Members Verne Andru Posted March 25, 2007 Members Posted March 25, 2007 I have an old 50's/60's 12 string I'm trying to sort out the pedigree of. From what I recall, all the department store brands were made by Harmony, Kay, Regal and the likes. Anyone know where the AGS guitars came from?
Members Verne Andru Posted March 25, 2007 Author Members Posted March 25, 2007 Here's what I got: It's a huge, and I mean HUGE dreadnought. The top is solid - spruce I think. The bottom part of the floating bridge is stock but I was using a modified bone nut in the picture here as the original didn't work very well. I've since replaced the bridge with an ebony one from a classical and that works much better. The wires and stuff are just some piezo contact mics so I can intonate it and tune it up. I believe AGS were sold by Woolworth's in the 60's and I have seen a few other's with that brand name, but so far I've not found anything on the net identifying who actually built them. Someone took the label off the inside, but when I was cleaning it just now, I found a small scrap - it's red, has the numbers 12 [that's all the label I have - might be more to the number, but it's gone] which is either a serial number or model number, and it says it's made in Japan so it can't be a Harmony, or Kay [i don't think]. It's a very strange guitar. Got it at a garage sale for $10. It has some really high-end accoutrement's, like the solid top and binding top and bottom, but then they did things like put the nut and some of the frets in the wrong place so it didn't tune or intonate worth shit when I got it. I did a fret dress, repositioned the nut and sanded the lacquer off the top and it's turning out to be a really sweet sounding guitar. One of the most dynamically responsive I've played with a great range of tones with very little effort.
Members denvertrakker Posted March 25, 2007 Members Posted March 25, 2007 I'm going to hazard a guess and suggest it may have come from one of the Japanese factories associated with Jack Westheimer - the importer of Teisco and Kingston brands and the creator of Cort. I used to own an Audition, which was another of Woolworth's house brands and certainly wasn't as fancy as your AGS, so maybe that was a higher-end brand for Woolworth.
Members Terry Allan Hall Posted March 26, 2007 Members Posted March 26, 2007 I'm going to hazard a guess and suggest it may have come from one of the Japanese factories associated with Jack Westheimer - the importer of Teisco and Kingston brands and the creator of Cort. I used to own an Audition, which was another of Woolworth's house brands and certainly wasn't as fancy as your AGS, so maybe that was a higher-end brand for Woolworth. On the nose...these were distributed by the Westheimer folks!
Members Verne Andru Posted March 27, 2007 Author Members Posted March 27, 2007 That's about as good a guess as any - thanks folks. I though Teisco was just solid-bodies, but I must admit to not being that well schooled in the brand. So, in theory, I should be able to track back through Jack Westheimer -> Teisco -> Kingston and find something similar. My understanding is, they had certain stock guitars they would put a different brand on to sell through different channels. If this theory holds, I should be able to find something very similar in some of those old catalogs - yes/no? A place to start, which is more than I had before. Thanks again. PS - "Re-Legalize Freedom" - amen to that!
Members DeepEnd Posted March 27, 2007 Members Posted March 27, 2007 Sorry, denvertrakker stole my post. Ignore this.
Members Terry Allan Hall Posted March 27, 2007 Members Posted March 27, 2007 That's about as good a guess as any - thanks folks. I though Teisco was just solid-bodies, but I must admit to not being that well schooled in the brand. Actually, they made solid-bodies, hollowbodies, acoustics, basses, banjos, mandolins, ukes, amps, synths, combo organs and at least one model of cuatro! So, in theory, I should be able to track back through Jack Westheimer -> Teisco -> Kingston and find something similar. My understanding is, they had certain stock guitars they would put a different brand on to sell through different channels. If this theory holds, I should be able to find something very similar in some of those old catalogs - yes/no? A place to start, which is more than I had before. Thanks again. Yeah, if you can find the catalogs, etc. Here's a start: http://www.teiscotwangers.com/ (electrics and basses) http://vintageguitarpro.com/teisco.shtml (some history) My 2nd ever electric: Bought an identical one to this from Gibson's Department Store (I think Gibson's eventually were bought out by Kresge, who later devolved into K-mart) brand new for $69.95...more knobs and sliders than Mission Control! PS - "Re-Legalize Freedom" - amen to that!
Members Verne Andru Posted March 27, 2007 Author Members Posted March 27, 2007 I did a quick search this AM and found this: No headstock pic tho. Guy claims it's a 1966 Teisco made Kawai 12 string acoustic. The body shape is close [this one has squarer shoulders], the bridge not even close [mine is height adjustable 2 piece with thumbscrews] but the tail piece appears to be identical. Top wood looks exact as well, but I'm not sure there's much difference between the looks of solid tops. Kresge's/K-Mart - I actually grew up as a K-kid. My dad managed Kresge's stores and opened/managed the first ever K-Mart back in 68-ish. Made it to Vice President of K-Mart Canada before retiring. I'll ask him about Gibson's next time we chat as I've never heard mention of that before.
Members Verne Andru Posted April 30, 2007 Author Members Posted April 30, 2007 There's an update on this project here for those interested. PS - I chatted with my dad and he doesn't remember a retail chain called Gibsons. Doesn't mean it doesn't exist, just that he doesn't remember.
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