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ITEM:
Here’s an unusual, recent guitar safari find: a vintage mid 1960s MIJ Kingston “Swinga” style, AKA an S1T Hound Dog model offset double cutaway axe in its original ocean blue painted finish. The Kingston badged guitars were manufactured by one of the Kawai Teisco factories in Japan. Guitar retains 100% originality. Unfortunately, a real crusty non protective gig bag was included with this, which we promptly tossed, so we’ll try to secure a better gig bag for her. She has a hard tail bridge/tailpiece assembly, which is fairly unusual for this era of Japanese made gear. The elongated, oversized headstock is very typical of Teisco guitars.
**SEE OUR RECENT VIDEO**!
DESCRIPTION:
We’ve graded this gal overall as very good, rather than player grade. Obviously, there exists some wear & tear from the past 55 years of light play wear. Cosmetically, there were some finish cracks on both sides of the neck heel where it joins the body. These were stabilized with injected glue & clamped, then the finish was buffed out to make everything evenly smooth. The finish loss is not into the wood core, as the undercoat was thick enough to buff out evenly by our very talented luthier. All chrome was cleaned & polished, all electronics were tested, cleaned & re-checked for functionality. Tuning gears & buttons work easily, intonation is stable & the guitar plays easily up & down the rosewood board. In researching this instrument, it was very difficult to find this specific model, so we are loosely calling this a “Swinga” style MIJ Kingston/Kawai/Teisco badged guitar. The actual Swinga had an entirely different, very radical body style.
CONDITION:
Guitar is in very good overall condition, both cosmetically & electronically. Visually, the combo of this particular color-way & the faux tortoise pick guard jumps out at the viewers eye immediately. This is a cool, funky looking instrument that will immediately attract the audience to the lucky next owner who’s playing this axe.
There are some assorted smallish dings & some finish loss on the body, primarily on the horns next to the heel of the neck as mentioned previously. There are no breaks, no big chips, no buckle rash, nothing that negates any of this axes’ positives, nor any defects that impact playability.
Frets have loads of meat left, neck is nice & smooth throughout. Controls may need more Deoxit to minimize the occasional scratchiness caused by the old original pots. Not a big deal, you have to expect that from a guitar of this age.
DIMENSIONS/SPECS:
Body is 40" long x 13.75" wide x 1.25" deep; neck is 18.125" long x 1.625" wide at the 1st fret, 1.875" wide at the 12th fret, & 1.9375" wide at the 17th fret. Scale length is 24.75”. The nut width is 1.625".
Guitar weighs in at a comfortable 6lbs, 7oz.
Instrument features 21 frets on an unbound slab rosewood fingerboard with small oval mother of pearl(possibly abalone?) inlays; 1 single coil pickup w adjustable pole pieces on a beautiful faux tortoise pick guard with loads of swirl & earth tone colors; 1 single volume control stamped “V”& 1 single tone control stamped “T” & a top mounted input jack all on top of a chrome plate; chrome roller bridge & chrome tailpiece that enables top loaded strings for easy restringing; round adjustable truss rod at base of neck above the pick guard; 4 bolt chrome neck plate; 6 in line open gear tuning machines with nickel or chrome plated buttons; “Kingston” badge on head stock & a chrome string tree.
NOTES & THE FINE PRINT:
ALL SALES ARE FINAL - NO RETURNS
ALL ITEMS ARE SOLD IN AS-IS CONDITION
All our instruments are in full working condition. This instrument was professionally inspected, repaired & had a full pro set-up performed by Dave Fecca Guitar Repair…...so this sonic beast is ready to perform!
This instrument is immediately playable now & will hopefully give someone many years of infinite enjoyment. Ideal for surf rock, blues, etc.
Obviously, this is being sold as is, where is, with no implied warranties or guarantees of any kind whatsoever. Since this is a vintage, electronic musical instrument, our normal return policy does not apply to this item. It cannot be returned to us. We package professionally & this instrument will be insured for the full valuation at our expense. We accurately represent all of our items. If you have questions please feel free to contact us for an in hand description. Also, take a look at our website, shop.ellisantique.com
You may also wish to check out our feedback, which is currently 15,000+, and has accumulated for the past 24 years on eBay under the user name, ellisantique.
PLEASE CONSIDER OUR PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AS AN EXTENSION OF OUR HIGHLY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT.
VIDEO RECORDING SPECS:
This was recorded using an iPhone 14 Pro using only natural diffused light & this KINGSTON MIJ guitar was played amplified using a Vintage1964 Fender black face Deluxe Reverb, unmic'ed and with a small amount of reverb, no other effects.. uitar was demonstrated by our dear friend, professional musician, composer, guitarist, luthier & co-founder of recording artists April Mae & The June Bugs, the extraordinary Dave "Catfish" Fecca. Dave played this axe in the front room at our bricks & mortar shop, Ellis Antiques, also the home of Ace's Axe Attic. Sure hope you enjoy his pickin' on this unusual axe!
Shipping insurance is included. Instrument will be boxed in a new, heavy guitar box & will be shipped via FedEx. Or, this can be picked up locally at our physical bricks and mortar shop in Collingswood, NJ 08108.
Please inquire regarding international shipping rates prior to purchase or making us an offer. This item is subject to prior sale. If you have any interest in purchasing this fine instrument, please feel free to make us an offer. We're full time general antique dealers and negotiating is a large part of our business. Just saying……
and thank you for reading!
