1960's Kay Vanguard K102 Guitar

This is probabaly a late 1960's Kay model based on the information I've found. It is a Vanguard model K102 with two DeArmond pickups (sometimes called the Vanguard 2) and they also came as the K100 with a single DeArmond pickup. Kay also produced these guitars for the Western Auto chain and badged them with the Truetone name and for Spiegel Catalog and badged them with the Old Kraftsman name.

Kay became the second-largest producer of inexpensive guitars and related instruments in Chicago behind Harmony. Both Harmony and Kay mass-produced many thousands of instruments under catalog brand names such as Silvertone (Sears), Airline (Montgomery Ward) and many others. The original Kay Musical Instrument Company in Chicago went out of business in 1968, but the name is still active, licensed to a line of cheap instruments from Asia.

You can find a lot of information on Kay guitars at the
King Of Kays

1960's Teisco Del Rey EP-8T Hollow Body

This is a late 1960's Teisco thinline Hollowbody guitar in the Gibson ES style. The model number listed on the back nameplate is the EP-8T with the T in the model number for the tremolo. The guitar is in very good shape although it's missing the original nameplate and the bridge has been changed out for a modern style. The Tremolo bar is also missing and the spring itself is missing. With the hole in the trussrod pocket it seems this guitar has spent part of it's life as a wall hanger. It has the usual fussy switches and pots that you'll find on a 40 year old guitar that hasn't been restored.

The Teisco brand name stands for 'Tokyo Electric Instrument and Sound Company'. Teisco was founded in 1946 by renowned Hawaiian and Spanish guitarist Atswo Kaneko, and electrical engineer Doryu Matsuda. Teisco guitars sold in the United States were badged "Teisco Del Rey" beginning in 1964. Teisco guitars were also imported in the U.S. under several brand names including Silvertone, Jedson, Kent, Kingston, Kimberly, Tulio, Heit Deluxe and World Teisco. While guitars manufactured by Teisco were ubiquitous in their day, they are now very collectable.

This guitar will be sold on ebay soon. Check my about me page for the ebay listing.

1960's Silvertone (Teisco) 1435 Two Pickup Guitar

The Silvertone 1435 guitar was part of the mid 1960's offerings of Teisco by way of Sears. Since they were never listed in any major seasonal Sears catalogs from that era they must have been offered only in select stores. Being as there are no catalog references, the only other resource is Teisco info from that period of time which is scarce as well. It appears this guitar is based on the MJ-2L model that was available from Teisco under their name. Most Teiscos sported striped metal pickguards from 1965 on so we can use this as a general guide for dating these guitars. This one is complete except for the missing namebadge and even has the hard to find Tremolo bar.








The Teisco brand name stands for 'Tokyo Electric Instrument and Sound Company'. Teisco was founded in 1946 by renowned Hawaiian and Spanish guitarist Atswo Kaneko, and electrical engineer Doryu Matsuda. Teisco guitars sold in the United States were badged "Teisco Del Rey" beginning in 1964. Teisco guitars were also imported in the U.S. under several brand names including Silvertone, Jedson, Kent, Kingston, Kimberly, Tulio, Heit Deluxe and World Teisco. While guitars manufactured by Teisco were ubiquitous in their day, they are now very collectable.

This guitar will be sold on ebay soon. Check my about me page for the ebay listing.