Teisco Guitar

Teisco guitar

Teisco  was a Japanese manufacturer of affordable musical instruments from 1948 until 1969. The company produced guitars as well as keyboard instruments, microphones, amplifiers and even drums. Teisco products were widely exported to the United States and the United Kingdom.

Teisco guitars sold in the United States were badged "Teisco Del Rey" beginning in 1964. Teisco guitars were also imported in the U.S. under several brand names including Silvertone, Beltone, Jedson, Kent, Norma, Kingston, Kimberly, Lyle, Tulio, Duke, Heit Deluxe and World Teisco.  Teisco guitars  became notable for unusual body shapes, such as the May Queen design resembling an artist's palette, or other unusual features such as having four pickups (most guitars have two or three). After Kawai bought Teisco in 1967, they started to produce all the Teisco guitars, as well as their own brand, Apollo. Many Teisco guitars had a primitive tailed bridge in their extended tail bridges with limited timbre when used in an extended technique. The Teisco six-string bass followed an unusual body shape that was used on one of their guitars.

Although Teisco guitars were cheaply made and inexpensive, they developed a strong collector following starting in the 1990s. It is the Teisco Del Ray original design guitars that attract collectors, as many other manufacturers produced knock-offs of equal or greater quality. Collector values for Teisco originals are largely set by market demand of specific models.

The unusual Teisco SD-4L of 1963 featured four pickups and eight switches, in addition to the standard volume, tone and pickup switches. This vinyl-clad, tremolo-equipped guitar is among the most sought after for Teisco collectors and can fetch $300 to $900.

The semi-hollow oval-shaped guitar featured two pickups, volume, tone and pickup selector switch with tremolo system.

The obscure and rare Spectrum 5 model was a higher-end Teisco Del Ray.