Teisco/Zenon Roller Bridge Intonation

[matthew.hyndman]

Hi guys,

I'm new to the forum and looking for some help on a bit of a fixer-upper I recently picked up for 40 bucks from an old music store display.

As far as I know, it's a 60's model Japanese guitar. It looks similar to some Teisco models, particularly the Audition Zenon, but it has the paint stripped (which I actually love) and a few of the details look different from what I've seen online.

Anyway, I'm in love with this thing. It's got that sweet Jaguar-type feel to it, but with some Ry Cooder (I think) gold foil pickups. I love the sound it puts out, and I just cleaned out the electronics so it sounds brand spankin' new.

The only real downside I've found is that the intonation is off. For every string, the notes get progressively sharp up the neck (they're all equally sharp at the 12th fret compared to the open note).

But, this thing has a weird roller/spacing adjustment bridge that doesn't have an intonation adjustment.

I'm not sure what to do. I took it to a guitar tech and he basically looked at it for 30 seconds and said "well, the neck looks pretty straight so there's nothing you can do except get a new guitar." Obviously that wasn't a fun conversation.

Any thoughts? Neck adjustment? Bridge replacement?

[Phizix]

Neat guitar and it definitely has the nice sounding gold foils, those pickups are worth at least $100 each, so you did good on your purchase.

It appears to have a truss rod, so there might be some adjustment there that you can make, just be careful not to break it. If its not turning easily spray it with some penetrating oil. The neck needs a slight bit of relief, if the neck is too straight it will affect playability.

If the neck is already straight and it just won't intonate because of the roller bridge then I would try a better bridge.

I saw a well known guitar player with a $300 Evertune bridge on a $500 Teisco guitar... thats one way to make it intonate but it requires routing the body for a new bridge, and the way that pickguard is set up on yours with the bridge sitting on top of it I don't think that would work. I would probably go with something like a gibson style tune-o-matic because they should be relatively easy to find and inexpensive but I have no idea what sizing you would need or modification you would have to do to make it work.

I guess what I'm trying to say is if you want it to really play perfectly well and in tune then you will likely have to modify it from original in some way, probably with a new adjustable bridge. You could probably sell the old bridge online and recoup your original $40 investment.