold, as did many independent music stores in the US. Yeah, ElGer guitars probably were made there and Hoshino was the distributor. Fender started Squier in '82 with Fuji-Gen making the early models- they are very desirable guitars. St. Louis Music was the most prolific importer, their Electra brand was made by another OEM, Matsumoku. They also imported Alvarez acoustics from the manufacturer of the very nice Yairi acoustics. Lyle and Bradley guitars were Matsumoku made and sold in Portland and Baltimore, respectively. This is a very deep rabbit hole!
The zero fret is a superior feature over a guitar that uses the nut as the take off point for the strings. If you are not sure , just ask Brian May...PhD astrophysicist and award winning hall of famer, guitarist for the band Queen who built his guitar and all it's replicas incorporating a zero fret. Superior and easier set ups, action, sustain, tone and tuning. I have put stainless steel zero frets on all my guitars and it has ALWAYS been an improvement. I even changed my LP with a bone nut to a zero fret guitar. I would never go back.
That was definitely a completed, working guitar at one point. There is definitely visible fret wear/denting, fretboard wear from fingertips, there were still string remnants attached to the headstock, and you can see shadowing where the parts were all screwed in (rounded as well, just like the listing you found on reverb). I think someone played this guitar quite a lot.
I've had 2 teles from Japan with that same control plate. One was branded Kasuga and the Shelby. Kasuga was in business up to about 1985: they supplied most of the Japanese guitar manufacturers with the metal parts ( ever notice how all the MIJ telecasters look similar? Aria, Electra, Ibanez, ) They made some guitars themselves also.
The "Similar guitar, different brand" reminds me of my gradfathers collection of cheap chinese drone (that dont even work at all), its literally the same, the packaging, logo, and maybe some of the parts are the same, but it operates the exact same.
When I saw 'Jedson', my mind immediately went back to the late '70s, when our school had a couple of electric guitars in the music room. One of them was a Jedson T-style guitar and yes, you've guessed it, it had both a zero fret AND a front jack (I'm pretty sure it was a front jack, anyways). I haven't thought of that guitar in many a year but your pics brought it all back in an instant. It's fabulous that you made one of these guitars sing again. Great story and video. Thanks for sharing.
Telecasters are indeed twangy, or at least the bridge pickup is. It's why it's the favorite guitar of country artists. However, the neck pickup is quite warm with a very pleasant tone. I love my Tele, it's my go-to guitar, and I play many genres; blues, rock, gospel, and, yes, country. I love your videos and always click on them as I see the notifications. Music can be a great unifier.
I just purchased a brand new guitar with a zero fret and it has it for a very good reason. It's a carbon fiber travel guitar (but sounds like a non-dreadnought but full guitar) from Enya, and the entire guitar itself (minus metal bits like the frets, tuners, and electronics) is just two pieces: saddle and nut (and fretboard, face, etc) are all molded as an integral part of the front face. It's a clamshell that is resined together. As a result, there's a zero fret "as the nut" to prevent wear on the guitar itself. I wanted something playable that I could toss on the back of a motorcycle, and I've been shocked by how nice it sounds. It's not great compared to a full size Martin, but for a travel guitar, it is fantastic even before the speaker assist in the body is turned on. And because it has a pickup, I've done the dorky "let's try distortion" and it sounds pretty good. I'm seriously considering my next guitar (likely around a decade off, by my adult habits) being another carbon fiber -- I'll certainly play a few if I'm looking acoustic again.
I'm so glad you took us through your research and did it for us.👏🏽 If it wasn't part of your video, I would've researched right after seeing you buy it at the market. It intrigues me to find unique instruments and learn their origins. Thank you David! 😊
Yes. teles are that twangy. But their bridge pickups have a power to behold. First Led Zeppelin album is a Telecaster through a Supro tube practice amp. And they can cut through a mix. One of Mutt Lange's favourite production tricks was to record two humbucker guitars panned left and right, then record a third track with a Tele panned right in the centre. One of my favourite guitars is a Tele I built from parts during the pandemic. Including budget pickups and a bridge from Wilkinson. It has a character all its own. I keep it tuned to double drop D to challenge me to come up with unique riffs.
Very cool journey. As an owner of a1974-5 "outlaw" Ibanez Les Paul (model 2351?) I appreciate those old Japanese guitar copies. I got mine in the early 80s in a trade for a Pioneer power amp and a Dolby encoder/decoder unit
Wow! When I saw your excel spreadsheet, I knew you've got serious work ethic! Cool story, and nice job fixing up that guitar. It does have a great sound.
Just found this video randomly. I really enjoyed this! Did not expect a mystery to be resolved in a plot twist over a flea market guitar. And that fact that it's a local story to me! crazy cool, and your song? didn't expect that either lol. Such a unique youtube channel that I'm definitely sticking with!
I have a 1980 Ibanez custom blazer and they actually are built just like a top of the line pro stratocasters. Not the pickups or bridge. But 3 piece laminated white ash body, hard maple neck, smooth tuners
I'm not sure if you've seen those "CRTelecasters" on youtube, but the sound from them is so intriguing. it's basically a tv and 4 touch varisters in a guitar like layout.
i actually recently bought one of these copies, and this video was sorta helpful at figuring out who made it! Its a Kingston, which would've been made by Matsumoko between 1970-1975 or so
the "extra fret" is the zero fret, common on guitars built outside of the US. I have a lot of custom guitars or customized guitars and I demand a zero fret on all of them. It helps with intonation, with consistent sound on open and fretted strings, no need to file or replace the nut when going to a different string gauge (if it's a little loose), the string break prevents buzzing. Easier to finger first fret too. I don't understand why every guitar doesn't have one.
