MARGATE, LTD.

Another “LITE Collection To Go” (“lite” is Norwegian for small) from my large collection of vintage guitars. I am labelled this collection as: MADE IN JAPAN-early vintage acoustic electric guitars. COLLECTIONS TO GO. FROM MINE TO YOURS. In 1999 I began collecting guitars. I focused on buying guitars that I liked but also on those brands that were no longer around, especially those that were Made In The USA. I have named them “Americana” brands. At the same time, I believe that vintage, and some custom handmade, guitars are still among the best investments anyone can make. Especially “niche” guitars like many of mine. I cannot give investment advice, nor am I attempting to persuade anyone to buy guitars as investments, but can tell you that my guitar collection has increased in value many times over my real estate, stock, and other investments. But more than that, I think for those of us who love guitars and like to have our own little “stash”, yet do not want to blow the grocery and rent budgets, it makes sense to look at these former Made In The USA brands as well as some high quality Made In Japan brands. To make that easier for beginning, and seasoned, collectors I have decided to begin offering small packages of my guitars for sale as a group that represents the variety of products offered by a manufacturer. “Guitar Collections To Go” I have done the work for you: 1. I have done the collecting for you. 2. I have checked all of them and cleaned them up. 3. I have combined a group of complimentary guitars into a personal collection for you. Why a “MIJ” collection? Once guitars began to become popular in the consumer market in the USA in the late 1950’s, thanks to Elvis, Buddy Holly, and many others, the always enterprising Japanese builders began to offer their own “renditions” of American products, which for the most part in the 1960’s were copies of American made guitars. And as very common during this time period, the Japanese pieces were many times better built and of higher quality than the original American made pieces. This carried through into the 1970’s but with a bit of a twist, the Japanese became more creative than their American counterparts and produced some of the most stylish guitars that consumers had ever seen. More about those later. Notice in this group that six are Gibson “inspired”. Four are “Barney Kessel” style with the double-cutaway “horns” and two are “ES-335” style. And of course, that is the iconic “Beatle bass” violin style bass. Unlike most American brands, MIJ guitars are better known by their builder (factory) than by their branded names simply because these factories were selling guitars to US companies, especially catalog companies, who “branded” them with their own label. I am including information on the actual builders of these guitars at the end of this ad. This offering includes seven high quality instruments that were “Made In Japan” during this time period. Each instrument alone can be considered a “collectible” and “playable” instrument but together they are an excellent collection for anyone who currently collects guitars or for anyone who wants to begin a collection. THE GUITARS OFFERED IN THIS COLLECTION TO GO. A. CONRAD “Electric Bison” guitar. Model 40080. Another “Barney Kessel” copy guitar. Manufacture of this guitar is ascribed to “Tokai” but most likely was actually built by the “Kasuga Guitar Co.” who Tokai turned to for help when its demand exceeded its production capability. Most MIJ collectors consider these “Kasuga” built guitars as the best built Japanese guitars of this time period (early to mid-1970’s). Conrad was a chain of hardware stores in Chicago. A brand of David Wexlar Co of Chica