Meet Nelson, My New President Guitar

[Aden]

Hey folks, I picked up this hollowbody electric guitar in Cape Town on Friday morning, the very day after Nelson Mandela left his body. It is Japanese made with a bolt on neck and bigsby tremelo. It has a badge saying "President" on the headstock, so his name is Nelson in honour of the great man.

I can't seem to find any info about it at all and would appreciate any help and/or info you can give! Here are some pics...

[Steve DeRosa]

You might want to check this out for comparison purposes:

http://www.robwesley.com/guitars/lis...%201960's/

Your guitar is definitely of Japanese manufacture, most likely by Teisco, and IMO no older than 1967 (FWIW the post '66 Goya Rangemaster also featured "dropped" f-holes and I'm thinking that they simply followed suit); other than the stamped logo your pickups are identical to those in the gallery photos, and the Bigsby-knockoff tailpiece and Gibson-styled headstock were also in regular use on several Teisco-produced lines of the period. I remember these guitars well from back in the day (I've been playing since 1962); imported to the USA under several different brand names (the "Encore" brand featured an identically-styled logo) they were some of the better-made first-wave Japanese imports. While never a serious threat to even the low-end Gibson/Gretsch/Guild hollowbodies, at US$80-120 retail they represented a high value-per-dollar alternative to the Harmony and Kay beginner electrics, to the extent that they were in no small part responsible for the demise of both marques within a decade. As I assume you've discovered by now they can be quirky beasts, but if you've got a good tech they're well worth restoring. FYI those pickups come in at around 8.5-9K (about the same as an overwound PAF or really hot P-90) so you might want to consider putting in some high-quality controls (pots/switch), replacing the trem handle, and getting a good setup job - you can come away from this with a little rocker that'll wail like an Epiphone Casino on steroids...

My condolences to you and the people of the Republic of South Africa on your loss...

[Aden]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

You might want to check this out for comparison purposes:

http://www.robwesley.com/guitars/lis...%201960's/

Your guitar is definitely of Japanese manufacture, most likely by Teisco, and IMO no older than 1967 (FWIW the post '66 Goya Rangemaster also featured "dropped" f-holes and I'm thinking that they simply followed suit); other than the stamped logo your pickups are identical to those in the gallery photos, and the Bigsby-knockoff tailpiece and Gibson-styled headstock were also in regular use on several Teisco-produced lines of the period. I remember these guitars well from back in the day (I've been playing since 1962); imported to the USA under several different brand names (the "Encore" brand featured an identically-styled logo) they were some of the better-made first-wave Japanese imports. While never a serious threat to even the low-end Gibson/Gretsch/Guild hollowbodies, at US$80-120 retail they represented a high value-per-dollar alternative to the Harmony and Kay beginner electrics, to the extent that they were in no small part responsible for the demise of both marques within a decade. As I assume you've discovered by now they can be quirky beasts, but if you've got a good tech they're well worth restoring. FYI those pickups come in at around 8.5-9K (about the same as an overwound PAF or really hot P-90) so you might want to consider putting in some high-quality controls (pots/switch), replacing the trem handle, and getting a good setup job - you can come away from this with a little rocker that'll wail like an Epiphone Casino on steroids...

My condolences to you and the people of the Republic of South Africa on your loss...

Thanks for this info Steve! The setup actually seems pretty good, and I have the original trem handle, it was just off after cleaning Nelson up... Some high quality controls may be a great idea! What would you recommened?

[Steve DeRosa]

CTS, Bourns, Switchcraft - they're about as good as it gets for guitar...