Its body shape featured longer bouts and a few more curves than the older, boxy, and clunkier Teisco models, making the 440 much sleeker. Still, the guitar with all the bells and whistles was the ET-440. This was the same year Teisco introduced a truly awesome 6-string bass (TB-64), as well as an interesting amp-in-guitar model called the TRG-1.
The ET-400 made its first appearance in a Japanese music trades magazine, where a brand-new Teisco lineup was introduced in June of 1964 ( Photo 2). The Japan-based Teisco had already been introducing new models every year, and constantly tweaking things like headstock shapes, fretboard inlays, and pickup designs.
The introduction of the Teisco ET-440 coincided with the huge jump in worldwide electric guitar sales in the ’60s. Gone was the sketchy old clamshell tremolo, and in its place was a newer, large floating-plate tremolo that was quite the feat of engineering. Tip: Search “Van Halen Teisco mom” and you’ll be offered up a nice old photo of a young, beaming Eddie with his mom and guitar. So, for this month’s column, I want to shed a bit of light on both the model and Teisco’s place in the electric guitar explosion at the time. Like so many youngsters in the ’60s and ’70s, Eddie’s very first axe was a Teisco ET-440 ( Photo 1). Gift giving is a big thing in Japan, and I figured the best gift I could offer Tadashi was that signed stub.ĭuring my last visit to Matsumoto City, we spent a lot of time talking about all the guitars Eddie used over the years. My best friend in Japan, named Tadashi, is a huge fan, and his most prized possession is a signed ticket stub I got from a local teenager when Van Halen played in my area. While Van Halen the band was worshipped there in their early days, Eddie, in particular, was absolutely revered. I’ve also been remembering his popularity in Japan. He told me that those guitars aren't really around in Japan, that the were built for export, and in Japan there's isn't really any market for them.Like so many others, I’ve been thinking a lot about the passing of Eddie Van Halen this past month. I asked him about expanding his business into these "Teisco"-type guitars-I figured these instruments would be plentiful there. He has a side-business dealing in guitars that he finds over there. I have a friend from the States who has lived and worked in Japan for 20 years. $200 is not outside the realm of reality-at least here in the States where the market's been heating-up recently. Sure, they look cool, but I grew-up with them and remember their questionable quality.īut I do recongize that there is a market for them, built on nostalgia of older players who had them as their first guitar, and the fact that some current artist have started using them.
I'm not the biggest fan of those 1960'/early 70's Japanese guitars. I just checked that Cameo eBay auction and upon magnification I do see the german carve (duh).
Mostly what I want is to find an original scratchplate to replace the cracked one, and possibly the vibrato tailpiece if that's too rusted/broken to repair. I'm wondering whether there's any resident experts around to help me out. The roller bridge could either be original or a replacement, but either way I'll be happy to have one, because roller bridges make sense to me. Also, the shit-brown colour seems unusual, but I can buy that having been a thing and I kind of like the idea of it anyway. It has a square-ish rout all along the side which I've not come across in this model. The other thing I'm mystified by is the routing on the top. It bears a striking resemblance in shape and pickup layout to the ET-440, but without one of the middle pickups. Basically, if it can be fixed, I can fix it.Īs far as I can tell it's a mid 60s Teisco (or similar, kawai, Del Rey?). If it's playable, sounds good and such I plan on doing some light restoration work on it. Thing is, this is going to be a three hour trip there, so I want to know whether I'm doing the right thing. I've bid 200 on this baby and I'm going to test it out on thursday.