After the Beatles made it big in 1964, Decca Records wanted to enter the guitar market. In 1965, CBS bought Fender. 
Somewhere around 1965, Decca started a division known as Decca Home Entertainment Products, which for several years imported Japanese acoustic and solid-body electric guitars aimed primarily at the beginner market, at young kids who wanted to be like their idols. 
Decca guitars (and Decca amps) were mail order guitars (you could order one from Sears Roebuck catalog) or you could get them through major discount stores, or find them in local music stores of course ...
The early Decca guitars were indeed made by Teisco for Decca Records, from 69 and onwards the Decca guitars were made by Kawai. [1]

The 12 String

I purchased a set of non-functioning guitars and basses and this twelve string was part of the collection. I had never heard of "Decca" before then (gives away my age) and was interested in the look of the guitar and the allure of a 12 string.

My guitar with the pickguard taken off

The guitar is nothing to call home about, sound-wise, but has a really groovy look to it. The pickguard and headstock veneer are a plastic tortoiseshell that has the appearance of magma. Its kinda tacky but definitely fits the 70s vibe.

I didn't have the proper tools at the time to remove the neck and my attempts at finagling it did not succeed so I planed the fretboard (which seemed pretty quality), refretted it, and adjusted the saddle till it played somewhat decently. The truss rod worked but did not appear to make any adjustment and I was told that the truss rod was likely non-functioning by construction though I did not manage to verify that.

Dating

Stamped on the horizontal brace just above the soundhole and under the fretboard is a set of upside numbers separated by periods. Those numbers happened to be "45.11.13" on my guitar.

There is a traditional year dating format used by the Japanese called "nengō" or "gengō". The system is based on the years since the Emperor of Japan took reign, starting at year 1. 

45.11.13 is 45 years since the emperor took reign which you can then use an "age chart" and some generalizations about when the guitar was likely made to then decode the numbers.

Source

Year 45 placed me exactly at 1970 and with 11 standing for November and 13 standing for the day of the month (they use a year/month/day standard), I then knew how old the guitar was. If the date had been 45.5.7, for example, I would have more difficulty knowing exactly which numbers stood for the date or the month but since 13 is ruled out as a month, it had to represent the days.

Summary

If you have a guitar stamped with numbers and they do not look like any date you've seen before, consider that it might be a traditional calendar format from the country where the instrument was built.

Japan: "##.##.##" = years since reign . month . day

Sources

[1] = http://www.harmonycentral.com/forum/forum/guitar/acapella-29/1732249-?p=26438853#post26438853

https://notesofnomads.com/japanese-date-system/

http://factsanddetails.com/japan/cat18/sub114/item608.html

Update October 2021

Unfortunately the main information link  from the 2019 update is down. I'll leave this page open as a reference 

Update Oct 19

Ton B. has linked me to his own info on Tatay instruments, highly recommend

http://members.upc.nl/a.bogaard241/tatay/

Introduction

This is all information that I've come across on the internet while attempting to find info on my Spanish classical guitar that I've narrowed down to being made by "Hijos de Vicente Tatay" which is Spanish for "Sons of Vicente Tatay". Vicente Tatay being a luthier based in Valencia, Spain. So far I haven't found any conclusive identification of my guitar but I hope by compiling this knowledge that I help someone in the future. 

Disclaimer: A lot of this information was obtained on Spanish-speaking websites that I translated to English using Chrome's built in "Translate" feature. Don't expect flawless translations and instead refer to the original source for a better interpretation of the content.

Second Disclaimer: A lot of this information came off of anonymous forum posts and marketplace listings so it is hearsay (sometimes even contradicting itself) but I've documented it for posterity. 

Vicente Tatay (Valencia, b. 1869 active c. 1889-1942)

Vicente Tatay was a guitar maker in Valencia. Vicente established his workshop in 1889. It was like most workshops of the era with the father teaching and supervising his sons so that some day they could take over the family business. The family business soon began to grow, and they had to hire extra help to meet the demand. They slowly began to look for ways to increase their production by mechanizing some aspects of building. Thus, slowly but surely their workshop was transformed into a factory. The firm Vicente Tatay founded has grown into a major factory producing some 40,000 instruments a year. Vicente Tatay retired in 1942, and the firm was taken over by his sons José and Vicente Tatay Tomás who formed a company Hijos de Vicente Tatay.

