Mystery Kent hollowbody

[mcurrie]

I just bought this a week or two ago and I haven't been able to find out much information on it. The only writing on it is Kent on the headstock and Kent on the underside of the Bigsby copy. Nothing in the neck pocket, on the neck, on or under the pickups or inside of the body (took the pickups out and used a mirror). T and V are scripted on the controls and the input jack is located on the side, 90 degrees to the strings (if you were sitting with the guitar level, the cord would go straight down to the floor).

Thanks for any info anyone can provide (year, manufacturer, etc.).

Mark Currie

[VintAxe]

Hi Mark.

These 335 copies are tough to ID because it seems every Japanese company made one.

I'm sure you've already discovered that Kent was a brand name used by Buegeleisen & Jacobson, a musical instrument distributor in New York City. Consequently, the Kent name can appear on guitars sourced from different factories. I think the early Kents were built by Guyatone but I'm not sure who built the laminated guitars of the later 60's (does anybody know?).

I don't think true copy guitars branded Kent appeared until 1970 so yours is likely an early 70's model. I do have a B&J counter catalog from 1972 and the Kent brand is no longer offered. It is replaced with a brand called Lero. Unfortunately I don't own a 1970 or 71 Kent catalog to determine if your guitar was being offered but chances are good that this is when it was produced.

In terms of manufacturer, your guitar has a lot of similarities to the Matsumoku made Aria 335 copies, but it has enough differences that I'm not convinced it's Matsumoku.

Does anyone else have thoughts on this one?

[mcurrie]

Thanks for the response. I was aware of the distribution thing with B&J. A friend of mine mentioned that he figured it was from the early '70's at one point.

I'm not that familiar with the Japanese manufacturers, but would the guitar be a collection of parts made in different plants? ie. tremelo, pickups, switches, etc. all coming from different plants and the final plant built the neck and body and put everything together? Just wondering if the way the pickups are built or any other thing like that would narrow down who actually made it?

As for the guitar itself, it plays nice, it's comfortable and is in amazing shape for the year. I took it into my local guitar shop yesterday and had the tech look over it quickly (he was on his way out the door when I walked in). The only issue he saw were a couple of raised frets.

Anyway, thanks again for the response. Hopefully someone else has some info on it as well.

Mark Currie

[VintAxe]

Yeah, different companies sourced parts from the same suppliers. That is what makes identification so difficult.

I just took a closer look at the Lero and it uses the exact Bigsby style trem unit as your Kent. However, in virtually every other respect, the Lero is different. Split block inlays, pickup selector switch moved to behind the pickguard, jack by the control knobs, etc.

I've got one more lead. This guy appears to have a copy of the 1970 Kent catalog. He also states he is willing to sell scans of catalog pages for $5. It may be worth showing him a picture of your guitar to see if it is in the 1970 catalog.

[mcurrie]

Yeah, I figured as much, but figured it'd be worth a shot. I just wish there was some other markings, inside or out. I emailed that guy with pictures of the guitar last week and haven't heard anything back. Maybe I'll send a followup, to see if it's in the '70 catalog.

As for the (unlikely) Matsumoku connection, I read about his neck construction technique. I would guess that it was copied by many other makers at the time though, so it really wouldn't count.

Thanks again.

Mark Currie

[Bassassin]

For what it's worth, I don't think it's a Matsumoku - Mats tend to have some quite specific details that make them recognisable - usually the "Steel Adjustable" type neckplate & truss rod cover shape.

Neither are present on this guitar but what it does have is interesting. The shield-shaped neckplate pops up from time to time on 60s & very early 70s guitars, and hasn't as yet been pinned down to a specific manufacturer, although it's been associated with Fujigen - as has the unusual 2-ply truss rod cover. These appear on some late 60s Ibanez semis - like this model 1910 from 1969:

http://www.break-even.org/six2/guitarpi ... red-la.jpg

Ibanez guitars from this era are believed to be from Fujigen, and it's not unreasonable to assume the one we're talking about is from the same place, based on the similarities. As always, it's a circumstantial similarity meaning it's more an idea than an ID, but we don't have a lot else to go on as yet.

