Need info on Teisco

[MarshallAC50Stack]

My 1st amp was a Heathkit that my dad & I built/wired-up/assembled. I wanted a Kustom or Acoustic 360 but they were out of my reach $-wise. Not one to entertain nostalgia - I don't want that amp today (ss combo w/2x15) - it's just part of my back story.
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Mine was a Univox UB250, 20watt piggyback 115. That was a great little practice amp I should have just kept.
I was referring to going to jams in my earliest days...there would be folk's first amps shoved into corners, just piles of wires and blown speakers! No remorse.
One of my favorite amps is the Sound Projects stencil brand, Lectrolab. They were made in Chicago. I have one from the early '60s. Probably 3 watts and an 8" speaker. The cabinet is made from pressed paper covered in a thin layer of what looks like pebbled contact paper. It sounds glorious cranked for blues harp, and actually quite good at low volumes for electric guitar in jams with acoustics. No identifying marks. Another amp you would find in the Lafayette catalogs, before the imported Japanese brands showed up.

 

[Joe Nerve]

I had one in the 70s. I didn't know how to set it up, so it was beyond horrible. For the right price, I would possibly consider one today for nostalgia - despite the fact that anyone I know who has bought one for that purpose sold it shortly after. I wouldn't pay more than $200. I doubt honestly that I'd even pay that much. I think $100 would be a fair price.

 

[Wesley R]

Those pickups aren’t band. I have a set in my Silvertone.

I and others thought the pickups were fine. Deep sounding yet less mud than others.

 

[ardgedee]

I and others thought the pickups were fine. Deep sounding yet less mud than others.

I have a Teisco guitar. No truss rod so the neck is permanently banana-shaped. Put some pennies under the bridge and play it like a lap steel. The pickups sound great, totally appropriate for a lap steel sound. No regrets.

 

[Steve Dallman]

I had one of their guitars a couple of decades ago. Most of it was cheap, but the neck was laminated, and in very good shape - straight, no twist. Some of them can be decent players, a lot of them, not so much.

I've worked on a lot of Teiscos, and owned a few. I never saw a body made of particle board. The wood looked like mahogany but usually was softer and stringier. I've also seen laminated and non laminated necks. The laminated never twisted, but some of the non-laminated did.

The last music store I worked in had a collection of cheap 60's Japanese guitars on the walls. None had been set up as they were for display/decoration only. I took them down one at a time one slow day and found not one had any fret sprout. By contrast, every Fender and Squier at the local Guitar Center did have fret sprout, from the most expensive Custom Shops and Signature models to the cheapest Squiers. (They did eventually hire someone to take care of the sprout problems.)

 

[Pdaddy1978]

Are you saying they are ironic? (and if so... explain) Or are you saying they are iconic? (to which I'd agree)

And I agree - not 'unparalleled' ... but playable as any decent bass.

Ironic....and Iconic.
Iconic, as in everybody my age remembers them .
Ironic, as in 30 years ago I could go yard selling and buy 4 of them with a hundred dollar bill.

 

[J R Knots]

My first bass was a Teisco … the neck was pretty twisted but it wasn’t that important and I played the heck out of it.

 

[Wesley R]

The Decca

I have a Teisco guitar. No truss rod so the neck is permanently banana-shaped. Put some pennies under the bridge and play it like a lap steel. The pickups sound great, totally appropriate for a lap steel sound. No regrets.

Bass has a truss rod my neck was straight and the fretboard had no radios.

 

[StereoPlayer]

My first bass was a Teisco … the neck was pretty twisted but it wasn’t that important and I played the heck out of it.

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That looks like my first bass.. A Teisco Beatle bass. Heck, you even look like me at the time.
The bass was terrible, of which I really did know at the time.
I bought another one way later in life(buying my childhood back)figuring I know how to set them up and could make it playable. Nope. I was still a terrible bass, I sold it.

 

[Short4since64]

My 1st amp was a Heathkit that my dad & I built/wired-up/assembled. I wanted a Kustom or Acoustic 360 but they were out of my reach $-wise. Not one to entertain nostalgia - I don't want that amp today (ss combo w/2x15) - it's just part of my back story.
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The Heathkit stuff was actually quite good, still have some of their test equipment I built as a teenager - VTVM and signal generator. There was also plans and a parts kit from Southwest Technical Products / Popular Electronics magazine for a guitar amp that was essentially the same as a model sold by Gibson and Wurlitzer. First amp was a 25-watt B15N with a Wards Airline bass.

 

[Biggbass]

My first electric guitar was a Teisco. I paid $24.95 for it at Woolworth. It was impossible to play in tune beyond the 4th fret. I can only imagine that if Woolworth sold it for $25 bucks, then it cost less than $10 bucks to build.
If I came upon a Teisco for sale today it would barely be worth $25 to me and I'd use it as a wall decoration in my studio. I can't imagine the basses being any better.

