How one guitar builder went from powerhouse builder Teisco to his own small operation to bring this Jazzmaster-inspired build to life.
I remember back when I was getting heavily involved in guitar research, I found so much satisfaction in learning about people from across the world. Seriously, it was so stimulating to find former guitar-factory employees. It wasn’t easy to do, but when the dominos fell, it was wonderful. So, follow along the path with me here for a moment.
My book publisher is a guitarist, and knew a Japanese pedal-steel player named Kiyoshi Kobayashi (nicknamed “Lion”) who knew some people involved in Teisco. Lion was a wonderful source of information with a terrific sense of style and food. I was planning to visit Japan, and he was helping me to gather some people there that I could interview. Lion always kept talking about this one guy, calling him the “master” and the “maestro.” Well, the “master” turned out to be a fellow named Yukichi Iwase, and, let me tell you, Iwase was one of the most interesting people I ever met.
It turned out that Iwase was one of the original employees of Teisco, and I interviewed him for about two hours. This guy knew everyone and everything, and his memory was as sharp as a tack. Iwase was known as an electronics wizard, and he’s just one of these people where repair and design are intuitive. He was the man when it came to amplifier repair, and there were several touring American acts that happened by his small shop.
“The guitars are really amazing works of art that have a wonderful sound, closely resembling a vintage Fender tone, but with a little more oomph.”
Around 1964, Iwase left Teisco and started his own company called Iwase Denshi, or Voice, and his products were often dubbed “Singing Electric.” He was primarily a one-man operation, so his production numbers were always on the low end, but if you can find one of his Voice guitars or amps, then jump on it!
Iwase’s guitar lineup included about four different models, which included this Voice Frontier Custom from around 1966. Iwase made every guitar, basically from scratch. He even made his own tuners, pickups, pickguards, tailpieces, and tremolo units. The guitars are really amazing works of art that have a wonderful sound, closely resembling a vintage Fender tone, but with a little more oomph. The pickups are alnico and are super quiet. The electronics are similar to the Fender Jazzmaster and include a rhythm circuit on its upper horn, and the offset design is well-balanced.
Iwase’s reputation was well-known in Japan, and many of his guitars were custom-ordered. I have three of his electrics, and they are all a bit different, but the quality is always high. The necks have a great vintage C-shape, with just a bit of fullness. All the Voice guitars I own have a Gibson scale and they all play great.
Iwase continued to build guitars and amps until around 1970, and he estimated that he only made around 300 electric guitars in total. His amps also show the same attention to detail, and he had a few different models that all sound incredible too.
Iwase signed one of my Voice guitars, and it’s one of my most prized possessions. The last time I was in Japan, I met with Iwase and Lion, and we had such a great time. Iwase was, and still is, incredibly witty and humorous, and I miss him a lot! When Covid brought the world to a halt, I worried about him, and I kept having these really vivid dreams about him. I kept messaging an ex-pat in Japan to check in on Iwase to make sure he was okay. So, today after I write this, I’m going to the liquor store to buy some sake and raise a glass for Iwase and his amazing skills.
It’s almost over, but there’s still time to win! Enter Stompboxtober Day 30 for your shot at today’s pedal from SoloDallas!
The Schaffer Replica: Storm
The Schaffer Replica Storm is an all-analog combination of Optical Limiter+Harmonic Clipping Circuit+EQ Expansion+Boost+Line Buffer derived from a 70s wireless unit AC/DC and others used as an effect. Over 50 pros use this unique device to achieve percussive attack, copious harmonics and singing sustain.
Does the guitar’s design encourage sonic exploration more than sight reading?
A popular song between 1910 and 1920 would usually sell millions of copies of sheet music annually. The world population was roughly 25 percent of what it is today, so imagine those sales would be four or five times larger in an alternate-reality 2024. My father is 88, but even with his generation, friends and family would routinely gather around a piano and play and sing their way through a stack of songbooks. (This still happens at my dad’s house every time I’m there.)
Back in their day, recordings of music were a way to promote sheet music. Labels released recordings only after sheet-music sales slowed down on a particular song. That means that until recently, a large section of society not only knew how to read music well, but they did it often—not as often as we stare at our phones, but it was a primary part of home entertainment. By today’s standards, written music feels like a dead language. Music is probably the most common language on Earth, yet I bet it has the highest illiteracy rate.
Developed specifically for Tyler Bryant, the Black Magick Reverb TB is the high-power version of Supro's flagship 1x12 combo amplifier.
At the heart of this all-tube amp is a matched pair of military-grade Sovtek 5881 power tubes configured to deliver 35-Watts of pure Class A power. In addition to the upgraded power section, the Black Magick Reverb TB also features a “bright cap” modification on Channel 1, providing extra sparkle and added versatility when blended with the original Black Magick preamp on Channel 2.
The two complementary channels are summed in parallel and fed into a 2-band EQ followed by tube-driven spring reverb and tremolo effects plus a master volume to tame the output as needed. This unique, signature variant of the Black Magick Reverb is dressed in elegant Black Scandia tolex and comes loaded with a custom-built Supro BD12 speaker made by Celestion.
Price: $1,699.
Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine is one of the loudest guitarists around. And he puts his volume to work creating mythical tones that have captured so many of our imaginations, including our special shoegaze correspondent, guitarist and pedal-maestro Andy Pitcher, who is our guest today.
My Bloody Valentine has a short discography made up of just a few albums and EPs that span decades. Meticulous as he seems to be, Shields creates texture out of his layers of tracks and loops and fuzz throughout, creating a music that needs to be felt as much as it needs to be heard.
We go to the ultimate source as Billy Corgan leaves us a message about how it felt to hear those sounds in the pre-internet days, when rather than pull up a YouTube clip, your imagination would have to guide you toward a tone.
But not everyone is an MBV fan, so this conversation is part superfan hype and part debate. We can all agree Kevin Shields is a guitarists you should know, but we can’t all agree what to do with that information.