The Zen–On brand name is relatively unknown outside of Japan, but it produced a large number of OEM guitars for overseas brands.Īs mentioned earlier, many of its guitars included a gold foil pickup that looks deceptively like the original Teisco’s. 2 on the list of guitars most often mistaken for Teiscos. Occasionally, Kawai has periodically produced reissues of the most famous Teisco guitars: the K-series shark fins and the Spectrum 5. Kawai continued to produce Teisco–branded guitars, amps, and even synthesizers in dwindling numbers up through the mid–‘70s. Kawai used this feature on a majority of its solid bodies, while original Teisco guitars never used string bars and instead favoured pitched headstocks. There is one good way to distinguish a Kawai (or a Kawai–era Teisco) from an original Teisco: look for a string bar on the headstock. But with Zen-On’s (or several other manufacturers’) gold foil pickups, these set–screw pole pieces run through the middle. On a true Teisco gold foil pickup, these six screws are on top of the pickup. How can you tell these gold foils apart? Look for the fake set–screw pole pieces. But beware, many Japanese manufacturers made gold foil pickups that share some characteristics with Teisco’s, yet are not the same. Original Teisco factory guitars from before the Kawai sale can be some great players, and many of them feature highly sought after gold foil pickups made famous by Ry Cooder. Using Gold Foil Pickups to Identify Teiscos and other Vintage Japanese Guitars Teisco’s subsidiary manufacturing plant Teisco Gen Gakki (Japanese for “Tesico Stringed Instruments”) was not included in the sale, as Kawai decided to transfer manufacturing to its own plant in Hamamatsu. The company enjoyed increasing success right through the big Japanese guitar boom in 1965, but a 1967 downturn in fortunes resulted in the company and brand being sold to Kawai.
Teisco started making lap steels in the late 1940s, and by the ‘50s were making solid bodies and archtops. If we’re talking about guitars that are often mistaken for Teiscos, we need to start out talking about Teisco, which has a bit of a confusing history. This guide looks at all of the different guitar manufacturers working in Japan in the 1960s so that you can begin to differentiate between their products and get a better idea of what you're buying. The Norma brand has guitars that were made by Teisco Gen Gakki, Sakkai, and Tombo, as well as several other manufacturers. Often, these guitar brands would source guitars from multiple manufacturers to fit different price points in their catalogs. This means that a company (for example, Strum and Drum of Wheeling, Illinois) could approach a Japanese manufacturer (in this case, Sakkai) and ask it to produce a guitar branded for that contracting company’s in–house brand name (Norma). Image of Spectrum 5 guitar courtesy of David Feb 2008.Like Kleenex for tissues or Dumpster for large garbage containers, the brand Teisco has become a kind of shorthand for “strange looking Japanese guitar from the 1960s.” When someone posts a picture on a forum of a vintage Japanese guitar that he’s trying to identify, five people will immediately shout out “Teisco!” Occasionally, they’re even right.īut the reality of the matter is that while Teisco did produce over a million guitars during the course of its history, there are also a few million more Japanese–made guitars that are decidedly not Teiscos.īefore we jump in, it’s important to note that all of these companies we’re about to discuss were Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) producers for a variety of brands both in Japan and abroad. Images acoustic (circa 1961) courtesy of Leanne, 2008:
which is a global musical instrument maker. From this, we will handle the processing of metal parts of “KAWAI” brand electronic instruments in general.
#How to identify 60 teisco guitar series#
Established at the capital of 2 million yen to manufacture metallic parts of the electric guitar brand “TEISCO” which was the central presence among them.ġ967 (S 42) Januar – Due to the decline of the electric boom, TEISCO will be a series of Kawara Musical Instruments Co., Ltd.
The best resource is TeiscoTwangers the original link may come back some time įebruary 1965 (S40) – The unprecedented electric guitar boom occurred in the early 1960 ‘s. UK – Arbiter, Audition, Kay and Top TwentyĪfter Kawai bought Teisco in 1967, they started to produce all the Teisco guitars, as well as their own brand, Apollo. USA – Kent, Kingston, Kimberly, Tulio, Heit Deluxe and WorldTeisco. Guitars sold in the United States were badged “Teisco Del Rey” from 1964. The company was acquired by Kawai in 1967, with the Teisco brand name for guitars ending in 1969. In 1956 the name was changed to ‘Nippon Ompa Kogyo Co’. The company was originally called ‘Aoi Onpa Kenkyujo’ (roughly: Hollyhock Soundwave or Electricity Laboratories). Teisco was founded in 1946 by guitarist Atswo Kaneko, and electrical engineer Doryu Matsuda.
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