Kasuga Guitar

[evo82]

Hi everyone, i hope some one can help me.
Ive had this Kasuga Gibson copy/Jazz Archtop electric guitar for about 15 years...




...and ive never been able to find out anything about it.

It plays so well, either acousticaly or amped up the sound/feel and tone is exellent...with no problems with the pickups or electrics.
The neck is realy nice to play and feels good in the hand. There are some chips, dings and scratches (But nothing serious) which were genuinely on the guitar when i bought it, in a way i think this adds a certain character to the guitar for its age. Nothing has been changed or modded to the guitar, ive just kept it clean and changed the strings and fast fretted when needed. I've not realy played that much, as ive not had the time, which is a shame as it is such a beautiful guitar. I have however keep it cleaned and in the same condition as when i had it.

Given that i dont use the guitar anymore, i would like to find out what year it was made/ the model number and what it would be worth....as this beautiful guitar will then be up for sale.
If you are interested in this guitar then you can contact me on...
mark_donovan@hotmail.co.uk
and i will answer any questions that you may have.

[Bassassin]

Kasuga Gakki was a guitar manufacturer based in Nagoya, not as high-profile as your Matsumokus & Fujigens, but good enough that they manufactured for Tokai, and later CF Martin & BC Rich, amongst others.

Kasugas were sold in Japan under the Heerby & Ganson brands, and like most other Japanese manufacturers, they sold importers' own brands around the world.

As far as a specific ID for your guitar's concerned, from the logo, trc & headstock detail I'd guess it's early 70s - but there are very few Kasuga catalogues available, particularly not from the early 70s, so finding a model number & exact date will likely be tricky. I have a Kasuga Rickenbacker 4001 copy, and I've yet to find a specific identification for it.

I have seen a couple of Kasuga ES175 copies, they do quite well on Ebay, both because the style seems to be sought after, plus the quality of the brand is starting to get some recognition.

Btw - how come the tuners are on upside-down?

Jon.

[evo82]

Hi Bassassin

thanks for your post, i was starting to think that no one had seen a guitar like mine before As for the tuners...i honestly dont know, the guitar has never been changed or altered in any way, the guitar is as i bought it years ago.
On the back of the head stock there are no previous holes where the tuners have been changed...i guess it was just made that way.

If as you say it is an early 70's model...then i am quite happy, to me that was in the ball park (so to speak) that i was thinking of.
If i do put it on evilbay i do hope that it would fly in an auction, and fetch the price that it would deserve.

Any idea what starting bid would be acceptable?

[Bassassin]

The tuners are definitely odd - I noticed the stringing going to the "wrong" sides of the post before I realised the actual machines are on upside-down. Free Sake in the Kasuga factory that day?

As far as starting bids are concerned, I'm probably not the best person to ask! I've sold a few guitars myself, but always bite the bullet and start at 99p, no reserve - I tend to think the secret is in presentation, information & a good, visible & searchable listing title. Collectable vintage guitars do seem to find their own "level".

However - it so happens that one of the Kasuga archtops I saw go through the 'Bay belonged to somebody I know from a different forum - it was a year ago, so the listing's now deleted, but I'll drop him a PM & see if he can remember what his went for, and I'll point him at this thread while I'm at it.

J.

[evo82]

do you know what i didnt even notice that, looking more closely at it...it dose look like there upside down/back to front. ill look into that, ive never changed anything on the guitar so what ever was done was before i had it.
the strings are the wrong way as i normaly restring my ibanez, which has the tuners all on the one side....i came to restring this and i went i need more practice i guess lol
As for your mate, that be great thanks. Id love to know what his guitar sold for that would be interesting....its just sad that this ole girl has to be sold but im not playing it and it should realy have someone to love and play it more often than i do.

[evo82]

Ive contacted one company who specialize in old/vintage guitars, hopefully i'll be able to find out an idea of how much my Kasuga's worth...as soon as i know i will put it on ebay.

