Strange and subversive t-shirts and greeting cards.
Counterculture merchandise for thinkers, dreamers and other misfits.
Targa and Matsumoku Guitars

Targa guitars are a mystery. I've been trying to find out what I can of their origins. So far, I have only vague and unsubstantiated information. Mine are neck-thru (one-piece) instruments but Targa also made bolt-ons. They were probably made in Japan or Korea in the late 1970s or early 1980s. I have been contacted by a few Targa owners and most seem to be Canadian. As far as I know, the woods are maple, ash and alder with a rosewood fretboard. Most of the hardware, including the nut, is brass. I have a matching guitar and bass and they both have the same serial or model number (WO 20581) on a foil decal behind the headstock. The guitar has active electronics but the bass doesn't.

This is what I know so far:
* Aria, Electra, Kay, Westone, Univox, Westbury, Vantage, Cort, and Matsumoku have all made models with similarities to Targa (either brass fittings, headstock or body shape, neck profile or wood selections)
* My serial/model numbers are WO 20581. Two other reported numbers are WO 20981 and WO 20481. This may indicate these were made in 1981 rather than in the late 1970s.
* Serial or model numbers were either foil stickers on the back of the headstock or embossed in the neckplate of the bolt-on neck versions. It seems that the higher quality guitars had the cheaper stickers.
* Targa made a neckthru model with active electronics and a bolt-on model without electronics.
* Cort and Vantage Guitars from Korea used a lot of the same woods and identical brass hardware.
* Targa made a travel guitar with a wider neck profile.
* The original knobs are gold coloured as in the photos of the travel guitars below.
* The Kay K-45 Travel guitar (a.k.a. Austin Hatchett), the Cort 45AH and the Targa travel guitar were all the same guitar.
* Targ & Diner, a wholesale company from Chicago may have distributed these guitars. In the day, wholesalers sometimes imported guitars (like the travel guitar) and put their own names on them. (Could Targa be a reference to Max Targ?)



If you know anything about Targa guitars I would love to receive more info about these fine instruments. Please send any photos or information to me at:



Apoplectic Press: strange & subversive t-shirts, greeting cards, anti-corporate stickers and radical links. Counterculture merchandise for thinkers, dreamers, activists and other misfits.

All original music, greeting cards, text, artwork and graphic designs © Bob Mannseichner (all rights reserved)