Daion Acoustic/Electric on Gumtree.com.au

I know very little/nothing about the various Daion Acoustic models, and this advert is pretty basic in its description of this guitar, so I have no real idea what model it is.

I had a quick look through some old Daion catalogs online but cannot find one that matches this particular single cutaway design. If anyone has any idea it would be good to know what it is for reference sake alone.

In any case here is the link to the ad and a slightly bigger pic:

http://www.gumtree.com.au/Daion-acoustic-electric-guitar

Daion Rockson MDL in Blue with Case For Sale on Gumtree.com.au

A really nice Blue Daion Rockson MDL has popped up on gumtree.com.au

It looks to be in a very nice plush lined case as well, not sure if is a Daion branded one or not, but a few I've seen appear to still be with their original cases.

This one is another "Strat" style Daion with the vintage 8-screw pickguard and early split style tuning pegs, with the twin pressed steel string trees on the headstock. The bridge saddles are the more modern solid style ones like the ones on my black Rockson MDL.

Unlike some I've seen including my own where the pickguard and knobs have aged and yellowed, this one look to be in a more of a "closet classic" state, possibly spending a lot of its life in the case away from dirty hands, dust and sunlight.

Pics and info below.

http://www.gumtree.com.au/daion-guitar-made-in-japan

Progress on Rebuilding my Black Daion Rockson MDL

In a previous post I put up some pics and info on the second Daion Rockson MDL I bought, another "Strat" style guitar, this time in black. Info on that guitar can be found in the following link: http://daionguitarsdownunder/my-second-daion-another-rockson-mdl.htm

I mentioned in that post that unlike my first Daion, which is just the most lovely playing and sounding guitar, this one would be more of a work in progress and one that may get fiddled with from time to time.

I mentioned that I'm not personally a big fan of black guitars, and being that the finish was a little knocked around anyway, I have no problems whatsoever in making the decision to do a re-finish and change the colour.

A few weeks ago I had a bit of spare time, and with a lovely sunny winters day presenting itself it seemed a good time to sit out in the sun in front of the aviary and do some sanding. I did the flat front and rear of the body with a belt sander, as this quickly got the majority of the paint off with very little effort.

The original paint is very hard, and whilst I wouldn't call it thick, it is clinging on tenaciously and the curved and rounded surface that need to be hand sanded were a bit more of a challenge. As it now sits the majority of the original paint is gone from the front and back, but the edge still needs a fair bit of work in getting rid of the paint.

Part of the reason it's a slow job is that I don't want to sand away a lot of the dings and scratches that show that this is an older guitar, as these do add character. I'm keeping it in mind that the re-finish will not be representing an "as new" guitar, but one that has been around and been used, certainly not a "closet classic". I guess what I'll be trying to achieve is a colour change, but keeping the original look and feel, including the dings, nicks and scratches.

Upon stripping off the paint a few things became apparent. Firstly this body is made of solid wood, which is always nice to see. It appears to be clearly made up of four pieces, with three pieces making up the majority of the body, the fourth piece only making up the lower rear curved section and not being part of the lower front horn.

The wood itself is a tight straight grain type, with nothing in the way of a swirly patterned grain showing, is very light/pale in colour, and feels quite soft to the touch. These attributes are somewhat like basswood, but I'm no expert in this so it could something else.

Weight wise, the bare and almost stripped of paint body weighs in at 1.315kg (2.9lb or 2lb 14.39oz) on the wife's kitchen scales, which is on the lighter end of the spectrum for a "Strat" style body.

Here's some pics of the body as it was starting to be stripped and as it now sits. The spots on the body are from the rain that began to spit just as I was taking the pics!

Relisted Daion

One of the Daion "Strat" style guitars has been relisted on Ebay due to a non paying bidder. Why do people bid if they have no intention of going through with the sale???

Anyway, here's the link to this re-listed guitar.

http://www.ebay.com.au/VINTAGE-DAION-STRAT-STYLE-1970s-1980s

VINTAGE 1970s-1980s BONE WHITE DAION STRAT STYLE ELECTRIC GUITAR WITH HARD FLIGHT CASE INCLUDED
DAION STRAT STYLE ELECTRIC GUITAR
BONE WHITE BODY AND SCRATCH PLATE
GREAT LOW ACTION
VERY PLAYABLE NECK
VERY LITTLE FRET WEAR
ALL ELECTRONICS FUNCTION
 IN GOOD PLAYABLE CONDITION
SOME MARKS, SCRATCHES AND SMALL CHIPS TO FINISH, THAT ALL ADD TO THE PATINA AND HISTORY OF THE GUITAR

NOTE: This guitar sold.