Despite most japanesse copys of the time were low quality ones, a few brands were, in fact, higher quality than the original. Those are well appreciated along collectors.
I didn't realize you were from Northeast Philly! Nice! My brother worked for Hoshino for several years in the early 2000s, we had all sorts of cheap b-stock guitars in the house during those days.
As soon as I saw it in the flea market I thought "Vintage Japanese copy!! GET IT OR I WILL!!!" 😂 I plunked down what little money I had on a lay away Ibanez white with gold hardware Les Paul copy in 1978 at Guitar Showcase in San Jose, because I saw Al Jardine playing that one (Gibson of course) and I was starting a Beach Boys cover band with someone, but I could not come up with the scratch to finish it out so I changed to a cheap a severely compromised old hollow body Gretsch with a mismatched neck. But that LP was definitely one with the copied headstock. In 79 I bought a Takamine F-340s which was a copy of the Martin D-18. I had no idea who Martin was that early in my guitar development, but it was a FINE player. (Sold it 5 years ago when I moved overseas.) Man, snap up any cheap Japanese 60s and 70s instruments while you can, they have been exploding in popularity and price for awhile as you have found out.
9:20 This is where you and everyone else GET THIS WRONG. Any 70s Japanese guitar isn't a lawsuit guitar. ONLY IBANEZ. No one else was threatened by Gibson. ONLY IBANEZ. Therefore ONLY 70S IBANEZ GUITARS ARE LAWSUIT GUITARS.
WOW! great video! I also have a 'Dumpster Guitar' that i brought back to life. It taught me a great deal about components and setup. It is a 'Raven' SG copy. I believe it was made by Matsumoku in Japan in the early 70's. It was imported into Canada by a company that was based in the City i live in today. New Westminster, B.C. (suburb of Vancouver) I love it for all that it has taught me. Thanks for sharing.
I have a Suzuki (yes, like the car brand) Brazenpicker Professional, wich is a Japanese strat clone with a story pretty simular to this, my dad bought it when he was 17 back in 1979. It doesnt have a 5 way switch like normal strats, instead it has 4 toggle switches effectively making it a 12 way switch. Never seen anything like it before, nor ever since.
I love it when the RUclips algorithm throws you something you didn't know you needed to watch! I'm not a guitarist, but this was a great watch and now I'm subscribed.
I have a 70s Yamato brand guitar, it is essentially the same as this one but strat style. (single neck pickup though, and with a tunomatic style bridge, sort of) The body is painted red to black burst, with a solid black back, the tuners are the same connected 6 in line, with plastic knobs. The wood seems to be some sort of plywood, the inside of the control cavity is weirdly dusty. It sounds and plays fine, but it's very low output.
Nice Tele, its my go to electric type. A few years ago I looked up the Luthier who made my classical from the early 70s. He apparently went on to work for Ibanez.
I worked for several years at that Hoshino Gakki warehouse doing QC and repair. Lots of memories from that photo of the loading dock and office entrance. Super cool to hear the story of Harry Rosenbloom. That was not something I had known despite working at Hoshino for years.
Not long ago I had a similar guitar, in your pictures you had models with two identical Strato style pickups - one of these. Most peculiar: The neck was made from layered wood (plywood), layers vertical to the fret-board and parallel to the strings, I've never seen such a thing. And similarly to yours, it felt great, low action, precisely and carefully manufactured. I had been asked to sell it on commission for a friend, and I did, but I failed to dig out the info that you found before my buyer revealed the Ibanez connection to me. Since then I feel like I should have followed my instinct to buy it for myself. 😐
Me: *clicks on video about guitar/non-guitar* Beginning of video: “here’s a prison” Me: *immediately confused about lack of guitar or guitar-related subjects*
Very cool. As soon as I saw that stripped ply body, I was thinking 'old Ibanez'. I have something similar I bought years ago from a local music shop. It was poorly painted with black spray paint, and when I stripped it, the body looked similar to yours (although mine is a thinline). There was no brandname, but the seller told me he thought it was a CSL. That was the brand of a British music company (Charles Summerfieild Ltd) that had a similar relationship with the Japanese manufacturer. Nice little guitars, and great story David.
Brilliant! Now that you've managed to trace back the origin of the guitar and found out it's pretty decent how about slapping on some big boys' pickups? Thanks for the journey, had a great time watching this little gem of a video! Cheers 🤘🏻
i went here a while ago, probably the coolest thing ive ever witnessed, the history in that building was insane, along with the audio tour and the atmosphere
Somebody started a project with high hopes and with the expectations of building a cool instrument... And you did the honour of fulfilling those expectations. Good work!
I totally identify with the "I lasted 7 minutes without buying a guitar", LOL. The history of those early Japanese manufacturers is pretty interesting. A lot of the instruments were pretty good. As you suggest, many of them were built in the same factories, for different sellers, so the name on the headstock (or lack thereof) often doesn't mean very much. Nice rescue build.
i used a jazz bass plate when i did a build with the jack on top. i had to make the tone pot hole larger for the switch, and wired it to 2 volumes and no tone pot.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
Finding out Elger became Ibanez was a plot twist I wasn’t expecting at all
I literally gasped.
It was a wild twist
I was interested by this, and decided to do some further research, all gathered from multiple sources
Salvador Ibáñez (1854-1920) Valencia, Spain was a Spanish luthier and the founder of the "Salvador Ibáñez e Hijos" brand. When he died in 1920, his workshop continued to be managed by his two sons until it was sold in 1933 to Telesforo Julve, also of Valencia. Julve bought the Salvador Ibáñez name, personnel and machinery and incorporated it in its own enterprise. In 1944, Julve was still using "Salvador Ibáñez e Hijos" labels.
