I like weird guitars like this, I picked up a Teisco del ray about a year ago. Mine needs a lot of work as well. I paid $20 bucks for mine which was prob too much. Can't wait to see what you do with this one, good luck!
Just picked up one of these yesterday in much better condition. Needs a trem bar and spring( wanna sell me yours?), new strings and a thorough cleaning. Looks like someone upgraded the tuners.Minor body crack at the silver trussrod cover. Were you able to bring yours back from the dead?
Yup, that is a strange one bro! Those pups might just sound great, you never know with those old Japanese guitars. I never really looked twice at them but I own a small guitar repair shop up here near Boston, Mass. and I have a customer that brought me a 1964 Kawai (Houndog Taylor Model) for a re-fret. (It had 1964 binding on that damn neck) at first I thought what the hell am I getting myself into!? Lol. Before I do any work on a guitar, if it's got guts in it I like to plug em in and test out the electronics... And this thing woke up! Damn, what a cool tone so good when I finished the job I asked the customer (an old friend) if I could borrow it for recording... It was like one of those hidden recording gems that people use and we all go, how the hell is he getting that tone!! But I think I created a monster! Lol. My friend is on a 60's Japanese guitar kick now (and I'm his repair guy, w.t.f.!) So about a week goes by and he brings me this 70's Kay effector (LP looking plywood guitar, with built in effects), it was a frigging nightmare! None of the effects even worked! (except for a phase in/out switch, but that's not part of the pre-amp) It looked like someone ran the neck over with a truck... twice! Lol. Then they tried a neck reset and used epoxy, and got it everywhere, it had a bolt on neck!!! The giant headstock crack yeah maybe some but the neck pocket?? And the 12th fret was gone with a giant chunk of wood ripped out of the fingerboard... So I had to make that dreaded phone call (I hate telling people their guitars need more). But I told him, the guitar is junk, was junk when new! After I did a little research the Kay guitars were just like sears catalog guitars... It had what looked like 2 humbuckers, but they were singles with a dummy coil to fit a humbucker cover! So I put a cheap ass 50$ ebay neck on it (Without epoxy!) lol, gave it a quick fret level and crown and told him to please come get this nightmare it's all finished, then he asked me what he could get for it! 😂😅. I told him (being an old friend not just some stranger) If he want's to start buying guitars just to flip, he's gotta start with a good foundation, not a plywood thing! So he's a smart guy, in his mid 40's like me, a week later, I get a phone call from Ryan... He bought a 1965 Teisco Del Rey from FB marketplace for 100$. I wasn't sure what to think then he brought it to the shop. What a cool guitar!! Another great sounding gem like the Kawai! All it needed was a set/up, a new nut (Graph-tech), some spot leveling of a few frets and a good cleaning. He's on vacation for a week so I still have it kicking around the house, what a fun axe to jam on! I love having a shop to be able to play all these cool ass guitars that I never would have even looked at!! Thanks for sharing the guitar with us bro! Here's a few pictures of the guitars I was talking about, thx. again ... Mike (IRG) facebook.com/Ipswich-River-Guitars-106563420706171/?modal=admin_todo_tour
Very cool man! I don't have the same experience with the old Japanese beauties as you do, but I did come across a really cool Bradford by Guyatone once. I still have it, one day I'll get around to refinishing it and getting the electronics straight. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0lZY1I7RidU.html
@@ForsytheVideo it's long gone now. Missing electronics was the worse. The bridge was floating, and I didn't know enough about setups, at the time, to get it right. I just gave up on it and ebayed it.
I'd put money on it that it's a teisco. If it's a weird Japanese guitar from the sixties there's a 90 percent chance it's a teisco. The pickups will be hit or miss, I've played amazing sounding ones and some real dogs. If they end up being garbage I'd give that thing a crustier paint job and bung a cheap ceramic humbucker in it and punk it up.