Ended: 01 Jul, 2013 20:00:11 AEST

Winning bid: AU $179.27 [ 4 bids ]

Daion Co., LTD., Registration with the Trade Marks Office of Australia

While looking for all things Daion back on the 13th of May 2013, I found what appears to be the registration of the Daion Co., LTD., with the Trade Marks Office of Australia.

I assume that this was done for the official importing of Daion branded instruments into Australia. Does this mean that prior to 1980 no Daion instruments were imported into Australia, or merely that this was when Daion Co., LTD., officially registered the trade mark?

http://www.ipaustralia.com.au/applicant/daion-co-ltd

On the page linked above, there is the following blurb:

"DAION with trademark number 318486 was lodged on 24/05/1978 and has a status of Removed - Not Renewed . The applicant/owner of the trademark is registered as Daion Co. Ltd..

Then on the following link, there is similar information:

http://www.ipaustralia.com.au/applicant/daion-co-ltd

Daion Co. Ltd. trademarks in AustraliaDaion Co. Ltd. currently has 1 trademark in Australia associated with it. The filing date for this trademark is 24/05/1978. The specific trademark currently associated with this applicant is shown in the table below.

Trademark Number	Description	Type	Status	Lodgement Date
318486	DAION	Fancy	Removed - Not Renewed	1978-05-24

However there are only four dates I can see on this form, none of which are 24/05/1978, and they are as follows:

The circular "Trade Marks Office Canberra" stamp in the middle of the form appears to be hand signed and dated 15/7/80 (15th of July 1980). The familiar official Daion logo is located to the bottom right of this stamp as well.

To the lower left is written "Accepted" with a date of "28 AUG 1980" stamped next to it.

Below that is "Registered" with a date of "12 MAY 1983" stamped next to it.

Then in stamped in bigger a bigger font above these dates is "10 OCT 1985 REMOVED FROM REGISTER".

Not being an expert in Trade Marks I don't know what impact these dates have on the importation of Daion instruments. I'm not sure what the difference between Accepted and Registered is, because it would seem that from the Accepted date of 28th August 1980 to the Registered date of 12th May 1983 is a long time to be waiting between being accepted and actually registered (although this would have been through the public service so who knows!)? Maybe someone who knows more about the Trade Mark process could answer this?

In any case this is just another interesting little tit-bit of info about Daion in Australia I thought I would share.

Some General Daion Info - Or Two Plus Two = Five!

As time goes by I'm hoping to be able to pull together various bits of information I find to figure out more about the Daion brand, identify more of the guitars and try to figure out when and where the various types were made.

We know that the Daion brand were making guitars in Japan from about 1978 to around 1984 or there abouts. After that it seems that there were still Daion branded guitars coming out of Korea, made up of either left over Japanese Daion components, or Korean parts. This part is somewhat fuzzy so please don't take any of this as fact, it's mere what I have typically found written.

After scouring the interwebs for Daion info, occasionally two separate things link up which then sort of give a bit more of a definite idea about what went on. This following is one of those things.

A few weeks ago there was a Daion for sale here in Australia (see this post http://daionguitarsdownunder/2013/06/daions-on-ebay.html )that was slightly different to the others in a couple of ways.

Firstly the headstock face was painted body colour, and apart from the Daion branding there was no other name written on the headstock like the others I have seen, with either Performer or Rockson MDL.

The second major thing, was from the pics, it appeared as though the body may have been made of some form of ply wood, which was sort of visable through one of the chips in the paint.

See the photos below where you can clearly see two distinct colors of wood which does not look like grain, but a sandwich of different timbers, and the painted headstock. Also take note of the bonded maple fretboard cap on the neck, bullet truss rod, twin string trees and machine heads for further comparison.

So having this odd Daion in the memory bank, made the next thing I found quite interesting. I was browsing the web site http://www.music-trade.co.jp/index.htm and while looking through the various guitars featured found this one, which was very similar in a lot of ways, http://www.music-trade.co.jp/80021224carte.html

In the description was written the following information, with some pics below that:

"Daion Stratocaster

As you may know, Daion is parent company of Yamaki. They had been distributing the Yamaki, Daion and Joodee brand in 70's -80's. I have heard that Yamaki was bankrupted. I don'y know about Daion so much. However, I've check the company name though net, I could not find out.