https://www.zavaletas-guitarras.com/historic-makers/ 

Labels 

Label off of an expensive (ebony fretboard) Hijos de Vicente Tatay guitar Source (ebay)

"The typical label of the fifties can be studied here." Source

My attempt at restoring this image into a label I can print out
and put into my guitar since my label is 90% missing. I am no graphic artist but I tried

Vicente Tatay Est ???? black and gold label that my research has led me to believe is 70s-80s
Image Source

Vicente Tatay Tomas (one of the 'hijos') label Image source

More recent Vicente Tatay Tomas label, 90s perhaps? Image Source

Key Features

Fretboard "tongue" found on some Tatay classicals Source

Fingerboard "tongue" and brass frets Source
This guitar sold for 320 Euros which is about 376 USD

Headstock text: "Tatay España" Source

Information

This blog contains an impressive amount of information about luthiers based in Valencia and Vicente Tatay is mentioned in passing a couple times. The downloads page includes five catalogs from the 1960s for Vicente Tatay though they are obviously in Spanish. There are no pictures of guitars, just descriptions. It is kept by a person named Ton Bogaard

http://members.upc.nl/a.bogaard241/index.htm

The following information comes from various websites and forums, check the Sources list at the bottom of the page for each source

Source #1

Entry 1

Oops!  I almost forgot.  Here is the contact information for your Guitar:

VICENTE TATAY TOMAS
 CRA. MALILLA,88 - 46026 - VALENCIA - VALENCIA - ESPAÑA -
 Tlf: 96 3330760 - Fax: 96 3330760

Regards,

WBB

"William Betancourt" <wi...@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:RZFW4.1596$793.97383@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...

Entry 2

There is a lot of information about Tatay on internet but it is mostly in spanish. The Tatay factory in Valencia was still making guitars in the 90s. Even the cheap models can have a nice character of sound. They only put brass frets on the cheaper models. If the wood of the sides is the same color - more or less - as the top then maybe it is a student flamenco model with cypress wood. 

tom g  

Entry 3

...The wonderful Luthier here in Houston, Neil Seargent, looked it over, and had some intriguing observations. I wanted to put classical strings on it, and with the nut, and saddle too far gone, he replaced those, and re- glued the sides and a crack or two, along with  the remaining  portion of the sticker , back in enough for me to read “ Vicente Tatay Tomas”; Carrera Malillas,88. Valencía, (España), and  “...RIAS Y LAUDES”,- but not much else. 

The top is a thick magnificent piece of Spruce, the back Mahogany,and sides and neck as well, I reckon. Someone along the line mentioned “Pear wood” to be a component, that would be the first and only time I’ve ever heard of wood from a Pear tree to be used on a guitar, but hey, Quien sabe?  Thankfully, It had made it through it  the rough years spent “character building”....

migueldos...@gmail.com 

 Source  #2

Entry 1

I have a 1958. I guess it is a student type. Nothing fancy. Mahogany sides and back. But solid spruce top looks like. Amazingly light and playable still with the standard longitudenal crack on the back, repaired long ago. Straight neck. A backing strip was glued to the inside of the back to splice the thing together ? Looks like it ended up being a 1/4 inch away from the crack though. Maybe that's a method for better acoustics, the offset strongback piece rather than right over the crack. Looks like the crack had been open and the repair involved gluing a long thin piece of wood (from the bottom and 10" toward middle.) When I got it in late 70's it had a cheesy white plastic pic protector that fell off. I was told by someone that because of the narrower than standard neck it was a flamingo guitar. I invested in a super strong case for this fragile wonder of an instrument. If only I could really play but I love noodling around and appreciate it for what it is. Paid $100 for it. Worth a bit more it sounds like. Sounds rich, stays in tune.

Posted by fritz winkler on Thu, 06/25/2015 - 21:09.

Entry 2

Andrew Tatay, Farmingville, NY, made a guitar for me with solid rosewood sides and back, French polish, flamenco pegs, the top is braced like a flamenco guitar, but it has the hybrid appearance of a flamenco/classical--beautiful colors in the rosette. I love it. My information is that 7 Tatay brothers emigrated from Spain to South America, and one brother moved north to Long Island. He had twin boys who were active in their local volunteer fire department, and also made guitars with their father, (Vicente?). There was a family rift between the brothers in later years, around 1975 (?), and they possibly sold the business and stopped making guitars. Does anyone have different information? --John

Entry 3

Hello I have 3 Taytay Guitars. One was made in 1952 by Vincent Tatay my father had it custom made through the Spanish Guitar Store in NYC. It is in very good condition, light as a feather. Not sure on woods but I’m sure you could tell. When I was very young I remember bringing the Guitar to the Tatay Factory out in Farmingdale Long Island for repair work on the Bridge in the late 1960’s. I believe this was Vincents grandson who continued the family tradition. At that time he wanted to buy the guitar from us when he saw it was made by his grandfather. My dad did not want to sell and he did a beautiful job fixing the guitar. His workshop was amazing. Everything done by hand by one man. To a young boy it looked like Santas workshop.

