Does anyone know anything about cheap electric guitars from the late 60's / early 70's?

Question

I'm trying to find information about a particular guitar I used to see in the discount stores in northern Ohio / southern Michigan. It was sort-of stratocaster style, usually came in a very dark green sunburst finish, and had 5 single-coil pickups.

I'm thinking they were Asian in origin, were very inexpensive, and seemed to be at every K-Mart or Bargain City in town.

Answer 1

Probably a Teisco Del Rey. They were big on the green sunburst finish, and they definitely had a five-pickup model. If you do a Google image search on Teisco Del Rey you may find a picture of one. Other crazy guitar companies that put out axes like the one you mention included Norma, Kingston (as previously noted), Aria, St. George, Univox and even Ibanez (in their early days).

Also note that a lot of the discount stores would pay the Japanese companies to put their store name on the guitar instead of the company's name. Nearly every store had their own brand in those days, but they were all either made in Japan by a number of companies or made in Chicago by Kay and Harmony. The Western Auto and Sears Silvertone guitars were made all over the place, including Japan.

Answer 2

Maybe the "Kingston" name is familliar? That was my first axe back in the 70's, it even came with a small amp that just had a vol. and tone knob. Mine was a kind of red / black burst cheapo color scheme.