The Hoshino company was founded in 1908 by Matsujiro Hoshino originally as the Hoshino Shoten bookstore which mostly sold books and sheet music and then gradually over the years also began to import musical instruments into Japan. Matsujiro was succeeded by his son, Yoshitaro Hoshino. Beginning in 1929, Hoshino Gakki imported Spanish guitars of Salvador Ibáñez e Hijos of Valencia, which was bought in 1933 by Telesforo Julve, also from Valencia. In 1935, Hoshino Gakki began manufacturing their own stringed instruments, using the name Ibanez Salvador, later shortened as "Ibanez". The company had little presence in the Western world until the mid-1960s.
By 1965, Harry Rosenbloom (the founder of Elger) stopped manufacturing guitars and become the exclusive North American distributor for Hoshino Gakki instruments. It was decided to market the instruments under the brand name Ibanez. In 1971, Hoshino Gakki purchased Elger Guitars, renaming the company “Ibanez U.S.A.” and retaining the company headquarters in Bensalem, Pennsylvania as a distribution and quality-control center.
What i'm gathering from this is that Ibanez had already been a thing for a while, and Elger had served as Ibanez and Hoshino Gakki's introduction into North America. Pretty interesting topic if I do say so myself
i got spoiled this was the comment preview that showed up for my youtubw comments
I bet nobody did.
Dude. What the fuck. Why every time you find a guitar you have such a cool story to tell? Amazing.
I think every second-hand instrument has a story behind it. If the instrument itself doesn't have a story, im sure the previous owner definitely has. But what's impressive about this channel (aside from his music) is how good his research skills are, and how good he is at telling them. My favorite video from this channel (so far) is about that old music toy from Ukraine
i could listen to this man tell me about the industrial revolution for 3 hours straight and not get tired
Why all the profanity? No need for it here.
@@jerrysoncallado8709 Yeah, for sure. Generally I've found out that if you research *anything* with enough depth, you'll find out something really cool.
@@End-Putler4eva Maybe the F dude was raised with a f*ckbox vocabulary where the versatile word could be is a noun, pronoun, verb, or an adverb and that can have a varieties of meaning for the listener to fill in the meaning for. For instance "F*ck the f*cking f*cker for f*cking around with his little f*cking friend.
If he weren't such a potty mouth, he could has written "Dude[,] What the heck? Why [is it that] every time you find a guitar [to buy] you have such a cool story to tell [about the guitar? I'm amazed]."
"It just looked so awful."
Translation: "I can save her."
@@wcueflora I can see that a bit, but the guitar's fixable. The guy, well, that's a lot less predictable. Some are, and some aren't.
@eggmama170 what makes you think im a child?
@@wcueflora because you deleted your original reply
@@ruler255 i wrote the comment ages ago. respectfully, just leave it!
The Zero Fret is becoming more common these days because it helps keep the action correct.
And the open chords sound more smooth.
I have a really cheap old romanian made classical/parlor nylon string acoustic guitar from I believe the 60s which has one, they were definitely a lot more popular in the 60s and 70s.
I've still never really identified the guitar fully but all I got is that it was romanian and has the brand name "kansas" on a sticker in the inside
This is why you don't get information from RUclips. Both the OP and the reply are categorically wrong. Zero frets were used because the cheap plastic nuts from this era wore down too quickly, and sourcing bone nuts was too expensive for the selling price of these replicas. The zero fret was a compromise.
@@xdoctorblindx However the Zero Fret acts as a Shield to let the strings slide more smoothly
What you said does not rule out any comments.@@xdoctorblindx
The fact you could pick up an unfinished "project guitar" for so cheap, fit some parts in, and make a really good sounding electric guitar is so cool to me
it is worth pointing out that the sound and quality of an electric guitar primarily come from the electronics and not the body and neck assembly. If you use known good quality pickups and the distance from the pickups to the strings is set right you can 100% make a 2x4 sound like any other high end guitar.
@@TheTechnosasquatch he went with $16 amazon pickups lol
If you have the body and find the electronics, it's quite simple. The internet has all the info you need. Carving and shaping the body is the hard part. If you go to an acoustic, it's tenfold worse. With an electric, you just need to fit the electronics in.
@@TheTechnosasquatch The electronics and pickups do make much of the sound, and also the scale length. But having re-fretted a cheap Squier once, there's also "Fret Compression." My Squier sounded snappier and less dull, if I can describe it that way, after I re-fretted it. It's because the neck was more rigid than it was when I bought it. HOWEVER (for any DIY enthusiasts who may have been inspired, read on...)
You can't just take frets out and put new ones in, it doesn't work that way. Frets need to be level with each other, too, and there's not a lot of room for error. If you have one fret that's too high, it's going to choke the lower note before it, and that can happen if a fret is sticking out of the fretboard because it's not seated properly. And you also need the fret tang and barbs to be biting into the wood, so there are a bunch of little adjustments that need to be done properly.
Oh, and if you did get a fret leveling, then the fret tops are going to be flat. Then (unless you like flat frets and don't mind having difficulty bending notes,) you will need the frets to be crowned properly (that is, rounded at the tops.) Then they need sanded a bunch with finer and finer sandpaper until you get somewhere in the Micro-Mesh Level, which is upwards of 12,000 grit, but you don't need to go _that_ far. And you need to mask off the fretboard before crowning the frets or sanding, or you'll rough up the fretboard.
I work at the prison and walk there from about 15min away, and can’t believe I missed this sidewalk gem!
A vintage Ibanez for $15? Lucky find bro.