Jim Sirna 

Entry 4

 Hello David. I am from Lisbon, and have recently aquired a second hand Vicente Tatay Tomas guitar. It is a nice guitar, all solid mahogany and spruce. It has no date, but some detais make me believe this is an old one, probably from his first years. From the information I found in the internet, with the genealogy of the Tatay guitar makers, I believe Vicente Tatay Tomas is you grand uncle. Am I right? Do you know anything about him? Is he still alive? If so, does he still works? The guitar is in rough shape, but still playable. If he is still active I would love to meet him, and ask him to restore himself my guitar.
Greetings from Portugal
Francisco Anjos

Entry 5

 Actually Vicente Tatay father was a luthier in the late 1800s and early 1900s. He manufactured the original guitars by hand and from entire pieces of wood. He sold his interest to a Japanese conglomerate I believe in 1909 or 1910. His sons moved to the US in the 40s and established a factory of Vicente Tatay guitars in the 50s in New Jersey. Those guitars were cheaply made and are not worth much today. I own an original B102t model made in Spain that my father gave me. The guitar is probably close to 70 years old and it is in mint condition.

 Posted by dARC8264 on Tue, 11/19/2013 - 01:58.

Entry 6

I had a Tatay guitar in late 50's it was handmade in Valencia Spain all wood binding on edgesnothing fancy to look at but what a tone good luck

with the research Iain. 

Posted by Iain on Sat, 03/02/2002 - 17:55. 

Entry 7

I have 3 Taytay Guitars. The oldest built by Vincent in 1952 in amazing condition. Was my Fathers. The other two built in Long Island by his Grandson in the late 60's. Would be happy to send you photos. They are for sale

Jim Sirna

Entry 8

: Anybody have any information on Tatay guitars?

and '60s.

.....The Tatay family crafted some of the finest acoustic guitars.Their craft was passed on from generation to generation.The family shop was on Horseblock Rd. in Farmingville,N.Y..I have a custom-made acoustic made by Tatay that I am looking to sell.

 Posted by steve masciangelo on Thu, 09/12/2002 - 16:06.

Entry 9

I have the pleasure to own and play daily a guitar by V. Tatay (New York). This is as much as I know. I may be misinformed in places. Lou Kleinsmith, my "male role model" growing up in New York, owned the Tatay. It was given to me by his son Bill. Lou died years ago, but I believe he told me that the Tatays were ex-pat Spaniards who hung out with the ex-pat guitar community at the end of 14th street in a little coffeeshop on the North side of the street just East of 8th Ave. This group included on occasion Segovia and Augustin (the 'inventor' of the nylon string.) I know of no other connection between Tatay and the group. Augustin's widow would seem the person to ask.

I was told that Tatay was the source of the "Pallet Guitar" legend. I heard this first around 1962. My guitar is a 1956. It is made from terrible mahagony and has a crack the length of its back since my earliest memory. The month and year of manufacture is stamped with an office date stamp on the soundboard cross bar just to the neck end of the soundhole. Other Tatays I have seen were stamped the same.

My guitar seems to be finished with shellac or some shellac based finish. It is now heavily checked with age. The guitar has a wonderful precision in that it seems to have been made face down on a workboard. There is an unbroken straight line from the bottom of the nut going under the rosewood fingerboard and under the rosewood bridge. So the soundboard and neck must have been butted on the workboard and everything else done from there. Simple. Precise.

There is no binding or purfling at the edge. Just good clean perfect joinery of the sides to the soundboard and back. After 50 years the neck is straight as an arrow, the joints are all still perfect, and there is no perceivable sinking or cracks in the soundboard. The crack in the back is not on any joint of the maker. Just cheap wood. I would suspect the wood came from Wild or Constantine back then.

