Welson Guitars - The Original Pawn Shop Prizes

Wills Pawn Shop Cincinnati Ohio

At around 13 years of age, the Guitar Bug bit me, and bit me hard. I started off practicing on a $20 pawn shop guitar, and decided not just to learn how to play the darn thing, but I wanted to know everything I could about guitars.

I lurked around music stores in my area, and bothered the salesmen. I called up music stores, and asked what they had in stock and how much their guitars cost. And I went to pawn shops.

Glittery Italian Guitars
made at accordion factories

At the time, most stores carried Fender, Gibson, Guild, Martin. A few sold Gretsch, and one store in town even carried Rickenbacker guitars. But none of the retail music stores carried those gorgeous sparkly, glittery, eye-catching guitars made from celluloid material. These were sold in pawn shops.


Those curious guitars had brand names like Crucianelli, Bartolini, Gemelli, Zerosette, Beltone, and…Welson(?).

By that name, Welson, you may have thought that brand of guitar was made in the USA, or the U.K; but you would be wrong.

Early 1960's Welson Guitar

Welson certainly sounds like a British name, but the trade name actually belonged to an Italian accordion manufacturing firm founded by Signore Orlando Quagliardi back in the early 1920’s. Before the name Welson was used on guitars, it was used on accordions. Welson and Quagliardi accordions were manufactured by that company. Their accordions are no longer being manufactured, but used ones are available.

Quagliardi Accordion

Quagliardi was one of a handful of Italian manufacturers based out of the town of Castelfidardo in Marches region of central eastern Italy, which is considered to be the international capital of accordion manufacturers. Quagliardi has the distinction of being one of the first accordion makers to enter the guitar market. They began building acoustic archtop guitars under the Welson brand in the mid 1950’s.

Around 1962, the guitar boom first started. There was going to be be a high demand for guitars, especially electric guitars, and the company was there to offer their products.

Welson, and other Italian builders, applied accordion manufacturing techniques to the electric guitars.

Mid 1960's Welson Guitars

The 1962 through 1965, Welson solid body guitars came with four to six rocker switches similar to those found on an accordion. On an accordion the switches modified the reeds, and the color of the sound. On these  Italian made electric guitars, the switches determined which pickups were on or off to color the sound. Many of these guitars came with four pickups.

1964 and 1962 Welson Guitars

Much like accordion casings, the wooden bodies of Welson electric guitars of this era were covered in celluloid material. Some had a wood-grain finish, but many had a glitter finish.

The controls for volume and tone were roller type potentiometers. The switches and pots were usually mounted on the pickguard.

Many of these instruments came with fixed bridges, and a vibrato tailpiece.

1964-65 Welson Guitar

On Welson guitars, the upper edge of the pickguard was bedecked with a metal Welson badge logo; a five point crown with the name Welson beneath it. These guitars had a bolt-on necks with a six-in-a-line headstock.

1963 Welson Beltone

On early models the neck was painted black. Later models had bare necks. The neck and headstock were usually bound. There was no logo on the earlier headstocks.

1964 Welson neck pocket

Instead of leaving the end of the neck flat, as on Fender guitars, Welson luthiers carved out an elliptical pocket at the top of the body for the neck to fit into. It was then bolted in place. These guitars generally  used open back machine heads with plastic buttons. Some of these were sold in the United States under the Beltone brand name.

1964 Welson Vedette

Around 1964 the design changed to mostly sunburst finishes on their solid body guitars. The necks were no longer painted, and the machine heads were of a better quality. The badge logos were now only the five pointed crown, or sometimes were no longer added. At other times they were embedded into the metal section of the scratch guard.

Early 1960's Welson bass

Welson also offered bass guitars, beginning in the early 1960's.

During the latter part of the 1960's, the company also began to offer some hollow body instruments, both for guitar and bass guitars. These instruments featured rotary potentiometers for volume and tone, and Switchcraft-style single or double throw switches to control the pickup selection, instead of the rocker style on/off switches.

In the latter part of the 1960’s Welson began building guitars that  were copies of Gibson’s ES-335 style body, but in a modified  shape.

Welson DS-2

These instruments were known as the DS series, and included the DS-2. This guitar came with twin single coil pickups, a vibrato tailpiece, two volume, and two tone controls, and a three way pickup selector. The bolt-on neck was maple, with two mahogany stripes, along with a volute. The neck was topped with an ebony fretboard with box mother of pearl position markers. The bound headstock was a three-on-a-side style with the logo Welson inlaid at it’s top.

Welson DS-3

Later models had more features such as the DS-3, with three single coil pickups, and some further controls. One on the upper bout was a two way rotary knob that allowed for “All” or “Jazz Tones”. Beneath this were two more potentiomers, reminiscent of a Fender Jaguar. On the lower section, another rotary knob was labeled “Wild” or “Solo”. The rotary knob pickup selector appears to be a three way dial and was located on the lower cutaway.

