"Mystery" Guitar.

[Michael Smith]

Late 1960's, 23 1/2 inch scale, whammy bar, zero fret, open back tuners, "steel reinforced neck" (not an adjustable truss rod). Some wingnut (me) removed all of the electronics a long time ago to install in an acoustic that has long since disappeared. Action is pretty reasonable after I shimmed the neck. Very low frets. The pickup holes in the pickguard are bigger than on a strat, and the screw holes for securing the pickups are spaced farther apart than a strat. I would like to maybe install a jack and a single pickup to see what kind of sound I can get out of it, but I'll need to find a cheap pickup and find a way to mount it. I do have the pickup screws and height adjustment springs. They were taped under the pickguard.

I covered the name of the guitar on the headstock until I get a few guesses as to what it is. It's been in my closet in a cheap gig bag for many years. My parents must have brought it to me long ago.

[phantomman]

Looks like a Teisco to me.

[Michael Smith]

Looks like a Teisco to me.

You may be onto something Roger. I found a couple like it on Reverb under the name mine was marketed as in the US and they referenced Teisco/Kawai. I don't recognize the wood the neck/headstock is made from. I may try to take a better photo of the back of the neck in natural light tomorrow.

[OldStrummer]

A vague memory bubble remembers that Kay/Harmony used the "steel reinforced neck" badge on some of their guitars back in the day.

[BobbyMac]

Maybe a KENT? The headstock, tuners, and vibrato look like what was on my first electric guitar, a KENT 3-pickup model, back in the early 60s.

[phantomman]

Maybe a KENT? The headstock, tuners, and vibrato look like what was on my first electric guitar, a KENT 3-pickup model, back in the early 60s.

+1

Also possible.

And I seem to recall guitars such as Michael's being sold in then-contemporary variety stores such as JC Penney's, Woolco, and WT Grant. I believe they retailed for about forty bucks.

[Michael Smith]

I found this photo on Reverb of one just like mine that still has all of the electronics. Note the oversize pickup "holders" or rings or whatever they are called. Mine was purchased from Montgomery Wards, paired with a tiny solid state amp. With the pick guard removed I can tell very clearly that the body is a laminate. The neck appears to be one solid piece of wood with a glued on fretboard.

[phantomman]

Is there a brand marked on the headstock?

[Bill Moore]

When our nephew died, I got most of the electronics/instruments that he had. One was a Kay guitar, (it resembled an LP). It too was laminate and weighed a ton, the "humbucker" pickups were a single coil with a wood spacer filling the gap. I cleaned it up and rebuilt the electronics with some Carvin "Classic" humbucker pickups, CTS, and Switchcraft, and it sounded pretty good, and actually played pretty well. I gave it to a sister in law that was really close to him one Christmas, and she enjoyed it!

[BobbyMac]

Kay, Serrento, and Encore are brands some of whose guitars were made for them by Teisco. I've perused a bunch of images on the internet and find guitars very similar to the one in the OP with that exact headstock.

I've changed my opinion that it might be a KENT. After my image search it does not look like one to me.

[phantomman]

Teisco built guitars for everyone.

It's like the M1911 pistol -- John Browning designed it and Colt developed it but now everybody sells one (or a variation thereof).

[Michael Smith]

Sorrento it is! I still haven't been able to take a good picture of the neck to find out what wood was used. This is about the best I can do.

[Offshore Angler]

Got a little Hondo vibe going too.

[Michael Smith]

Now I need to find an inexpensive pickup to install. Even if I no longer have the plastic housings that fit in the pickguard to hold the pickups, I can glue in a block of wood inside the cavity, and attach the pickup to it, setting the pickup height that way.

[Bill Moore]

Here's one!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/15484671159...Bk9SR6DK7uCtYQ