![teisco del rey teisco del rey](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0147/9412/9472/products/1_3779be0c-9c8c-4a7f-9634-da8b9182fb27_1500x.jpg)
There are 20 frets and the fret wire is pretty small. There are cool-looking fret markets on the edges of the fretboard, which are unlike any other guitar I have seen. The 24 ¾-inch scale neck also appears to be made of mahogany (three pieces) and it is capped with a rosewood fretboard. The neck pocket is huge, so much that there is only clear access to the first 14 frets. The silver aluminum pickguard does not go with this color combination very well, but it is original to the guitar. The body appears to be made of mahogany, and it is shot with a subdued tobacco burst finish.
![teisco del rey teisco del rey](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0489/9300/9827/products/1960s_Teisco_Del_Rey_ET-200_Tulip1_1200x2262.jpg)
This is a small guitar with a short-horned body that is closer to that of a Fender Musicmaster or Mustang than a Stratocaster. It is unmolested and unmodified with the exception of new strings and a fresh set-up. It was sold to Faust Music in Wisconsin, and it was put away in the basement until the store went out of business last year. The guitar we are looking at here today is a ET-220 that was built in the late 1960s.
#TEISCO DEL REY SERIES#
Since then they have attained a cult-like following, particularly with their Spectrum series instruments. Teisco keyboards were sold until the 1980s. In 1967 Kawai bought the company and discontinued the Teisco name overseas in 1969, and in 1977 for the Japan market. Teisco is an acronym for “Tokyo Elecrric Instrument and Sound Company.” The company was started in 1946 and started to sell instruments under this brand name in 1964. It was my first chance to play one that had not been beaten to death or modified beyond recognition. Other than a replaced washer on the tremolo, and the possibility that the headstock badge may be a replacement, the guitar is completely original and ships in a decent generic gig bag.I love funky old Japanese guitars, and when I had the opportunity to buy a new old stock Teisco Del Rey ET-220 electric I jumped at the chance. The guitar just looks instantly vintage and way cool! AND… it's stupid, crazy light – it weighs just on 5lb, (2.25kg)!!! You could gig with this machine for a solid week and barely notice you had it strapped on. There's a few spots of touch-up paint here and there, but again, nothing bad. The body and headstock show numerous little dings, (though nothing really bad), only adding to the vintage charm of the instrument. Action is currently set medium-low, but there's heaps of easy adjustment both ways at the bridge. The neck profile is typical of the era – no longer the "baseball bat" of earlier years, but not yet as skinny as today's general C-profile. As with many instruments of the time, intonation and tremolo use are both helped enormously with a "zero fret", (a feature some modern, high-end guitar makers are once again utilizing). (At least as an ET-200 it adheres to the company's standard model numbering system E for electric, T for tremolo, 2 for two pickups) The almost unique pressed metal pickguard hasn't appeared on any other Teisco Del Rey model that we've seen.Īnyway, whatever its place in the Teisco timeline, we're here to tell you that this little number is a ripper! Never marketed in Australia, Teisco Del Rey guitars have developed a real cult following here over the past few years, with nothing else delivering quite the same vintage twang, and this ET-200 has twang and grunt galore! The famous Teisco single-coil pickups really punch through, with the tremolo system both smooth and reliable.Įlectrics are perfect, there's almost no wear at all on the frets, and the fretboard itself is a superb piece of dark Brazilian Rosewood. It's most likely from the twelve to eighteen month period when the company had just been taken over by Kawai, during which time there were various short-lived new models and re-jigged current models, while the new owners tried to decide Teisco's future direction. We've only ever seen one single stray photo of this Teisco model before, so it's hard to be 100% certain about its place in Teisco / Teisco Del Rey history.