Identify this $10 guitar for me.

[ZaKaTaK]

I bought this guitar for $10 at a garage sale and have no idea what it is or where its from. It has no markings of any kind to give any kind of hint. Help me? Here are some pics. (they are only thumbnails, you can click on them for a larger view.)





These pickups are weird... the gold you see inside has a cool wavy design etched in it.



The bridge has a weird cover over it that pivots up and down like shown to allow you to insert the strings.



Help me. please.

[mrblanche]

There are some real experts around here, and they'll probably know exactly, but I think it's a Teisco.

[ZaKaTaK]

[newey]

ZKT-

My guess is a Norma, late 60's vintage. I had a single pickup one back in the day, and while the body style was slightly different, the gold mesh pickups you have were identical to the one on that guitar. Also, the single bar string retainer is a clue. and the bridge shape is similar.

The Norma guitars were just a brand name for US distribution, made by other Japanese manufacturers, there's more info on Vint's history pages.

[cheepaxes]

I also suspect it was made by Teisco, or whoever was making Teisco at the time. The Teisco gold foil pickups are prized by some. Ry Cooder is known to have installed them on a Strat, and eBay auctions for those pups often mention the Cooder connection. Google cooder teisco gold foil.

-Scott

[W9Z9PW]

I think this may be a Norma, me too...

[cms]

That really looks like Teisco.