1970's Japanese Ranger Electric with Goldfoil pickup

I acquired this guitar in July 2009 and it is a unknown Ranger model single pickup Electric Guitar from the 1970's I believe. The guitar is in nice condition and all original as far as I can tell except for the missing nut. Nice straight neck with a huge headstock that is seen on many guitars from the 1960's and 1970's. It reminds me a lot of the Telestar guitars from the 1960's which were made by Kawai. The great thing about this guitar is the goldfoil pickup which were found on some of the 1960's and 1970's Japanese guitars. I have also come across another almost identical model that was labeled Crestline but I'm sure they were made in the same Japanese factory.








Crestline guitars were built in Japan from the mid to late 1970s and distributed by the Grossman Music Corporation of Cleveland, OH. They are entry level to intermediate solid body guitars featured designs based on classic American favorites. Crestline offered a wide range of stringed instruments, including classical, folk, dreadnought, and twelve-string acoustics; solid body electric guitars and basses; amplifiers; banjos, mandolins, and ukuleles. Considering the amount of instruments available, the Crestline trademark was probably used on guitars built by one of the bigger Japanese guitar producers and rebranded for the U.S. market. One model reviewed at a vintage guitar show was based on Gibson's Les Paul design, and had Grover tuners, two Japanese covered humbuckers, and decent wood.

Guitar Lovers Beware of United Airlines

While I'm taking a break from posting information about my guitar hunts I thought I'd share this story with you. Dave Carroll of the band Sons of Maxwell had his $3,500 Taylor acoustic destroyed by United Airlines baggage handlers. He's planning to write 3 songs and produce videos for them and here's the first.

If you want the entire story, you can find it at Dave's Website.

Teisco Tulip with Unique Pickups and Pickguard

This is my third Teisco tulip style guitar and although it isn't marked I believe it to also be a ET-200 model from the 1960's with 2 pickups. Unlike the others I posted, it has a different style of pickups and pickguard than you typically see. It does have the tremelo arm which seems to be missing on most of these guitars you see up for sale. Other than that it appears to be mostly complete except for the missing knobs.





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.