60s Japanese Sandtron Guitar -- Totally Bizarre!

by **concrete_charlie** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 6:57 pm

Hey all, I'm a new member to the forum and after years of collecting, playing and appreciating 60s guitars, I thought I'd climb out of my cave and start to share what I know. OK, so I have a guitar here that has me totally stumped. It's a 60s Japan guitar, labeled Sandtron. Really weird! No truss rod, two input jacks, and a very odd body style (also that thing on the headstock!). Any information would be really appreciated!

I started to write a blog about my strange collection and I wrote about the guitar here:

There are more pictures and a description of the guitar on my blog. I would appreciate getting some opinions.

by **selkentvintageaxeman** » Fri Nov 04, 2011 5:52 pm

That neck is definitely a Teisco neck as its the same as on my Teisco Starway 64 E-100.

...and the pick-ups (even though they dont have the gold-foil) are 99.9% Teisco too.

As is the "Steel Reinforced Neck" neckplate.

All in all I'd say its probably a short run order made for a U.S importer, by Teisco.

The same thing happens today with the Chinese factories.

Sometimes a guitar shop will just order, say only a run of 20 guitars, of its own design, but with the shop name logo on the headstock.

by **concrete_charlie** » Fri Nov 04, 2011 9:22 pm

A million thanks for chiming in! Thanks man! I was starting to worry that if the members of this board couldn't figure this one out, then I'd never solve this mystery. I agree that the fret markers made me think Teisco. I also agree about the short order run too.

Does anyone know if Teisco necks were made without truss rods? And if so, does anyone know the years they were made without truss rods? And what about that "Steel Reinforced Neck" plate? Was that a Matsumoku thing? How about Teiscos and that set neck/neck plate combo?

And do the pot codes and/or switches give away the manufacturer? I put some new pics up of the electronics. The pot codes read “873J” and all the switches are labeled “Tokyo Okazawa.”

To give you all an idea of the comments I've received on my site, I've had opinions that range from an early Carvin guitar, to a Wurlitzer, to an early Guyatone, to a high quality Kawai! I've love for more folks to chime in, this guitar just fascinates me!

by **selkentvintageaxeman** » Sat Nov 05, 2011 9:19 am

My Teisco E-100 is the earlier, pre-Tulip, model with the same neck as yours and it also doesnt have a truss-rod (but an arrow-straight neck...and its strung with 11's!), and also that weird half-fixed, half-bolted neck.

The neck plate is circular.

I know that Teisco DID have that phrase "STEEL REINFORCED NECK" from 65 onwards when they introduced the Tulip style guitars.

Strangely, they went within 1 year from making guitars with necks like tree trunks and no truss rod, to making guiutars with very slim and slinky necks WITH a truss rod (adjustable at the body end).

It was also the post-65 guitars which had your type of pick ups, and so yours is a crossover between the two styles, which more or less to my mind dates it exactly to 64/65.

If I knew how to put a picture up of my guitar...I would!

by **concrete_charlie** » Sat Nov 05, 2011 5:02 pm

Thanks for the info! Those necks without truss rods had to be thick to support the pull of the strings.
You're the first person to actually place a date on this guitar. VintAxe helped me post the pics and I'm sure he'd help you too. Can you take a look at the pots and switches of your Teiscos and see if the codes and names are similar?

by **VintAxe** » Sun Nov 06, 2011 10:30 am

Hi selkentvintageaxeman. Just send your pictures to steve@vintaxe.com and I'll add them to your post.

by **concrete_charlie** » Thu Nov 10, 2011 8:12 pm

by **concrete_charlie** » Sun Nov 13, 2011 9:06 pm

Hi everyone, I just wanted to give an update since this guitar is a tough nut to figure out. This past weekend I went to the Philly guitar show and visited all the Japanese guys who come to all the shows to buy American guitars. Most of these buyers speak very little english, and don't know a lot about their domestic guitar history, but there were two separate guys who felt they knew about this Sandtron. Both were in agreement that the Sandtron was a prototype, probably left over when Kawai bought up Teisco. It makes sense since this guitar has this mix of old (like no truss rod) and new. They felt that either this was a finished prototype or an unfinished one that Kawai completed. They said the headstock was most likely an attempt to copy Italian designs, and another guy from Delaware mentioned that the tuners look like copies of Van Ghent (sp?) tuners. The odd pickguard and switches were probably the way they finished the guitar so they could drill and redrill as needed, like a breadboard when you work on designs for effects pedals! Lastly, the same nice Delaware guy said that the same type of pickguard was found on the Sharp 5 guitars from the era. Anyway, thanks for your opinions and ideas everyone. I won't close the book on this one yet, but I'm calming down! Also, we made a video demo of the Sandtron and two other vintage guitars if you're interested in hearing the clean tone. Next weekend I'll post some demos of the Sandtron through a small cranked tube amp and maybe a fuzz pedal, or two.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeY169Gs_5s

by **Big Beat** » Mon Dec 19, 2011 5:48 pm

Never saw one like this! But I would agree it's probably a short-run Teisco.

The tuners are actually not all that rare, I have seen them on various Japanese guitars, they're not really a clue. And they don't look like Van Ghents to me.

by **concrete_charlie** » Tue Dec 20, 2011 7:28 pm

Thanks for your input Big Beat, you're like a legend in my world! Seriously! You had one of the first great websites on bizarre guitars, and I always loved your collection.

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