Zen-on Classical

[PickerAUS]

Zen-on nowadays produces/licences sheet music. But sometime in the 70's they had guitars made for them.
The only clue I get for this one is 'Gut Guitar' which reminds me of the Suzuki Violin Co labels.
Does anyone know (Sneakypete?) if this was the case?
What maker/factory/year would this have come from.
Year estimate is mid70's from the seller but the catalogs I have acess to have no mention of Gut string guitars except steel dreadnaughts.
Thanks.

Label Says:
"Zen-on Gut Guitar
Seisaku-sho
Made in Japan
(and in very small lettering 9201)"

Sorry about the crap pics - they are from an eBay sale

[sneakypete]

they are all over the place here, must have been a LOT of em made...I`ve yet to see one that doesn`t look laminated. Thye generally go for very little money here. The 9201 sounds like the JIS...Japan Industrial Standard number...that first appeared on Yamaha Dynamics in 1963. I think there are many better nulon strings out there....I mean over here really...so I haven`t been tempted by a Zen On yet...but ya never know though there might be some great ones out there somewhere...been surprised a lot here.

[PickerAUS]

The guy sent me higher resolution pics and from that I can tell that it is a laminate. For $75AUS - $60US it's not worth it at it seems to be a basic model - no bindings and a bit too much user damage for my liking.

Is it possible to tell anything about the JIS number? Year? Factory perhaps?

[sneakypete]

if there is I`m not aware of it. I only know when it comes to Yamahas, it`s one way to tell the pre `63 and post `63...and thats just a ballpark year. Seems to be just a symbol used by companies...I still see the JIS around this part of Japan today so it`s used by all factories who fit the standard...just how they go about that I have no idea...pass a test, simply register with the gov`t, meet standards set by the gov`t...whatever thay may be...not sure.

[PickerAUS]

[sneakypete]

[PickerAUS]

[sneakypete]

yeah I know that site, but they themselves are aware the stuff they dig up can`t always be proven so be careful how much logic you place into all of it. I wouldn`t be rewriting this down as fact around the web, it`s just speculation. They also postulated a link between the Dynamics and Suzuki which makes sense considering Suzuki had been building nylon strings for a while prior to the Dynamics and again info from the Suzukis I own contradicts info on the Suzuki web site once linked at this site...they are just repeating what they hear around Japan, and as more time passes the less chance we have of contacting folks who were directly involved with guitars made at that time, either in factories making them or in shops selling them.
That site has the best museum of old Yamaha Dynamics I`ve seen on line and I believe I`ve linked it before here, lots of pics and data on members guitars. Though I was at the site just 2 days ago, I haven`t looked at the part where members list their guitars, but last time I looked nobody had a Dynamic with a 3 digit serial like my #50 export model, I haven`t posted any of mine there because of the language thing nor have I posted pics but I did get my wife to ask questions there before. I haven`t found a better site in Japan for Dynamics and I check in at least once a week to see what members are up to but I am careful about what I repeat on the web, just because it`s on line doesn`t mean it`s fact.

[PickerAUS]