The fingerboard oils have dried, dishing the board and making the frets protrude slightly. Not enough for me to refret it yet. The neck is ever so slightly narrow by today's standards. It's a 652 on the 1st string.

Posted by Ken Sribnick on Fri, 10/10/2003 - 23:58.

Entry 10

 I have a guitar that I purchased from The Spanish Music Center in New York City in 1975. I am an amateur player, who has not played at all for years. The label is a Spanish Music Center label pasted over another label which I can't read. It reads Marco Francisco Tarrega, with Modelo 1-M and the number 12-26-74. Another, smaller label reads Tatay Spanish Guitars.
Anyone have any info? It has a great sound still, even with the old strings.

Posted by Andrew Gardner on Thu, 06/21/2012 - 14:21.

Entry 11

 I just noticed a couple of nights ago that my Tatay guitar had the date July 1959 stamped on the foot of the neck inside the guitar. I'm in the process of trying to find out where it was made and every indication is that it was in Farmingville, New York. The label has those two figures dancing and the #13 street address. Any information would be helpful. Thankyou.

 Posted by paynej49 on Thu, 04/24/2014 - 17:33.

Entry 12

 My wife found a guitar at a garage sale that has a rounded off gold label at the end of the neck with Tatay Guitars written on it. Is this a real Tatay and, if so, when was it made? I once owned a Tatay purchased in Farmingville, NY in the mid 60s. Sold it because the neck was too wide for my hands. At the ripe old age of 77 I Have decided I 'd like to resurrect my guitar skills with the instrument my wife found. Is it a real Tatay?Z
Posted by Robert Grassi on Wed, 02/04/2015 - 00:51.

 Source #3

Entry 1

More than likely someone is going to ask you to post a picture. Just a heads up. I've never heard of that guitar brand/maker. I just did a bit of googling and found that the company/label was started by Vincente Tatay approximately 1889 and He went into mass production for "student model" guitars. That could be the reason it doesn't have a date on it. Most lower end factory guitarsdon't have a date on the label. (the ones i've seen at least)
Just my thoughts,Marc by mclegg » Sunday 01 August 2010, 21:19 pm

Entry 2

Hiover here the Tatay name is mostly associated with cheap factory made guitars from the 70's and 80's. If you have a guitar made by the man himself then that would be a completely different story. Initially, pictures would help, I am guessing that an expert would need to see the guitar in person to confirm the source.
Regards Tim
Post by OldPotter » Monday 02 August 2010, 10:22 am

Entry 3

I have a Tatay that was purchased new at The Guitar Shop on M street in Washington DC in 1958. The date was rubber stamped on the wood above the label. I do not have the guitar in front of me or I would photograph it but it was a very nice Brazilian Rosewood and, in 1958 the cost was $450 at a time when Hausers and Fletas were around $1,000 US. It was an excellent instrument! Over the years I have seen other Tatays but they have been modestly priced student models.

by R. Riley » Saturday 11 December 2010, 18:10 pm 

Source #4

Entry 1

Vicente Tatay was probably the son of Thomas, after his dead, the business continued as Hijos de Vicente Tatay. It was one of the largest factories ever in Valencia, Spain. The factory was located at the current site where Maderas Barber is. One son of Vicente (Andrew, I believe) moved to the US and continue making guitars until about 20 year ago. If you have one from the 19th century, it is a good thing. If it was made by Thomas Tatay himself, it could have a high value. If it was made at his factory, it probably has different value. Sorry, I cannot offer any more help.
About 10 years ago, I bought a Vicente Tatay guitar on e - b a y for $120. IT was beaten up, I fixed and sold it for aobut $250. Not much there. The buyer was very pleased to have such an antique guitar. by Pepe Vergara » Wednesday 16 January 2008, 06:59 am

 Entry 2

andrew, a brother, and his dad were in n.y.c. around the 50's 60's.then moved to long island and set up shop. andrew kept the shop open until the late 90's.i have one of the last he built around '96.he was a great guy, real old school.it's fashionable to trash tatay(valencia) guitars as they builttons of student guitars but, there were some high end ones as well(in new york anyway).andrew did excellent work and charged next to nothing.i also have one his dad built in '66, that thing is as light as a feather.
check with a mirror on the underside of the top around thesoundhole. the n.y. ones had the date stamped with one of theoffice type ink stamps.
harmony central user reviews has a few on tatay.everyone liked theirs (i think pepe even wrote a fairly glowing review)prices were very low.
**after thought***felix manzanero has a vicente tatay in his well respected collectionby brian » Wednesday 16 January 2008, 21:42 pm

