Japanese Vintage Guitars and Gear

The Japanese guitar industry in the '60s and '70s followed an interesting trajectory. At first, Japanese factories were tasked with building cheap emulations of American designs. As time went on, their output grew more unique and bizarre due to a particular Japanese artistic flair combined with an impulse to out-do mainstream American guitars they were emulating. This resulted in wild models from the likes of Teisco which featured exaggerated body angles and totally unique finishes and pickup configurations. Moving into the mid-'70s, the craftsmanship found at Japanese factories like the Fujigen plant rivaled that found in the US. This ushered in the controversial "lawsuit era" where Japanese brands like Ibanez built extremely close replicas of Fender, Gibson and other guitar brands.