A step down from the blowtorch is a hair dryer. I’ve been told the heat softens the glue so the sticker will peel off and the residue removed with one of the solvents suggested above.

Never tried it. Let us know if you do.

From Jedistar’s Vintage Guitar Identification site:

Vicente Tatay was a guitar maker in Valencia from 1889. The workshop was transformed into a factory. The firm Vicente Tatay founded has grown into a major factory producing some 40,000 instruments a year. Vicente Tatay retired in 1942, and the firm was taken over by his sons José and Vicente Tatay Tomás who formed a company Hijos de Vicente Tatay [Source: Zavaletas]

Visit Jedistar’s site to see a label that looks like the one you describe.

http://www.jedistar.com/jedistar_vintage_guitar_dating_t.htm

Here are reviews on Harmony Central. Based on reviewer comments, the guitar may be worth a bit of money.

http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/product/Tatay/Unknown/10/1

Hey Michael.

In general, the Starfire III was produced between 1961-1970. I checked the Guild Serial Number Archive and I don’t see a number that goes as high as yours.

Their 1969 numbers go from EK3029 to 3098. That probably makes yours a 1970.

Here’s the link if you want to do your own research:

http://www.adirondackguitar.com/Resources/Guild_dating.htm

Hi khaos956,

Of course, ePay is the obvious answer. If you watch the auctions a bar will turn up eventually.

Alternatively, a couple of fellas have advertised Teisco parts for sale over at my Forum:
http://www.vintaxe.com/boards/viewforum.php?f=15

There are also a few people that deal in used parts on the net. I’ve collected links to a few of them on my Links page. Look under “Vintage Guitar Sites” and scroll down to “Vintage Replacement Guitar Parts”:
http://www.vintaxe.com/links_vintguitar.htm

Hey Matt,

While off looking for information on the Shinko Guitar Company I ran across this blurb on S. Yari. Looks to be quality information.

Sadao or Sada Yairi was a guitar maker and guitar manufacturer from Nagoya, Japan who was active from the 1960s to the 1990s. He sold guitars under a number of labels including Sadao Yairi, Yairi Gakki, S. Yairi, and Sada Guitar. He also manufactured guitars for B&M (distributed in the UK) Lowden, Sherry-Brener and a few guitars for Alvarez of St. Louis Music during the early 1970s. During the early 1990s, he had a line of handmade guitars sold by Samick in S. Korea.

Information on Sadao Yairi is scant and a number of Japanese Sadao Yairi collectors confirm that Sadao Yairi’s guitar making history is shrouded in mystery especially after a 1990s statement by Kazuo Yairi, of Alvarez Yairi fame, that Kazuo and Sadao have no working relationship.

The consensus is that Sadao and Kazuo Yairi are cousins who learned guitar making from Kazuo Yairi‘s dad, also named Sadao Yairi. The older Sadao, had worked as a guitar and violin maker at the Suzuki, Takehuru factory in Nagoya and then later opened his own business, Yairi & Son, which operated until about 1970-71. Nagoya is the major industrial port city in Aichee prefecture and one of Japan’s long established guitar making centers.

In the late 1960s Sada and Kazuo went their own way and began making guitars under their own label, with Sada establishing S. Yairi guitars in Nagoya and Kazuo Yairi starting up K. Yairi Guitars in Kani, which is about 30 minutes from Nagoya. Both Sadao and Kazuo made guitars for Alvarez/St. Louis Music Company in the early 1970s, but Kazuo ended up getting an exclusive contract with St. Louis Music. Kazuo’s guitars sold by SLM were first known as Alvarez by Kazuo Yairi and then Alvarez Yairi guitars.

In the early 1970s, Sadao had a number of guitar ventures including Yairi Gakki and S Yairi Guitars (gakki is the Japanese word for guitar). S. Yairi made guitars for B&M in the UK and for Lowden in the USA. Sadao also made some Alvarez guitars for SLM in the early 1970s. He went bankrupt in the late 1980s. As a result of the bankruptcy, he went to South Korea in the early 1990s and worked for Samick guitars, developing a short-lived line of handmade guitars labeled “Samick by S. Yairi”.

In the 1990s Kazuo Yairi published a statement that there was no working relationship between him and his cousin Sadao (probably because of the bankruptcy). I believe that Sadao Yairi passed away during the 1990s.

Sometime during the late 1990s/early 2000s, a Japanese venture started to manufacture low quality guitars using the S. Yairi name. These guitars are made in China and are not the same quality as S. Yairi guitars made during the 1960s to 1980s.

Hi rsslcs.

Just to stir the pot, I’m going to guess your guitar was made in 1990.

I’m basing this guess on a page description of a 1990 catalog in the Aria Archive.

p.20:Diamond series,JX-550,JX-450,JX-400,TEX-400,TEX-350,JPJ-400

Unfortunately, no page scans are included at the Archive so I can’t confirm whether your guitar is pictured on this page or not. It appears the Diamond series was gone by 1991 so your instrument was likely just a one year release, hence very little info available.

If you are not familiar with the Aria Archive, you can check it out here. The fella has a pretty exhaustive collection of Aria literature.

http://www.ariaguitars.com/jp/06comp/catalog_scan_list_web.htm

Edit:

Sorry, the pictures make the page so wide I didn’t notice you mentioned you had already searched the Aria Archive in your original post.

So you don’t think the mention of the Diamond Series in the 1990 catalog relates to your guitar?

Hi Toxix,

I’m just curious to know why you believe this guitar is a Harmony. I don’t see any markings in the photos that suggest Harmony.

This instrument is most definately not an American Harmony and appears to be a few notches below the Korean Harmonys of the mid 1980’s. Two pickups with two knobs, now there is some cost cutting for you.

It’s definately a low end budget guitar, don’t spend to much money trying to get it back in shape.