Guyatone LG-40

Guyatone LG-40

The LG-40 was released in 1959 and certainly isn't without it's charm! The bound body and neck set it apart from the Guyatone-built Broadway Plectric budget model (which it resembles in both body shape, pre-loaded scratchplate and pickups). The Broadway was built of plywood too, whereas the LG-40 is solid wood, albeit with a trapeze tailpiece and identical tuners. The large chrome oval-shaped pickups are a particular feature.

The Guyatone LG-40 was listed in the Bell Musical Instruments catalogue of 1962, as one of the four Guyatones sold by that company and whose guitars (along with the Broadway Plectric range and Broadway Budget guitar) were distributed by Rose-Morris of London. In 1962, the cash price was £21.

Outside of Britain, the Guyatone LG-40 also appeared in Australia in 1959, as the Guyatone LG-40 Top Forty Twin, a guitar of superior build quality, with flamed woods and with gold plated pickups. Stunning!

Guyatone EH-80B, EH-80H /Star EG-80H

Guyatone EH-80B, EH-80H /Star EG-80H

In 1958 the first Japanese electric solid body guitar to be imported to Australia was the Guyatone EH-80B, also branded as a Star EG-80B (shown above). 

The model shown has non-original white 1950's knobs (neck pickup volume, bridge pickup volume, master tone, pickup selector). There's a missing neck pickup surround and neck pickup but these guitars are as rare as hen's teeth.

Guyatone was also the first known Japanese guitar manufacturer to directly offer their product line to the American public. The first ad for Guyatone Guitars appears in 1959 and depicted the Australian EH 80B/EH-80H guitars as the Guyatone EG-80B and the Guyatone EG-80H. Whether it's badged as a Guyatone or a Star, they are identical, apart from variations in the headstock! Above is pictured the Star EG-80H.

So, hang on! What's the differences and it's already getting confusing.

Well, the Guyatone EG-80B was made of selected solid wood, finished in ebony black, hand rubbed and hand polished. The Guyatone EG-8OH had a solid maple body, left natural and hand polished.

Here in Britain, the guitars were not so readily available and when they were found, guess what? They changed their model name to something else; the Guyatone LG-60B and Guyatone LG-60H. 

The guitar in the photo above is the Guyatone LG-60B, the guitar owned by blues guitarist, Rory Gallagher. The headstock on early models, with three tuning pegs per side, was changed to the more Fender-esque six-in-a-line tuners for the export market.

The guitars were manufactured by Maruha Musical Instruments in Kyushu and assembled at  the Guyatone factory in Tokyo.
Below is the Guyatone LG-60H, a fine looking instrument!

The distributor of these early Guyatone guitars in Britain isn't clear but it's likely to have been J.& I. Arbiter. In the meantime, the late 1950s saw the importation and distribution of Ibanez guitars from the Horshino Gakki company and it's interesting to note that the Ibanez catalogues of this period, show Guyatone manufactured guitars and Star branded Guyatones also! 

Guyatone/ Antoria LG-50

The Guyatone LG-50 is, undoubtedly, one cool guitar. Before American guitars entered the UK in large numbers, one of the most popular guitars amongst the first wave of British rock and rollers was a Japanese import. With it's bird's eye maple finish and sleek shape, the Guyatone LG-50, also marketed under the brand name of Antoria. The Antoria LG-50 differed in having dot inlays to the fretboard, as opposed to the pearloid rectangular inlays on the Guyatone. Also available was the Star branded EG-80, also manufactured at the Guyatone factory.

The distribution of the Antoria LG-50 was the responsibility of J.T.Coppock (Leeds) Ltd. The Guyatone was distributed by J.& I. Arbiter. In 1962, the Guyatone LG-50 appeared in the catalogue of Bell Musical Instruments, with a cash price of £25.

Intriguingly the Guyatone LG 50 was the inspiration for the original Burns-Weill Fenton, and it's two offshoots, the Fenton-Weill De Luxe and the original Burns Sonic.