Daion offered many good quality guitars. I guess this guitar is very cheap range products. Maybe not Japanese made.

The body is plywood. I don't mind so much about the body material. Some of plywood guitars gave us much better tone than solid wood. I don't say this is it. However, I got this as historical guitar, anyhow.

The neck is 1P with maple FB bonded. The fret age treat is not really good. It looks like Korean made Fender Squire Korean guitar"

What I find interesting with these two guitars is the similar painted headstock and Daion logo with no other identification, similar bullet truss rod, twin string tress albeit in slightly different positions, and the in the comments of note are the mention of a "plywood body" and "the neck is 1P (one piece) with maple FB (fret board) bonded", as well as pointing towards it being Korean made and not Japanese.

All of the above features match the one that was for sale a few weeks ago. So is it possible that features like the painted headstock, bonded maple fretboard and plywood body are pointers towards the cheaper Korean built post 1984 Japanese made Daion's?

Like always I'd be happy to hear anyone's thoughts on this subject, and to make sure I haven't put two and two together and ended up with five!

Daion 12 string D124 12-E Acoustic For Sale

Ok I give up, there's no way I can keep this blog to just Daion Electric Guitars, or even guitar and bass and mandolin, so here we have it, a Daion Acoustic.

I must admit, even though I have an acoustic (not a Daion) that I first started playing guitar on, I rarely play it as my girly hands and fingers find it hard work, which is one reason I will never be a great guitarist, I'm basically lazy.

Having said that, I love the sound of aa well played acoustic, and a well played 12-string is just in another league. So when I saw the 12-string Daion pop up I just had to include it. It is located in Hobart, Tasmania. Link and user comments below:

http://www.ebay.com.au/Daion-12-string

Korean made Daion 12 string, model D124 12-E. All mahogany dreadnought (not sure if laminate or solid). Fantastic sounding instrument with plenty of broad sparkling 12 string sounds.
 
The guitar cannot be dated by serial number but likely to be from the early 1980's.
There are minor scratches in the finish, and the blacking on the fretboard (which was either part of the factory finish or professionally done) has worn off through play, but overall this guitar is in very good condition. One tuning machine had a dent on its button that I filed smooth, and a couple of the bridge pins are not original. That's about it.
 
The guitar has an integral pickup located underneath the fretboard, Daion and a very few other guitar makers were the only ones to do this. Works and sounds fine though I never used this guitar plugged in.

Action is set extra low (personal preference): @2.0mm bass side and @1.8mm treble side at 12th fret (see photos). Though the neck is not baseball bat chunky it is wide and will suit a player with larger hands.

Of course after shipping (strings must be loosened) this guitar will need to be set up again to suit your playing style. The action can be raised if desired, as the saddle rides in an adjustable brass carrier (a common feature on guitars of this period).
The scale length is 25.7" (@650mm).
Frets in good condition and the neck is straight. See photos.
Bridge is completely sound, no bridge lift or bulging on the top. 

Note: This guitar sold.

Ended: 30 Jun, 2013 19:20:27 AEST

Winning bid: AU $199.00 [ 1 bid ]

Daion Performer Bass For Sale

I know I said I'd be tracking Daion electric "Guitars", but hey, surely any keen Daion fan would also like to own a nice matching bass to go with it, even if like myself you don't really "play" bass!

So here we have a rather nice looking Daion Performer Bass, black in colour, white pick guard, maple neck etc.

http://www.ebay.com.au/Daion Performer Bass Guitar

The seller has described the Bass as follows:

DAION PERFORMER- SERIES- 4--STRING BASS GUITAR’---

"GLOSS- BLACK'

“VINTAGE 80’S “P’ style bass

DESCRIPTION:

Ø Double cutaway ‘Fender style P” bass body “Alder wood”

Ø 4 x Bolt on “Maple neck with dot inlay

Ø Head-stock : Maple with “Daion Performer logo imprinted on face of Head-stock

Ø 2 x Chrome knurled control Knobs- “Master-Volume Master- Tone

Ø Fixed Bridge- with 4 x adjustable saddles

Ø 3 mm plastic pick-guard with in-put jack located on top of pick –guard

Ø 2 x split single coil hum-bucking pick-ups

Ø 4- slot hardened plastic: 1.625" (41.3 mm)

Ø Truss rod access through head-stock

Ø X tone 1 x Volume control

Ø Long scale : 34" (864 mm)

Ø Frets: Medium jumbo

Ø 2 x Chrome strap buttons

Ø 4 x Clover leaf style open geared tuners

Ø 1 x headstock string retainer

Ø Tuned to standard pitch

The Daion Performer Bass has been set up ready to play Tuned to (EADG) New strings, cleaned, polished saddle adjustment to set the string height and intonation.

