Gemtone Guitars

(Written By Jimmy Noise / Aug 2012)

Gemtone is one of those vintage guitar brands that you never see, or even hear about. So one could say they are extremely rare guitars. The only Gemtone guitar that has recently surfaced was found in Australia. Based on this it’s assumed that the brand was an Australian brand. This would explain why Gemtone guitars are so rare. Given the small population of Australia during this era, there would have only been a small number of guitars to fill the required market, compared to the USA.

However there is some references made to Gemtone being a brand in Canada. However no guitars with the Gemtone label have surfaced.

The guitars were made in Japan sometime around 1960 to 1962. The guitars were manufactured by Nippon Onpa Kogyo Co Ltd. The importer and distributors are not known at this time.

The model pictured below is model U10. This is a ¾ sized student guitar. The design was influenced by Gibson models of the time. The body was a bit thicker than what you expect on a Japanese made guitar during this era. It has a single pickup with one volume and one tone control. The model tag was located on the back of the headstock. The equivalent Teisco model is the second version of the J-1. This model was also sold in the USA with different brand names and model numbers.


Gemstone Guitar Model U10

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(Last Revised: 25^th of June 2012.)