For some reason I took a gander on Craigslist today, and just happened to notice a listing for a late 60s Teisco Checkmate guitar on their. Looked weird, shitty and old.. and for some reason I thought it would be cool, so picked it up. I knew a little (very little) about Teisco. I believe it was a Japanese company selling these in the States in the 60s and early 70s. Definitely ‘cheap’ guitar in the day, etc. The guitar I picked up definitely has some character and a unique tone that could be handy some day. Plays well, and the electronics are working well, except for a scratchy volume pot.
I was hoping that someone that reads EffectsBay.com might be able to help with additional information about this particular guitar. This is labeled as a ‘Checkmate’ which I see mentioned with Teisco, etc. I also see a amp line that they made under the Checkmate name. The sticker on the headstock looks like the Teisco logo (crown) but with word “Checkmate” where “Teisco” would be, and the model states that it is a E-100 guitar. Looking at E-100 Teisco, they look similar (from 1964) but the pickup on those is closer to the neck position, where mine is towards the middle. I’m curious to what exactly it is, and if I can gather some additional info. I did find this great site about Teisco, but it only shows Teisco guitars.. and there are references to Checkmate amps.
Anyway, thought I’d throw it out there! You never know what may pop up from this post.
-
13 years ago
Teisco was indeed a japanese guitar company. Their guitars are especially notable for the microphonic capabilities of their pickups (which, while not uncommon, are especially good on teiscos for usable feedback because the body was so light that the reverbaration happened all over the place)
ReplyCancel -
10 years ago
I bought one of these via craigslist for 20 bucks and find it quite groovy. Exactly the same except mine has no logo or brand. I got in in 2009-10 and found versions with Kay tags on them on the scratch plate. Yeah, “black-foil” pickup is cool to sing into with distortion 🙂 and it can sustain forever due to the pickup and light body combination. The only issue is the non-compensating bridge and poor intonation on my low E string as a result. I’ve been told that there’s a Stew Mac retrofit to remedy it. It’s a semi-tulip. I dig it as my fun take-to-seedy-jam-sessions guitar ^_^
ReplyCancel -
9 years ago
I picked up the two pickup version (with vibrato) at a garage sale for $15. Still had the original flatwound strings. I cleaned it up, potted the pickups, replaced the too rusted pickguard screws, shielded it, and strung it with 10-52's. I had to find a bar for the vibrato. Pretty fun piece. They were around $60-70 or so new in the 60's.
ReplyCancel
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
