Homer J. Simpson
Well-known member
Among the hundreds of guitar labels used for guitars imported from Japan, "Pearl" is one of the more obscure and curious ones. Yes, "Pearl" the drum company was responsible for those guitars and basses, which were quite likely never hitting US soil through official channels, probably for a good reason I mention at the bottom of this write-up.
1. "Pearl" - The first chapter (1972-197?)
Asia guitar trade pioneer Jack Westheimer, initial owner of the "Teisco Del Rey" trademark and co-founder of Cor-Tek (later known as "Cort") also had a long-standing connection with the Pearl drum company. According to a write-up called (IIRC) "The Jack Westheimer Story" (that has now disappeared from Google search unfortunately), Pearl asked Westheimer to set up a guitar line for them. It could be speculated whether or not that connection also led to Pearl's purchase of the Hayashi factory for the acoustic guitar line, Hayashi had made acoustic guitars for Westheimer Sales before.
Besides export, the first "Pearl"-labeled electric guitars, basses and amps were seemingly also meant to be sold on the domestic market in the very early 1970s, as the only known brochures of 1972 and 1973 indicate, each showing 5 guitar and 4 bass models:
Link to the brochure on Frankie Benedettini's vintagejapanguitars.com site
People usually guess that these guitars were made in the Matsumoku factory and who really made these guitars for them is stil subject to my occasional attempts at researching that and so far mere speculation. As always with these early thunders of the beginning copy war, little can be proven as a fact, for example whether or not they were made by Matsumoku.
Most of these instruments are very similar to those in most of the 1971-73 line-ups of other companies (if the catalogs were dated correctly), but there are weird little differences: For example, the LP copy headstock looks off in comparison, one volume knob is awkwardly close to the tailpiece, there is a characteristic pike on the neckplate. This guitar is identical to the first iteration of the Electra 2242 "Rock" model in their 1972 catalog, and also Chicago importer Strum&Drum's "Big Daddy" guitar. Note the headstock notches and the pickguard sitting on top of the pickup frames so they had to cut out little notches for the height adjustment screws:
Pearl PE-2162
Electra 2242 first version
"Big Daddy" neck plate and guitar
The first versions of the 3 identical guitars have a zero fret neck and the fretboard inlays 19 and 21 are missing, by the way a deceivingly common feature of almost all entry-priced models across the catalogs of all the known brands in 1972, as if they all sourced their LP necks from the same source. But the Electra and the Pearl fretboards got the missing markers, the headstock notch was corrected and the zero fret disappeared in their next edition:
Updated Pearl PE-2162
I think it's safe to assume that the first Pearl and Electra... LPs copies came out of the same factory, and it looks very much like this factory is different from the factories that made the entry-level LP copies for Ibanez (Fujigen) and Aria (Matsumoku) in 1972. Confusingly, the companion "LP"-basses offered under the Pearl and National labels are - apart from the bridge - identical too, with the most prominent features being the bridge pickup being much closer to the neck and again the neck plate. The Electra on the other hand is clearly the Fujigen version of that bass (Gibson called it "Triumph" at that time), showing how quickly seemingly safe assumptions can turn into a red herring in this "who ordered what, where" guessing game. It's not unlikely that Pearl sourced this first line of guitars from multiple suppliers as well.
The Telecaster copy came with a zero fret as well and a Bigsby-style vibrato shifting the bridge PU to an unusal position, because it had to be fitted under the Tele-style pickguard.:
Initial Telecaster model with multi-laminate neck and zero fret, tuners and pickups were obviously replaced
Its Telecaster bass companion (of course with the period-typical truss rod cover) appears to be pretty unique, at that time it may have been the first Telecaster bass copy with a second pickup, akin to the 1971 version of the original. But other than the original, the Pearl is a short-scale bass. Both of these copies show a cost-cutting feature usually associated with the worst of the Japanese exports - a plywood ("multi-laminate") neck. This makes them differ from the competitor brands and points again to a certain manufacturer, but not all of the first series of Telecaster basses and guitars have plywood necks, some (if not most) have regular 3-piece maple necks.
Pearl PB-3142 bass with plywood neck (and likely a pancake body)
Here's another PB-3142 with the paint stripped, showing the pancake body and a 3-piece neck:
The guitars shown in the brochure are the only ones seen in the wild so far, with the exception of the ES-175 copy that never shows up, and a Les Paul Recording copy that isn't in the brochure. Same neck as the regular LP Custom copy, version 2:
At the end, copies of that era have more in common than differences, they are guitars coarsely made to look like the originals, but internally different enough to make them their own class of guitars, which may or may not be an euphemism. What the Pearl guitars also have in common with all of their siblings are the early Maxon pickups and the laminate arched tops (hollow underneath) on the LP copies.
It seems like the amp series was introduced earlier than the guitars, because they all start out with the old, round shaped Pearl-logo that was used on the drums until maybe 1970. Pearl amps were much more ubiquitous than the guitars over here, and almost every rehearsal room I've been in had a Pearl or a Guyatone amp rotting away in a corner by the late 80s. The brochure lists only the 2 smaller amps known from Pearl, but the there was also a bigger "Sunflower 1200" guitar amp at that time, later renamed to "Duo Reverb". That's also the time when the "Vorg" label shows up for the first time in context with the amps.
Pearl "Sun Flower" and "Duo Reverb" amps
For the acoustic guitars, Pearl simply bought Hayashi, a factory that Westheimer had tasked to make "Cortez" branded acoustics for him earlier. Unfortunately, http://catweb.tgtel.com is yet another source that has disappeared, it offered a complete looking set of catalogs for the acoustic guitar line, which is why I had the impression that the 1972/73 electric brochures are possibly the only brochures being made, and also that the guitars in it were not made for a long time.
