Friday, August 28, 2009

1960's Audition (Kawai or Teisco) 2 Pickup Electric

This is a 2nd unknown Audition model 2 pickup Electric Guitar from the 1960's with 2 goldfoil pickups. The first one I posted had a roller type of bridge and this one has a solid plastic type of bridge. The prize on this guitar is the goldfoil pickups and I've already used them for another project. Audition guitars were distributed in the US and UK by the Woolworth chain. Many of the ones I've seen have the goldfoil pickups just like this one has. It's most likely that this guitar was built by Kawai seeing as how the quality appears to be higher than that seen in a typical Teisco.

Kawai was founded in 1927 by Koichi Kawai in Hamamatsu, Japan. Mr. Kawai's vision was to create top-quality pianos, a quest in which he certainly succeeded! Kawai added guitars to its line around 1954 and eventually became a player in the 1960s Guitar Boom. Like many Japanese electric guitars, most early Kawai guitars were slightly frumpy, although the impression is that their electronics were a little better than most. Often accused of supplying more flash than substance, there are Kawai guitars that are of high quality, playability and design.

Probably the most prominent brand names in the U.S. manufactured by Kawai were TeleStar, whose sparkle models have a small but devoted following, Kimberly, and Domino. Kawai also built guitars for Saint Lous music in the 1960's and 1970's under their brand name Apollo.

In January of 1967 Kawai purchased the Teisco guitar company, but they appear to have operated the two companies pretty much separately. Both lines featured exclusive designs and different pickups. Teisco continued the vector of evolution it had taken, ending up with the Spectrums and finally the mini-Strats, before become the Kay brand in the U.S.

In 1968 both Kawai and Teisco freaked out. Kawai produced models such as the axe-shaped Concert, plus a variety of unusual VS violin-bodied guitars (including one with 16 strings and its own pickup mounted parallel to the strings, whether sympathetic or strummed, who knows?), the Splender, shaped like a banjo, and another model shaped like a sitar. For Teisco, 1968 was the year that gave us the famous artist-palette-shaped May Queen, wildly flared, asymmetrical Fire Bird, and long-horn Phantom. One other company, Firstman (unrelated to Kawai), produced a model similar to the Concert called the Liverpool.

Audition1

Audition2

Audition3

Audition4

Audition5

One of my blog readers sent me these two pictures of what we believe to be the rare Splender model (Thanks James!)
DSC04162
DSC04163

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

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

1960's Harmony Bobkat Bobcat H15

It's a 1966 (from the pickguard date) Harmony Bobkat (Bobcat) electric with two DeArmond goldfoil pickups originally although the bridge pickup has been removed. The neck is straight with low action and a rosewood fretboard. As far as I can tell, this guitar is all original and complete except for the missing pickup and the modified pickguard. I previously owned a H15V model that also had the finish removed but hadn't received a urethane finish.

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Harmony BobKat's were produced starting in 1966. There were many versions of the Bobkat including the H14 (single pickup sunburst) , H15 (double pickup sunburst), H15V (double pickup sunburst with vibrato), and H17(double pickup with red sunburst and vibrato) among other models.

Here's a site with a bit more information and pictures.

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