 Hank Marvin (second from right) had an Antoria LG-50 which was used on the earliest recordings with Cliff Richard and The Drifters.

A black Guyatone LG-50 model was also made available in the UK, although seldom seen. 

Guyatone LG-70/Star GT-70

Guyatone LG-70/Star GT-70

The confusion over guitar branding began as early as 1959, as demonstrated by this Guyatone GT-70, also marketed in Britain as a Star LG-70. The Star is identical in all respects to the Guyatone, with the exception of the headstock logo which looks like the one below. 

From the mid to late'50s, Guyatone were not only increasing their production, they were shipping out their guitars all over the world, in an attempt to corner the mid price guitar market in countries like Britain, the U.S.A. and Australia, catering for the teenager's insatiable thirst for an electric guitar, as rock and roll or beat music hit the airwaves. 

The Star brand guitars were merely Guyatones re-branded for the European and American market. In Britain, they were distributed by James T. Coppock (Leeds) Ltd., who had already introduced Guyatone under the Antoria brand, the name they owned and which dates back at least to 1950, when it appeared in an advertisement in the journal Trade Show. These Guyatone built Antoria guitars were also importd by Charles Summerfield Ltd. of Gateshead. 

Along with their Guyatone counterparts, Star branded guitars were available in musical instrument retailers across Britain, including Bell Musical Instruments of Surbiton in Surrey. 

Guyatone in Britain

Guyatone in Britain

Let's try and make some sense of all this because the manufacture, branding, distribution and sales of Japanese imported guitars into the UK during the 1950s and '60s is an entangled mess. Records have been lost, models have been forgotten about and the Japanese factories themselves are long closed. To make matters worse, the workforce employed there are a dying breed, with little knowledge to impart of their former life. We need a bit of history here, to put things into context.

Guyatone were one of the earliest guitar manufacturers in Japan and began production in 1933. Matsuki Seisakujo (松木製作所) was founded by a cabinet maker’s apprentice Mr. Mitsuo Matsuki and his friend, Mr. Atsuo Kaneko. In 1940 Matsuki was drafted into the war between China and Japan and production halted for several years. After returning home, Matsuki formed his own company, Matsuki Denki Onkyo Kenkyuj (松木電気音響研究所), which translated means the Matsuki Electric Sound Laboratory.

Matsuki began to use the Guyatone name on his instruments from 1951. In 1952, the name of the corporation was changed to Tokyo Sound Company (東京サウンド(株), which changed again to Guya Co. Ltd. ((株)グヤ) and then back to Tokyo Sound Company once again. The Tokyo Sound factory eventually began large-scale production in 1956 and Guyatone’s own records indicate them as being officially founded on July 16, 1956. The factory was at Maebashi (前橋市), the capital city of Gunma. The factory reputedly produced 1,500 Hawaiian slide guitars and 1,600 electric guitars and basses a month! 

And here the fun begins, as during the late-1950s to 1960s, Guyatone guitars were also distributed under various brands by other manufacturers/distributors and branded not just as Guyatone but a whole variety of other names and model numbers, which we'll try and sort. The imports to the UK were just as confusing!!

Bell Musical Instruments

With the strapline, “Britain’s Largest Musical Instrument Suppliers”, Bell Music had two main outlets; one in the north-east of England, near Darlington, Co. Durham and their main headquarters and showrooms in Surbiton.At the Ewell Road site in Surbiton, Bell Accordions occupied a showroom on one side of the road and Bell Music on the other. Bell Music sold just about everything; Hawaiian electric lap guitars, keyboards, acoustic and electric guitars, amplifiers and accessories. 

Small advertisements often appeared in the national press, such as the Sunday Express or Sunday Pictorial and also in the music press, encouraging the public to send for their catalogue, from which their range of musical goods could be obtained. Bell Musical Instruments catalogues were the way in which budding musicians could access the range of new electric and acoustic guitars offered for sale in the UK. The Guyatone range, from a 1962 Bell catalogue, is shown above.