As a deeply loyal Ibanez kid from 1978, this was an amazing story. In fact, I have 4 classic-era Ibanez guitars. If I knew the Elger connection story, I have forgotten the details. It was a thrill to see all the details tied together so succinctly in this video. It was like meeting the originator.
same! i have many RG's MIJ and a v made in Indonesia (it's not the best but hey it's cool). Ibanez is a cool brand
It's a Japanese made kay or harmony mid 60s with out a doubt
This is so cool. I just went down a similar rabbit hole trying to discover the year of an ESP bass I put in layaway. I ended up going though a bunch of those old Japanese catalogues. I love how you tie objects to art, to stories and history, and to enriching the experience of making music. There is so much to appreciate about the world! Thanks for all you do!
It's so good you were able to give the Unknown Twanger a new life.
That flea market is legendary. I once bought a working Geiger Counter there. Then, five minutes later, another one! Good radioactive times.
The history of Japanese guitars is so fascinating. It’s a microcosm of the history of post war Japanese manufacturing. The went from being seen like “made in China” is today (also, often wrongly derided), to associated with superior precision manufacturing and engineering like “made in Germany” or Switzerland.
Fujigen and Teisco had incredible business models as OEMs. No one knows how many brands they sold as. I’ve seen some completely unmarked. Danelectro would be the 50s and 60s equivalent (Silvertone for Sears, Airline for Ward’s). But the ones they made under their own or typically other Japanese brands that have all the crazy buttons and features are bizarre and innovative to me. I think I love all of that history as much as guitars. I’m a sucker for a rabbit hole that goes into the history of tech and manufacturing.
I don’t like that those 70s models are still looked down on as inferior. Like US made always meant “quality.” 🙄 Solid body electric guitars’ history is entirely about cutting corners. Leo Fender produced the Tele with no carved top and often using pine for the bodies 😱. It was about mass production and profit margins…. Because it’s a business. Early amps and pedals can have random manufacturer or value parts, just based on what they could get quickly. (Again) Leo just used what radio and PA parts he could… 0 components were made for a guitar amp. Danelectro is the pinnacle of this with amps and then guitars, but their charm is recognized now. Cabinet speakers, vacuum tubes, germanium components, scatter wound pickups, etc. are all ways we pay to replicate inferior manufacturing and/or technology, cheapest or just available in their respective eras, that give us tonal quality we associate with how guitar should sound. It’s not better quality, and often suffers in consistency to modern manufacturing. It’s still awesome, but because of that consistency issue, make sure you try it and don’t just buy based on the spec.
Only later do we see “made in the US” turn into essentially “boutique” and have the associated price tag. 80s MIJ Fujigen Fenders were derided at the time, but are now recognized as better quality than their US counterparts from that era because of their Toyota LEAN style manufacturing process. That wasn’t the parts, but the manufacturing process.
But I’d like people to wait a few years before the 70s MIJ become more than niche collectible. I need to get my good deals while I can.
I love the bizarre toggles and hardware on those and the bar-as-string-tree thing (I’m sure there’s a name for it). I’m always amused that you can turn off all of the pickups on those. I wish they had better tuners, though. Funny enough, I usually buy Gotoh for my builds. Only quality Japanese parts. 😊
I made a cheap Tele kit with the same hardware you bought. The pots are bizarre 500k audio and linear taper. A500k are totally normal for high output humbuckers, but the pickups are very weak even for Tele single coils. It works the same with them maxed out (resistance is still near 0), but the usable range of the knob is crap... really stinks if you use your volume knob to clean up a 2-3 transistor fuzz. They should both be A250k… the linear taper tone is especially odd to me.
I bought Fender CTS pots (I was too lazy to find OEM)… and the holes are too small so I had to bore them out, then I had to replace the knobs because the stems on “real” ones are too large. Should have just bought Alpha, like I do for pedals and dropped them in 🤦♂️. But it just cost me $30 and an hour of work. I’ll replace those pickups someday. But I love that guitar more than I thought I would. It was fun to start from bare wood vs a trashed guitar…. I’m hoping to have a few built from boards up by this time next year. I don’t know if you had to, but I had to trim the spot where the control plate meets the pick guard back… may have been a quirk in the body vs the pick guard.
If you’re ever in the Nashville area, Jack’s Guitarcheology in Lebanon has an amazing selection of Japanese and catalog guitars. I’m not affiliated, I just love that shop. They’re more famous as the Nashville rubber bridge folks and have plenty of normal vintage stuff. But my eyes always go directly to that great array of Teisco, Kay, Silvertone, etc. oddball guitars that you don’t often get to pick up and play. And it’s a 0 judgement shop. Jack and Kass (she’s the other main luthier) treat someone “just looking” and with $5k burning a hole in their pocket the same. Carter Vintage is gorgeous and has incredible, but expensive, vintage gear… a little more intimidating. Fanny’s has an amazing Dano selection, and is more chill, but the staff working aren’t super nerds. Eastside is pedal heaven. But Jack’s is super eclectic and both he and Kass are just as friendly with a “just looking” customer as one with $5k burning a hole in their pocket. So much cool inexpensive gear, I imagine they’ve launched 100 garage bands. Both are brilliant luthiers and I could spend years learning from them. I think loitering is encouraged 😂.