ELG
11.30.2022
Small gtr box
46x19x7
Listed 12.3.2022
Vid added 07.14.2023
| Listed | a year ago |
| Condition | |
| Brand | |
| Model |
|
| Finish |
|
| Year |
|
| Made In |
|
ITEM:
Here’s an unusual, recent guitar safari find: a vintage mid 1960s MIJ Kingston “Swinga” style, AKA an S1T Hound Dog model offset double cutaway axe in its original ocean blue painted finish. The Kingston badged guitars were manufactured by one of the Kawai Teisco factories in Japan. Guitar retains 100% originality. Unfortunately, a real crusty non protective gig bag was included with this, which we promptly tossed, so we’ll try to secure a better gig bag for her. She has a hard tail bridge/tailpiece assembly, which is fairly unusual for this era of Japanese made gear. The elongated, oversized headstock is very typical of Teisco guitars.
**SEE OUR RECENT VIDEO**!
DESCRIPTION:
We’ve graded this gal overall as very good, rather than player grade. Obviously, there exists some wear & tear from the past 55 years of light play wear. Cosmetically, there were some finish cracks on both sides of the neck heel where it joins the body. These were stabilized with injected glue & clamped, then the finish was buffed out to make everything evenly smooth. The finish loss is not into the wood core, as the undercoat was thick enough to buff out evenly by our very talented luthier. All chrome was cleaned & polished, all electronics were tested, cleaned & re-checked for functionality. Tuning gears & buttons work easily, intonation is stable & the guitar plays easily up & down the rosewood board. In researching this instrument, it was very difficult to find this specific model, so we are loosely calling this a “Swinga” style MIJ Kingston/Kawai/Teisco badged guitar. The actual Swinga had an entirely different, very radical body style.
CONDITION:
Guitar is in very good overall condition, both cosmetically & electronically. Visually, the combo of this particular color-way & the faux tortoise pick guard jumps out at the viewers eye immediately. This is a cool, funky looking instrument that will immediately attract the audience to the lucky next owner who’s playing this axe.
There are some assorted smallish dings & some finish loss on the body, primarily on the horns next to the heel of the neck as mentioned previously. There are no breaks, no big chips, no buckle rash, nothing that negates any of this axes’ positives, nor any defects that impact playability.
Frets have loads of meat left, neck is nice & smooth throughout. Controls may need more Deoxit to minimize the occasional scratchiness caused by the old original pots. Not a big deal, you have to expect that from a guitar of this age.
DIMENSIONS/SPECS:
Body is 40" long x 13.75" wide x 1.25" deep; neck is 18.125" long x 1.625" wide at the 1st fret, 1.875" wide at the 12th fret, & 1.9375" wide at the 17th fret. Scale length is 24.75”. The nut width is 1.625".
Guitar weighs in at a comfortable 6lbs, 7oz.
Instrument features 21 frets on an unbound slab rosewood fingerboard with small oval mother of pearl(possibly abalone?) inlays; 1 single coil pickup w adjustable pole pieces on a beautiful faux tortoise pick guard with loads of swirl & earth tone colors; 1 single volume control stamped “V”& 1 single tone control stamped “T” & a top mounted input jack all on top of a chrome plate; chrome roller bridge & chrome tailpiece that enables top loaded strings for easy restringing; round adjustable truss rod at base of neck above the pick guard; 4 bolt chrome neck plate; 6 in line open gear tuning machines with nickel or chrome plated buttons; “Kingston” badge on head stock & a chrome string tree.
NOTES & THE FINE PRINT:
ALL SALES ARE FINAL - NO RETURNS
ALL ITEMS ARE SOLD IN AS-IS CONDITION
All our instruments are in full working condition. This instrument was professionally inspected, repaired & had a full pro set-up performed by Dave Fecca Guitar Repair…...so this sonic beast is ready to perform!
This instrument is immediately playable now & will hopefully give someone many years of infinite enjoyment. Ideal for surf rock, blues, etc.
Obviously, this is being sold as is, where is, with no implied warranties or guarantees of any kind whatsoever. Since this is a vintage, electronic musical instrument, our normal return policy does not apply to this item. It cannot be returned to us. We package professionally & this instrument will be insured for the full valuation at our expense. We accurately represent all of our items. If you have questions please feel free to contact us for an in hand description. Also, take a look at our website, shop.ellisantique.com
You may also wish to check out our feedback, which is currently 15,000+, and has accumulated for the past 24 years on eBay under the user name, ellisantique.
PLEASE CONSIDER OUR PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AS AN EXTENSION OF OUR HIGHLY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT.
VIDEO RECORDING SPECS:
This was recorded using an iPhone 14 Pro using only natural diffused light & this KINGSTON MIJ guitar was played amplified using a Vintage1964 Fender black face Deluxe Reverb, unmic'ed and with a small amount of reverb, no other effects.. uitar was demonstrated by our dear friend, professional musician, composer, guitarist, luthier & co-founder of recording artists April Mae & The June Bugs, the extraordinary Dave "Catfish" Fecca. Dave played this axe in the front room at our bricks & mortar shop, Ellis Antiques, also the home of Ace's Axe Attic. Sure hope you enjoy his pickin' on this unusual axe!
Shipping insurance is included. Instrument will be boxed in a new, heavy guitar box & will be shipped via FedEx. Or, this can be picked up locally at our physical bricks and mortar shop in Collingswood, NJ 08108.
Please inquire regarding international shipping rates prior to purchase or making us an offer. This item is subject to prior sale. If you have any interest in purchasing this fine instrument, please feel free to make us an offer. We're full time general antique dealers and negotiating is a large part of our business. Just saying……
and thank you for reading!
ELG
11.30.2022
Small gtr box
46x19x7
Listed 12.3.2022
Vid added 07.14.2023
| Listed | a year ago |
| Condition | |
| Brand | |
| Model |
|
| Finish |
|
| Year |
|
| Made In |
|
