Looking for Howard Bass guitar info

[Alan Floyd]

Hi Guys, Thought I would ask this question here.
I've been on a mission lately. I am trying to find information on the first bass that I owned. It was just a cheap Japanese guitar that I bought in my local music store in 1967 when I was 15. Idealy I would like to find one to buy, but have had no luck. I'm 66 now and trying to relive my childhood, lol. I have not been able to find much info on the Howard brand. The only mention of it I have seen is that it was made in Japan possibly by any one of 3 manufacturers, Matsumoto, Guyatone, or Hoshino. Search of each of those names does not bring up any thing on Howard.

I know it's a long shot, but I figure this was a good place to ask. Does anyone have any info on Howard.
Thanks, Alan

This is the only picture I have of it.

 

[user362432]

That must be something from Teisco era.

 

[user362432]

This is what I found:
"Guyatone produced electric guitars for major guitar manufacturer Suzuki. The company also produced their house brand Guyatone. Badged guitars produced by Guyatone include Barclay, Broadway, Coronado, Crestwood, Futurama, Howard, Ibanez, Ideal, Imperial, Johnny Guitar, Kent, Kingston, Lafayette, Marco Polo (electrics only), Montclair, Omega, Orpheus, Prestige, Royalist, Saturn, Silhouette, Silvertone, Vernon, Winston and Zenta, an impressive amount of names produced by a single company. Other badges that may have been produced by Guyatone are Beeton (not to be confused by the Beeton Brass Guitar company founded in 1994), Bradford, Canora and Regent."

 

[Alan Floyd]

Thanks. I did see that list when I was searching, but couldn't find any further info beyond that. I also tried searching Howard guitars for sale. Nothing out there. I'll keep looking. Sooner or later someone will find one in their attic and list it.

 

[guitargarage]

Cool bass - I’ve worked on one Howard bass (not as a cool and Burns-like as yours) and own one Howard guitar - which is very similar to some early Ibanez models. I’m in Boston and both of the Howards were found in Massachusetts - I suspect that maybe Harris-Fandel put the brand on or distributed Howard labeled guitars in this state.

The Burns style was very popular in the mid-60s and even into the early 70s - my guess is that bass probably is a Kawai built instrument (who ended up owning the Teisco brand) - though it could also be made by the Aria/Univox mfr - who made some other instruments distributed by Harris-Fandel.

I’d suggest an image search on “Japanese burns bass copy” - “Kawai burns bass” and so on. You might find the identical or nearly identical instrument but labeled differently.

 

[RubenUballe]

Are you still in search of a Howard bass?