In 5 to 10 years "Made in China" will be a badge of honor. After all, the same thing is going on that happened for Japanse manufacturers... the US wanna exploit us? We can do better.
uhm
Bro submitted an essay to youtube comments
Optics, electronics, measuring -especially precise ones- instruments, surgical machinery, automotive products (final products, as well as intermediary, and every kind of vehicle, from motorcicles to construction industry forklifts, as well as tractors -maybe the only thing they've never got into is the heavy truck sector), musical instruments (both analogic and digital), media players and recorders, and every combination of these I've named which would come after the 70s and 80s (like digital cameras, which are both optics and electronics, for instance) have always been the sectors at what Japan excelled since the 50s. There's no questioning of that. Maybe the lens which the japanese products were looked through in the US was different from the one here in the EU, but you either had the swiss, boutique-made alternative (take for instance Carl Zeiss vs the japanese optics and photography manufacturing giants, or the Lenco vinyl players vs. the Technics and the likes) which was several orders of magnitude in terms of price, or you accepted thankfully the japanese exports. They didn't were as strong with their motor companies as they would get after the 70s and 80s with the japanese automotive industry modernizing and barring strict regulations avoiding competitiveness against foreign alternatives. Hence, Yamaha made their main income by selling what they had always made, musical instruments, before diversification and shifting sources of income to what they rely on more nowadays, like motorcycles as well as professional audio and other ventures. www.yamaha.com/en/about/history/
Those who see "made in China" like this today have not been paying attention how much has changed in the last 10 years in China as well.
To not to spread further misconception around should've been pointed out that Ibanez origins are in Spain where a luthier named Salvador Ibáñez manufactured guitars for Hoshino Gakki up until 1933, and that it starts to sell as Ibanez after they stopped receiving them from Spain and lost the Ñ on Salvador Ibanez. They bought the rights to the name in the 60's to start selling in the USA, then the shit that the video refers to happened
That's right! I couldn't figure out how to mention why they owned the rights to the name Ibanez without losing the momentum of the story. The struggle is real... :)
Well you could've said something to the effect of: "They've been selling under the name Ibanez for 30 years out of USA" or implied when mentioned in the video "by then they've bought the rights to do it in the USA"@@DavidHilowitzMusic
It's just a minor thing (a little bit too big for me, personally) within the whole video anyway
As soon as I saw the zero nut I thought it was a Japanese guitar.
I think it was Ibanez who advertised in the 1970s during the Midnight Special with the slogan, "I couldn't afford an expensive guitar, so I got a great guitar."
Medley Music was awesome. I bought my first guitar there, and in 1989 I went out instrument shopping with a couple of friends & saw a used Korg Mono/Poly there. When I asked how much, the guy at the counter said “A buck and a quarter” (meaning $125) so I emptied my wallet and walked home with it. I sold it in 2006 after Korg released the VST - it sold for $800 and upgraded my recording setup. Now it’s worth thousands. The experiences that Korg gave me are priceless. It was great to perform with live, and even better to explore with in the studio. I think of that store often, and I’ll always be grateful for the amazing deals on guitars and instruments that my friends and I got there ☕️
Dude, I had that exact guitar. Cream colored. Well, I still have the body and some hardware and I believe the pickups. I kept it intact for a long time because I didn't know what I had but finally decided to use the neck for a cigar box guitar build that I sold. I'm glad I stumble onto your video. Also, I also live in PA and worked at the Hoshino plant as a guitar checker for about a year. A real sweatshop, let me tell you. Anyway, thanks for taking the trip down the rabbit hole and solving this mystery. I feel somewhat complete now. lol
this guy has started my before unknown love for vintage japanese guitars. 7:46 just from that one picture
> reddit
Nowhere more than reddit are there people that think they're geniuses while being wrong about literally everything.
70s import. Plywood body. We used to modify a lot of those back then. That one was only stripped. My friends in high school would have me put humbuckers and intonatable bridges on those.
Cool video. Love the song. The guitar sounds perfect for the song. It’s amazing that the neck wasn’t all warped and you could get this thing to play so well.
Right? I was _shocked_. One thing I didn't show (because the footage wasn't great) was that I unscrewed the truss rod plate and turned the truss rod. The was probably the first time that had been done in decades.
@@DavidHilowitzMusic Did you adjust the neck bow with the truss rod? Does it work? Did you test it?
@@DavidHilowitzMusicThere's a break on the upper side of the neck pocket. You should glue it.
Yeah! Another gem - thanks David! As a resident of Tokyo I regularly see a bunch of tiny music shops that almost exclusively focus on a particular instrument or music technology, and I understand from musician friends that the shop scene in the 70s-80s was massive compared to today. It must have been an exciting time for the entrepreneur looking to make it big in this industry, and your video sheds some light on this era. Tx again! 👍
I have my grandpa’s St. George bass. I only knew it was a St. George because my uncle remembers before my grandpa had it sanded and refinished. It’s current only identifying features are the on/off switches for the neck and bridge pickup, short scale, curly big headstock, and lipstick style pickups that only say “JAPAN” on them. I looked up that brand and found out it was also made by Teisco and occasionally rebranded as St. George for different markets. Either way, it’s a funky little short scale bass that is super light and fun to play. I outfitted it with my grandpa’s favorite tape wound strings that he used to use in his country band in the 70’s and 80’s.
