"Taro" guitar

[mmonster]

I have a guitar I bought off a friend 20 years ago.It is a strat copy with maple neck and a natural finish.It is quite heavy and plays better than any squire I have played.The only name on it is TARO but I can find nothing anywhere except I saw a TARO acoustic on e-bay from Canada.i am also in Canada so it could be brand only sold here.I have seen Mann guitars that were made by Ibanez but sold under the Mann brand name that is supposeed to be canadian only.

[VintAxe]

Hey mmonster,

You probably know everything I know about Taro guitars but I'll share what I do know . Taros were imported into Canada from Japan in the 1970's. The Taro brandname was used on classical guitars as well as copies of American classic solidbodies. I think the Taro brandname was probably exclusively Canadian but I'm not positive about that. Sorry, but that pretty much exhausts what I know about this brand. Can someone else help out here? It would be great to know the Japanese company that produced these instruments. sb

[cheepaxes]

If we could see some pictures of one or more of those solidbody electrics we might be able to make a good guess as to which company made them.

[mmonster]

how do I add a picture here?

[cheepaxes]

[img]http://www.scottmcknight.com/lpaul.jpg[/img]

Well I just attempted it for the first time. When you click the reply button there are a bunch of buttons for "quote, code... URL." Click the IMG button and enter the URL of a place where the image can be found on line. Click the IMG button again to close the reference. This means you have to have a server somewhere on the web where you can stash the picture. Maybe there's an easier way - I don't know.

Now let's see whether I did it correctly. Is there a picture of an LP with this post?

-Scott

[cheepaxes]

Musta did something wrong...

-Scott

[VintAxe]

Hey guys,

I posted instructions for posting images on VintAxe in the Message Board Help and Guidelines section. If these instructions are not working for you please let me know so that I can make them more accurate. Suggestions on how to improve the instructions would be most appreciated. sb

[mmonster]

here's a pic

[VintAxe]

Hey mmonster,

Thanks for the picture. Although many important elements of the guitar are not shown in the picture, one thing that does stand out to me is that wide, relatively short truss rod cover. I think this cover will be one key element in identifying the origin of you guitar since anyone trying to do an accurate strat copy would not have used a cover like this.

I took a quick look at some later 1970's Japanese catalogs and found only two companies using a truss rod cover like yours: El Degas and Aria (not Aria Pro II). Since you have the guitar in hand, I would start by trying to match your instrument to the Strat copies produced by these two companies in the late 70's. There are probably other companies that used this cover that I'm not aware of, but this would be a start. Good luck, sb

[Bob K]

That's a great picture!

[RapterX]

I also have a TARO guitar. its a Cream Solid-body Taro Les Paul with Black Inlays and Gold Hardware. I wanna know stuff about this guitar, but i cant find anything about it on the net. I wanna knoe about the taro Company!!!

[cheepaxes]

Well, this thread has resurfaced after a couple years. Interesting :) I clicked on it because I just read an interview with Candaian guitarist Colin Cripps, in whihc he says his first guitar was a Taro Tele copy.

-Scott

[KB]

I was looking into selling my prized Taro today out of financial need. And as I research for price-point info I realize how rare and hence awesome my Taro is. Have a look...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34381862@N03/3199883002/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34381862@N03/3199037141/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34381862@N03/3199037101/

... feel free to email me to chat or make an offer on this Canadian beaut.

Kelly

[Dwoody01]

I too am the proud owner of a Taro. Mine is a Resonator.

[jedistar]