Teisco EP-8T

This hollow body guitar was made somewhere between 1964 and 1969 in Japan by Teisco. I got My second ep-8t from ebay last year and paid around ??400 for it after a long search to find one in a clean, all original condition... exactly the same as the one I had (but had abused)as a teenage kid. The body shape is reminiscent of an Epiphone Casino but somewhat smaller. It has the warmly colored wild wood finish which is awesome, perfectly book matched both front and back and the clear nitro finish is in mint condition, with no age crazing whatsoever. The body binding is a neat six ply black and cream (probably white originally as per the scratch plate but yellowed over time). There's no visible fret wear (medium guage fret wire)which suggests it was rarely played, and also the rosewood fingerboard with plain oblong inlays has no damage. The fret board is mounted on what to me is a beech neck, many may think it's laminated but I don't agree, it's the tight grain that just looks that way. The tuners are three on a strip style with plastic peg heads and open cog gears. They use the same style on many of their guitars and I suspect they even put them on their acoustic range too as they have holes also drilled mid shank for side mounted fittings as in classical Spanish nylon strung guitars. The machine heads fit snug into the headstock and have plastic ferules. They are surprisingly good at staying in tune, (I must just be lucky) as I remember my original one was a ***** to keep in tune. There's also the original string retaining bar that holds all 6 stings under as the headstock is not angled away from the neck. This model also has a white scratch plate with the teisco trademark floral design, which I suppose gives it a country style look, but I kind of see it as a quaintly charming quirk. The control pots are clean sounding and mounted on the front within a quarter circle shaped plastic plate. Again probably done to keep manufacturing cost down, making the electrics very easy to get at. This guitar weighs next to nothing so you can play all day and the neck width is thin so if you have small hands it's great. I was grateful for that when I was first learning to play.

I use a small Kustom amp, the sound of the ep8t is twangy & bright (between a telecaster and an epiphone casino)with a very cool retro surf / Beatles / 1960's garage sound which is my style. The pickups are obviously a major Part of this, they are a 3 wire microphone type, the size and shape being unique to this manufacturer. They are surprisingly loud and rich, and both are controlled by the same volume and tone pot, the pups selection is by two rocker switches (again 60's quirky, very original. Over drive them and the sound is old style grungy garage. My first ep8t used to be prone to problematic feedback, but this one doesn't seem too bad at all, again probably down to the type of amp you use and whether you crank it up whilst standing too close. The tone control pot doesn't seem to incrementally modify the brightness, it only changes tone at zero, and anything above zero sounds to be at the same brightness value. The neck pickup introduces a definite deep full sounding bass growl whilst the bridge pickup is somewhat more brighter, they do complement each other very well and produce an unmistakable authentic 60's vibe. One trick I feel Teisco may have been missed, is the rocker switches that are three way only function on one setting, maybe they could be wired up for in/out phase to add more even more tonal variety?

Also the unique sound from this model is influenced by the short scale bolt on neck that has just 19 frets, it joins the body at the 15th. The robust tail piece has a simple Bigsy style tremolo, mine has the original whammy bar and I love that it stays in tune when used thanks to the bridge rollers. This style of whammy adds to the the sixties beach sound.

This guitar is over forty years old, and probably been kept under a bed as the condition is still nearly mint and it came with the original thin cover gig bag. As far as setup goes, it's quite excellent and cleverly thought out from the design point of view. The neck incorporates a zero fret, meaning that there's no nut adjustments to mess up, and the bridge is basically a well positioned threaded round bar with 6 separate spacing rings for the strings. This is just a perfect arrangement for the bigsby style tremolo as it doesn't throw the tuning out when using the single spring mounted arm. There are also two thumb rings to adjust the bridge height as in a tunomatic type bridge, but no way to adjust for intonation. The great news is that the manufacturer has got the intonation perfectly spot on anyway.
The truss rod is adjustable from the body and rather than use an Allen key, it has holes to insert a thin bar that you just lever left or right. The overall finish on everything is near enough mint, no oxidation whatsoever and the chrome work is gleaming. Being a bolt on neck on can also add a shim under it if needed but the action on this one is just fine.

