Teisco E-100

TEISCO DEL RAY-E 100..

Where in the world do you start with this.THANK GOD they DONT make em like they used to :).

Mine came in pieces.. a body and pu from one and a neck from another.Circa 1965 ish. 22 frets..maple /rosewood neck. Harsh looking sunburst with one big single coil taoster style pick up.Top mounted. 1 tone 1 vol. Ashtray stop piece. 2/3rds normal size and thin at 4.5 lbs.

I sanded off the gawd aweful sunburst to paint it seafoam teal. and YES.. it is about 16 layers of plywood. The top one is maple..the back one is alder.. very thin..The rest is a common wood I cant id.They used that wood alot in old memphis and other lp copies.

All the wiring is pick gaurd mounted. Its got what u need to make noise. 250k tone pot. BIG flipper headstock.No trussrod.UNINTOneABLE bridge. Old school 0 fret.

Its exactly what I expected. Like some one wired up a old steel garbage can and started whacking it with rebar.

I LOVE IT! This may be the tone Ive been looking for. Esp for blues. Guteral.. twangy.. echo like and thick sounding. Its a blast to play and sounds great drop tunned.Which helps the non truss rodded neck lay flater,lowering the action.

It was noisy though.. some of that I cut down with proper grounding to shields ..new pots and wires should take the rest out.


Again its like nothing else youll play with the original PU.I LOVE it! You might not.

The original tunners were plastic crap.. I put in some pings and they fit it well.. holds tune.. stays in tune. Neck is fat in the head and remarkably playable. Old frets needed a total level and polish

PU is top mounted and looks lame but gets er done. The tail piece and bridge are a bit out of alignment.. ez fix.With updated bridge . I use 10's on it to buck slight buzzes. Theres only so much you can do cause it has no rod.

The original finish was a bear to get off. Routing is good and lots of room for new controls and maybe a p 90.

I have a new respect for plywood.

Pretty solid little thing.. lasted this long.Hardware is crappy but thats its charm. After a new paint job and some upgrades you have some thing cool.Solid strap buttons.. light weight body.. ez to play.

Id use live for some things.Good for blues rock .. grungy sounds and 60;s classic.

Gone with the wind.

I understand the collectable apeal of these. They look cool.. they play pretty good and you can drop in whatever pu's u like and make your own tone. For what they are they shine.. make no mistake they are cheaply made BUT thats the whole point. A slightly cheesy.. trash canny.. thunder like tone.

I learned to play when these were made.. but never had one. Now i do.Its lack of versitility is its grace. Youd know the sound any place. I have the best of every kind of guitar. Nothing as unashamed of its sluttines than this..lol.

for ol times sake.. I give it high marks

This is a 1964 E-100 Teisco from Japan. The label which reads MODEL JAPAN is still on it although the model information has long since worn off. I identified it by finding a picture of one at Teiscotwangers.com.
It has 20 frets, with the white rectangular inlays on the low-E side of the fretboard. It's supposedly a single piece of 'choice hardwood' according to 40 year old Teisco ads, but I suspect it's really made of plywood. It originally had one single coil pickup with adjustable screws, but I bought mine with no pickup. It had a badly aged ugly-as-sin sunburst that may originally have been gorgeous but faded into a very nauseating sickly greenish color. Double cutaway body with a very round circularish lower bout. It has a chrome cheap 2-way adjustable bridge - very functional and basic.
Non-locking cheapo pawnshop tuners... I mean this thing's 40 years old, what do you expect?
Really narrow neck. In fact, I can't really sing and play it in a live situation cause my hands are just too big.
Volume knob and a tone knob that is reverse-wired (this was very common with 60s cheapo imports, apparently) so that 10 is treble all the way down and 0 is full-treble.

It actually suits my music style because I use this particular axe to play rockabilly. It's got a very low-fi, old fashioned sound. I run it through a couple different Peavey amps. An old Basic 40, and a Rage 158 (transtube). I use Digitech(made in USA!) and Korg pedals.

It's a tad bit noisy. I can't honestly say how noisy it might or might not have been with the original pickup. I bought a cheap no-name chrome single-coil beauty to stuff in the hole that perfectly complements the guitar.

It's hard to really describe the sound it makes. If you've ever played any cheapo 60s imports like Globals, Harmonies, Silvertones, etc.. you just know that sound.

Not a heck of a whole lot of variety. With one pickup and a very functional design, it really only does (and is only designed to do) one thing. I happen to like that thing, and if you don't, I wouldn't recommend it.

Can't comment on the factory action or setup because it had long been neglected when I rescued it.

It's 40 years old, so it was kinda dirty and crusty. I had a problem with an errant fret that one end was kinda sticking up. Had to file it down. Overall, considering how cheap it is, I'd say it's held up really well for 40 years.

It's 40 years and still going strong. I think that speaks for itself. Pretty solid.
Would not gig without a backup. With a near-antique, it's always good to have a modern backup just in case.

I understand the company was bought out by Kawai a long time ago. I seriously doubt there's any support for such old things anymore.

I've been playing for over 10 years. I own an NJ Series BC Rich Warlock, and have had many other guitars.

If it were stolen or lost, I'd be upset. I'm a collector of these unique 60s beauties. The fact that they don't make em like this anymore is what I like most (although for the most part, it's actually a GOOD thing they don't.)

The old 60s imports are not modern, efficient machines and there's really no comparison. I can't say I wish it had a tremolo because the ones that do are guaranteed to go out of tune with the slightest use of it. I can't really say I wish it had better tuners or locking tuners, because then it wouldn't be original. I guess I wish it had the original pickup and knobs.

Either you love these things, or you don't. But often you can find well-preserved or easily-repairable treasures very very cheap. How else could you acquire an original vintage piece of gear 30-40 years old for under $100?