It's an interesting question about different factories making different parts - and that was certainly the case. It's very hard to be specific because there is no record of early Japanese guitar manufacture but you might find some identifying branding on components.

There are a few known outside sources for hardware & electronics - Maxon supplied a lot of pickups, Gotoh (spelled Goto on early examples) made tuners, bridges & pickups etc, & Chu Sin/Chushin was apparently originally a light-engineering company which supplied hardware, before moving into manufacturing entire instruments. These brands sometimes appear on components but unfortunately more often than not they are unbranded.

It's incredibly common to find identical parts on Japanese guitars from numerous different factories - this is one of the factors that can make identifying some guitars so frustrating. To complicate it even further, it also appears that necks & bodies didn't always come from the same factory, particularly on the early instruments.

Jon.

[mcurrie]

I have no idea if the truss rod cover was a replacement, added at sometime later either. It'd be nice if I could at least find some other marking/tag on it other than Kent and Made in Japan somewhere on the guitar. It's fun though, trying to figure this stuff out. So far, while searching, I've found out that two friends of mine either own a Kent (banjo) or have owned a Kent (mandolin) at some time or another.

I wonder why the Japanese guitar world is so secretive though. Even in the (totally) unrelated topic of Yairi acoustics (I've got an FY-84), trying to figure out the relationship between the 2 or possibly 3 Yairi's is very hard. Many false leads, dead-ends, etc. that people seem to run into.

Thanks for the info. I'm trying to piece together every bit of information I can get and then maybe narrow it down enough. Either way, it's a fun guitar to play.

Mark Currie

[wietse]

i own a SG model with the same shield shaped neckplate, excellent guitar with a pair of maxon pickups.
butone of the european guitar guru's of cheap guitars http://www.lordbizarre.com
suspects it to be a zen on, strangly enough that man is almost always right, he's te kind of man who takes a guitar of unknown origin apart to check for markings.
he only has to look at a potmeter and kan tell you where it's made and in wich era.
my SG has in the neckpocket an circled Y stamped.

[jsbguitar]

[mcurrie]

I sent an email to Lordbizarre, to see what he thought about it. I'm still waiting to hear back from a few other people that were recommended here as well.

It's the only experience I've had with zero fret guitars and it seems to work all right. I do see what some of the complaints about fret wear on the zero fret and having to change the fret instead of a more simple nut exchange though, but I like it.

Oddly enough, the more I've been playing it since I bought it, the better it's been staying in tune. Could be just loosening up the tremelo is help or something, I don't know.

Mark Currie

[cheepaxes]

I've heard it said that a lot of the problems with tuning and vibratos are due to poor maintenance, and that oiling the parts that tend to bind up will allow the vibrato to return to its original position/tuning better. Perhaps the act of using it some has caused it to operate more freely.

-Scott

[VintAxe]

Well, digging through one of my bins I turned up a couple of Kent catalog pages and a Price List from 1978. No hollowbodies in the set but at least we know the name lived on until the end of the 70's.

[mcurrie]

[VintAxe]

[mcurrie]

Thanks for the info.

I was looking more into the possibility that it might be a Matsomoku and came across some similar designs.

The Epiphone EA 250/5102T looks very similar to mine. The bridge/tremelo are different, but mostly everything else looks identical (from pictures anyway, I'd like to see one in person and compare the two of them).

One thing I forgot to mention and I only realized that it might be a distinguishing feature after reading about the Epiphones, is the existence of a small block going from the top to back, just below the bridge. I'm not sure if all hollowbodies have this or not?

The wiki page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphone_5102T_/_EA-250

for the Epiphone mentions,

"nearly hollow: just a 3/4" square block from top to bottom below the bridge"

which leads me to think that not every hollowbody has this. Any thoughts on that?

Mark Currie