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Post subject: Anyone own a Teisco/related "brand"
Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2013 10:19 pm
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"Brand" being in quote because they were all mostly the same company, just stamped with different names.



Anyway, I'm currently looking into one, however, I have a few questions before I pull the trigger.



1) The tuners; These things look cheap as sh*t. How do they actually function? Should I look into swapping them out?

2) The bridge. Doesn't so much look cheap (well, it does look cheap, but functional-cheap) as it does odd and possibly finicky; is a replacement advisable for the bridge, and will the Bigsby style (in looks, at least) trem still function with a different bridge?

3) Finally, the pickguard... It has some gaudyass design on it. Are the pickups and other electronics loaded onto the pickguard, or into the body routing, and can I swap out the pick guard for something that shows the guitar's original price a bit less?


I want this damn guitar, and all four of its beautiful gold foil pickups, but these three things concern me a bit.

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Post subject: Re: Anyone own a Teisco/related "brand"
Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2013 10:36 pm
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The Teisco's I've seen are usually semi-copies of the Fender Jazzmaster and Jag. They're always built like tanks, with kinda thin bodies made of really hard mahogany. You could have to end up replacing the tuners. They usually rust up, and are unable to function. Other than that..I wouldn't modify it. Maybe find pickups that will fit, instead of routing.

I think they sound pretty cool.


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Post subject: Re: Anyone own a Teisco/related "brand"
Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2013 11:45 pm
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Nooooo no no I wasn't looking to replace the pickups :lol: , they're the gold foils (ie the whole reason I want the instrument); I'm just looking to swap out the ugly pick guard, but don't know if the pickups are mounted to the body or to the pick guard.


The one I'm looking at is one of the "unbranded" ones with longer horns (looks kinda like the bastard child of a Mosrite/Univox hi-flyer), and the tuners are DEFINITELY in pretty rough shape; Guitar is nearly perfect condition aside from those, which are visibly rusted and look like they were pretty crappy to begin with.

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Post subject: Re: Anyone own a Teisco/related "brand"
Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2013 11:51 pm
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Also, apparently some of the chrome pieces suffer from minor pitting; How big of an actual issue is this, and is it something that could become a bigger issue over time? Any way to fix it now?

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Post subject: Re: Anyone own a Teisco/related "brand"
Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2013 11:56 pm
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You'll never find replacement parts for a Teisco..unless you buy several of the same model, and make a super guitar..like Clapton's "Blackie".


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Post subject: Re: Anyone own a Teisco/related "brand"
Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 12:00 am
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Didn't really intend on replacing the tuners with Teisco tuners, since they're cheap as hell to begin with. As for the pick guard, I'll probably get something better made somewhere faaaaaaaar down the road. I don't really plan on selling it, ever, so I'm not too concerned with original parts.


But the pitting...

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Post subject: Re: Anyone own a Teisco/related "brand"
Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 12:46 am
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I used to have one of these , a Guyatone/Teisco Lg 140t in natural finish

Mine differed slightly from the pic as it had all 4 pickups equally spaced and straight and all 4 were square ended .
The top control plate had 6 slide switches , 1 for each pickup , 1 for lead/rhythm pickups 1+2 , 1 for lead/rhythm 3+4 and 2 rotary tone controls set in the middle of the slide switches , one tone controlling pickups 1+2 and the other controlling 3+4 with 2 volumes on the lower part of the pickguard (same layout as the tone knobs, vol 1 was for pickups 1+2 etc)

Image

The headstock logo was missing as was the tremolo cover and mine had block markers and pearl tuners
The tuners worked well, they were 6 on a plate, open backed , I lubed them when I got it and tightened them all slightly and didn't have many tuning issues with them at all
The tremolo was single spring, similar to a bigsby and stayed in tune well.

I have no idea why it was natural, you could see the grain , it looked like it hadn't been filled and the finish looked like someone had just waxed it . The body was thin with just a back contour which revealed it was solid (and judging by the grain, two piece)

The pickups were mounted on the chrome pickguard and were surprisingly quiet , the selector switches (which were quiet also) meant you could have all 4 pickups on together, or any combination

The bridge was fixed and height adjustable by two flywheels although to be honest the action was really good so never needed altering . The intonation was out on the G string which was wound, but fell into tune when I put new strings on (unwound 3rd) and was only microscopically out on 2 strings on my tuner

The overall tone was weird, almost Rickenbacker-like . I (foolishly) traded it in , wish I'd have kept it now, the pickups alone would probably have been worth something

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Post subject: Re: Anyone own a Teisco/related "brand"
Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 1:01 am
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The pickups are indeed worth something, and it's not uncommon to see people selling the pickups alone. They are absolutely beautiful guitars, especially for what they are and were (ie the equivalent of Starcaster starter packs in their time). Whoda thunk that the POS "toy" guitars would actually wind up with more unique components than the "pro" instruments of the era? Not many other companies have used those gold foil pickups.


And most of the 4 pickup models seem to have a burst finish (varies in color) with the grain showing. There are rarer models, usually more "angular" in their shape, that will occasionally have a solid color, that usually lokos like a "candy shell".


I'm a bit of a nerd for these guitars (favorite frontman ever uses em) :lol:

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Post subject: Re: Anyone own a Teisco/related "brand"
Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 1:21 am
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My second ever bass was either a Kent, or a Kingston. Actually..I've seen a Kingston exactly like it on ebay. I used to take it apart every night for something to do, usually still hyped up from band practice.


