I had owned a battered 67 Tele that, while no great shakes, was a much better guitar than the Penco or the Aria. Neither one was anywhere in the league of a genuine Fender Tele. Around 1974 a buddy of mine owned a Penco and I owned an Aria. They sold new for around $140 in the mid 1970s. Penco and Aria T-styles had fairly decent reputations in the early 70s. They had a zero fret and a screw adjustable bridge modeled after the Gibson Heritage Jumbo bridge of that period. The A24 is a 12 string acoustic guitar, with a solid –but relatively thin– spruce top, rosewood sides and back and a mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard. Penco acoustics had solid spruce tops and laminated backs and sides of maple or rosewood depending on the model. Also some of the models have book matched backs while others maybe tri-backed. A Penco A22M may or may not have an adjustable saddle via thumbscrews. Hopefully I can get some more info on what instruments they made during this companies existence. There is bit of variance between the Penco acoustic models depending on what year the guitar was manufactured. I have 3 Penco guitars and I am really into them. The Ibanez line was distributed on the West coast of the U.S., while the Greco was exclusively for Japan, and Penco was distributed on the East coast of the U.S. These were identical to the Ibanez Destroyer and the Greco Destroyer of the same period. The Penco brand was also put on "lawsuit" Korina-finished Gibson Explorer-styled guitars. They also made 12-string acoustic guitars. Penco also made bolt neck copies of Gibson's Les Paul and SG guitars and basses, Rickenbacker 4001 basses, Fender Stratocaster/ Fender Telecaster copies, Fender Jazz Bass copies and the odd mandolin and banjo. Reverse engineered and built to spec, Penco produced some of the closest replicas of the Martin D-28, D-41, D-45, and D-45 12 models in existence today. Penco made Martin and Gibson style acoustic guitars. Their acoustics were usually but not always made with laminated back and sides and often laminated tops. Also some of the models have book matched backs while others maybe tri-backed.The Penco brand was of relatively high quality.
There is bit of variance between the Penco acoustic models depending on what year the guitar was manufactured. Its typical design features a solid mahogany body with a carved maple top and a single cutaway, a mahogany set-in neck with a rosewood fretboard, two pickups with independent volume and tone controls, and a stoptail bridge, although variants exist. The Les Paul was designed by Gibson president Ted McCarty, factory manager John Huis and their team, with some input from, and endorsement by, guitarist Les Paul. The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar that was first sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1952.