Anyone know what this Guitar is? Made by Goya I think. Thanks!

[robherbert]

Any idea of what it is, and value?? Thanks so much!! -Rob

[stevedenver]

Many if not all Goyas were Swedish made, as I recall.
that one looks Italian in design to my eye.

not sure why you are posting a value question on a mando forum,
but,

there is a recent trend of non-big-name guitars as hip
goyas were good quality,

I would google and take a look at similar types, national, supro, sears, harmony, kay, etc for a ballpark

there might even be a site devoted to 60's import electrics-???

my guess, and only that, to value, $700, give or take, depending on condition. I have no idea if its rare or if its 60s or 70s , or if it is an original Goya, or a Goya made after the name was acquired. Martin had it for a bit, then I think they went Asian-not like going Japanese.....LOL

[Nevin]

It looks like amid 60's to early 70's guitar made in Japan or possibly Korea. They and ones like them were made by the tens of thousands. Goya was not a maker but a brand/distributor who used many different factories to source their guitars. This one is unbranded (unless the badge came of). They can play anywhere from terribly to surprisingly well. If you are luck on a good day you may get as much as $150.

[barney 59]

Some of the Goya electrics were made by Hagstrom (which is also Swedish) for Levin and sold in the US as Goya but that is the early ones. By the 60's I think all of the Goya electric guitars were made by EKO in Italy and that could easily be one of those. After Martin acquired them I don't know-- Asia I bet!. I have only had experience with the "Rangemaster" which I think wins the award for the most buttons and switches on any guitar and was pretty nice in a special effects kind of way. Hendrix had and recorded with a Rangemaster. Sonic Youth had one in a show I saw,they would know an excellant grunge guitar when they see it!. They list a couple of models in Vintage Guitar, a single cutaway Model 80/90 $800 to $1000 features a modular replaceable pickup. A double cutaway Panther S 3 with 3 pickups and 6 upper bass bout switches same price and the Rangemaster @ $650 to $750 and note that it has "lots of buttons".

[OldSausage]

Can't help feeling Goya would have made an awesome guitar

[Frank Donnoli]

I think it's a Corona.

[EdHanrahan]

... that one looks Italian in design to my eye.

Nobody's mentioned Eko yet, which were (or are?) Italian. Eko first got my attention from their imitation of McCartney's violin-bodied Hofner bass.

[Jeff Mando]

It looks like amid 60's to early 70's guitar made in Japan or possibly Korea. They and ones like them were made by the tens of thousands. Goya was not a maker but a brand/distributor who used many different factories to source their guitars. This one is unbranded (unless the badge came of). They can play anywhere from terribly to surprisingly well. If you are luck on a good day you may get as much as $150.

I agree with Nevin. 60's/early 70's made in Japan cheapie--these were branded with different names, but were mostly made by Teisco, Kawai, (early) Ibanez, Kent, etc. An optimistic eBay price would be $150.....

There is a small cult around this type of guitar, popularized by David Lindley while playing with Jackson Browne. Also Ry Cooder liked these pickups for slide guitar work.

[allenhopkins]

I'm liking Teisco.

[barney 59]

