Name: Shawn E. Blackman
Hometown: Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada
Guitar: 1979 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe
We've all been caught bringing yet another guitar into the house, but this was the second one that week! “But dear, it's a '79 Deluxe and I got it for a song" didn't fly. I wasn't crushed. It was great to play, but had been the victim of someone with poor router skills and a love for high-output humbuckers, which wasn't my thing.
My friend's son, Alan, wanted to make the move from his trusty acoustic to the electric guitar. I don't exaggerate when I say he was a salt of the earth young man, the kind of kid you hope your own kids will turn out like. This was perfect for Alan—a solid player-grade instrument with a few cosmetic issues—so I set it up and sold it to him for what I bought it for.
I'd stop in from time to time and give him the odd lesson, blissfully lost in music and clueless as to how life would unfold. In May 2011, a week into his summer job at the lake during his break in engineering courses, Alan came down with a severe headache that led him to the hospital and a diagnosis of Leukemia (AML). From there, Alan embarked on a series of treatments that he faced with courage and optimism. Surrounded by friends and family, Alan passed away in Seattle in 2012. I had the honor of playing Alan's guitar during his memorial service.
The guitar found its way back to me, and with the family's blessing, I began the most important of projects. I replaced the pickups with Seymour Duncan Antiquity Mini Humbuckers and a Duncan '59 in the middle position, hand-cut and aged the plastics and goof rings to hide the poor router job, installed a 6-way switch and a combo of push/pull and '50s wiring, added a Bigsby, period correct knobs, embossed Alan's initials on the pickguard, and put his hockey number on back.
Alan, you loudly live on through this guitar's absolutely awesome voice and I feel as privileged to perform with it as I do for knowing you. In loving memory of Alan Vincent Hadley Logue, 1989-2012.
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[Updated 9/22/21]
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This Japan-made Guyatone brings back memories of hitchin’ rides around the U.S.
So, as I’m prone to do, I started digging around hitchhiking culture and stories. Surprisingly, there are organized groups that embrace the hitching life, but the practice remains on the fringe in the U.S. Back in the 1950s, writer Jack Kerouac wrote the novel On the Road, which celebrated hitchhiking and exposed readers to the thrill of maverick travel. Heck, even Mike Dugan (the guitarist in all my videos) hitched his way to California in the 1960s. But seeing that fellow on the side of the road also sparked another image in my brain: Yep, it always comes back to guitars.
Let me present to you a guitar that’s ready to go hitching: the Guyatone LG-180T, hailing from 1966. The “thumbs-up” headstock and the big “thumb” on the upper bout always made me think of thumbing a ride, and I bought and sold this guitar so long ago that I had forgotten about it, until I saw that hitchhiking dude. Guyatone was an interesting Japanese company because they were primarily an electronics company, and most of their guitars had their wooden parts produced by other factories. In the case of the LG-180T, the bodies were made by Yamaha in Hamamatsu, Japan. At that time, Yamaha was arguably making the finest Japanese guitars, and the wood on this Guyatone model is outstanding. We don’t often see Guyatone-branded guitars here in the U.S., but a lot of players recognize the early ’60s label Kent—a brand name used by an American importer for Guyatone guitars.
With a bit of imagination, the LG-180T’s “thumbs up” headstock seems to be looking for a roadside ride.
Kent guitars were extremely popular from the early ’60s until around 1966. The U.S. importer B&J fed the American need for electric guitars with several nice Kent models, but when the Guyatone contract ended, so did most of the Kent guitars. After that, Guyatone primarily sold guitars in Japan, so this example is a rare model in the U.S.
“Unless you are a master at guitar setups, this would be a difficult player.”
This headstock is either the ugliest or the coolest of the Guyatone designs. I can’t decide which. I will say, no other Japanese guitar company ever put out anything like this. You have to give the Guyatone designers a thumbs up for trying to stand out in the crowd! Guyatone decided to forgo an adjustable truss rod in this model, opting instead for a light alloy non-adjustable core to reinforce the neck. Speaking of the neck, this instrument features the most odd-feeling neck. It’s very thin but has a deep shoulder (if that makes any sense). Totally strange!
Another strange feature is the bridge, which offers very little adjustment because of the three large saddles, which sort of rock back and forth with the tremolo. It’s a shame because these pickups sound great! They’re very crisp and have plenty of zing, but unless you are a master at guitar set-ups, this would be a difficult player.
This could be why the LG-180T only appeared in the 1966 and 1967 catalogs. After that, it disappeared along with all the other Yamaha-made Guyatone electrics. By 1969, Guyatone had gone bankrupt for the first time, and thus ended guitar production for a few decades. At least we were blessed with some wacky guitar designs we can marvel at while remembering the days when you could play in the back end of an explosive 1973 AMC Gremlin while your mom raced around town. Two thumbs up for surviving our childhoods! PG
