El Degas Stratocaster Sunburst w/ period DiMarzios 1971-76 Hoshino Gakki Japan

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1970s Japanese Mojo.

Here is a Hoshino-Gakki El Degas Strat. Hoshino Gakki were the parent company of Ibanez. It's likely mid-seventies and has the period, original DiMarzio pickups and a three way selector (dating it as early to mid 1970s but Japanese guitars from this era are notoriously difficult to pin point an exact year as the pups are unmarked - not uncommon to the era as they did not want the big US manufacturers knowing that they were supplying the Japanese competition).

Players know that what's really important in a guitar is the build quality, the wood and the neck; everything else can be changed to taste and the brand is just for show.

In the seventies, Japanese builders had perfected copying Gibsons, Fenders and others to the point where they were often better than what the big brands themselves were producing (hence the lawsuit era). This is one of those guitars and it is fantastic. The build quality is excellent, the one piece maple neck is so comfortable it feels like an old friend that you've been playing for decades. It has a maple fretboard with plenty of fret life and properly manicured fret ends though they could use a polish. The action is medium-low with plenty of room for adjustment. The body is likely Alder and alive in the way that only seasoned wood gets through decades of playing. Everything is original except the truss cover. The back-plate and trem arm are missing.

It has a few minor nicks but nothing serious. This guitar sings with sustain enough to enjoy unplugged and is very comfortable. A personal set up to your taste and a fret polish will make this an A1 mojo machine. It's a winner and our current go to until it sells.

The story of El Degas is that of the company that imported and sold them: El Degas is a "white label" brand name used by company called Beugeleisen & Jacobson (B&J) out of NY, NY. B&J was in the business of importing and distributing musical instruments for the Canada & US markets. El Degas instruments were primarily sold in Canada and the NE United States.

B&J was a musical instrument importer/distributor in New York, NY and was established in 1901 and were very active during the 30's and 40's; but the history of the El Degas brand is much later, late 60's into the early to mid 80's. B&J still exists today.

El Degas instruments (electric & acoustic) were first produced in several Japanese factories during the late 60's - late 70's / early 80's era (estimated), Sometime around the late 70's or early 80's the production moved primarily to Korean manufacturers (I believe this coincided with the Kaman acquisition of B&J) for the electrics and a mix of Korean and other manufacturing for the acoustics (instruments from Korea, Romania, and Guatemala have been spotted "in the wild"). The instruments went out of production sometime in the 1980s.

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