Cosmetic wear around bottom of guitar (See pics) slight indentations along back of neck, “Does not affect the playability of the guitar, indentation on back of Guitars body, all the electronics have been tested and are in good working condition

Neck is straight and plays well, good even tone, fat bottom end

(Depending on the Amp you are using and the music you play)

The “Daion Performer was considered good quality Guitar in the 80’s and still resonates through today, well made

The “Daion Bass Guitar comes with a New "M.B.L.-40 HARDCASE"

NOTE: This Bass sold.

Ended: 02 Jul, 2013 19:26:42 AEST

Winning bid: AU $172.50 [ 9 bids ]

Daion Mandolin - With Pickup!

In general I thought I'd keep this blog to simply Daion Electric Guitars, but I think from time to time other interesting Daion's may crop up, and if so I'll be sure to highlight them.

In this case, there is a lovely Daion Mandolin currently for sale, and whilst I know nothing about mandolin's, it is a very nice looking bit of gear. The instrument is located in Victoria.

http://www.gumtree.com.au/daion-mandolin-with-pickup

Owner comments are as follows:

"This Mandolin has been around a little, and suffers from a few marks and scuffs, but nothing major.
It comes with its own hard case.
The pickup is passive, so sounds best plugged through an acoustic amp or pre-amp.
Please message for more details if required."

Fresh Daion's For Sale in Oz - 20th June 2103

It's been a bit quiet on the Daion front since my last post, but a couple have popped up for sale today.

Firstly we have a traditional 50's looking "Strat" style Daion Performer, with a three colour sunburst finish, maple neck, twin round string trees, 8-screw pickguard, vintage style bridge saddles, and what looks to be slightly aged yellow'ish looking pickup covers and control knobs. This one is located in Perth.

http://www.gumtree.com.au/daion-jap-strat

The seller has described it as follows:

1980s daion performers series strat- a well built guitar from the 80s jap era. In great condition!

This next one is quite interesting. When I first caught a glimpse of it I thought it was a Daion Headhunter, which is the only semi-hollow body "Gibson 335" style Daion I've seen so far. But this one doesn't feature the reverse cutout shape on the body. If anyone has any info on what it is shoot me a message I'd love to know more. This one is located in Adelaide.

In any case the seller has provided a pretty thorough description which is under the link.

http://www.ebay.com.au/Daion-electric-guitar-335-copy-semi-hollow-body

Up for auction is a Daion semi-hollow body ES-335 copy with a Gator lockable hard case.

Daion guitars were made in Japan in the 70s and 80s and then moved production to Korea in the mid-80s. This is not a Japanese Daion as far as I can tell. There are no markings or a serial number on this guitar but my best guess is that it is a late eighties Daion made in Korea in either the Samick or Cort factories - the same factories that made the Korean Epiphones, Washburn 335s and many others guitars that are starting to become desirable due to the high build quality. The only markings that I can find that would perhaps back this up is the pickup selector switch that is a DECO with 8908 printed on it which is generally considered to be the year and month the switch was manufactured - ie August 1989. This is by no means definitive and I don't want to be one of those eBay sellers that claims that their guitar is something that it is not - I just want to be upfront about it.

I have had the guitar for about 6 years now and I have thoroughly enjoyed owning it. There is some fret wear as you would expect from a 25 year old guitar and a few dings and scratches that I have tried to photograph in the pics. All electrics are original as far as I can tell and the back of the neck has been very lightly sanded to make it a little less grippy. It is missing the pick-guard, has been like that since I have had it and I never bothered replacing it because I like the look of it without one.

The Gator case is in fantastic condition and will protect the guitar for many years to come.

Note: This guitar sold:

Ended: 26 Jun, 2013 21:35:17 AEST

Winning bid: AU $355.00 [ 21 bids ]

This one was listed a week or so ago, but has been re-listed due to a non-paying bidder. So if you want a cool "metal style" Daion, with a very reasonable $100 starting bid, this one could be for you! It's located in Melbourne.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Daion-Performer-Guitar

Daion Performer Guitar
Guitar works but needs new strings, Guitar is currently strung up for left hand player
Pickup only: