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First man guitars were owned and operated by Kazuo Morioka who was a veteran in the Japanese guitar world by the time he started this company. He is credited as making the first electronic organ in Japan and worked for Kawai in the late 50's as an engineer.
He left Kawai in the early 60's to be a sales manager for Teisco while he also owned a large music shop in Kobe.
In '67 when Kawai bought out Teisco he decided to start his own brand of guitars made in the Teisco Gen Gakki factory which was one of the biggest guitar building factories in Japan at the time making guitars for many different brands for domestic and export.
During this period of upheaval in the Japanese guitar manufacturing world this factory made some VERY cool for a few more years until it itself closed in 1970.
In April '67 Kazuo started First man and hit the ground running with a few very innovative and cool designs. They made a series of hollow violin shaped guitars and basses with scroll headstocks that are VERY cool.
Almost straight away First man started making "Mosrites" along with their own designs and in '68 became the "official" Japanese Mosrite manufacturer, not because they had any agreements or licences from Mosrite or Semie, but because they started replicating Mosrites so thoroughly and using the Mosrite name and logo, that people just accepted that they were somehow affiliated with the actual Mosrite.
no case
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Listed | 3 years ago |
Condition | Good (Used) Good condition items function properly but may exhibit some wear and tear.learn more |
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