They are equal in quality and sometimes even better than the originals.The popularity of lawsuit guitars is easy to explain: What exactly is a lawsuit guitar and why are they so popular? The word is abused a lot though because it drives the price of a guitar up. If you are interested in buying a lawsuit guitar, make sure you read through this article first and then do more research before you buy or start bidding on a guitar.Īnyone who’s looking for vintage guitars on eBay or Reverb comes across the word “lawsuit”. There are still gems to be found, on eBay or Reverb for example, and a lot of these auctions are genuine, but some of these lawsuit guitars for sale are not lawsuit guitars at all. These Japanese lawsuit guitars are of legendary quality and are highly sought after. Their reputation was likely based on their fairly decent build quality compared to the Harris-Fandell, Kent, Teisco and no-name imports that preceded them.Lawsuit guitars are high-quality copies of popular American brand name guitars (like Fender and Gibson) produced by Japanese companies in the 1970s. The Pencos had a bit thicker finish on on the neck and the bodies than the Arias. My buddy claimed that he would never swap it for a Fender, but I bet he would have eaten his words if some fool would have offered him the deal.Ī couple Pencos I saw had rather nicely grained maple-probably by accident, I'm sure. String spacing was a bit narrower and physical dimensions were off a bit from the original.

And if you could find a Fender replacement pickup it wouldn't drop in. The hardware and electronics was definitely cheaper but functional, pots were small and cheesy and the pickups sounded close but no seegar. I had owned a battered '67 Tele that, while no great shakes, was a much better guitar than the Penco or the Aria. Neither one was anywhere in the league of a genuine Fender Tele. Penco and Aria T-styles had fairly decent reputations in the early '70s.Īround 1974 a buddy of mine owned a Penco and I owned an Aria.

Penco guitar values