Holy rocket ship!! Ahh, the wonderment that is the late 1960s Japanese guitars…I just can’t get enough! This is just one of the coolest and most bizarre of all the Japanese guitars from the late 1960s! At this time in Japanese guitar history, Kawai had already purchased Tiesco, and for whatever reason the Kawai guitars being made were just WACKY! I think this is one of the coolest times in 1960s. There are so many odd body shapes, finishes, and pickups to be found in this era!
To be fair though, this guitar is a very close copy of the Italian Eko Rokes guitar. The Eko version of this guitar came out around 1965 and was attributed to the beat band of the same name, and was exported for a short time to the states using the Roket, and later, Rok names. This guitar model can be seen in late 1960s catalogs with the brand Kingston, or with no brand name. And they’re probably more rare than the Eko version, only made for about two years! These Japanese guitars were marketed as “The Flying Wedge”. Good grief man!
The pickups in this Flying Wedge are rather typical of the time and read out in the 2k range, but this guitar was wired in series so when both pickups are turned on the output DOUBLES!! Another weird factory screw up was the neck and bridge pickups were installed in the wrong positions. See, the pole piece spacing is slightly different for the bridge and neck pickups, and they were switched around and installed wrong at the factory! Thankfully I sent this guitar to Dave D’Amelio to fix all the above! The tremolo is very typical of the late 1960s Kawai guitars, and is also found on the Kawai Concert guitar of the same period. The headstock is also identical to the Prestige Tiki Mask guitar on my Guitars page. The cool thing about these “cooler” pickups is that they handle high gain really well, and they’re not microphonic!
This particular example is pretty clean with only wear in the expected places, mainly on the horns of the body. Kawai did put a small rubber “stand guard” on each of these horns, which I think is cool. And even though the body has those straight lines, there is a belly cut-out on the back! Here’s how one catalog described the guitar:
“New Flying Wedge. The hit of the season. Large solid body. Exclusive guaranteed adjustable Canadian maple neck. Inlaid rosewood fingerboard. Adjustable bridge. Hard lacquer finish provides durable protection. 20 frets. Tone and volume control No. V2T two pickups w/ tremelo..$54”
Once again, the Japanese just out priced everybody at the time. And that hard lacquer finish has held up pretty well. There is a dab of glue up on the headstock but I believe this is one of the brand-less guitars that were sold since there aren’t any nail holes. I have seen these guitars with the Kingston logo, which was one of the brands used by the Westheimer Importing Corp. of Chicago. On a side note, Jack Westheimer is responsible for a lot of the Japanese guitars that came upon these shores in the 1960s!
This guitar set up very well and plays pretty darn good! The truss rod worked fine, and after Dano Dave went through this rocket, it became an everyday player. The biggest problem with this guitar was setting up the neck angle. It was a real challenge and took a loooong time taking the neck on and off to get just that right angle for a low, level action. Not many people are willing to put that kind of time in!!! Of course the guitar is a little weird to play sitting down, but no more or less than a Flying V.
Of course you all want to know how this sounds! Well, here is Mike Dugan ripping it up! Check it!
Drowning in Guitars! 
i wish i could afford something like this! the sound is amazing
Looks really unique also sort of thing im looking for to stand out in a band
x
These aren’t that expensive…especially considering a lot of the newer stuff being sold.
I just picked one up today for $15.00. It was in a second hand store. It has seen better days, but I will be re-finishing this old axe from a bygone era. The model I have has only a single pickup in it now. I will have to open it up and see if this original or some one elses handy work.
I was glad to find this article as I had know idea what I just bought. This is to be my show guitar
as I go from repairman to custom guitar builder. My next guitar will be from the ground up. I just
could not let this one go, the owner of the store knows that I do guitar work and just kept after me to buy this guitar and bring it back to life.
Good luck with your project! I believe Kawai did produce these with one pickup and no tremolo.
I used to have one just like it came with a big wooden rectangle case, It was a real nice playing guitar I rember it sitting in the window of Oswalds music store in Oshkosh,Wi. in 1969 I just had to have it because the Recco guitar I had just sucked. It had a big sign on it $49.99 I shinned a lot of shoes to get it.
It had an oval metal sticker on the headstock Rocket by Kingston. I thought it was so cool then and still do wish I still had it but no I sold it for 25.00.in 73 so I could get some green stuff in a baggie that I had fallen in love with.Which just happened to ruin the relationship I was in .SHOULD HAVE KEPT THE GUITAR.
Yep, ALWAYS keep the guitar!! Don’t you wish we could go back in time and give our young selves good advice? Probably wouldn’t listen anyway!
Hi my name Is jason and we have one of thees and i was wounding how much they are worth it works and is missing one one pice a tuner nob and thats it i really need to know what it is worth thax
Price is hard to pin down, but considering a MINT condition guitar, I’d say the high end is $300ish and the low end is $150ish.
I would have to say the value is what you can get someone to pay for it. These guitars did not have the great value of the name brands we all know, but someone out there chose to play this guitar because they fell in love with the size, the feel and the sound that they could produce. I am restoring mine not to sell, but as a base to show what I can do with wood and hardware. I have always been a handyman, but now have the time to build or restore. I need a showcase instrument and the value here is the condition this guitar was in when I found it and the quality of the rebuild I will put into it. This will be somewhat nill to some, whereas to a potential customer, it is very valuable.
Hi, I just got one of these for my collection. My brother had one when he was nine in 1965. And then sold it five years later. I’ve been hunting around for awhile to buy one. They are pretty rare I’ve only seen 3 white ones and 3 black ones in about ten years. Too bad these old guitars can’t talk and tell you what they’ve been through. I’m sure the stories would be fascinating.
Hi. i have questions about the guitar. i want to know how much is Kingston Flying Wedge Guitar ?
This guitar has already sold, sorry brother…