Welson DS-12

These Welson models also included the DC-12, 12 string, non-vibrato double cutaway model based on the ES-335. This guitar featured a bound neck with an ebony fretboard, an adjustable bridge saddle, and a trapeze tailpiece.

During these days, some American companies looking to cash in on the guitar boon took note. The Wurlitzer Piano and Organ Company contracted with Welson to build a couple of models to be sold under the Wurlitzer brand. These included the Wurlitzer model 7741 guitar, in the 335 style.

Wurlitzer model 7741

The Wurlitzer 7741 was a Welson model D2, re-badged with Wurlitzer’s logo. The guitar had two double coil pickups, a three position switch that went from Solo to Sharp to Wild, and a vibrato tailpiece.

Wurlitzer 7780 bass and
7730 guitar made by Welson

The Wurlitzer model 7780 was a bass version of this instrument, with double coil pickups, and a large metal cover with an embossed “W” that went over the tail piece. Both of these Wurlitzer models come with bolted on necks.

Dynacord DC3

A German audio company, Dynacord, sold re-branded Welson guitars from 1966 through 1967. They sold several models including the three pickup Dynacord DC3. This was another 335 style body, which had 3 single throw switches on its upper cutaway horn. Each pickup had a volume, and tone control. The guitar came with a vibrato tailpiece.

Dynacord "The Cora"

But the most unusual Welson model that Dynacord offered was called The Cora. This was a three pickup guitar, with not much of a body at all. In fact it was called an “open body” guitar. The center of the guitar was the body, and it had metal bars jutting from it, that formed a guitar shape. A most interesting instrument indeed, and ahead of its time.

Welson made Vox guitars
The Tornado, The Wildcat, The Typoon and The Bossman

The Vox Company, better known for its amplifiers, got into the guitar business around 1964. Very few of their guitars were manufactured in the U,K., and those were built by a furniture manufacturer.

Most Vox guitars were built in Italy. Welson supplied a few single cutaway electric jazz guitars for Vox.

The Vox solid body guitars were mostly built by EKO, another Italian guitar factory. Most of the other electric acoustic, and semi-acoustic guitars were built by another Italian manufacturer called Crucianelli.

A double and triple pickup Welson, a Vox triple pickup, and a Kinton four pickup

Welson built a rather odd series of guitars that combined the older push button and roller potentiometer controls, but this time on a semi-hollow electric guitar. These were sold under the Welson brand, but they produced one to be sold by Vox, and another that was sold under the Kinton brand name.

Playboy Guitars made by Welson

They also produced a couple of single pickup budget models with this body style that were re-badged under the Playboy brand.

Playboy Guitar headstock

The "Playboy" logo was printed on a piece of laminate and attached by screws to the headstock.

1969 Welson Golden Arrow

The top of the line Welson thinline acoutic electric model was called the Golden Arrow. This was advertised as a stereo guitar, but came with a monaural output. It was loaded with features, and gold plated hardware.

Welson Florentine Cutaway

Welson also made a few semi-acoustic electric guitars and a bass with Florentine cutaways. These are quite rare instruments. The were made during 1967-1968.

Welson Asymetrical Florentine cutaway,
 with retro-fit Dimarzio pickups

Another Welson style was the asymmetrical Florentine cutaway guitar. It came with twin pickups, and a vibrato unit.

Dynacord Bass made by Welson

A slightly different version of this guitar was marketed under the Dynacord brand. A bass guitar in this same style was also sold by Dynacord, but manufactured by Welson.

Welson M-62 and M-63

Welson also made a few single cutaway Jazz style guitars. Notably these were the model M-62, and M-63.

A jazz style guitar was made for the Wurlitzer company. This was the sunburst deep bodied, twin pickup model 7730. The same guitar was available in a cherry-burst finish called the model 7731. Though it appears to have a set neck, the neck is actually a bolt-on style.

Orpheum guitar

By the end of the 1960's, the agreement with Wurlitzer to build guitars had concluded. Importer, Maurice Lipsky of New York, acquired the rights to the Orpheum brand name. Orpheum was a defunct 19th century banjo company. Lipsky wanted to import cheap guitars to the United States under this brand. Lipsky already had agreements with several other companies, but he wanted violin shaped guitars and basses.

Starfire VI

Welson was ready to fill the void. They also produced the same instruments under the Welson brand name.

Starfire Bass

The Welson model guitar was named the Starfire VI. The bass version was given the designation the Starfire Bass.

Welson Les Paul and SG style guitars

By 1971 Welson was concentrating on building Les Paul and SG copies. These would be the final electric guitars that the company produced.

A Welson six and 12 string,
and an Orpheum 12 string

Through the years Welson also made some budget acoustic guitars under their own brand, and they made guitars for other companies as well.

After 1972, the company quit making guitars and accordions, then concentrated their efforts on making organs, and compact keyboards.  They went out of business in 1981.