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Post subject: Re: Anyone own a Teisco/related "brand"
Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 3:14 am
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A friend of mine had a Teisco with five pick-ups, blue sparkle finish and a whammy bar. He got it when we were both just starting high school (back when telephones still had cranks on the side and everybody had a party line) and continued to play it up until a few years ago when his arthritis put an end to his playing days. Over the course of forty some odd years the only work he had done on it was replacing the tuners, and a re-fret after about fifteen years, everything else on it withstood the test of time. Although he had accumulated quite a number of more expensive guitars over the years he always liked his Teisco best (maybe because it was his initial electric, I don't know). Over the course of time he'd had many offers to buy it including both Jackson Browne and David Lindley but he wouldn't part with it. I convey this to give you an idea of how dangerous it is to purchase one of those puppies....they have a habit of growing on you to the point of where you start ignoring other cherished guitars...so buyer beware :wink:

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Post subject: Re: Anyone own a Teisco/related "brand"
Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 3:49 am
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dharma47 wrote:
A friend of mine had a Teisco with five pick-ups, blue sparkle finish and a whammy bar. He got it when we were both just starting high school (back when telephones still had cranks on the side and everybody had a party line) and continued to play it up until a few years ago when his arthritis put an end to his playing days. Over the course of forty some odd years the only work he had done on it was replacing the tuners, and a re-fret after about fifteen years, everything else on it withstood the test of time. Although he had accumulated quite a number of more expensive guitars over the years he always liked his Teisco best (maybe because it was his initial electric, I don't know). Over the course of time he'd had many offers to buy it including both Jackson Browne and David Lindley but he wouldn't part with it. I convey this to give you an idea of how dangerous it is to purchase one of those puppies....they have a habit of growing on you to the point of where you start ignoring other cherished guitars...so buyer beware :wink:

Good lord... Does he still have it? :shock:


And I'd like to reiterate the pitting question; Is it something that will eventually effect the guitar's functionality, and should be addressed immediately, or is purely cosmetic? If it's a problem, how much $ am I looking at?

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Post subject: Re: Anyone own a Teisco/related "brand"
Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 3:59 am
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ive had a few over the years. there good guitars . never chabged anything on any of them. as to the little bits of pitting some turtle wax chrome cleaner does wonders on that stuff. mothers is supposed to be better. but i just left that alone . ive got an old hagstrom 3 with a bit of that just left it on there. thats part of what they call old patina lol. the only problem i ever really had on one of those tysco type guitars is a high fret or two. and that was easily fixed. as i recall i had at least 4 of them. one with the gold foil pickups with the straight cutouts and one with the moustache pickups. i used to save parts from any guitar i got tired of so i had those pickups for years but tossed them when i ran out of room.. later on i found out what they were worth.. :cry:

never a problem with tuners or bridges. if anything the tuners are usually a bit tight and hold well.


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Post subject: Re: Anyone own a Teisco/related "brand"
Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 7:57 am
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Floyd_The_Barber wrote:
And I'd like to reiterate the pitting question; Is it something that will eventually effect the guitar's functionality, and should be addressed immediately, or is purely cosmetic? If it's a problem, how much $ am I looking at?
The pitting you are describing took 50+ years to occur. I wouldn't worry about it a bit. And if it should get worse, which I think is unlikely if you take care of the guitar, so what? These guitars are what they are, strange little collector's items that should be enjoyed.

Speaking of that, I bought a very nice Teisco derivative from a friend a couple years ago. It is badged as a Kingston and has what is generally described as the "tulip" body shape.

Image

This guitar is in almost pristine condition, even has the original case minus the plastic handle. Sadly, it has but a single pickup, so no multiple sliders and knobs, just the bare bones for controls. I didn't buy it to take on the road, though it works fine, just as an interesting addition to the collection. I am glad that it does not have one of the garish vibrato systems on it, rather a nicely adjustable bridge and a beautiful tailpiece.

Image

Happily, this guitar still has everything, including the name badge. It seems like these guitars are most apt to be missing the name badge and the bridge. Why the bridge? I don't know, but I think everyone thought they could come up with something better and then just gave up. I have two other guitars of similar vintage, both missing the bridges.

Image

Image

If I were you and the price was right on a four-goldfoil-pickup Teisco, I'd buy it in a heartbeat and wouldn't worry about anything, even the tuners, unless they are rusted up. I am pretty sure that you can find cosmetically similar tuners, too. I think I've seen several varieties during my wanderings through the Internet.

Buy it and enjoy it!

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Post subject: Re: Anyone own a Teisco/related "brand"
Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 9:03 pm
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Oh, I plan on it. From what I've heard of these things, they're nigh indestructible, so it'll serve me well as a gigging instrument.


Also, I've noticed that the "Kingston" labelled "Teiscos" tend to be the one-pickup models. I want to figure out what model mine (well, soon-to-be-mine) is, and what badge it's supposed to have on the headstock (if any), so I can buy one of the many Teisco badges floating around the internet and put it on.

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Post subject: Re: Anyone own a Teisco/related "brand"
Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 9:33 pm
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After doing a bit of research, it's technically NOT a Teisco, but still one of the Kawai-owned brands, hence the kewl goldfoil pups and 4 pup configuration.


More information will come after I close the deal, wouldn't want anyone on here coming in and snatching it from under me :lol:

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