I was given a 1970's acoustic - does anyone have any info?
 

Hi everyone,

This is my first post here.

I just acquired a La Primera L20 acoustic guitar and I wanted to know if anyone has any info on this guitars. I just saw a old magazine ad for these guitars on Ebay!!

It looks really nice, the guitar was made in the late 70's I believe and is in really great condition.

It has a label on the inside of the sound hole and it state that it is a L 20 model.

I would love any info on these guitars...I want to get it a nice setup to make sure she is ready to play.

Thanks for any help -

LaBrea

Never heard of it.

I find nothing in a google search or even an ebay search.

Sorry

Thanks for your info...

I took some pics of the guitar and I got the image of the ad on Ebay...I hope this helps. The ad is from a 1978 magazine...

I see that my guitar has a very Gibson look to it...the head and the inlays on the neck.

Thanks again for any info...

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/h...mera1978ad.jpg

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/h...Laprimera1.jpg

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/h...laprimera2.jpg

String that bad boy up and let us know what she sounds like!

I hear ya brother...

It came with very old strings still on it and I wanted to clean her up and take her in to my guitar guy and see if he can set her up nicely,

The action was really high so hopefully he can bring it down some and I am really looking forward to hearing what it sounds like.

Would you call this guitar and dreadnought style guitar? I don't know what a dreadnought is...I love the way the guitar looks and it is quite heavy, I wonder what kind of woods were used?

Yes, for sure a Dred style.
The back and sides are East Indian Rosewood (though they could be a laminate) with a maple wedge on the back. Top is spruce of some sort, I'd vote Sitka.

Right on...thanks so much for your help!

I love this guitar!!

I just got it professionaly set-up and this guitar is so cool, I can't seem to pick up my other acoustics now!

The setup really improved the action and the guitar really sounds full and bright at the same time.

Thanks again for all the info...God Bless

I vaguely remember those La Primera guitars. They were entry-level guitars imported from Japan by Pennino Music. Pennino was a West coast music company/distributor who also imported a really sweet line of acoustic guitars called T. Haruo. Those guitars were gorgeous and used all solid wood. The higher-end Haruo's were laden with perfectly set abalone. They were handmade guitars crafted by one of Yamaha's top guitar makers ("Terry" Haruo) who left Yamaha to make his own line of guitars. That's why they look so much like the handmade Yamaha's from that era. Unfortunately, Haruo went out of business and that ended his run of affordable handmade guitars.

Anyway, I digress...

The first thing I noticed on your guitar is the Gibson "open book" headstock on that guitar, which means it was defintely made in Japan during the copy era of the 70's. That means it was made in one of 3 factories in Japan... Matsumoku, Hoshino, or FujiGen Gakki.

The second thing I looked at were the tuners from the photo of the back of the guitar, which pretty much affirms what I suspected. Those tuners are one of only two types of tuners used on Penco guitars during that time. The other tuners were the vintage Kluson style ones, which were mostly used on Penco electrics and archtops, but were also used on some of their top line acoustics for just one or two years.

So, based on what I'm seeing there I'm going to say your La Primera was one of the many "house brands" made at the Hoshino factory. While the top may or may not be solid spruce, the back and sides are almost defintely laminate. It doesn't matter, though... that's a beautiful guitar and a rare find.

If anybody is interested, here's some info on the T. Haruo guitars I prevuiously mentioned. I'll bet Yamaha Junkie would KILL for one of these...

http://www.cyrguitars.com/InstrumentListPage.html

http://www.kritmon.com/T_Haruo_guitars.html

I know that La Primera guitars were later made in Korea. I saw an L-16 for sale with the same type label as the one pictured above.

Above the "Made in Korea" it read "Imported by D.M.C."

It was a basic model, far less fancy than the one above, and it was not a dreadnought, more like a 00 size (body 18.25 inches long).

The tuners were the tree-style all-in-one pieces.

Also, the headstock was flat at the top, not the open book shape.

Hope this helps anyone looking for information.

It is always amazing the wealth of knowledge that this place has! Thanks for your contribution!:up:

I can't add anything substantial but I'm betting the three piece back and fretboard inlays indicates it was their top of the line model.