Pan guitars?

[Caffeine Patrol]

Anybody remember or know anything about Pan guitars (no, not Rickenbacker frying pans)? My first decent guitar was a Pan SG copy; the music store where I took lessons had a bunch of them and my teacher recommended it as a step up from my no-name Norma style electric with the giant wood screw piercing through the neck at the 12th fret. The Pan was a decent little guitar, played it for years until it was stolen (along with grandad's shotgun and great-grandad's 32-20--damn OKC drug addicts). Anyhow, I did a search on "The Google" once and supposedly Kurt Cobain also started on a Pan SG copy but that was the limit of what I could find of any substance. Just waxing nostalgic.

[RickG501]

"damn OKC drug addicts"

Is you an Okie?.......

[Oster]

My first bass was a violin or Beatle Bass shaped Pan bass. Unlike a Hofner, it had a solid body. Made in Japan. Very distinctive classical scroll headstock (like a cello or stand-up bass) with two humbuckers. Not a bad instrument at all.

[Caffeine Patrol]

I is an Okie, but an Okie in exile. Left Stillwater, my last Okla. residence, in '89. Lived in OKC, Stillwater, Blanchard, Fort Gibson, Sayre,Elgin... I used to play at places like the Bowery and the Blue Note in OKC back in the day. A buddy and I booked the Flaming Lips into this little joint in Stillwater in '87 and we were nervous about the $300 guarantee. We paid them, and then two years later they took our drummer (but not without asking if it was okay). Like Ole Fuzzy used to say, at least we have our memories.

[Geoff738]

My first guitar was a Pan acoustic.

I think they may have had some sort of affiliation with Ibanez.

Cheers,
Geoff

[RickG501]

"I is an Okie, but an Okie in exile."

Well, if you ever wanna come back let me know...I got's co-nections...

[maestrovert]

i had a Pan Tele once uponna waaaaaay back when....
T'was a great guitar !

[Geoff738]

Originally Posted by Geoff738

My first guitar was a Pan acoustic.

I think they may have had some sort of affiliation with Ibanez.

Cheers,
Geoff

Now that I think of it, maybe it was Mann (which was my first electric and first Tele-style guitar) that had the Ibanez connection, and not Pan.

[Paul in Colorado]

A friend has a Pan Telecaster that I did come work on. Alembic did some consulting for them and Pan slapped Alembic stickers on some of their guitars. Alembic had no other connection. I replaced the bridge pickup on my friend's "Tele" and had to route the cavity and use a six saddle bridge to make it work. It's an OK '70's Japanese guitar.

[Caffeine Patrol]

I always thought there was some connection to Alembic. Of all the cheapo 70s electrics I run across, I haven't seen a Pan since mine was stolen. Thinking about it again I remember that it had a cheap vibrato tailpiece and the pickguard was warped. I sure loved it at the time, though.

[Johnny Isaacs]

I learned to play on a Pan Tele way back when! I had heard they were made by the same Ibanez/Greco people.

Great guitars from what I remember.

Johnny Isaacs

[Oster]

The logo was cool too; a little stylized faun or satyr character. Set lineages get pretty murky with that vintage of Japanese guitar but I was under the impression that it was Aria who manufactured Pan.

I had no idea there was an Alembic connection. Pretty neat!

[B Valley]

Oddly enough, Zamfir's first flute was a Pan flute.



It's a small, small world.

[three barrel]

So, what kind of pickups do you have on that Norma? Are they the gold foils? If so, don't get rid of it. Find another guitar to use them in.

[ROADMAN]

there's a 335 Pan copy on C/L currently...looks pretty nice

[ROADMAN]

pic #2

[ROADMAN]

oh yea...400 clams

[djdeacon]

The running joke back in the 60's was "crafted by the J.A. Pan corporation"....back when Japanese guitars were considered a bad thing.

[oldmark]

Resurrecting this from the dead...Pan guitars were made in Japan by Arai (Aria) in the late 1960's till maybe the mid 1970's. There was some minor design of the electronics deal with Alembic...they had very good pickups and were well made guitars and basses.
I had a Pan Stratocaster back in the old days, and I was foolish to sell it. It was the best Strat made by anyone I have ever owned. It was a 3 color sunburst with rosewood board and great frets It was SSS with a phase switch and great sounding. Wish I had another one-I'd sell my Fender in a minute.

Not many around any more, and they seem to have some value to players.
That's about all I know about the Pan guitars..they seem like they were all good players and well made.

mark

ADDED: In the middle of this page, there is a tiny section on PAN guitars...says they were made in Japan by Aria for sale in Canada...

http://www.jedistar.com/jedistar_vin...r_dating_p.htm


and here are 2 years of PAN guitar catalogs from '68 and '69...

http://www.vintaxe.com/catalogs_japanese_pan.htm