Its a no hassle well manufactured guitar that was mass produced for the budget market and in my opinion it's overall design has ensured its endurance... so that deserves respect. My original model that I did somewhat butcher still plays well and this latest addition (chosen for the review)is simply brilliant. The original gig bag is a flimsy plastic coated cloth type and I wouldn't gig with it anyway because it's a guitar I wouldn't want to risk anything happening to it, as it's really quite irreplaceable.

The company no longer exists.

I began playing in 1972 as a teenage kid at school, the ep8t was my first electric guitar and I didn't appreciate it much back then as it wasn't taken as seriously as other makes were. Years later I felt somewhat differently about it and regretted changing my original. So I was delighted to find another in such original condition, and even more surprised at the sound and build quality of this instrument. I know I paid well over the odds for this, no bargain junk shop find in my case alas, but they don't come up that often and I didn't want to miss the opportunity to play one in totally original condition.

If it were lost or stolen, I'd be gutted as I doubt I would be able to find another quite like this one, Certainly a guitar worth looking after.

My other guitars include fender, Gibson, epiphone, and line 6 R300

50-ish year old thinline hollow body, as described in detail in these reviews. The model I'm reviewing is a tobacco sunburst (very nice 3 color spray job). Surprisingly it has a nice 5 or 6 ply binding job, and the bigsby-style trem works well, returns to tune, and this one still has its arm as well (which has a cool shape I'd call "graceful") and the stamped tin headstock logo. For a $100 ebay find, this guitar has no cracks t the wood or finish, just minor scratches. The pickups are very microphonic - you can yell into 'em for some darth vader effects. I have a few of the same pickups from a Teisco solid body, so I'm about to experiment with potting 'em. Mine needed a truss rod tweak, and I may take it in for some minor fret finishing - feels a little funny on the high frets. The coolest feature? It looks cool and you won't see one on many stages around your town.

Playing acoustically, I fell in love with the slinky, rubbery sound. The stock pups are really pretty cool. Surprisingly full sound, with a strange frequency spike that makes you think "AM radio". It's not a thin sound, but more a psychological reminder of early rock days. Really quite nice. The single tone knob is the ONLY tone control I've ever had that is in any way useful or musical (I replaced my strat's with no-load pots, sometimes I just bypass the useless things). This one's magic, and with the pickup switches allows me to get tones from thick, jazzy gravy for leads to a really cool retro snarl.

Teisco necks are about 1/4" narrower (across the fret board) than Fenders so it takes a few minutes to get comfy. After that it's all good. I can really rip on this thing. I don't know if it sounded this good when new or four decades have aged it, but it's special and I've been playing it daily. It's a well-made and solid guitar though, binding and finish as good as any gibson of the same age.

Hmmm... 40 years. This one's obviously spent some time in a closet. Hell yeah, I'm up for gigging with it (I'll have to buy an Epiphone ES-size hard case... more $$ than the dang guitar!) One of the tuners has some play to it, but doesn't seem to knock it out of tune. For a gigging deal, I might stick some vintage-look Klusons on it. It loves my "vintage" pedals - early 80's Boss compressors & chorus, Roland SDE delays, and my Tim-Juernig-modded cry baby. ) (The cry baby with the Teisco is ****-flick-coolness!)

What, from a Ouiji board? Crystal ball?

At age 47, I've played guitar for 35+ years, with a few years of 5-nights-a-week gigging. I've got an old strat, Gibson, fender, and Taylor Acoustics, Alvarez classical, a bass or two, couple more electrics lying about. This guitar gets me on a warm & fuzzy emotional level though, at the level only my J-45 does. (Well, I've been tweaking a franken-Jazzmaster thing with vintage strat trem and SD Antiquities... I'm feelin' the love for that one, too). For a hundred bucks, this one's a no brainer.

