ES335 Style Stereo Guitar

[stratguy56]

I have a ES335 style double cutaway. My parents bought it for me around 1967 to 1968 in Baltimore in a small music store. The name on the headstock is "Ideal" like the toy manufacturer. It has split single coil pick ups and plays in stereo only. It has no serial numbers or origin. Also has a Bigsby vibrato. Color is a green sunburst. Anybody ever heard of one of these please let me know. I have never seen another guitar like it and have know idea who made it. Go to address below look under ES-335 style stereo Ideal japanese for a picture. http://www.vintageguitar.com/gallery/default.asp

[wietse]

nice unusual hollowbody, looks to me a teisco/kawai made guitar that greenburst color was quite popular with that brand, and the pickup configuration looks like that of the spectrum.
i love it, enjoy playing it .

[stratguy56]

will do wietse, thanks for your help

[VintAxe]

Hi stratguy56,

It is very likely that wietse is correct and your guitar was built by Kawai.

I see one other possibility; it may have been made by Greco. Here's a picture of a Greco 335 copy that has the same trem unit and switch plate as your guitar. Japanese companies bought hardware from the same suppliers so there is nothing definitive here, just another possibility. Also, check out my Sekova in the Guitar Gallery, it takes the idea of split pickups to the extreme.