that’s really cool! i love short scale basses
Astonishing! I switched over from classical clarinet to blues, folk & rock guitar in 1960 at age 12. By '63, at age 15, I was in the musician's union & playing professionally. In the '60s' I lived in Haverford, which borders Ardmore. I was a regular at Medley on Lancaster Avenue & knew Harry very well. I never bought a guitar from them as in 1964 I had a sunburst '64 Fender Stratocaster (they auction off today with the original case & accessories at about $40,000 & I still have everything down to the polishing cloth that came with mine. I also had a '59 white pine Tele (since sold), a '64 Jaguar with the bridge-mounted mute (also sold), a 64' Twin Reverb (still have) and a Showman with custom twin-15" speaker cabinet (also sold). For a while I had an early '60s Gibson Les Paul custom, but my Strat on neck or neck-mid pickups produced the sound I loved the most & I've since used it in a lot of studio work. Even though I'm retired & could buy a lot of new axes if I auctioned off the Strat, that's my true love. I even wear a necklace with a Strat (my religious symbol as a Devout Guitar Player). I've had many custom hand-made acoustic guitars also in my life, including an early Dana Bourgouis OM Cutaway (when he hand-made them himself), a Lynn Dudenbostel Brazilian Rosewood & Adirondack Spruce '33 D-28 (sold regrettably) and my two current guitars, a well-checkered but never restored 1948 Martin D-18 (my birth year) of mahogany & Adirondack Spruce, which is mellower than the D-28's rosewood & my favorite wood for tonewood) and a 1964 Guild D-40 (I know they are built like tanks, but this one is a one in a thousand that Loves the mic in the studio & is strong enough to risk in airplanes on tours where I'd never think of taking the D-18). I got this when I bought the Strat at Sam Ash when it was still on 48th Street in Manhattan after a multi-week acoustic hunt) with a violinist friend from the Philadelphia Orchestra who helped tone-tap acoustics with me. I was looking for a new D-28, but got the Guild instead & have never looked back. It is hanging on my wall right now. I have an early Augie LoPrinzi '34-style D-28 made from his old stash of Brazilian Rosewood & Adirondack Spruce. Augie used to design guitars for Fender, but went out on his own & still crafts beautiful guitars near Tampa, Florida. Unfortunately, I lent this one to my nephew who does strictly studio work for Hollywood movies at Western Cine in L.A. and I doubt I'll ever get it back in my hands (sigh...). Love your stories on unique guitars & hope you appreciate some of the axes I have & have had over the years as much as I have. Keep up the posts.
Okay this my be my favourite video you've ever made. This is so cool!
Did anyone else think "Why is David walking outside a prison"?
It’s a tourist attraction around Philly, pretty cool
I’ve been subbed to him a few months now and I’d expect nothing less.
No. He said what he was doing there in his opening statements..
wow this was an entertaining video. great job a lot of work involved in this i can see.
A fleamarket purchase of a mere skeleton of a guitar that ended up as a story that just leaves you full of "wait, what?" questioning. Wonderful
Every time YT recommends me something from your channel it is something new. It is something insightful. It is something fascinating. And the core concepts that tie every video together are music, and how amazingly versatile and knowledgeable you are about music.
I should have subscribed long ago.
I can't express how much I love your videos, I can't even imagine how much work each video requires. and of course the quality is phenomenal ❤❤
I admire the multi-talented David and his other great video
Awesome video. The reference to Fuji-Gen Gakki completes the story. They made the guitars that Hoshino Gakki sold, as did many independent music stores in the US. Yeah, ElGer guitars probably were made there and Hoshino was the distributor. Fender started Squier in '82 with Fuji-Gen making the early models- they are very desirable guitars. St. Louis Music was the most prolific importer, their Electra brand was made by another OEM, Matsumoku. They also imported Alvarez acoustics from the manufacturer of the very nice Yairi acoustics. Lyle and Bradley guitars were Matsumoku made and sold in Portland and Baltimore, respectively. This is a very deep rabbit hole!
The zero fret is a superior feature over a guitar that uses the nut as the take off point for the strings.
If you are not sure , just ask Brian May...PhD astrophysicist and award winning hall of famer, guitarist for the band Queen who built his guitar and all it's replicas incorporating a zero fret.
Superior and easier set ups, action, sustain, tone and tuning.
I have put stainless steel zero frets on all my guitars and it has ALWAYS been an improvement. I even changed my LP with a bone nut to a zero fret guitar. I would never go back.
Man! this video was freaking interesting! Several little "plot twists" like Elger becoming Ibanez! and what the lawsuit was really about!
That was definitely a completed, working guitar at one point. There is definitely visible fret wear/denting, fretboard wear from fingertips, there were still string remnants attached to the headstock, and you can see shadowing where the parts were all screwed in (rounded as well, just like the listing you found on reverb). I think someone played this guitar quite a lot.
Nice video Dave.
You are a very fortunate man. Finding a body like that is rare especially if that cheap.
Enjoy it.
all your videos are so cool dude, I love when an instrument has a history to it
I've had 2 teles from Japan with that same control plate. One was branded Kasuga and the Shelby. Kasuga was in business up to about 1985: they supplied most of the Japanese guitar manufacturers with the metal parts ( ever notice how all the MIJ telecasters look similar? Aria, Electra, Ibanez, )
They made some guitars themselves also.
As a guitar player I am in love with this channel. So inspiring.. ❤
What an inspiring story buddy. Cheers from Indonesia.
I noticed that the A-D string spacing was off, and now it's all i see. F**k.
There's something absolutely magical about restoring an instrument and bringing it back to life, isn't that so~?
Thank you Professor ! Take my bow
The "Similar guitar, different brand" reminds me of my gradfathers collection of cheap chinese drone (that dont even work at all), its literally the same, the packaging, logo, and maybe some of the parts are the same, but it operates the exact same.
When I saw 'Jedson', my mind immediately went back to the late '70s, when our school had a couple of electric guitars in the music room. One of them was a Jedson T-style guitar and yes, you've guessed it, it had both a zero fret AND a front jack (I'm pretty sure it was a front jack, anyways). I haven't thought of that guitar in many a year but your pics brought it all back in an instant. It's fabulous that you made one of these guitars sing again. Great story and video. Thanks for sharing.
