Teisco EB-220

This bass was built about 1965-72 (I found various specs on the web, mine is a 1966) in Japan. It??s a four string with 21 minifrets plus zero-fret. The very short neck is made of three stripes of mahogany and has a very round profile which I think is quite comfortable to play on. A one way truss rod is included. Neck and headstock are one piece. The massive cast tuners are Teisco made, they??ve got a really nice design which resembles the company??s logo of that time. The inlays look similar but are made of cheap plastic. Fretboard is made of dark rosewood. The body is made of mahogany, too, and it??s got a unique design which I have never seen on any other bass (as well as the hooked headstock - visit Google for pics). The bridge is typical 60s ashtray design. Pickguard and pickups (two single coils) are typical Teisco design: a striped alloy guard and pickups with alloy housing, a black plastic cover sheet and rectangular pole pieces. Another unique design which is not seen anywhere else. Electronics match the standard of that time: on-off switch & volume control for each pick and a treble control.
I really love the unique details of this thing, but there is one big malus: the body was made of more than 20 small stripes of mahogany which were glued together in two layers and then covered with a thin sheet of the same wood. The sunburst finish did the rest to hide the borders and make it look like one massive piece (I found out when I was refinishing it). They really ripped people off back then... -2 points for that!

The sound is very clear, which amazes me each time I play it (my main bass is a WW Corvette ProLine, so I??ve got something to compare). It is quite punchy with a lot mid and snappy treble. But - due to the body construction, I guess - both sustain and low end are quite poor. You can fix the lack of low frequencies with a good equalizer, though. The difference of neck and bridge pickup is not too big, so you don??t have that many different sounds. Flageolets are not as defined as on my other basses. It is made for slap, pop, and tap style, but not a blues machine. As it is very easy to play, it??s great for fast solos. Sounds great with heavy distortion&flanger effects. I use it for thrash/progressive metal.

The neck pocket was poorly fit to the neck, there??s a gap of several millimeters. Except for that there is nothing to complain about.

The paint job was well done, 38 years of obviously heavy duty (frets were worn to a state in which the bass was no longer playable when I got it) didn??t mess it up. Though it had some serious scratches there are no cracks in the wood. All metal parts except the bridge cover are still shiny and without a trace of all the years. The bridge cover slowly starts to lose the chrome. Not even the screws are rusty. The electronics were without any wear, after adding a little WD-40 not the slightest poti scratching was to be heard. It has never failed me in the short time that I own it, and I guess you??d have to kick it real hard in order to mess it up. After the frets were replaced it became a real player again. Built for eternity.

Teisco was bought by Kawai in the early 70s.

I??ve played bass for 12 years in several bands, my other basses are a ??96 WW Corvette ProLine, a ??81 Matsumoku Westbury Track II, and a quite cheap Johnson acoustic. None of them is as comfortable to play for it is a real lightweight and has this very round, short neck with small frets. It looks really unique & is an absolute eyecatcher, people keep asking about it. I??d definitely try to get another one if it was lost. Or maybe I??d rebuild it from massive wood, for it??s only weak point is the poor low frequencies, sustain & flageolets. After replacing the bridge this improved a bit, but you still can hear it is not a massive body.