This guitar was made in 1966 in Japan by Teisco. Easily goes for $200+ but I bought it for only $25 from a friend, the pawn shop appraised it at only $35, so much for smarts eh?
It has 19 frets with a zero fret.
1 volume knob and a tone knob.
Laminated top.
Nice twangy pickups that are also capable of producing a very cool sound with some distortion.
The neck and body are in very good condition for a guitar of this age, just 1 or 2 cracks that aren't very serious.
Has a thing neck which is perfect for someone with hands like mine.

This guitar has given me alot of memories since buying it and it has been there to help me through alot of hard times.

I can play alot of great sounding slow songs on it, which are perfect for my style, but it really isn't made for fast ra-ra punk style music, which is okay by me.

I use a 3ft X 2ft Marshall amplifier and various different effects, which it sounds great with.

This guitar can get very noisy, depending on what you play and the volume you set it on. From loud and screechy to low and soothing, it has a wide range of sound in my opinion.

Alot of feedback comes out of this guitar, which is great for a person my style who likes to manipulate sound.

When I got hold of this guitar it surprised me how light it was (its about 4-5 pounds).

For its age it is still well put together and mine looks as if it still has a long way to go before it reaches the end of its road.

The pickups were very dusty and it took extensive cleaning to make this guitar return to its glory days, whoever owned it before me obviously didn't care much for such a classic.

Everything on this guitar seems to be in place and sitting well, I've had not one problem with it since obtaining it.

I've played this guitar at a few clubs and its always held its own pretty well.

All the hardware seems to have alot of life left in it, I still need to get a whammy bar for it, but that should be easy to find used.

Finish is great, even after all the playing its been through.

Strap buttons are still very securely in place and have outlasted 3 different straps.

I completely trust this guitar to hold up for a few more years, but I still would keep my Kansas guitar around at shows just in case some strings broke or if I wanted to get heavier.

Teisco no longer exists.

I've been playing for a little over 2 years now, I own a Stella acoustic guitar, a Kansas electric guitar, and a Silverstone bass.

If this guitar were stolen, broken, or lost, I believe very strongly I would cry and then look for another as fast as I could.

I love the sound of this guitar the most, especially with different effects, and the comfort of it compared to my acoustic and Kansas ones.

I can't find anything to really dislike about it, mine is in almost perfect condition other than a small crack so I have nothing to complain about.

Its not as mainstream as a Les Paul or Gibson, but its still just as good in my opinion.

The only thing I wish I had with it is a whammy bar, so it would be complete, thats about it.

I hope this guitar lasts alot longer than the others, I've grown so attached to it and I hope to keep it in my collection when I grow up.

i think the sound that this guitar makes is awesome it rattles a little bit sometimes but not very often

the guitar is in good condition it has a few cracks but considering it is over 40 years old i think it is in good condition

this guitar is very durable it has survived being dropped a large amount of times before i owned it and was left in a shed for a while

overall i think this is a great guitar i would like i find another just like it someday soon

1965 or 1966 Japan
"zero fret" and 19 frets.
thin hollowbody (about 1 1/2 or 2 inches thick).
Beautiful white marbalized plastic pickguard.
Adjustable roller bridge can adjust action up and down and intonation by rollers under the strings that, rather than moving closer or further to the neck, the rollers move left or right, which accomplishes the same thing (lenght of the string) .
2 pickups.
2 switches.
1 tone knob.
1 volume knob.
NICE action.
Red and black sunburst.
Thin neck is almost perfectly straight after almost 40 years.
It'll be easy to straighten with the truss rod once I get around to it.
Tuners are open and not the greatest but the guitar does stay in tune really well.
The whammy bar is missing, but it should be no biggie to find one used.
We'll see how well it stays in tune then...

I LOVE the sound this thing makes. These two pickups sound so clean and twangy.
Bright and rich with the tone set to treble.
When you set the tone to bass it sounds kinda thick and leaden, not too appealing.
Stick with the twang-o-matic sound and you'll be content.
Good sustain for such a lightweight guitar (less than 5 pounds)
With some reverb from the amp this thing just goes and goes.
It feedbacks really nicely too.
It sounds quite "dirty" with my amp's distortion on.
I use an old MusicMan 60 watt tube amp and a newer 30 watt Crate.
The switches need a bit of work as they crackle when you use them, but that shouldn't be any big deal to fix either.