1:24 That is a Japanese “National” model. I owned one as a kid. The body and headstock scream it
It might be! National was also still on my list of suspects at the very end
Crazy that I had an idea of what this was at the beginning and then you confirmed my intuition so I didn’t have to pause the video and look it up.
Telecasters are indeed twangy, or at least the bridge pickup is. It's why it's the favorite guitar of country artists. However, the neck pickup is quite warm with a very pleasant tone. I love my Tele, it's my go-to guitar, and I play many genres; blues, rock, gospel, and, yes, country.
I love your videos and always click on them as I see the notifications. Music can be a great unifier.
genuinely a pretty inspirational story. I'll be looking at stripped, second hand guitars more closely from now on. Loved the video
I have a '76 lawsuit jazz bass and I love it. Sounds and feels pretty close to me.
I just purchased a brand new guitar with a zero fret and it has it for a very good reason. It's a carbon fiber travel guitar (but sounds like a non-dreadnought but full guitar) from Enya, and the entire guitar itself (minus metal bits like the frets, tuners, and electronics) is just two pieces: saddle and nut (and fretboard, face, etc) are all molded as an integral part of the front face. It's a clamshell that is resined together. As a result, there's a zero fret "as the nut" to prevent wear on the guitar itself. I wanted something playable that I could toss on the back of a motorcycle, and I've been shocked by how nice it sounds. It's not great compared to a full size Martin, but for a travel guitar, it is fantastic even before the speaker assist in the body is turned on. And because it has a pickup, I've done the dorky "let's try distortion" and it sounds pretty good.
I'm seriously considering my next guitar (likely around a decade off, by my adult habits) being another carbon fiber -- I'll certainly play a few if I'm looking acoustic again.
I'm so glad you took us through your research and did it for us.👏🏽 If it wasn't part of your video, I would've researched right after seeing you buy it at the market. It intrigues me to find unique instruments and learn their origins. Thank you David! 😊
Every one of your videos is a perfect little love letter to music - I greatly appreciate your work
Yes. teles are that twangy. But their bridge pickups have a power to behold. First Led Zeppelin album is a Telecaster through a Supro tube practice amp. And they can cut through a mix. One of Mutt Lange's favourite production tricks was to record two humbucker guitars panned left and right, then record a third track with a Tele panned right in the centre.
One of my favourite guitars is a Tele I built from parts during the pandemic. Including budget pickups and a bridge from Wilkinson. It has a character all its own. I keep it tuned to double drop D to challenge me to come up with unique riffs.
Very cool journey. As an owner of a1974-5 "outlaw" Ibanez Les Paul (model 2351?) I appreciate those old Japanese guitar copies. I got mine in the early 80s in a trade for a Pioneer power amp and a Dolby encoder/decoder unit
Wow! When I saw your excel spreadsheet, I knew you've got serious work ethic! Cool story, and nice job fixing up that guitar. It does have a great sound.
Man, the amount of work, research, preparation you put into those videos is staggering. Keep it up!
Just found this video randomly. I really enjoyed this! Did not expect a mystery to be resolved in a plot twist over a flea market guitar. And that fact that it's a local story to me! crazy cool, and your song? didn't expect that either lol. Such a unique youtube channel that I'm definitely sticking with!
I have a 1980 Ibanez custom blazer and they actually are built just like a top of the line pro stratocasters. Not the pickups or bridge. But 3 piece laminated white ash body, hard maple neck, smooth tuners
I love the fact that you name Kurt Cobain and Nirvana as such a big influence and so does Rivers from weezer and your songs sound so much like weezer!
just keeping it weezy
I'm not sure if you've seen those "CRTelecasters" on youtube, but the sound from them is so intriguing. it's basically a tv and 4 touch varisters in a guitar like layout.
i actually recently bought one of these copies, and this video was sorta helpful at figuring out who made it! Its a Kingston, which would've been made by Matsumoko between 1970-1975 or so
the "extra fret" is the zero fret, common on guitars built outside of the US. I have a lot of custom guitars or customized guitars and I demand a zero fret on all of them. It helps with intonation, with consistent sound on open and fretted strings, no need to file or replace the nut when going to a different string gauge (if it's a little loose), the string break prevents buzzing. Easier to finger first fret too. I don't understand why every guitar doesn't have one.
that sound..its so reminiscent of something. the moment it started playing its like it resonated with my heart and shook it up. jesus.
Despite most japanesse copys of the time were low quality ones, a few brands were, in fact, higher quality than the original. Those are well appreciated along collectors.
As soon as you started playing it I said, "yup, sounds like a Tele." So yes, the twang is appropriate.
half video : recover the guitar
the rest : investigating for birthright of adopted child
I didn't realize you were from Northeast Philly! Nice! My brother worked for Hoshino for several years in the early 2000s, we had all sorts of cheap b-stock guitars in the house during those days.
As soon as I saw it in the flea market I thought "Vintage Japanese copy!! GET IT OR I WILL!!!" 😂
I plunked down what little money I had on a lay away Ibanez white with gold hardware Les Paul copy in 1978 at Guitar Showcase in San Jose, because I saw Al Jardine playing that one (Gibson of course) and I was starting a Beach Boys cover band with someone, but I could not come up with the scratch to finish it out so I changed to a cheap a severely compromised old hollow body Gretsch with a mismatched neck. But that LP was definitely one with the copied headstock. In 79 I bought a Takamine F-340s which was a copy of the Martin D-18. I had no idea who Martin was that early in my guitar development, but it was a FINE player. (Sold it 5 years ago when I moved overseas.) Man, snap up any cheap Japanese 60s and 70s instruments while you can, they have been exploding in popularity and price for awhile as you have found out.
I have a Takamine F349 up for sale now. Made in 87.
