Audition Unknown

I received this guitar in a sale of other instruments about 25 years ago. Through photographs online, I've been able to identify it as an Audition, made in Japan in the 1960s. It has 20 very round frets which make it difficult to play because of the distance you have to push down to fret the strings. The shape of the hollow body is very similar to the same era's Gibson Barney Kessel model, a double cutaway with sharp points, but with a thin body. My copy has a tobacco sunburst finish on the top, cherry sunburst on the back. The neck is a rosewood bolt-on and made out of blond laminated wood. Some Auditions of this model had the neck and head stock painted black. The fret board is pretty thin in width, while the neck itself is a handful. The headstock has the Les Paul shape and it comes with low quality chromed tuning gears.

Electronics and hardware on this Audition model include two chromed passive pickups with exposed coil pieces, a tunable bridge, and the controls exist on a piece of triangular shaped mock tortoiseshell plastic placed on the lower side of the body, toward the rear of the guitar. Controls include a three position pickup toggle and two pickup volume controls, along side of the mono jack. Just above is a poor quality tremelo tailpiece and whammy bar.

I, and another guitarist I was playing with in the early 1980s, actually played this guitar in concert and it didn't sound half bad. I used it mostly for amplified rhythm guitar while he used it for lead. It got us through the gigs. But it is noisy and I'm assuming they are not humbuckers. The sound is very thin and bright, and it being a full hollowbody, I had to stuff dish towels in the body to help control the feedback. I recently took the dish towels out when I mounted it on my office wall. All in all, the sound is not that great and can be beat easily by even a cheap guitar made today.

The action on the Audition is high and not easily adjusted. It does have a zero fret but you'd have to shave that down to lower that side of the action. If I was going to use this guitar, I would have a luthier redo the neck and fretboard completely. The pickups and electronics are junk and again, I'd have them replaced if I was to use this live. Also, the whammy bar was useless so we took the spring out and put a hard rubber shim in it's place to be able to play it live. The one thing this guitar does have is looks. Since I've mounted it to the wall over my office desk, I've gotten many compliments on it. It just LOOKS good! So my advice would be to those who may find one in a sale, buy it not to play, but as a wall hanger. It is unusual looking and pretty.

The guitar is made pretty sturdy. We used it in concert for years and it held up. In fact, it still looks new and hardly used, except for the typical corrosion from sweaty hands and arms on metal parts. The finish is still in great shape and is what really stands out on this cheap 60's Japanese guitar. But with the advent of decent playing guitars at such low prices today, I would never use this again in concert.

I imagine that Audition was a store brand (maybe Woolworth) put on a generic guitar from that time and that there would have been no support except through a music store or the department store it was purchased at.

I've played guitar since 1964, but my primary instrument of the last 30 years has been the electric bass, with which I've toured the world on. Other guitars and basses I own include a 71 Fender P-Bass, a 1980s BC Rich Eagle bass, a 1990s Fender Precision Lyte Deluxe, an Epiphone Viola bass, a 1960 Gibson Les Paul Jr., a 1978 Fender Bullet Head Hard Tail Strat, a Taylor 355 12 string, and a copy of my very first guitar, a Silvertone 6 string acoustic. Bass amp is a Gallien Kruger 400RB with an EV B115-M cabinet.

Since I got this guitar in a trade, I wouldn't replace it if it was stolen but I do like the look of retro instruments so I'd probably buy another 60s era guitar to hang on the wall. Buy it as a wall hanger only, not as a performance instrument.

Accoustic 6-string, red burst top with rosewood fingerboard

I can barely play it as it is right now, but what i can hear seems to be nothinng special. it is quite superficial and sometimes almost tinny

The action is incredibly high and almost impossible to play. I am going to lower the action and re-string. Everything else seems fine.

I bought this from a car-boot sale where they told me it was from the 60's but i don't know if that is true. If it was, it seems to be in good shape. The only problem (apart from being covered in dirt) is a LOT of wear on the fingerboard.

n/a

This is my first accoustic guitar and i'm making it into a bit of a progect but i am hoping it will be (at least) playable and (hopefullly) bearanle to listen to. it is quite a pretty guitar though

I think this was an early 1960s Woolworth own brand. It's a 22 fret model, solid-bodied with passive double pick-up. I think the neck's maple. There's a fairly basic tremolo arm.

It's a bit woolly with an AC50 and the controls are noisy. It's alright as a backing guitar, but will be better when I've fixed it up a bit. Goes out of tune easily, though.

Well battered, I can't really tell what it should have been like.

I would not use this on a gig unless as a joke. I bought it as a test bed for some ideas, but now want to keep it as a curio.

My favourite guitar is a Burns Vibra-Artist. The Audition can't get close to that, but it's a smuch fun as my cheap Strat copy. Anyone out there how much the Audition might be worth?

Just a body, fretboard and bridge - nothing else

No sound - unless you knock on it.

I bought the thing second hand. After refurbishing it and adding the neccessary bits it is the best guitar I've ever played - because of the fantastic fretboard - it is amazingly smooth.

Although Audition are rated as being cheap crap after refitting the body and neck with decent parts (pickup, heads, strings etc) this has become a magnificent guitar. The steel fingerboard presents a stricking look against the dark wood of the body. But the most fantastic part is the quality of the fretboard - breathtaking.