1. "Pearl" - The first chapter (1972-197?)
Asia guitar trade pioneer Jack Westheimer, initial owner of the "Teisco Del Rey" trademark and co-founder of Cor-Tek (later known as "Cort") also had a long-standing connection with the Pearl drum company. According to a write-up called (IIRC) "The Jack Westheimer Story" (that has now disappeared from Google search unfortunately), Pearl asked Westheimer to set up a guitar line for them. It could be speculated whether or not that connection also led to Pearl's purchase of the Hayashi factory for the acoustic guitar line, Hayashi had made acoustic guitars for Westheimer Sales before.
Besides export, the first "Pearl"-labeled electric guitars, basses and amps were seemingly also meant to be sold on the domestic market in the very early 1970s, as the only known brochures of 1972 and 1973 indicate, each showing 5 guitar and 4 bass models:
Link to the brochure on Frankie Benedettini's vintagejapanguitars.com site
People usually guess that these guitars were made in the Matsumoku factory and who really made these guitars for them is stil subject to my occasional attempts at researching that and so far mere speculation. As always with these early thunders of the beginning copy war, little can be proven as a fact, for example whether or not they were made by Matsumoku.
Most of these instruments are very similar to those in most of the 1971-73 line-ups of other companies (if the catalogs were dated correctly), but there are weird little differences: For example, the LP copy headstock looks off in comparison, one volume knob is awkwardly close to the tailpiece, there is a characteristic pike on the neckplate. This guitar is identical to the first iteration of the Electra 2242 "Rock" model in their 1972 catalog, and also Chicago importer Strum&Drum's "Big Daddy" guitar. Note the headstock notches and the pickguard sitting on top of the pickup frames so they had to cut out little notches for the height adjustment screws:
Pearl PE-2162
Electra 2242 first version
"Big Daddy" neck plate and guitar
The first versions of the 3 identical guitars have a zero fret neck and the fretboard inlays 19 and 21 are missing, by the way a deceivingly common feature of almost all entry-priced models across the catalogs of all the known brands in 1972, as if they all sourced their LP necks from the same source. But the Electra and the Pearl fretboards got the missing markers, the headstock notch was corrected and the zero fret disappeared in their next edition:
Updated Pearl PE-2162
I think it's safe to assume that the first Pearl and Electra... LPs copies came out of the same factory, and it looks very much like this factory is different from the factories that made the entry-level LP copies for Ibanez (Fujigen) and Aria (Matsumoku) in 1972. Confusingly, the companion "LP"-basses offered under the Pearl and National labels are - apart from the bridge - identical too, with the most prominent features being the bridge pickup being much closer to the neck and again the neck plate. The Electra on the other hand is clearly the Fujigen version of that bass (Gibson called it "Triumph" at that time), showing how quickly seemingly safe assumptions can turn into a red herring in this "who ordered what, where" guessing game. It's not unlikely that Pearl sourced this first line of guitars from multiple suppliers as well.
The Telecaster copy came with a zero fret as well and a Bigsby-style vibrato shifting the bridge PU to an unusal position, because it had to be fitted under the Tele-style pickguard.:
Initial Telecaster model with multi-laminate neck and zero fret, tuners and pickups were obviously replaced
Its Telecaster bass companion (of course with the period-typical truss rod cover) appears to be pretty unique, at that time it may have been the first Telecaster bass copy with a second pickup, akin to the 1971 version of the original. But other than the original, the Pearl is a short-scale bass. Both of these copies show a cost-cutting feature usually associated with the worst of the Japanese exports - a plywood ("multi-laminate") neck. This makes them differ from the competitor brands and points again to a certain manufacturer, but not all of the first series of Telecaster basses and guitars have plywood necks, some (if not most) have regular 3-piece maple necks.
Pearl PB-3142 bass with plywood neck (and likely a pancake body)
Here's another PB-3142 with the paint stripped, showing the pancake body and a 3-piece neck:
The guitars shown in the brochure are the only ones seen in the wild so far, with the exception of the ES-175 copy that never shows up, and a Les Paul Recording copy that isn't in the brochure. Same neck as the regular LP Custom copy, version 2:
At the end, copies of that era have more in common than differences, they are guitars coarsely made to look like the originals, but internally different enough to make them their own class of guitars, which may or may not be an euphemism. What the Pearl guitars also have in common with all of their siblings are the early Maxon pickups and the laminate arched tops (hollow underneath) on the LP copies.
It seems like the amp series was introduced earlier than the guitars, because they all start out with the old, round shaped Pearl-logo that was used on the drums until maybe 1970. Pearl amps were much more ubiquitous than the guitars over here, and almost every rehearsal room I've been in had a Pearl or a Guyatone amp rotting away in a corner by the late 80s. The brochure lists only the 2 smaller amps known from Pearl, but the there was also a bigger "Sunflower 1200" guitar amp at that time, later renamed to "Duo Reverb". That's also the time when the "Vorg" label shows up for the first time in context with the amps.
Pearl "Sun Flower" and "Duo Reverb" amps
For the acoustic guitars, Pearl simply bought Hayashi, a factory that Westheimer had tasked to make "Cortez" branded acoustics for him earlier. Unfortunately, http://catweb.tgtel.com is yet another source that has disappeared, it offered a complete looking set of catalogs for the acoustic guitar line, which is why I had the impression that the 1972/73 electric brochures are possibly the only brochures being made, and also that the guitars in it were not made for a long time.
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