@@edmo-l4d right, the ones in the 70s had a headstock and logo script copied from Martin. I think by 87 they were using their own design for awhile.
@@kevbob yes. Mine has the normal Tak headstock.
Thank you for finishing my homemade electric guitar for me. This makes me so happy to see.
me: *finishes the video*
also me: *turn around just to notice that my father's old acoustic guitar also has that zero fret*
9:20 This is where you and everyone else GET THIS WRONG. Any 70s Japanese guitar isn't a lawsuit guitar. ONLY IBANEZ. No one else was threatened by Gibson. ONLY IBANEZ. Therefore ONLY 70S IBANEZ GUITARS ARE LAWSUIT GUITARS.
WOW! great video! I also have a 'Dumpster Guitar' that i brought back to life. It taught me a great deal about components and setup. It is a 'Raven' SG copy. I believe it was made by Matsumoku in Japan in the early 70's. It was imported into Canada by a company that was based in the City i live in today. New Westminster, B.C. (suburb of Vancouver) I love it for all that it has taught me. Thanks for sharing.
You definitely struck gold finding that guitar!
Didn't know that the small technical differences between electrical guitars are considered so significant by guitarists!
I had one of those! It was my first electric, gifted by a neighbor. Grew up outside of Philly. So cool to know it's history!
So rad! Thank you for taking us along on the journey
I have a Suzuki (yes, like the car brand) Brazenpicker Professional, wich is a Japanese strat clone with a story pretty simular to this, my dad bought it when he was 17 back in 1979. It doesnt have a 5 way switch like normal strats, instead it has 4 toggle switches effectively making it a 12 way switch. Never seen anything like it before, nor ever since.
Having original non generic music makes these videos a joy to watch and listen to. Thankyou ❤
"... just to impress you -- instead I depressed you" is a great line that had me in stitches. You summarised all my relationships in just 8 words!
I love it when the RUclips algorithm throws you something you didn't know you needed to watch! I'm not a guitarist, but this was a great watch and now I'm subscribed.
ZERO-FRET is a thing in german/czech/polish guitars - was in 70s-90s anyway, and this one looks pretty familiar - it MIGHT be a Jolana (czeck guitars)
I have a 70s Yamato brand guitar, it is essentially the same as this one but strat style. (single neck pickup though, and with a tunomatic style bridge, sort of)
The body is painted red to black burst, with a solid black back, the tuners are the same connected 6 in line, with plastic knobs.
The wood seems to be some sort of plywood, the inside of the control cavity is weirdly dusty.
It sounds and plays fine, but it's very low output.
Nice Tele, its my go to electric type.
A few years ago I looked up the Luthier who made my classical from the early 70s. He apparently went on to work for Ibanez.
Wooow! Came for a guitar restoration and left with some amazing guitar history, very cool video and guitar
I worked for several years at that Hoshino Gakki warehouse doing QC and repair. Lots of memories from that photo of the loading dock and office entrance. Super cool to hear the story of Harry Rosenbloom. That was not something I had known despite working at Hoshino for years.
Not long ago I had a similar guitar, in your pictures you had models with two identical Strato style pickups - one of these. Most peculiar: The neck was made from layered wood (plywood), layers vertical to the fret-board and parallel to the strings, I've never seen such a thing. And similarly to yours, it felt great, low action, precisely and carefully manufactured. I had been asked to sell it on commission for a friend, and I did, but I failed to dig out the info that you found before my buyer revealed the Ibanez connection to me. Since then I feel like I should have followed my instinct to buy it for myself. 😐
Super cool dude! You scored! Great job rebuilding it! Dig the tune too man.
Me: *clicks on video about guitar/non-guitar*
Beginning of video: “here’s a prison”
Me: *immediately confused about lack of guitar or guitar-related subjects*
Very cool. As soon as I saw that stripped ply body, I was thinking 'old Ibanez'. I have something similar I bought years ago from a local music shop. It was poorly painted with black spray paint, and when I stripped it, the body looked similar to yours (although mine is a thinline). There was no brandname, but the seller told me he thought it was a CSL. That was the brand of a British music company (Charles Summerfieild Ltd) that had a similar relationship with the Japanese manufacturer. Nice little guitars, and great story David.
I like Ibanez. I have an Ibanez electro acoustic and its a lovely guitar and very well built and finished.
your videos are so soothing. always a pleasure. btw that song in the end is amazing
My favorite plot twist was the Ibanez guitar made by Japan in the 1970s not being some Ibanez knock-off.
Brilliant! Now that you've managed to trace back the origin of the guitar and found out it's pretty decent how about slapping on some big boys' pickups?
Thanks for the journey, had a great time watching this little gem of a video! Cheers 🤘🏻
i went here a while ago, probably the coolest thing ive ever witnessed, the history in that building was insane, along with the audio tour and the atmosphere
Somebody started a project with high hopes and with the expectations of building a cool instrument... And you did the honour of fulfilling those expectations. Good work!
The research into the history of these guitars was really interesting! Brilliant video!
woah great storytelling man, loved this video ;)
I love these mini documentaries so much, there is always history in your finds man!
I totally identify with the "I lasted 7 minutes without buying a guitar", LOL.
The history of those early Japanese manufacturers is pretty interesting. A lot of the instruments were pretty good. As you suggest, many of them were built in the same factories, for different sellers, so the name on the headstock (or lack thereof) often doesn't mean very much. Nice rescue build.
Very nice….i like that you left it the woodish color…I learn a lot from your videos…very cool!
i used a jazz bass plate when i did a build with the jack on top. i had to make the tone pot hole larger for the switch, and wired it to 2 volumes and no tone pot.