Teisco (テスコ) was a
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese manufacturer of affordable
musical instrumentA musical instrument is an object constructed or used for the purpose of making the sounds of music. In principle, anything that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the beginnings of human culture...
s from 1948 until 1969. The company produced
guitarThe guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that adapts readily to a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six strings, but four-, seven-, eight-, ten-, eleven-, twelve-, thirteen- and eighteen-string guitars also exist. The size and shape of the neck and the base of the guitar...
s as well as keyboard instruments, microphones, amplifiers and even drums. Teisco products were widely exported to the United States and the United Kingdom.
The Teisco brand name stands for 'Tokyo Electric Instrument and Sound Company'. Teisco was founded in 1946 by renowned Hawaiian and Spanish guitarist Atswo Kaneko, and electrical engineer Doryu Matsuda.
Teisco (テスコ) was a
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese manufacturer of affordable
musical instrumentA musical instrument is an object constructed or used for the purpose of making the sounds of music. In principle, anything that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the beginnings of human culture...
s from 1948 until 1969. The company produced
guitarThe guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that adapts readily to a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six strings, but four-, seven-, eight-, ten-, eleven-, twelve-, thirteen- and eighteen-string guitars also exist. The size and shape of the neck and the base of the guitar...
s as well as keyboard instruments, microphones, amplifiers and even drums. Teisco products were widely exported to the United States and the United Kingdom.
Company history
The Teisco brand name stands for 'Tokyo Electric Instrument and Sound Company'. Teisco was founded in 1946 by renowned Hawaiian and Spanish guitarist Atswo Kaneko, and electrical engineer Doryu Matsuda. The company was originally called 'Aoi Onpa Kenkyujo' (roughly: Hollyhock Soundwave or Electricity Laboratories). In 1956 the name was changed to 'Nippon Ompa Kogyo Co'. The company was acquired by
Kawai Musical Instruments Manufacturing Co. Ltd.The Kawai Musical Instruments Manufacturing Co. Ltd. of Japan is best known for its pianos, electronic keyboards & electronic synthesizers. The company was established in August, 1927, and is headquartered in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka.- Guitars :Kawai started building guitars in 1964 then bought Teisco...
(河合楽器製作所 Kawai Gakki Seisakusho) in 1967, who discontinued the Teisco brand name for guitars in 1969, but continued to use it for electronic keyboards until the 1980s.
Guitars
Teisco guitars sold in the United States were badged "Teisco Del Rey" beginning in 1964. Teisco guitars were also imported in the U.S. under several brand names including Silvertone, Jedson, Kent, Norma, Kingston, Kimberly, Lyle, Tulio, Duke, Heit Deluxe and World Teisco. Likewise, they were imported in the U.K under such labels as Arbiter, Audition, Kay and Top Twenty. While guitars manufactured by Teisco were ubiquitous in their day, they are now very collectable. In fact, highly sought after models are now being reproduced.
From 1948 to the early 1960s Teisco products were often, like many Japanese products of the period, close copies of American and Western European products of the time including
HagströmHagström ['hɑ:gstrœm], or Hagstrom as the name is sometimes spelled, was a musical instrument manufacturer in Älvdalen, Dalecarlia, Sweden. Their original products were accordions that they initially imported from Germany and then Italy before opening their own facility in 1932. During the sixties,...
and
EKOEko is an Italian manufacturer of electric guitars, acoustic guitars and similar instruments, catering to professional level and manufacturing largely for export...
. 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-cancellation switch, along with as many as five tone and volume knobs gave a wide variety of sounds yet were easily switched while playing. After
KawaiThe Kawai Musical Instruments Manufacturing Co. Ltd. of Japan is best known for its pianos, electronic keyboards & electronic synthesizers. The company was established in August, 1927, and is headquartered in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka.- Guitars :Kawai started building guitars in 1964 then bought Teisco...
bought Teisco in 1967, they started to produce all the Teisco guitars, as well as their own brand, Apollo.
Hound Dog TaylorTheodore Roosevelt "Hound Dog" Taylor was an American blues guitarist and singer.-Career:Taylor was born in Natchez, Mississippi, in 1915...
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 ChainThe Jesus and Mary Chain are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in East Kilbride in 1983. The band revolves around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid...
used a Spectrum V.
Many Teisco guitars had a primitive
tailed bridgeSome electric guitars have an extended bridge for their tremolo system, named a tailed bridge guitar because of its shape. Most of these tailed bridge guitars were designed in the sixties and used in surf music...
in their extended tail bridges with limited
timbreNot to be confused with timber.In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices or musical instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that mediate the perception of timbre include spectrum and envelope...
when used in an
extended techniqueExtended techniques are performance techniques used in music to describe unconventional, unorthodox or "improper" techniques of singing, or of playing musical instruments....
. 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 JaguarThe Fender Jaguar is an electric guitar which was introduced in 1962. Whether the designers of the Jaguar had intended the instrument to be used for Surf music, or if it was a further attempt to break into the Jazz guitar market remains a topic of dispute among Jaguar aficionados...
or Jazzmaster, which were beginning to attract collector interest.
Teisco also produced a six-string bass similar to the
Fender Bass VIThe Fender Bass VI, originally known as the Fender VI, is a six-string electric bass or Scale Baritone Guitar by Fender.The Fender VI was released in 1961, and followed the concept of the Danelectro 6-string bass released in 1956, having six strings tuned E-E, an octave below the Spanish guitar...
which was itself an uncommon instrument. The 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 'handle' cutout on the left-facing side of the bridge and a
FenderFender Musical Instruments Corporation of Scottsdale, Arizona is a manufacturer of stringed instruments and amplifiers, such as solid-body electric guitars, including the Stratocaster and the Telecaster. The company, previously named the Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company, was founded...
-style headstock with an over-sized scroll. This instrument, as well as its regular-scale guitar equivalent, can be heard extensively on
Blonde RedheadBlonde Redhead is an American rock trio comprising Kazu Makino and twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace. The band performs in multiple languages including English, Japanese, Italian, and French.-History:...
's early albums of the 90's, where they used its wide range to switch between bass and guitar melodies in the course of single songs.
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.
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. 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 and Checkmate 50, 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
FenderFender Musical Instruments Corporation of Scottsdale, Arizona is a manufacturer of stringed instruments and amplifiers, such as solid-body electric guitars, including the Stratocaster and the Telecaster. The company, previously named the Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company, was founded...
's silverfaced Vibro Champ and
Twin ReverbThe Fender Twin Reverb is an all-tube guitar amplifier with two 12", 8 ohm speakers made by various suppliers. The more common speakers found in Fender Twin Reverbs include Jensen C12Ns, Oxford 12T6s, JBL D-120Fs , Utahs and, in later years, CTS and Eminence models. Some twins were fitted with EVM...
.
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 ChipHot Chip is a Grammy-nominated British electropop band. They have released three studio albums—Coming on Strong, The Warning, and Made in the Dark. The Warning was named Album of the Year by Mixmag and voted the fourth best album of 2006 by NME...
(UK),
Pure Reason RevolutionPure Reason Revolution are a British rock group formed at the University of Westminster in 2003. Their music incorporates elements of progressive rock and electro. It has been variously described as 'Astral Folk' and 'New prog'...
(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.
External links