St. George Guitars....A Sainted Name For a Badge

Well, as you may have guessed over the past few weeks the Torchman has been busy.  Checked out a few concerts in my area and enjoyed the stylings of Steely Dan and the ever-talented Peter Frampton.  But I noticed as I was hanging around Detroit a guy playing one of those old St. George basses from the 1960's. 

You may recall some St. George guitars were made in Japan, although a few originated in the sunny state of California.  Japanese MIJ St. George guitars were manufactured by the Shiro Musical Instrument Manufacturing company, although I've seen them listed as a Kawai Teisco product.  My thought is that perhaps Teisco outsourced the manufacture of the badge to this small company.  What is known is that St. George guitars were made between 63-67 by Shiro.  I gotta admit, the guitar sure does look like a Teisco.  Perhaps someone out there can enlighten me. 

St. George guitars came in electrics and bass models with the funky white St. George shield badge to remind us that it was named for a saint.  Well, actually, it was named for a store with the moniker St. George.  St. George guitars were sold in New York and California, although I've seen them elsewhere.  Tom Morello, of Rage Against the Machine, plays a St. George guitar he bought in a pawnshop in Canada.  Is that cool or what? 

The St. George badge was also slapped on a few amps, which are apparently sought-after because they were made by the infamous amp master Ray Massie, who struck out after working for Fender to create his own company in California in the late 1950's early 1960's.  Which means that the amps aren't Japanese.  Isn't this fun?

A few St. George guitars (very few) were made by master luthier Paul Barth in Riverside, California.  These guitars were made by his company, Bartell.   They're extremely sought-after because of the high-quality woods used in construction and come in both 6 and 12 string models, both bass and electrics.  The Bartell St. George's have only a script signature "St. George" on the guitar instead of a shield badge like you find on the Japanese-made St. George guitars.  It's rare to find them for sale and when they do come up, they sell for thousands of dollars.

On the whole, St. George is a well-loved, easy to play badge which is appreciated by guitarists everywhere.  You can find Japanese St. George guitars for as little as $100 here and there.  A great buy for a decent guitar!

St. George.  Named for a Saint.  Still awesome after all these years!

Japan Quake 2, Hy-Lo, Hi-Lo?

Been watching the devastation over in Japan...yikes.  I honestly don't know if they will ever be able to return to normal after this.  Still haven't heard from some of the larger guitar manufacturers to find out if their factories still stand...and if the talented people making guitars in the region are still with us.  We'll just continue to pray to the guitar gods that all is well.

Meanwhile, a mystery has unfolded.  Two guitars:  Hy-Lo or Hi-Lo.  Made by the same company?  I don't know...after looking around and viewing a few for sale here and there, I have a hunch that these badges were made by different companies-thus Hy-Lo and Hi-Lo.  My guess after reading a lot of boards from owners is that Hy-Lo was made by Kawai Teisco, while Hi-Lo was a Matsumoku badge.  Why?  Well, one person claims that they bought their Hy-Lo from a Teisco catalog back in the late 1960's (nothing like an eyewitness account from a direct owner).  And Hi-Lo electrics sure look like a Matsumoku product to people who collect Matsumoku badges.   I really don't know.  To add to the confusion, both electrics and acoustics were made with this badge name, so it must have been somewhat successful as a badge here in the United States.  For now, I've got them divided on the list under these makers until someone puts me right who knows the answer or I find a person with  Hi-Lo who can testify that it was made by a specific maker because they have direct knowledge of it.  I'm confident that Hy-Lo is a Kawai Teisco product.  What I don't know, what I'm unsure of, is the Hi-Lo badge.

Does your head hurt reading this?  It hurts mine just thinking about it as I write.  Sorry.

Anyhow, if you know of the origin of Hi-Lo guitars, let me know.  I'm going to take an aspirin now and lie down after that previous paragraph.  Whew.