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I couldn’t help but do an article to present the Trump guitar brand because by its name, it’s already a curiosity! It is a brand called “student grade Japanese import”, in other words it was a “cheap” brand when its guitars were intended for the American market. Trump guitars were produced in Japan and imported by Bruno & Son from the 1960s until 1982 if my details are correct.
Bruno & Son was a distributor of musical instruments since 1834. Trump guitars can present some feedback problems (but not always) because of their pickups and the tuners are not of high quality. On the other hand, the wood used was generally of good quality, the manufacture was well done, the strings height action did not present any particular problem and the finish was very correct. So we can say that they are good guitars that have stood the test of time and we can still find good original models on the Japanese vintage guitar market.
Manufacturer : Kawai Teisco
Kawai Teisco was founded by Atswo Kaneko and Doryu Matsuda. The company also produced guitars for Ibanez in the 1960s. Kawai Teisco has created its own brands such as Kawai, Teisco, Del Rey and Teisco Del Rey but has also produced guitars for many other brands, including Trump guitars.
Let’s see below the detailed characteristics of a Trump SG guitar produced at the end of the ’60s.
Country: Made in Japan
Model: SG
Production year: late 60's
Nut width: 43 mm
Neck: 21F
Weight: 2.8 kg
Controls: 2 vol. - 2 tone - PU On/Off
Fretboard: 628 mm
7 Responses
Are these “trump” guitars in any way related to Donald Trump “
No! Nothing related to him.
Hi, greetings from Chile.
I have a LD Heater guitar made it in the Matsumoku guitar factory, between 70/80’s.
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I have a 6 string trump guitar model T-687 with cards and trump badge at top what year might it be
Hi when was this article written and where did you get the pictures of the Trump Les Paul. I bought that guitar in 2016
Hello,
I wrote this article in 2016. If I remember correctly, a contributor sent me the pictures of the Les Paul copy some time later.
What do you think of your guitar, in terms of quality?
These pictures were taken by a guy who sells guitars locally here. I bought the guitar from him. Had it professionally set up and it’s now a decent player