I refuse to sell them to most people because I don't want them spreading the word that I sell junky guitars that won't play in tune. I considered it collectable AND able, that is. IT carried 2 6AQ5 power tubes and had both reverb and tremolo through two 6" speakers. IT was much like the one mentioned in the beginning of this thread some 3 5 years ago. They do have 'cheap and funky' sonics and a very few of them have bridges that enable one to intonate them.Īmps.the tube amps are kind of cool. They are usable for slide, but there is no such thing as being able to correctly intonate one of them for fretting. Most Tiesco's have a bridge that is both perpendicular to the strings and non-adjustable. Collectability doesn't indicate anything except someone's desire to own something. J45gun, imho, your taste was good then and probably remains so today. Like many as a small child, Woolworths (and typical stores in US) were the first chance any of us got to seeing a real 'electric' guitar and many parents told their children to come away from them, displayed on their stands on the shop floor in case they got electrocuted!! People actually thought you plugged them into the mains!!Īnyway as for my amp - The Teisco equivalent model turns out to be a Checkmate 21. But for 36 years all that has gone wrong is the pilot light bulb!īut I also wanted to point out that Silvertone amps are from same stable and see this example in action. The cab is real wood! I currently use the cab as a 1x12 with a Celestion V30 coupled to a Cornford(!) but the amp head is perfectly fine albeit a bit hisssy when turned up past 4 and somewhat characterless clean, although has real spring reverb. It was a Germanium transistor circuit with reverb and a tremolo and 3 staged inputs. The Amplifiers were also badged Audition and I still have my '72 piggyback combo which was claimed at 30W but is more like 12-15w on a good day. The guitars were badged Audition and were Teiscos from Japan. In UK, FW Woolworths stocked electric guitars and amps from late 60's to early 70's. I'll tell you one thing - a lot of guitarists started out on these old Kawai/Teisco/Guyatones or old Danelectro/Silvertones.I have been researching the background to my first amp - Audition 30w and a Google brought me here and I have something to add, so here goes: Two are Model 545 Polaris II with two pickups, one red, one sunburst, and a Model 532 Copa in red with three pickups and trem, like these: I have honestly never heard a better guitar for slide. I currently have 3 old (circa '64 or '65) Kent-labelled Guyatone solid-bodies for slide guitar. It was exactly like this one except mine was redburst instead of greenburst. Great for slide too, although it played OK fretted. It played OK, nothing great but decent, but sounded a lot better than it played. At $39 in 1967 from Boston Music on Tremont St, it was a pretty decent guitar. My first electric guitar was a violin-shaped Kawai solid-body with tremelo, made right around when Kawai acquired Teisco. I've certainly had better guitars than my Teisco, but that's a guitar I still own today. Think about some of the blues guys playing their Sears catalog guitars. It just put decent guitars into hands that otherwise wouldn't have had the opportunity. Probably back into the whole business of "it's not the instrument, it's the hands playing it."Īt any rate, none of the mass produced guitars were made as well as the better handmade guitars of the period, but that didn't make them bad. No doubt that Lindley and Cooder got some great sounds out of those guitars, and a lot of other folks have too. But I still have that Teisco, because it did something for me. First time I got hold of a Fender, it was a revelation for me how much better it played. My first electric guitar was an unmarked Teisco, and I played it for a long time. I think that guys like David Lindley and Ry Cooder adopting the old Teiscos/Valcos/Kays/Harmonys and other "consumer level" instruments of the day, (and finding that their tone had a certain charm}, led to the survival of those brands today.