Guitars Teisco guitars were imported to the United States since 1959 or early 1960, and then re-badged as "Teisco Del Rey" after 1964. From 1948 to the early 1960s Teisco products often, like many Japanese products of the period, shared several designs with American and Western European products of the time including
Hagström and
EKO. However, in the early 1960s Teisco products became increasingly unique. Teisco guitars became notable for unusual body shapes, such as the
May Queen design resembling an artist's palette, or other unusual features such as having four
pickups (most guitars have two or three). The vast amount of controls; typically an individual switch for each pickup, plus a tone or phase inversion switch, along with as many as five tone and volume knobs gave a wide variety of sounds yet were easily switched while playing. After
Kawai bought Teisco in 1967, they started to produce all the Teisco guitars, as well as their own brand,
Apollo.
Hound Dog Taylor famously used a variety of these Kawai-era Teiscos, which he bought at his local
Sears department store. Jim Reid of
The Jesus and Mary Chain used a
Spectrum 5. Also,
James Iha of
The Smashing Pumpkins played a
K-2L, which can be seen in the music video for
Rocket as well as the inside of the
Pisces Iscariot CD jewel case. Ben Waugh (Scott Campbell), singer & guitarist for Apparition, The Sillies, and Scott Campbell Group played a modified ET-200 onstage and for studio recordings until it was stolen in 1985. Many Teisco guitars had a primitive
tailed bridge in their extended tail bridges with limited
timbre when used in an
extended technique. When the strings are attacked behind the bridge, a 3rd bridge sound is created. This is one of the reasons these guitars became popular again during the 90s among many noise artists as a cheaper alternative for the
Fender Jaguar or
Jazzmaster, which were beginning to attract collector interest.
Baritone and bass guitars Teisco also produced a six-string bass called
TB-64 (or
ET-320) in 1964, similar to the
Fender Bass VI which was itself an uncommon instrument. Teisco six-string bass followed an unusual body shape that was used on one of their guitars. It had an off-set body shape similar to a
Jazzmaster, but with an extended top horn, a 'monkey handle' cutout on the left-facing side of the bridge and a
Fender-style headstock with an oversized scroll. This instrument, as well as its regular-scale guitar equivalent, can be heard extensively on
Blonde Redhead's early albums of the 90s, where they used its wide range to switch between bass and guitar melodies in the course of single songs. Also, 2 or 4-pickup
baritone guitars (27 3/4 inch scale) with a tremolo, known as
Demian or
Orlando VN-2 or
VN-4 ca.1964 manufactured by
FujiGen, are often referred as Teisco models. However the formal relations between Teisco and these models are not enough verified yet.
Basses Teisco basses are easily identified through a unique pickup design exclusive to the Del Rey series. This design consisted of a large rectangular chrome pickup with black plastic holding the four poles in one place. Other designs may vary, but are all easily distinguishable and unique among subsequent bass designs. Teisco made a short scale bass under the Heit Deluxe name. With a scale length of 23.5", it was a student or beginner instrument. It featured a single pickup, volume and tone controls and a rudimentary bridge/tailpiece.
Amplifiers Teisco also produced numerous models of guitar and bass amplifiers which were often sold under the
Checkmate brand name, but also named Teisco or Silvertone as well as Beltone and Melody. In the 1950s, early amplifier models were very basic 5-10 watt tube/valve designs. During the 1960s, more advanced and powerful models were offered, such as
Checkmate 25,
Checkmate 50, and
Checkmate 100 featuring dual channels, reverb and tremolo effects. Teisco also made solid-state (transistor-based) models, some designed no less radically than their guitars of the time. The
Sound Port 60 (60 watts/RMS) and
Sound Port 120 (120 watts/RMS) amplifiers from the late 1960s were copies of
Fender's
silverfaced
Vibro Champ and
Twin Reverb.
Synthesizers Teisco also produced a range of synthesizers, with models including the 60F, 110F, 100F, 100P, SX-210, SX-240, and SX-400. Bands such as
Hot Chip (UK),
Pure Reason Revolution (UK), and Goose (Belgium) are known to use Teisco synthesizers.
Drums Teisco marketed drum sets in limited sizes and configurations during the 1960s, sold under the brand name
Del Ray. They were produced by sub-contractors to fill out the company's catalog as a supplier of combo instruments, but discontinued after the acquisition by Kawai.
PA system Teisco monitors can be seen in
The Beatles' 1966 concert in Tokyo. ==Bibliography==