i have no idea.....

[johnnyb]

hi everyone,
i picked this up off e-bay and i am awaiting its arrival, maybe some of you saw it. it was advertised as a teisco/guyatone, in other-words i dont think he knew. does anyone recognize this guitar as anything? the tag on the headstock is an afterthought so thats no help. the switches and pick-guard look teisco but im not sure, its shape is a little odd and i have no idea what it is. please help.

john

[Spud1950]

I'm not sure about this one,but I'm leaning toward it being a Kawai/Teisco made guitar. The metal pickguard, the pickups and the hardware are pretty typical of a Kawai/Teisco. What's interesting is the two different style pickups being used. The bridge pickup appears to be a Teisco gold foil,correct? Just my gut feeling,but I feel originally both were the neck style pickup and the bridge pickup was changed at some point.Anyway, it's a very nice guitar.Really like the body shape and color.

[johnnyb]

the neck is the original pickup. well see which sounds better when i get it, ill probably try to find a match based on that. the guy i bought it from says its a solid guitar, not ply and very heavy. he also said the neck is really nice, but im sure a set of jumbo frets on it cant hurt anyway. thanks spud, i guess this is still a bit of a mystery. i spent a few hours yesterday trying to find something similar and i couldn't.

[VintAxe]

I'm with Spud on this one. I think it is Kawai built and the bridge pup is a replacement. Tone wise, the goldfoil might be a great addition but if you want to take it back to original that Kawai pup shouldn't be hard to find.

[johnnyb]

this finally came yesterday. the neck pickup is definitely the original. the foil style pickup blows in comparison. the neck pickup is actually quite awesome. very hot, very loud and full. i am now on the hunt for a match. if anyone has a lead on where to find old pickups let me know. scanning e-bay for pickups gives me a headache. i found a similar guitar on e-bay that has many of the same parts as this one. it was advertised as a guyatone/teisco and branded as a sorrento. anyway, this one has great potential but needs a lot of work to get it there. and its ply but nice and heavy without all the unnecessary routing 60's mij's usually have. any leads on pickups would be greatly appreciated.

john

[Spud1950]

Keep an eye on this eBay store.



This guy sells pickups and parts from old Japanese guitars.Although it might take awhile for them to show up again,he has had those exact same pickups for sale in the past. As to the body, it makes no difference if it's solid or ply as long as what comes out of the amp sounds good. There are great sounding ply bodied guitars just as there are lousy sounding solid bodied guitars.

[johnnyb]

thanks spud, you always have great info and insight. i agree with you 100% about the ply/solid issue. my 3 favorite guitars at the moment are ply. they all just make my amp move. much better sound and feel than my $1000+ custom with a solid walnut body, mahogany neck, Brazilian rosewood fretboard and fender tex mex pickips. its been collecting dust.

[morebass]

JB,
If you still are interested I can send a photo of my guitar that's same as yours, but blue. Just spent an hour trying to find a matching photo and yours was the only one that matched. Both my pickups are like your neck and I agree are hot and with a really nice tone...alone worth the price of what most would pay for one of these. I replaced the nut and tuners and it plays better now. Headstock nameplate says it's a Teisco. Bridge looks like some I see on Kawais on the internet (as do the pickups, actually). It was made by Japanese factory people. Beyond that, I don't know who gave the orders.

[VintAxe]

Hey morebass. Send your photo(s) to steve@vintaxe.com and I will add them to your post.