Cool Find

[Geo]

I just bought this guy....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...RK%3AMEWNX%3AIT

Just curious if anyone else has messed around with something like this. I just couldn't resist the funky off-brand vibe.

Any comments on the tone of Teisco guitars?

[billm90]

I got a body and neck of one that looks like a jazz master.

I had to build the rest. Plexi pickguard backlit, 2 old single coils stuck in humbucker covers. archtop ebony bridge with a home made brass tail piece. I did some DIY piezo stuff on it so I was not aiming for an electric guitar.

I hate the small frets and the fact the body seems so set back from the neck. I looks like it needs a 1/4 wood top added on it.

After I got done messing around with it I had some idea for putting a new wood top on it and hiding the pickups and trying to make it a more electric acoustic like guitar. I did not see much in it's future for me as an electric guitar. lol... but I have a few odd ones already that sound funky.

[MikeD]

Very cool. I love the vibe those things have. The tone isn't really anything to write home about. Pretty much what you would expect from that kind of guitar, but honestly theyre so much fun to play it makes up for it.

[westhemann]

I guess I am the only one that hates those things.When I was a kid every time I said I wanted a guitar for christmas the grandparents would start asking if I wanted something like those Tiesco travesties.Because they were cheap...

[avengers63]

I dropped 4 Tiesco pups into the Cherry Blossom:

The thing sounds amazing. Bear in mind that we're not comparing apples to apples here. Mine is chambered walnut You'll have to figure out what yours is, but it ain't chambered walnut.

What you can take from this is that at minimum you'll have some cool sounding pickups and vintage hardware to salvage for another build. But that's a worst-case scenario. In all likelihood, you got a decent playing, decent sounding ax for a great price.

[Tim37]

i got the one on the right a few weeks back off ebay from a local guy so it was cheap enough i think 82 dollars plus i didnt have to pay shipping. and it came with an original vox case thats nearly worth what i paid for the guitar. then the one on the left i picked up at a flea market dirt cheap saturday im not sure what im gonna do with it yet but i got it.

[avengers63]

Tim: I'll give you $15 + shipping for the pup off of the one without a bridge.

[Geo]

Yeah, I bought this to bring some quirky vibes to a band I'm starting. Because I'm an idiot ( ) I only have one guitar that is currently gig-worthy, and I would like two, so I can do DADGAD without breaking my high E tuning back up to standard.

It doesn't even have to have "tone", I just need a banger that will get me some looks.

Plus it's bolt-on, so if it has problems I can tweak it. I'm curious to see what it will sound like though with that mahogany neck and those old pickups.

[WezV]

i used to have a bit of a teisco collection - all gone now though. I do like them and they are fun for what they are - they make decent lo-fi music but rarely make great players even with work. microphonics can be an issue and the pickups can vary massivly in output but are usually quite low and weedy. its fun for some styles

my teisco spectrum bass was the odd one out as it was actually decently made with decent materials - but they were always meant as a more expensive model

[Southpa]

I picked this Teisco up about 6 mos. ago. The guy advertised it as a baritone guitar but its actually a 6 string bass, scale length 30".

Its really really fun to play. I was always a little awkward playing 4-string bass, couldn't get used to having a G as the 1st string. This one is just a guitar but an octave lower. Can get any pickup combo and it even has a whammy that doesn't put it out of tune! Funny, this guitar was built around 1965. It has two features that were incorporated into later guitars. Ibanez thought they were the guys who invented the monkey grip, Musicman does the 4+2 tuner arrangement. Teisco did it first. As far as design and function goes these guys were ahead of their time.

Edited November 6, 2010 by Southpa

[westhemann]

Now that really is an interesting Tiesco...Quite the stealth metal machine that could be with some Hot rails in place of those singles and a different bridge setup...