Source #5 

Entry 1

In our country I do not know why the myth runs that the Tatay are the best classical guitars that exist, or even know what model they are and what materials were used for their construction and sold at very high prices.
I am not saying that they are bad, but they are very overvalued. My recommendation, sell it and with what you get, buy a good Alhambra or a Ramirez and you will notice the difference. 

  by victorblanco04 on 11/17/2010

Entry 2

 Hello friends, I have a guitar "Vicente Tatay Tomas SA" that I bought in 1977 (40 years ago). I have it in perfect condition. I'm interested in knowing more about this guitar. On the back of the headstock there is a white label marked with the number F-120. I would like to know what this number means on the label; I've heard that it's about the model; If this is true, I would like to know what characteristics represent this model. I also want to know if it's a classical or flamenco guitar. I appreciate that you can give me the most information as I have tried online but I have not achieved anything about it. Greetings.

 by edgar ramirez on 08/09/2017

Sources not previously credited:

[1] = https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.music.classical.guitar/EubDHs3biCE

[2] = http://www.guitarsite.com/discussion/messages/21507.shtml

[3] = https://www.classicalguitardelcamp.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=51727

[4] = https://www.classicalguitardelcamp.com/viewtopic.php?t=25024

[5] = https://www.guitarristas.info/foros/informacion-vicente-tatay-tomas/118698

Tatay Catalog Scans: 

http://members.upc.nl/a.bogaard241/index_bestanden/TelesforoJulveResearch10.htm

  

A list I'll try to update whenever I find a little problem that stumps me

Guitar (w/ humbuckers) buzzes loudly and the issue gets worse as the volume pot moves towards the middle

This one I encountered while adding a push-pull pot to split the coils in my PRS SE. I was checking all my grounds and resoldering them to make sure the issue was not in my solder joints but then I realized my output wire was soldered backwards. I soldered the output ground to the middle lug of the volume pot and the output hot to the case of the volume pot. Once I reversed those joints then the guitar continued without so much as a hitch. I'll  include the diagram below that I used

https://guitarelectronics.com/2-humbuckers-3-way-toggle-switch-1-volume-1-tone-coil-tap/

Mother-of-pearl inlaid headstock logo

This guitar needs a fair amount of work, the bridge was peeling up, the top has sunken in front of the bridge and bellied up behind the bridge, the top is cracking parallel to the fretboard, the neck has a slight twist, and who knows what else I'll discover.

The bridge surprised me as its not actually rosewood, its a light wood that was dyed to look like rosewood. And even though it was already pulling off, the bridge did not come off without a fight and led me to my next surprise

After I took the top off I was overcome with the sweet smell of cedar which I confirmed to be the wood used in the top, not spruce. I have not encountered that yet in any of my guitars but google tells me it is another common wood so thats pretty cool. 

Currently I have the guitar humidifying to try and see what issues I can moisturize out before I start getting into serious work. The neck twist has me slightly concerned though I'd prefer not to take the fretboard off.

So these guitars are not attached with a dovetail joint and instead are mounted with dowel pins. Thats disappointing...

Somebody tried to add an extra two strings to this Yamaha

Picked up this weird Yamaha for $20. The frets were pulled out pretty cleanly (even preserving the fret slot fillers on all but one) and there is no evidence of an attempt to add two more tuners, just a nut that had been slotted with an extra two holes.

Plugs filled and bridge oiled

I filled the holes first with an oak dowel to act as a stopper and then piled on rosewood dust and super glue until it entirely covered the hole. Then I took a large bastard file and shaved my filler down till it was level with the bridge and finally ran sanding from grits 220 to 2000 to polish the bridge and make the plugs look nearly invisible

On a sub-$100 guitar like this, it isn't worth taking the bridge off and making a new one. There was nothing wrong with the bridge minus this repair and a splintering bridge plate which I glued a piece of African Blackwood onto to help support the ends of the strings.

Who knows what this was supposed to be

Update:

After attempting and failing to remove the fretboard (I believe it was epoxied on), I put the truss rod nut back on and somehow it started working again so I went ahead and set up the guitar. I then used lacquer thinner to blend the lacquer and hide the scoring I did when I attempted to take off the fretboard and then used Titebond to make sure the fretboard extension stayed put. I also only fretted it up to the body because I 1. Ran out of fretwire and 2. Didn't want to mess with fretting over the body with the neck still attached.

