What can you tell me about my newly acquired Teisco?

[Dirt Rich]

I just picked it up in a trade yesterday. It's stamped Model No. EP-8T Serial No. 328868

I had to replace the tuners on it. Also, it goes out of tune any time you touch the trem lol, any way around that? I can tell that the bridge rocks a little when you hit the trem.

[VintAxe]

Hey Dirt Rich.

Your Teisco was made around 1970. The trem unit was added to impress the girls; you're actually not supposed to touch it

You can get some information about a similar guitar I sold here:


Scroll down a bit and you'll find it.

[Dirt Rich]

Thanks VintAxe. I didn't see it on your list though. And as for the trem, that explains why it's a mirror finish!

[VintAxe]

It's the 6th guitar down.

That mirror finish is supposed to make the trem invisible to the player

[Dirt Rich]

Oh duh, lol I must've been entranced by all the other guitars and missed it. Nice collection buddy.

[cheepaxes]

When I was in Jr. High I had a friend who's older brother owned a couple of Teiscos like that. This friend loaned them to another friend of ours who was going to strip the finish off them, to make them sound better, sort of like Lennon having the finish taken off his Epiphone. Unfortunately friend #2 didn't really know what he was doing and managed to ruin the guitar bodies. The older brother was angry, though by that time he owned Gibsons and Fenders so it wasn't the end of the world.

Re: the tremolo, before I gave up on it completely I might try working with it a little. ISTR someone telling me that the joints in the trem can be cleaned and lubed and that will sometimes fix problems with trems not returning to position. Then there's the old tricks like putting graphite in the nut slots.


Good luck,

-Scott

[Dirt Rich]

I don't think it's so much the trem as it is the bridge moving when you hit the trem. I lowered the bridge a bit and that seemed to take some of the play out of it, but I'll try out your suggestions as well.

[cheepaxes]

The bridge looks like a roller bridge. Is it? Are the saddles rolling freely? If not, maybe doing something to make them roll better would help.

-Scott

[Dirt Rich]

[johnnyb]

[Dirt Rich]

[Astrochimp]

I replaced the spring on the trem with a stiffer one, on the cheap version I had back in the late 70's. IIRC I had to cut the new spring and grind the ends flat to get the "correct" length. Also replaced the nut, as mine was plastic.


I only remember because I found the trem in a box of parts last month, spring is missing.

David

[cheepaxes]

johnnyb: "as long as your lubing stuff. try lip balm in the nut slots, you'll be surprised how much better it works than graphite."
.............

...Prevents chapped strings too. ;)

-Scott

[mcphoto]

I've got the exact-same Teisco as this - only diff on mine is the headstock is sunburst and has the nameplate still.

See my post regarding roller bridges - the saddles aren't supposed to "roll", they're threaded for intonation.

The whammy on mine works wonderfully; I imagine your loose bridge is the culprit. I'd try to ID where the play is coming from; set up an ebay search or two with "teisco bridge", etc., and wait for an email when someone adds one.

Also, search for the ebay store of "Lawman mike" - I got the feeling he has boxes of parts laying around - he's a nice guy, might drop him a line.

[johnnyb]

i tried lawman mike before and hes not parting with anything.