 

[JIO]

I've worked on a lot of Teiscos, and owned a few. I never saw a body made of particle board. The wood looked like mahogany but usually was softer and stringier. I've also seen laminated and non laminated necks. The laminated never twisted, but some of the non-laminated did.

The last music store I worked in had a collection of cheap 60's Japanese guitars on the walls. None had been set up as they were for display/decoration only. I took them down one at a time one slow day and found not one had any fret sprout. By contrast, every Fender and Squier at the local Guitar Center did have fret sprout, from the most expensive Custom Shops and Signature models to the cheapest Squiers. (They did eventually hire someone to take care of the sprout problems.)

Thank you - spoken from real experience instead of hearsay.

 

[JIO]

My first electric guitar was a Teisco. I paid $24.95 for it at Woolworth. It was impossible to play in tune beyond the 4th fret. I can only imagine that if Woolworth sold it for $25 bucks, then it cost less than $10 bucks to build.
If I came upon a Teisco for sale today it would barely be worth $25 to me and I'd use it as a wall decoration in my studio. I can't imagine the basses being any better.

$40 from Woolworth's Dept Store in 1966 - $380.76 in todays dollars

 

[MarshallAC50Stack]

My first bass was a Teisco … the neck was pretty twisted but it wasn’t that important and I played the heck out of it.

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Fun!

 

[iammr2]

My 1st amp was a Heathkit that my dad & I built/wired-up/assembled. I wanted a Kustom or Acoustic 360 but they were out of my reach $-wise. Not one to entertain nostalgia - I don't want that amp today (ss combo w/2x15) - it's just part of my back story.
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Not to be argumentative, but that amp had 2 12's. I had one. Weighed a ton.

 

[MarshallAC50Stack]

That looks like my first bass.. A Teisco Beatle bass. Heck, you even look like me at the time.
The bass was terrible, of which I really did know at the time.
I bought another one way later in life(buying my childhood back)figuring I know how to set them up and could make it playable. Nope. I was still a terrible bass, I sold it.

I played the heck out of Kimberly violin bass. After I got my Hagstrom a friend of mine borrowed the Kimberly. She learned to play on it. Then I traded it for a bag of pot and that guy learned on it. It was a bass with lots of good karma.

 

[MarshallAC50Stack]

The Heathkit stuff was actually quite good, still have some of their test equipment I built as a teenager - VTVM and signal generator. There was also plans and a parts kit from Southwest Technical Products / Popular Electronics magazine for a guitar amp that was essentially the same as a model sold by Gibson and Wurlitzer. First amp was a 25-watt B15N with a Wards Airline bass.

I had a Heathkit Vox Jaguar organ for a very short time. It was cool! My dad was all about Heathkit tube hifi. I still have a monaural integrated he built.

 

[Ed Goode]

I’ve had this Teisco fretless neck on this parts bass for a pretty long time. The neck is actually flawless, one of the very best fretless necks I’ve ever played. While some Teisco gear may have been low end/budget, not everything was. This neck is 34” scale, bound and the side dots are dead on accurate. I believe I paid ~ $75 for this neck … I have been offered as much as $750 for this bass from different players, but really, I’d never sell it. It’s a great neck/bass …

 

[JIO]

This is my mid-'60s Teisco Del Rey EB-2 that I bought about 8yrs ago. It is 30" scale but as long as a Jazz bass. Neck & body are made of (luan) mahogany, it has a thin body (1-1/4"), is light and balances well. The 5-piece laminate neck has banjo (thin) frets and they are in great shape. The neck on mine is straight with low action and has old flats on it. (on it when I bought it) These single-coil pu's were Tesco's most used pu's and sound as good or better than any today - rich, warm and strong. Rocker-switches work perfectly and V/T pots are smooth and noiseless. Teisco guitars & basses from this era have the tone pot reversed - so full up is full bass. Makes sense really, tone up=more bass! This model was popularized by Johnny Paycheck who played one on his hit from 1965, "A-11" and it became referred to as the "Johnny Paycheck bass". This model was very common and you can still find one today on eBay and/or Reverb. I'm just posting it to show an example of a '60s vintage bass from Japan that is not junk, is not a toy, and is a legitimate instrument that I've played live w/ no issues. You want Motown? - this bass delivers it as long as your fingers do their part.

Basic harness - no shielding or bridge ground - sounds great/no issues. Hack-job by someone along the line to extend the cavity (for whatever reason) - covered by the anodized metal control-plate.

Bridge is as basic as they come but I was able to dial it within an acceptable intonation/string-height. I could have easily replaced it with a modern bridge - but this is a vintage instrument and I wanted to keep it all original.

 

[JIO]

Not to be argumentative, but that amp had 2 12's. I had one. Weighed a ton.

Thanks - a mis-type. I corrected it. Yes - it was made of pressboard and was as heavy as an Ikea dresser! I chopped the head off of mine to lighten it and make it easier to lug to my High School gigs.