The picture doesn't reveal much --has that bad Craig's List look to it. The strap is hiding half the guitar. More better pictures would help a lot OP! Someone said Italian and I agree and the inquiry mentioned that they thought it was a Goya but didn't say why they thought that. As I mentioned above in the 1960's Goya ELECTRIC guitars were manufactured by EKO. So in a round about way EKO was mentioned. In the 50's Levin used Hagstrom to build their electrics but I don't know if they had much of a distribution network set up for marketing outside of Europe at that time. Goya was most certainly a manufacturer or rather Levin was and Goya was a brand name used as a marketing strategy to distribute their guitars in the US by a company named (and I may have this name wrong "Hersh" (or Hersh- something) that was their marketing agent in NY. ALL ACOUSTIC guitars sold as Goya in the US were manufactured in Gottenberg Sweden by Levin up until Martin bought them out in the 1970's and switched production to Asia. Goya guitars were very popular in the early folk revival late -50's/ early 1960's in the US, they were pretty nice guitars- all of them. If you were in Washington Sq. in 1963 you would have seen quite a few Goya's-- a lot of them nylon string as that was also popular at the time. Their guitars started at about $100 and topped out at about $600 in the early 60's but even their bottom of the line instruments were well made. I have had a couple of Goyas, a G10, their cheapest guitar and a G30 which is a very serious guitar indeed! They probably took a sizable chunk of Martin's marketshare. A company named "Dude" acquired the name from Martin as Martin's interest in Goya, after they essentially killed it, was short lived. They also had a line of mandolins some of which I've played and they weren't bad. Their top of the line "Aristocrat" was a fairly well appointed (maybe a little gaudy looking) thing that wasn't a great mandolin but is at least as good in terms of sound and playability as say a Martin 2-15. At least some Levin Aristocrats made it to the US branded "Goya" but I have seen them branded here as Levin as well. As to the point of all this --I'm still thinking it's Italian (and therefore maybe a Goya) as someone else has mentioned and probably made by EKO only because they seem to be the biggest Italian manufacturer of electric guitars but better pictures would sure help!

[Jim]

+1 for Teisco

[stevedenver]

FWIW, while no expert, imho headstock doesn't look like any Teisco ive ever seen.

[barney 59]

I went onto "images" for Teisco, Goya, and EKO and now I am confused --most Teisco guitars had a very different headstock design but they were big on the sort of tensioner that you see on this one where as EKO was not. There is no guarantee that everything that is on an images page is the thing you are looking for but there were at least some that had a similar headstock. In all those hundreds of pictures I didn't run into one that looked exactly like this one. As often happens the originator of this thread seems to have taken a powder so I guess no additional information is likely to show up.

[barney 59]

By the way I want to make a correction about some Goya info from my previous post. The timeline I got incorrect _Levin was purchased by Advet (who also owned Guild) they in turn resold it to Kustom Electronics or "Dude"(what a stupid name for anything other than maybe a skateboard!) of Kansas --Dude then sold it to Martin later in the 70's and production was moved to Asia ultimately discontinuing the line but apparently still retain the name. Oh, and the company that distributed Goya in the US was "Hershman" I looked at a label of an old Goya that apparently, as it turns out, I own!

[Jeff Mando]

The most reliable way to identify the maker is by the pickups. Unfortunately, I cannot enlarge this pic enough to see the pickups clearly. In the days before the internet we used a book published in Japan called Bizarre Guitars which is sort of the "Bible" for identifying these guitars.

[barney 59]

My guess is that this WAS a Craig's List item, the OP was interested in buying it --provided it was a Goya which he suspected it might be but wanted confirmation. He may have joined some other forums as well and got his answer some place else. Why he came to mandolin land for this I don't know but I would be surprised if we hear from him again.. It's a little weird --I'm not that interested in cheapo electric instruments --- I must be bored!

[Nevin]

The most reliable way to identify the maker is by the pickups. Unfortunately, I cannot enlarge this pic enough to see the pickups clearly. In the days before the internet we used a book published in Japan called Bizarre Guitars which is sort of the "Bible" for identifying these guitars.

I would disagree. Only a few of the low budget makers made their own pickups. In Japan, Maxon made pups for several factories.

[allenhopkins]

FWIW, while no expert, imho headstock doesn't look like any Teisco ive ever seen.

Kinda resembles the Teisco ET-200, but this one seems to have one more knob.

[Petrus]

Can't help feeling Goya would have made an awesome guitar

And it would've had an umlaut over the "o."

BTW, if that's a string guide across the headstock, it's the most awkward looking one I've seen. (I also took the trouble of augmenting the image of this unusual six-string solid-body e-mando on Photoshop.)