Description
Kawai Kingston S4T Electric Guitar (Hound Dog Taylor).
The Kingston S4T is a rare vintage electric guitar from the 1960s, primarily manufactured in Japan by Kawai under the Kingston brand, which served as a distributor for Kawai’s instruments. It is most famously associated with Chicago blues guitarist Hound Dog Taylor, who used this model to achieve his distinctive, skanky sound. The guitar features a solid body, four single-coil pickups, and individual on/off switches for each pickup, with the unique characteristic that the pickups are wired in series rather than parallel, resulting in a progressively thicker and darker tone as more pickups are engaged.
The S4T was produced in various configurations, including different body finishes such as redburst, white, and green, and with variations in neck material (mahogany or maple), pickup polepiece shape (square or round), and volume control setup (master volume vs. individual pickup volumes). The model is also known by the alternative designation SD-40, and it shares similarities with other Kawai-branded guitars like the Teisco Swinga series. The guitar’s neck is often described as a “baseball bat” style, featuring a chunky, comfortable profile.
