How many of you can still remember these names:- Trek, Gallotone, Canasta, Roselli, Meazzi, Welson, President etc? These were guitars and amps that was available to the avarage South African boy of the 60's and 70's.
Some were good, but most of them were BAD! There was no action on the necks.(It helped me to become a good repairman by the way.)The Meazzi pa's had a lovely tape echo unit though. I think the British and Yanks were very gratefull to these companies for making such instruments. It forced us to upgrade to better stuff in later years.

I can't recall any of those names, although Gallotone rings a bell...but I might be thinking of the record label though. This reminds me of a steelstring acoustic I had as a 12 year old. I think it came from a pawnshop, and I never actually managed to play it. The action was about a centimeter high, and the neck was visibly warped!
One day I sanded the whole thing down, and spray painted it a nice bronze with black edges, creating a (not too bad, I might add) sunburst effect. With a Letraset (remember those?) I wrote "Gibson F25" on the headstock...I don't know what the F25 was about, but it sounded good! I wonder what happened to that guitar...! ?

I wrote "Gibson F25" on the headstock...I don't know what the F25 was about, but it sounded good! I wonder what happened to that guitar...!

...so that is where all those fake gibsons came from, ha ha ?

the "F25" sounds truly like something from the future

Get the F25 back! Make yourself a slide machine! Hahaha

I'm too young to remember any of those names, but I enjoy the stories of days gone by. Carry on gents ?

There were good guitars available as well. I remember walking into a furniture shop in Welkom in 1974 eyeing
two 1964 Strats hanging by their necks for R175.00 a piece. A fortune if you pay R200.00 a month.Off course I traded my Hoffner semi for it. Had to pay in a hundred buck or so.The boerebands had good guitars. Gibson
ES 175's were popular and very expensive. Nobody played or liked Fender Strats. Zeppelin ruled and the Les Paul was the Holy Grail. Also saw a Gretch duel jet in a pawn shop in '75 It was selling for R250. Recognised it but sadly no cash.

I wasn't in SA in the '60s, but repairing in the '90s I saw the few Gallotones (imported from italy by Gallo - the record company), Presidents and Trek guitars that had survived - usually by courtesy of being in someone's attic and usually brought to me by someone who had inherited it when dad/grandad passed on. One other brand you forgot was the Bellini. Not much that could be done for most of them - good condition ones could be "made operational", but I doubt they were ever really playable.

F25 was a mandolin IIRC. I've seen quite a few mandolins, banjos, ukes, mandoleles, banjoleles and banjolines with "Gibson" on the headstock - usually done with a Letraset or hand painted with a brush - seems like it was quite a popular "mod". ?

My first guitar was a Trek. It was strung with what seemed like piano strings and the action was a mile high - I was 12. Pure determination forced me to get a clear tone out of that monster. My mate was given a Bellini and that was a dream to play - good action by comparison although rather a thin sound. You've got to remember that there was very little else here in the late 1950's and without these guitars a lot of us would never have learned to play - so they served a purpose.

I've kept everything from my early days of playing and still have a Meazzi Manager - a guitar amp with a simple tape echo system. It needs revalving. I also have the pre-amp section of the Meazzi PA which has a very comprehensive tape echo system - the one Hank Marvin used to use, I believe. This too needs serious attention.

MY dads guitar was a spanish guitar dont know what they called, He got it in spain in the 60s But then when I was very young I broke its neck.