Coppock Deluxe

[Jon Moen]

Has anyone actually seen one of these? I am thinking of making an 8 string based on this style.




This is from Electric Guitars & Basses by George Gruhn & Walter Carter.

Photo caption:
Coppock Deluxe, mid 1950s (far right). The brand is obscure but the maker (or at least the inspiration) is clear. The elongated peghead ornament graces National's New Yorker and Dynamic models from 1956 onward, and the shield around the pickup is the background shape for National's logo throughout the company's history. The knobs are borrowed from a Rickenbacker lap steel. Gordon Dow/BM

This obviously appears to be based on a National and may be made by them (or not) see below. I could be totally wrong in assuming this but the Coppock name on the peghead may be the name of an English importer of musical instruments. A Leeds based company, called 'J.T. COPPOCK (LEEDS) LTD. See this Link.
Coppock distributed Guyatone and other Japanese instruments in the UK. Maybe they also distributed these with their own name on them. There are lots of steels with music store names on them instead of the maker's.
If this information is incorrect, please let me know.

Jon

[Alan Brookes]

I too have been fascinated by this photo from that book. As you suspect, it may be a National sold under the name Coppock. Has anyone ever seen one ?

[Doug Beaumier]

Beautiful art deco design! I've never seen one before. Yes, it looks like a National product branded for Coppock.

[Rick Batey]

Jon, the embargo on importing American-made goods to the UK was not lifted until 1959, so if the Coppock Deluxe was built in the mid-50s as the book says, there's no connection with JT Coppock of Leeds, England.

[Jon Moen]

I originally posted this in July 2007. This sudden interest is great.

I am wondering if this is actually not made by National, but by Guyatone or one of the other Japanese makers of the 50's that made copies. There is very little information available that I can find.

The following is from the link in my original post

http://groups.msn.com/antoria/history.msnw

Antoria was a brand name which was used by British importers for guitars built by various Japanese manufacturers. It is believed that the name Antoria was first used in the 1950's. Hank Marvin had an Antoria 'solid model' which was used on the Shadow's earliest recordings. This is the earliest 'record' of one that I have been able to find so far.

Early Antoria's were built by 'Guya' (who were also responsible for Guyatone & Star guitars), and we heavily influenced by the styling of well known makes such as Fender and Gibson. Later Antoria's (circa 1970's) were built in the Fuji Gen-Gakki factory in Japan - the same factory that produced Ibanez, Greco, Roland and Casio products.

Antoria not only made some of the best 'copies' around at the time, but they also made some very intesting variations on existing well-know styles - some of which will be seen on this site.

There are various different memories/ideas circulating as to who was responsible for distributing Antoria in the UK. Names such as 'John Hornby Skewes', 'JL Music Ltd', and 'J.Coppock' have cropped up frequently when trying to find out about this. A few months ago I contacted John Hornby Skewes in Leeds who are still in existence, and spoke to a very helpful guy in their 'technical' department who has worked for the company since the early 1970's. He informed me that JHS had nothing to do with the Antoria brand name, and that it was infact another Leeds based company, called 'J.T. COPPOCK (LEEDS) LTD' who were responsible for distributing them in the UK. They apparantly ceased trading in the early 1980's - which fits in with the era that Antoria disappeared from retail outlets in the UK.

J.T. Coppock was then apparantly sold entirely to the company that went by the name of 'FCN' (the 'C' standing for Coppock), who used to distribute Ibanez amongst other things (well they did in around 1995 when I used to work in a music shop). Upon approaching FCN to see if they had any further details, I was informed by their MD that they never had anything to do with Antoria, so obviously it was not a brand that was carried on after the company was sold.

On the plus side however, I have managed to track down the old Antoria sales rep! Providing that the information that I have been given is correct, he now runs a studio in the deepest depths of Yorkshire, so as soon as I have a free afternoon, I shall be giving him a call to see if he can shed any light on anything Antoria-related...watch this space!

Every Antoria owner/previous owner that I have come across so far has very fond memories of the guitars, and those who still have them have much praise for them. So, lets keep this thing alive!

[basilh]

I MAY be wrong, but based on what I know of the UK steel guitar makers, it's entirely possible that it's a "Knock Off" of a New Yorker.

Because of the ban on American imports in the 50's, I think that any re-badged guitars would be fairly faithful to the USA equivalent minus the name, this doesn't quite meet that criteria.

The wide yellowish outline and brown coloring isn't like the dramatic stark black and white of the New Yorker. Still the resemblance is there, I think influentially.

Some of these British "Cottage industries" that made Hawaiian Guitars in their heyday, made quite professional looking instruments, just look at the Rod King FryPan or the Wyseki range of guitars, or even more up-to-date, Ron Bennett.

[Mark Vinbury]

Very cool design.
I'd rethink that headstock if I were making a copy.
Strings are interfering with each other and bending around posts. Looks like the bass string wanted to be wound backward.
Seems like string direction above the nut was considered secodary to an artistic design on a lot of these older laps.

[Alan Brookes]

What Basil says has a lot of validity. You just couldn't buy American instruments in England in the 50s and 60s.

Americans look at the instruments that the Beatles and other British groups were playing, and they appear to be exotic. They didn't play British and German instruments because they liked the sound; they played them because that's all that was available. I've seen adverts over here about getting the originsl British sound with Marshall amps. I had a Marshall amp because it was a quarter of the cost of an imported American amp. It was a piece of junk, and I would gladly have swapped it for a Fender. I had a Hofner solid because I couldn't get a Fender. But now the Hofner that I bought because I couldn't get a real instrument has become a collector's item. I bought a Yamaha knock-off of a Martin because there were no Martins on sale in the U,K. Now that Yamaha is becoming a collector's item.

This instrument may well be a European copy of a National.

[George Manno]

The tone and volume knobs say alot about this instrument. It they are original, they are period VOX style that pre-dates the guitars that EKO produced for the company in the mid-'60s.
If this were an American built guitar, it probably would have left the factory with black knobs.

George

[Richard Shatz]

The knobs look like Rickenbacher flying saucers to me.

[basilh]

The caption under the picture at the top states :-
"The knobs are borrowed from a Rickenbacker lap steel."

[Michael Lee Allen]

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[Michael Lee Allen]

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[Michael Lee Allen]

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[Tom Pettingill]

Being a huge deco fan, I'm loving that one

[Michael Lee Allen]

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[Michael Lee Allen]

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[Michael Lee Allen]

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[Michael Lee Allen]

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[Jon Moen]

I already have a double 8 National. See my Avatar. I just like the style of the Coppock.