The company enjoyed increasing success right through the big Japanese guitar boom in 1965, but a 1967 downturn in fortunes resulted in the company and brand being sold to Kawai. Teisco started making lap steels in the late 1940s, and by the вЂ50s were making solid bodies and archtops. If weвЂ™re talking about guitars that are often mistaken for Teiscos, we need to start out talking about Teisco, which has a bit of a confusing history. This guide looks at all of the different guitar manufacturers working in Japan in the 1960s so that you can begin to differentiate between their products and get a better idea of what you're buying.

The Norma brand has guitars that were made by Teisco Gen Gakki, Sakkai, and Tombo, as well as several other manufacturers. Often, these guitar brands would source guitars from multiple manufacturers to fit different price points in their catalogs. This means that a company (for example, Strum and Drum of Wheeling, Illinois) could approach a Japanese manufacturer (in this case, Sakkai) and ask it to produce a guitar branded for that contracting companyвЂ™s inвЂ“house brand name (Norma).

I love it! Mother-of-dinette and all.Like Kleenex for tissues or Dumpster for large garbage containers, the brand Teisco has become a kind of shorthand for вЂњstrange looking Japanese guitar from the 1960s.вЂќ When someone posts a picture on a forum of a vintage Japanese guitar that heвЂ™s trying to identify, five people will immediately shout out вЂњTeisco!вЂќ Occasionally, theyвЂ™re even right.Д«ut the reality of the matter is that while Teisco did produce over a million guitars during the course of its history, there are also a few million more JapaneseвЂ“made guitars that are decidedly not Teiscos.Д«efore we jump in, itвЂ™s important to note that all of these companies weвЂ™re about to discuss were Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) producers for a variety of brands both in Japan and abroad. In any case, when it was made nobody thought that inexpensive Japanese guitars were worth saving or would become collectibles! IвЂ™m sure glad this one made it. ItвЂ™s probably fair to conclude that this particular model is relatively scarce. The biggest year was 1966, when 618,000 guitars were imported, including all electrics and acoustics. ThereвЂ™s a perception that Japanese guitars such as Teisco were imported by the millions, but, in fact, quantities were not really that large. The Teisco SD-4L (and a companion 2-pickup SD-2L) only lasted into 1964. By вЂ™63 they had changed to these quasi-DeArmond gold foil single-coils (which are not bad, by the way). In вЂ™62 when these were introduced, the pickups were large chunky chrome affairs with a black bobbin center. All in all this is a great little guitar for getting down with вЂњWalk, DonвЂ™t Run.вЂќ Once you get everything all set up, it plays very nicely indeed. It sits on a little elevated platform above the guitar top and operates with three springs, one of the earliest 3-spring vibratos on a Japanese guitar I know of. I donвЂ™t know if this has a reinforced neck if it does, itвЂ™s certainly not adjustable. The body is laminated, which the more snobbish call вЂњplywood.вЂќ The neck is one-piece maple with a bound rosewood fingerboard. For a guitar that was once regarded as something close to junk, laughed at by Les Paul and Strat aficionados, this is actually a pretty remarkable piece of lutherie for its time, the formica facing notwithstanding. 1963 Teisco SD-4L, which could have been brought in by Westheimer or someone else. The object of my desire seen here is a c. WestheimerвЂ™s interest was more engaged in other brands he was selling, so he didnвЂ™t complain about W.M.I.вЂ™s usurping his brand name. By around 1964 or so another company called W.M.I., which stood for Weiss Musical Instruments, started importing Teisco del Reys, as well. There actually was a Teisco company! In fact, it was the late Jack Westheimer who appended the вЂњdel ReyвЂќ suffix to give the brand a little more вЂњSpanishвЂќ veneer. by Westheimer Sales carrying their own companyвЂ™s brand name. Teisco guitars were somewhat unusual back in the 1960s because many-though certainly not all-were imported into the U.S. Vintage 1963 Teisco SD-4L Electric Guitar

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