Vintage MIJ LG-55W Guyatone Electric Guitar

Description: This early 1960’s Japanese Guyatone has been professionally setup with new strings, neck adjustments, fret leveling and crowing and fingerboard conditioning. Extremely low action without any buzz spots. All electronics were checked, cleaned and fully operational. A deluxe Kaces padded gig bag is included. Back in the early 1960s, there were only a few choices for beginner guitar players living in Japan. Basically, there were only two electric guitar manufacturers in Japan, Guyatone and Teisco. American-made guitars were just way too expensive in Japan at the time, so essentially guitarists found themselves in the Guyatone or Teisco “camp,” so to speak. I suppose it’s similar to the Fender and Gibson fans in America. This guitar was sold in the states as a Kent Las Vegas and served the same purpose as it did in Japan…getting a guitar in the hands of the average, beginner player. See, these guitars are still floating around and are relatively easy to find. But what most people don’t realize is that this simply guitar had a huge impact. This humble model was one of the biggest sellers ever for Guyatone, in Japan and the USA! Seriously, this guitar outsold every other Guyatone solid body model except for the slightly more upscale Guyatone LG-65T (it had a tremolo and a tone switch added), which was THE king of sales for the company. When this guitar was being developed and sold, Tokyo Sound (who produced Guyatone guitars) had just built a new factory, and the guitar boom was swelling to its crest. It was the perfect time to produce a good beginner’s guitar that featured all solid wood construction, nice sounding pickups, and great electronics. This model really flooded the guitar markets of Japan and America. I wonder how many of you started off on a guitar like this?This little guy is a short scale model and really has a good tone. In fact, I like almost all the early Guyatone guitars. They make great gigging guitars because they were built well, and dare I say, better than many other guitars being sold at the same time in the same price range. I mean, this guitar compares really well to a Kay Vanguard, or Harmony Stratotone. Seriously, there isn’t much difference compared to quality. One of the most popular Japanese guitars of all time. The solid body is small and thin, but has a great design aesthetic obviously influenced heavily by Fender. The bolt on maple neck is thick but comfortable and has a slab rosewood fretboard with a combination of block and dot markers. Slightly later models moved to the top and one bottom fretboard markers common on mid sixties Guyatone. The scale is 24.75" with no zero fret. The headstock is again, obviously Fender influenced and large. The tuners are smooth and feel great with big plastic buttons. The pick guard is the typical thick aluminium as used by a few Japanese manufacturers and the rocker switches which look the same as Teisco units, are in fact different and work differently in that they cut or complete the pickup wires circuit, not send the signal to earth to turn off. The pots are small and of decent quality.

Price: 269 USD

Location: Canton, Michigan

End Time: 2025-01-18T22:57:55.000Z

Shipping Cost: 65 USD