Teisco EP-200L

I have no idea what year this was made - probably mid-60's.

This puppy is a fully hollow-body, bolt-on neck guitar with two single coil pickups, kind of a tune-o-matic style bridge (bolted down to the top, not floating like a jazz bok or lots of hollowbodies), and cheezy 60's Japanese deco trem tailpiece thing at the back. It has the world's most bizarre "f"-hole, looks kind of like a stylized flying bird/swoopy thing. Hard to describe. Body has a nice German style carve around the edge, and binding. Very weird offset body style, slightly pointy front parts, nice sunburst finish, and the 4 on one side/2 on the other "can opener" headstock. All in all a very weird looking instrument - designed by a blind person or someone suffering from an acid flashback.

Tiesco had a bunch of pickups they used, some are horribly cruddy - The ones on here, though, are good ones: look for the simple thin rectangular metal housing, black center cover, and square pole pieces.

Controls are three rocker switches (on and off for the pickups and a bass cut swtich - just like a Fender Jaguar, but bigger and much crappier switches) and two knobs (vol and tone).

I got this for two reasons: the sound, and the neck. The neck is slim but chunky at the same time, really comfortable and fast playing. These guitars don't really have "features," but like anythign if it sounds good and plays friendly, it's a winner.

This guitar has a very bright, resonant, complex sound, very chimey and open and a surprising amount of sustain. (Unlike many fully hollow bolt-on neck guitars, it actually has real sustain.) The neck pickup is not unuseably bassy like on some guitars built like this either. All in all, it's vaguely Rickenbacker-like, though less thin at the treble pickup. Would be great for country, rock, indie rock, 60's style Byrds type stuff, and so on - too bright for jazz, though I guess you could put flats on there, but that's clearly not what it's built for. It's a jangle-machine, which is what it looks like.

The pickups on these are not well insulated or mounted and tend to rattle and pick up body vibration. They are also noisy if you tap on them, especially the surrounding metal part. The output is quite clear and detailed, so you can hear that bad stuff pretty well. I plan to open them up, add springs or whatever necessary, and take care of that.

very nice sunburst finnsh, no checking at all. Frets had ben worn in a few spots, but overall really well put together and easy to set up - surprisingly so. I've ttied many Tiesco and similar guitars and this was the first one I actually really enjoyed playing, rather than thinking "yeah, it's cool looking..I guess...kinda OK sounding...whatever."

You can't really judge these by the same standard as, say, a Gibson or somethign. They're cornball production, made of plywood, crappy electroniscs, too many switches, unecessary bolts all over the place, you know the deal. But once in a while they work, so it's worth checking them.

Playability on this one is excellent, as it happens.

the electrioncs are crappy, especially the switches, and the pickup issues mentioned above. I plan to fix those things. Otherwise very solid.

that's a laugh.

I have too many guitars to list, but at the same time that means I have learned to appreciate cheap, good sounding, good playing things, no matter what they look like or you think your friends will say. In terms of hollow-body guitars, this one has a great sound and great neck, and it will probably end up getting played than some "fancier" things - for example, a Fender Coronado, which is beautiful, essentially the same construction, "collectible" (well, more so than this) and comparatively sounds like utter crap.

The lesson is: pick them all up and play them, don't just go right for the ones with the logo your friends say is cool.

And when compared to the price of these, fantastic value is pretty much the name of the game.

Made in 1966 in Japan. 22 frets. 3 rocker switches, 1 tone, and 1 volume knob. 2 single coil no-names. Passive. Some sort of laminate plywood, not sure of the neck. Sunburst finish. Very odd shape, strat-like but wider and flamed out. Bigsby style bridge. Replacement tuners, also no-name. Thin neck, rosewood fingerboard. No accessories.

I mainly play blues and jazz. I use a Fender Princeton 12 watt and an old Fender Deluxe. No effects. Switching pickups causes crackles, I don't get feedback but there is quite a hum. Sound is pretty lacking and thin. Virtually no variety for the different ammount of settings it has.

The action and fit questions don't apply to this guitar as it is almost 40 years old. One of the frets is rigid and actually dangerous to play when you slide. The bracing at the neck seems to be separating a bit but nothing to worry about if you are only a casual player. Hardware is oxidized of course. The tuning pegs have been replaced but they are still not of quality. Nut is fine, crackles when changing pickups, controls are fine for a guitar of this age.

You could not play live with this guitar every night. I sit down when I play and after a few nights of rockin' the neck bracing would become a major problem, causing tuning to sway and intonation to be sketchy. Hardware has lasted so far except for tuners I guess. Strap buttons are worthless but I don't need them anyway. I am glad that I have an ES-335, let's just say that.

N/A

I bought this guitar because I wanted something to remind me of when I first started playing so many years ago and thought it would do the trick. I own a Gibson ES-335 and a Epi Dot. I play through a Fender Princeton and a '53 Fender Deluxe (my father bought new and gave to me early on...showing my age again). I don't believe in effects that don't come on the amp. I would not buy this guitar again but if someone stole it I would be upset due to the nostalgia factor. This guitar doesn't really compare in quality craftsmanship or sound to my other guitars. Don't buy a guitar until you HEAR IT.