In light of our columnist’s hero’s passing, this month’s guitar is an unconventional Teisco model built with plywood and formica.
This month’s column was a little somber for me, because I learned about the passing of one of the most amazing people I’ve ever encountered. Here I sat, watching an actual snowstorm (which is rare these days), and writing about an obscure German guitar, when I got a message from an expat in Japan who learned about the passing of a true legend: Yukichi Iwase. He was one of the early innovators of Japanese instrument making. I’ve written about him a few times before because of his Voice Guitars company and his contribution to the early days of Teisco (he was among the original employees).
I learned about Iwase through my American book publisher, Ron Middlebrook, who has known a bunch of excellent pedal-steel guitar players all over the world. In Japan, he knew a fine player named Kiyoshi Kobayashi, otherwise known as “Lion.” Lion referred to Iwase as the “maestro,” and in a few months, arranged for us to meet in Tokyo. So imagine this, good reader: Here I am, about the size of a refrigerator, and I’m ambling into this old jazz club to meet all 5'4″ of Iwase-san, smiling as wide as the moon! One of the first things he said to everyone was to the effect of, “No wonder Japan lost the war, because of the size of Americans!” He had an excellent sense of humor and an excellent memory, and provided me with so much of the early guitar history of Japan, and I am forever grateful.
Iwase-san had left the original Teisco Company in the early ’60s, so I wanted to highlight one of the guitars he helped to design and produce during his tenure at the first factory. The uber-strange Teisco SD4L was introduced to the guitar-playing world in the spring of 1962, and was apparently inspired by an old Italian electric guitar of the time. Perhaps a Wandre? Iwase wasn’t quite sure.
Yukichi Iwase, who passed away earlier this year, was one of the early innovators of Japanese instrument making.
The SD4L features an offset body design with extreme and abrupt lines. I believe this was the only truly made Teisco to feature a plywood body. Made with a lot of thin veneers, the guitar is on the heavy side, and at the time of its design, the thought was that a plywood construction of this sort would survive the climate changes of players outside the Japanese mainland. To be honest, not many of these left Japanese shores.
But the coolest feature of this model is the hard kitchen formica covering on the front and back. Simply glued on and formed to the shape of the plywood body, this guitar has a tendency to dig into your body in unpleasant ways, but who cares! It’s like something straight out of an old American diner! Iwase described the material as what was found on “kotatsu” tables, which were like coffee tables, but heated.
“Here I am, about the size of a refrigerator, and I’m ambling into this old jazz club to meet all 5'4″ of Iwase-san, smiling as wide as the moon!”
The cutout on the headstock was another Iwase original, as was the electronics layout. This earlier model features four pickups that were taken direct from the lap-steel guitars that Teisco was producing at the same time. Later editions of this model have the very first, and now famous, Teisco gold-foil pickups that became popular with all sorts of American players, including Ry Cooder.
Each pickup has an on/off switch, two volumes, and preset tone controls for rhythm and solo settings. The sound of these early SD4L guitars can get a little destructive since the pickups can be a little microphonic, but they are controllable in the hands of a capable player. There is a nice hint of resonance that tends to come from all the guitars that were designed with a thick metal plate attaching the pickups to the body. It’s subtle, but cool.
I have all my interviews taped, and I went back to watch all the times that Iwase and I met. Of course, we had to have translators, but we were able to enjoy our time together, and I am extremely happy to have known him. I remember that he was surprised that someone from outside of Japan had an interest in him, as are most of the older people I have interviewed over the years. He was humble and creative and kind, and I will miss him dearly.
1962 Teisco SD4L Guitar Demo
While most are only familiar with Paul McCartney’s Violin Bass, the German manufacturer has long been held in high regard for their various instruments.
I’m probably late to the game for most of you, but I finally got around to watching Get Back, Peter Jackson’s excellent Beatles documentary. Throughout the doc, I was keeping an eye out for interesting guitars (like George Harrison’s Fender Telecaster made almost entirely of rosewood) but was dwelling quite a bit on Paul McCartney’s Höfner 500/1 Violin Bass. The German-based Höfner Company made a lefty Violin Bass for McCartney back in 1961, while the Beatles were playing regularly in and around Hamburg. I found it so interesting that McCartney continued to favor the guitar, even though the band could afford and play just about any instrument available during that time. In fact, in those early Hamburg days, Harrison played a Höfner President and then a Club 40, which John Lennon also played. Even Stuart Sutcliffe had a Höfner 500/5.
In the USA, Höfner never seemed to make a great impression on the guitar market. I guess most people only know about the Violin Bass, but Höfner has a long tradition of esteemed instrument production. Höfner has been around since the late 1880s, primarily making violins, then eventually acoustic guitars and electric guitars, starting in the 1930s. In the early 1960s, Höfner electric guitar production was ramping up, perfectly coinciding with the guitar boom and the rise of the Beatles.
