Emperador was an import brand distributed in North America by Westheimer Musical Instruments of Chicago, founded by Jack Westheimer, one of the key figures in bringing Japanese-built guitars into the U.S. market during the 1960s. Positioned as the entry-level line below Westheimer's better-known Cort label, Emperador instruments were originally manufactured in Japan by the Kasuga company starting around 1966, with the Hiyashi factory responsible for many of the acoustic models. By the late 1970s and 1980s, production shifted to Korea following Westheimer's partnership with the Park family that established the Yoo Ah factory, the operation that eventually became Cor-Tek (Cort).

The Emperador catalog covered a fairly wide swath of student and intermediate gear: jazz-style thinline acoustic/electric archtops, dreadnought and classical acoustics, solid-body electric guitars (including Les Paul-style copies popular during the 1970s lawsuit era), electric basses, and a line of solid-state amplifiers. Some of the earliest electrics from the late 1960s used Guyatone-sourced hardware, pickups, and electronics, reflecting the parts-sharing common among Japanese builders of that period. The brand name was also used by a Canadian importer, and Emperador-branded instruments turn up regularly in both U.S. and Canadian vintage markets.

Production wound down in the early 1990s, and Emperador is now primarily encountered as a vintage and used-market brand traded through shops and platforms like Reverb. It is remembered less for any single signature model than for being a representative example of the inexpensive, MIJ-and-MIK import guitars that introduced a generation of players to electric and acoustic instruments.

Emperador has 4 products cataloged on Equipboard, including Electric Basses, Solid Body Electric Guitars, and Semi-Hollowbody Electric Guitars. Their gear is featured by 2 artists, with the strongest followings in Rock and Pop. Notable users include Carl Wilson and Ian Peres.