It ain't the prettiest guitar around but its functional and has been refretted so it'd be a perfect beginners instrument.

 

My acoustic with the Melody Mike soundhole pickup

There is no identifying information inside the pickup itself to point me towards a manufacturer, only that the knob was made by Daka-Ware (common for the period) and that the pot was made by CTS. With that info in hand I set off to Google to try and source some information

Internet Results

Searching the brand and the pickup shows me an Ebay listing for a Melody Mike archtop pickup as well as a Reverb listing for that item, both by the same author.

https://reverb.com/item/6363155-vintage-melody-mike-archtop-guitar-pickup

This item has the same output jack, the same plastic Melody Mike pickup cover (though this one is gold colored), and the same volume knob set up with the brown felt underneath a domed casing with the knob on top. I strongly believe that this was made by the same people and I contacted them to see if they have any information about its source.

Next I came across a forum posting on thegearpage.net by poster "Skip Delicious"

I purchased a box full of old guitar pickups from a music store that went out of business several years ago. The store opened in the early 1950's, so most of the stuff in the box was vintage. One of the sound hole pickups in the box is labeled "TP MELODY MIKE PAT. PENDING" on the black plastic pickup cover and "AUDIO EQUIPMENT CO. INC. GREAT NECK, N.Y. U.S.A." on the ON/OFF volume control piece. I can't find any information on this pickup. Anybody heard of this brand?

 None of the 2 comments seemed to know anything about the origins of the pickups but with the information about an Audio Equipment company, I went searching again

Audio Equipment Co 

Based in New York, this company created electronic amplifiers like for military contracts, hearing aids, and megaphones.

American Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation, 1954

Boating Vol 19 1966

So they had two locations, the original at 805 Middle Neck Rd in Great Neck, New York and then a newer location which they moved into in the late 1950s  on 75 Harbor Road in Port Washington, New York.

So thats a little background into that company which is fairly unknown on the internet. Now I realize they were likely just the producer of the "switch" mentioned in the above forum post and not actually the manufacturer of this guitar pickup so this information, while neat, is not helpful to the search

Patents

I searched US patents far and wide but did not find anything remotely matching this pickup. You can search patents through a US government site but any filed before 1976 have not been entirely digitized and therefore you need a patent number or another key identifying number, which I do not have. 

Conclusion/Updates

6/2/18:

Contacted Mike at Acme Guitars, a local shop I was told is knowledgeable about old pickups, and unfortunately he had never heard of it. I just created an account on The Gear Page in order to message the creator of this thread about a Melody Mike pickup in hopes that he will have pictures or some knowledge about these electronics.

The Instrument

I bought it for $150 from one of my "old church ladies" on the internet because I saw the pickup and wondered about its value as well as seeing the tuners which looked to be old Klusons (spoiler, they were). 

Notice the metal nut riser

"No Line" Kluson Deluxe Tuners from the late 40s

First Impressions

I was actually a little disappointed when it arrived at my door because the neck was already at a fairly pleasant angle meaning I didn't get to do another neck reset. It was a fascinating guitar to take apart, I love the "forensics" of figuring out what somebody used it for and when it had been worked on. 

First I noticed that it had a small plastic nut which was shimmed up by a Hoppin brand matchbox cover and then on top of that nut was a Grover Perfect Guitar Nut, a metal riser used to convert a regular guitar into a lap-steel instrument. There were also a couple indentations on the fretboard above the first fret where someone had moved the nut onto the fretboard with string tension.

Second it had a pickup labelled "Music Mike" which I had never heard of before and can hardly find any information on. The info I did find leads me to believe it was made in the late 1960s but since the CTS pot is soldered to a metal plate that I cannot remove without damaging it, I can't check the pot date to confirm.

The back, sides, fingerboard, and bridge are made of the same material, it has grain like mahogany but it is very dark like rosewood. I'll just refer to it as mahogany for the rest of this post. The bridge cracked at the saddle as the wood was not strong enough for the construction. The top, back, and sides are all solid wood which is super cool. Makes this guitar a great candidate for a restoration because it'll just ring and sound wonderful with those old solid woods.

Its also got some fairly wide brass frets which is cool, they've got some wear but still about 60% life left in them I would say. The neck is huge and chunky, like a baseball bat, but it tapers off near the headstock so it still remains fairly comfortable. 