There are plenty of good catalogs from the era (mainly because of the British importer, Selmer London), and the Höfner guitar lineup was quite impressive. The large and rather regal looking hollowbodies were plentiful, and there were some super cool solidbodies, like the Futurama models, which are rather rare today. But the most common and budget-friendly guitars in the catalogs were the Coloramas. This line started around 1958 and continued through 1965—while undergoing several version changes.
In the early 1960s, Höfner electric guitar production was ramping up, perfectly coinciding with the guitar boom and the rise of the Beatles.
I owned a few Coloramas that were from the quirkiest era. They piqued my interest because they were finished with colored vinyl with white piping stretched around a laminate solid-wood body. The vinyl finish quickens guitar production, as it removes the painting, drying, and buffing process. And what does it do to the tone? Who cares! My examples dated back to the 1962 to ’63 era, and both had a very smooth tremolo unit that was integrated into the body. The unit was paired with a simple nickel-plated steel bridge that only allowed for vertical adjustment.
The electronics on the Colorama consist of Höfner “Diamond Logo” single-coils and Höfner’s “Flick Action” console, which had two volume knobs, a bass switch for the neck pickup, a treble switch for the bridge pickup, and a rhythm/solo switch which further enhanced its tone. This was standard fare for many of the electric Höfner guitars. The slim “Slendaneck” profile featured a fully adjustable truss rod inside. The bodies have symmetrical double cutaways and feel just fine when strapped up—not too heavy or light. These guitars came with relatively good frets and tuners for their class. All in all, these were a real bargain for guitar players around the world.
As the ’60s moved along and the guitar boom began to wane, Japanese guitar manufacturers simply flooded the market with even more affordable electrics, and Höfner lost its foothold on the U.S. market. They continued to produce amazing guitars, and some of these can be real finds today. Most of their guitars were built really well, and they’ve always had a good reputation. But, if it wasn’t for the Beatles and McCartney’s Violin Bass, we may never have heard of this historic company.
Shortly before Danelectro went bankrupt, this solidbody designed by session guitarist Vincent Bell added some upscale flair to the Coral line.
Danelectro guitars and amps have long held the interest of so many players because of their quirky designs. The prolific New Jersey-based company, started by Nathan Daniel in 1947, used unique materials—from Masonite for bodies to surplus lipstick tubes for pickups—to create their instruments while staying on budget. With prices just about any player could afford, Danelectro guitars—and those sold under other retail-catalog brand names across the U.S., such as Sears’ Silvertone—had a strong impact on the arc of American music.
Even during the initial influx of Japanese import guitars, Danelectro still retained its foothold in the American market. But the era of corporate takeovers really affected the market of the late 1960s. CBS purchased Fender, Norlin bought Gibson, and, in 1966, Danelectro was sold to the Music Corporation of America (MCA). In 1967, MCA started the new Coral line of guitars, which offered some unique axes like an electric 12-string Bellzouki, an electric Sitar (complete with drone strings), and Longhorn hollow bodies. It was all so ’60s, and all so short-lived, because Danelectro was bankrupt by 1969. The entire Coral line has become collectible because just about every model was sold in low numbers, but perhaps the rarest of the bunch was the solidbody electric Hornet.
Session guitarist Vincent Bell had a hand in designing many of the Coral guitars, and the Hornet models were among his creations. (There was also a 12-string offered in 1968, called the Scorpion.) The Hornets came in two- or three-pickup versions, offered with vibrato or hardtail bridge designs. Individual volume controls for each pickup, plus a master volume, provide blending options, and an array of tone variations are available via four mini switches. These overly complicated tone switches are buried in all sorts of capacitors and were all the rage in the late 1960s. But all of them are detrimental to the overall guitar sound.
Danelectro’s trademark lipstick pickups were still in use at this time, and they retain that soft vintage tone, with a little sizzle when pickups are combined. I love the sound of these pickups combined with an amp on the edge of breaking up, or some fuzz stacked on top. Danelectro pickups have often been relegated to niche sound territory—like Jimmy Page with a slide—but no other guitar sounds like a Danelectro, and that’s a good thing! Plus, a lot of players might also like the bigger frets and flat radius featured on almost every Danelectro guitar.
The Coral Hornet has a totally unique sculpted solid-poplar body, which tapers towards the edges. It is the strangest feeling guitar ever, because the outer edges of the body really thin out. Honestly, I’ve never seen another guitar with this design. It does make for a nice feel when you’re playing while standing, since the thin contours kind of melt into your body. But sitting down is a different experience, and those thin edges can make it feel like your leg is getting sliced off.
The Hornets came in black, red, and sunburst finishes, and the latter are the most common, relatively speaking. The chromed-out control plates and pickup surrounds look upscale, while a swirling pearloid pickguard and clear plastic overlay gives the guitars a pseudo-psychedelic look.
Looking at the old Coral catalogs, it seems that Pete Townsend flirted with the Hornet models for a spell, and, more recently, Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys played one. But overall, these rare Hornets with their sculpted bodies faded into the passage of time, gone like a bubble on a stream. Or a corporate buyout.