I hope that it goes for a respectful price, and that someone can enjoy this guitar as much as i have.

[sneakypete]

Kasuga acoustics show up on line here regularly. Just sayin`

[evo82]

Hi sneakypete, do you mean ones like mine or do you mean Kasuga's in general? Just that ive not been on this forum before, and ive not realy seen another Kasuga like mine (thats not to say that there arnt anymore out there)

[sneakypete]

I mean Kasuga acoustics, yours is a hollow body isn`t it? Kasugas don`t appear to be rare here, though I own quite a few MIJs, none are Kasugas.

[evo82]

Well ive had no luck with local guitar shops, they've been keen enough to pass me onto the next guitar shop...(oh this one will know...oh this one will know) but truth is no one knows.

Im stuck as to how much my Kasuga is actualy worth, and the problem is what do i ask for a starting bid? Its to good a guitar to go for cheap silly money.

Any Kasuga buffs out there i need your help

[VintAxe]

Hey evo82,

I don't know what your Kasuga is worth but here is what I'm thinking.

The gold standard for ES175 copies from this era is probably the Yamaha AE-11. The VG Price Guide value for this guitar is $700-$1,100 USD.

Kasuga is generally considered a 2nd tier outfit falling behind Yamaha and even builders like Matsumoku and Fujigen. I'm not saying this is reality, but it is a perception.

My hunch is your guitar will actually sell within the $350-$550 USD range in today's economy. You can certainly hope for more, but don't expect more. If you want to be conservative, put on a BIN price of $400 or $450 and see what happens. Your market value will come from the level of interest your auction generates. Good luck. sb

[Bassassin]

Did the guy I mentioned in an earlier post get in touch?

His guitar sold for £280 a year ago - the market is a bit more depressed now than it was then, but I'd still think that's the ballpark. Vintaxe's advice is good - but it's worth remembering that UK prices are still a little higher than those in the States.

As I said before, personally I always do 99p, no reserve auctions - regardless of what I hope or expect the instrument to sell for. Because of the inherent potentially massive risk of getting next-to-bugger-all for your guitar I would never actually recommend this - but I have observed that high start prices put bidders off, meaning that there's less of a last-minute scramble to drive up the final price. I'd avoid a BIN unless you are happy to accept a punter-enticing low price for the guitar - otherwise, you'll have to be lucky enough to find someone who's looking for your specific guitar.

I do think presentation is massively important - the best & most detailed photos you can take, as much honest information as you can provide. The item title needs to be very specific - use terms people will be using if they're searching for vintage Japanese guitars.

You do have to be circumspect about how you describe it though, since Ebay is getting increasingly inept at telling the difference between a copy and a counterfeit - your guitar is a copy of a Gibson ES175, however if you describe it as such in your title - Ebay will pull your auction for using a trademarked brand. It's fine to use those terms in the description, though. I also tend to run listings for 10 days, starting on a Thursday & finishing Sunday evening - typically Ebay's busiest time.

Anyway, as an example of what I'm talking about, this is a bass I sold a few months ago: Ebay item no. 120272445007

The pics were taken with a pretty cheap camera, in good natural light. The ones I used were chosen from about 40 I originally took - the beauty of digital photography! - and I cropped & resized them myself to retain clarity. If you upload large pics to Ebay & let the interface software resize them, they will look fuzzy & poor-quality. I paid a little extra to use Ebay's largest accepted image size (800 pixels) and 6 pics - but I think it's worth it.

The pink fluff is, of course optional.

Jon.

[VintAxe]

All excellent advice Jon. I intended to say put a $400 - $450 reserve on the auction, not BIN. Sorry bout that. sb

[evo82]

ive had no luck with finding anyone with a clue about an evaluation, so it will go onto ebay and ill let bidders decide...if you bid good luck

[VintAxe]

Good Luck evo82,

Once you get an auction uploaded be sure to put a link to your auction on the "eBay auctions and alerts" thread. Never hurts to direct anyone that might be reading Forum posts to your auction. sb