The finish has this almost over-sprayed look to it which makes me think it was sprayed over because it hardly has any checking in the finish and the top has the "orange peel" look to it. I'm not too terribly concerned about it but it was interesting

The Repair

I went ahead and tried my hand at fashioning a new bridge for the guitar, I had never done it before so it was a learning experience and the end result isn't anything to call home about. I'll get better. But it works and is holding perfectly which is all I need from it.

The Klusons had buttons that had shriveled up and were crumbling so I watched Dan Erlewine's video on installing new tuner buttons on Kluson tuners and I repeated his steps. The new tuner buttons are cream-colored plastic and I suspect will last a lot longer than the originals which were on the guitar. Crumbling tuners aren't worth much more than replaced buttons. I did keep everything else original though; I lubricated the tuners and got those solid brass shafts turning again.

I reinforced the bridge plate, which was starting to splinter, with a small sheet of African Blackwood which I got for free at my local wood store's scrap bin. It doesn't take a lot and it'll protect the bridge plate from more damage and keep the string tension from pulling the string balls into the top and warping it.

I marked out the location for the new bridge and used a chisel to carefully remove all the finish in that area so my bridge would be glued directly to wood which is definitely the way to go. These guitars often have their bridges glued onto the finish which leads to them coming back up and it usually isn't very pretty. I tried my hand at routing a saddle slot using a drill press with a router bit and while I got a good slot, its not slanted at all so I'm really relying on my compensated saddle to keep that intonation in check for me.

Finally I cleaned the guitar and oiled the fingerboard with a 30y/o bottle of Formby's Lemon Oil that I bought at an estate sale for fifty cents. The best tone comes from old oil, definitely (kidding, please don't lambaste me!)

Conclusion

I still do not know exactly what model of guitar this is as Marathon guitars are not well documented as they are a custom branded Kay-built guitar (headstock is a giveaway). But its super cool and sounds quite good for a ladder braced guitar of its size. 

8/14/18: Correction, the guitar is from the late 1950s dating by the tuners

My First Large Restoration

This guitar is well known for being the instrument that Elvis played in his comeback tour

And then

Complete!

The restoration

It was my first big restoration and so far one of the largest I've taken on. I learned a whole lot and would definitely do it again given the chance. For ease, I'll just quote what I put on the Reverb listing

I've restored this in my free time which involved a lot of work (the second to last picture shows the condition I received it in). From the top of the guitar working down; two silver OEM Van Ghent tuners to replace the original gold ones which were missing, new bone nut, new mother of pearl inlays, new 3 ply around the fretboard, new vintage sized nickel/steel frets, and all new wiring. The guitar does not have a pickguard however. NOS ones are fairly expensive. Most all of the brass hardware has been polished to bring out its original shine which makes this guitar look a whole lot better in my opinion. I am also looking to source two gold tuning machines for the guitar so it will have a complete set
The original parts in this guitar are, but not limited to, the body and neck, the pickups, toggle switch, input jack, tailpiece, string tree, Hagstrom logo, and "Micro-matic" bridge. These guitars are incredibly hard to find parts for but this is one mostly complete with the hardware which is definitely where it counts. The scale is 24 5/8" and the guitar comes with a Stratocaster style headstock which was only seen in the late 1960s before they changed it, likely to prevent legal issues. The neck is super slim, as advertised as "The fastest playing neck in the world" but still comfortable. The guitar has a flamed maple top and back
This guitar is a beauty and the definition of a player's grade guitar. Its not a museum piece by any stretch of the imagination yet it is still one of my favorites. I'd be surprised if you'll see another one of these for a while, they really don't pop up that often

I actually ended up contacting one of the descendants of the company's founder and emailing him to see what he knew about my particular guitar

Hi,

You have a Viking made in Älvdalen Sweden 24th of January 1968.

And sent to Unicord our importer to the US on 26th of January 1968.

What they have done with it is impossible to say.

Kind regards

Karl

Serial number 732211, my baby! My only gripe was my fear of damaging it since the finish was crumbling due to age and climate and the fact that it didn't really suit any of my styles of playing. I couldn't get into playing it like I could get into just staring at it. It ended up selling for a very pretty penny to a fellow in Japan who said he had been looking for one for quite a while.

It might be one of my gear regrets to sell it but I think I'd like to buy an ES335 kit and build a guitar in tribute to it. An ES-335 body with a Strat-style headstock is now my new favorite thing thanks to this guitar