The finish has lots of cracks in it.
It is 40 years old and the actual wood is in fine shape.

This thing is 40 years old, obviously was played a lot and it still has tons of life left in it.
The neck and frets are in great shape.
With a set up and a whammy bar this lovely old ax will be making great music for many years to come.
I've read that this originally sold for about $50. How did they make such a nice instrument for so cheaply?

The company is long out of business.

I've been playing for over 20 years. This is my 11 year old son's guitar but I play it more than he does. He prefers the crunch of a distortion laden electric. Distortion does hide a multitude of inabilities.

this guitar was made around the late 1960's in Japan. 19 frets, hollowbody. I got this guitar from a friend and when i got it, well, it wasn't in the best condition. The Action of (mine) is way to high, the body is splitting, and the tuning knobs slip frequently. I am a little scared to put any grease into it because I don't want to invest in something that is nearing the end of its life.

I have been playing guitar for about 3 years, a variety of music that seems to mostly be Alternative and Punk. This guitar has failed me in both of those categories, but on the other hand it does sound good for some expierimenting and industrial. The pickups are noisy and give me a good bit of feedback if i get to close to my amp (i play it through a Peavey Bandit 112, or my Ibanez practice amp), the sound is a little to warm. I like using it when in a expierimenting mood, but whenever i'm playing something written i prefer to use my Hohner over this.

I have no idea what this was like a long time ago, when given to me it wasn't in the best condition. the body is splitting, the action is too high, the tuning knobs slip, and i think one of the braces collapsed. On the plus side it is a extremely light guitar, holds comfortable. With some work this could be a much better guitar but i don't believe that it's worth enough to invest in, the only work i would have done to it is work i can do to it (which would probally be a lot of "let's see what happens if i...)

considering the age and everything this thing probally went through it is a pretty durable guitar. But now i think that is starting to change and that the guitar is nearing the end of it's life. i don't think i'd gig with it seriously, but maybe for some joke songs. I would certianly never gig a whole show with this.

the company no longer exists.

If you were to stumble upon this guitar somewhere, i wouldn't tell you not to buy i would tell you to take a close look at it. These Tiesco's are so old that some are in better conditions than others and this guitar would be badass if it hadn't been so used when i got it. In the condition that i got mine i wouldn't have paid over 30$ for it. But i like having it and it's fun to play around with. Use your common sense before purchasing this item.

This is a Japan made hollow body made around 1966.
Has a 0 fret& 19 frets.
Has 1 tone 1 volume 2 rocker on-off switches for neck & bridge pickups.
Has 2 single coil pickups (very twangy sound)almost tele type sounding.
The body is some kind of layered plywood double cutaway.
Nice tobacco sunburst finish for a 35 to 40 year old guitar.
Adjusteable string height & spaceing tremolo bridge. Medium rosewood neck with pearl dot inlays.
Not original tuners but seem to work ok.I rate these items a 9 just for the the nice twang the pickups put out.

I like the twangy sound of this guitar even though its not the sound you get from a tele.
I play it through a Behringer 60 2x10 with effects built into the amp. This thing gets alot of feedback if you get to close to the amp.
This would be a nice little guitar if played through a better quality amp but it serves my purpose.

I bought this on ebay and had to give it a complete setup from trem to tuners .Lots of elbow grease. You never know for shure what your getting on ebay but Ionly had to clean and setup this one.

35-40 year old so I guess its durability is ok. All of the hardware is in like new condition .I am 62 years old and only play for my own enjoyment so no question about "giging" without a backup.

No dont go to Japan .Besides its no longer made

I am 62 & been picking about 40 years. I have 5 other guitars & 2 amps . A Jay Turser JT-134 a Fender hardtail strat a Washburn acoustic & 2 older Japanese electrics. If stolen I would buy another if I found a nice one. I like this one because I like the sound I like old vintage guitars & I know how to set em up & play em.You dont have to spend a fortune to play and have fun thats what its all about!

This is a 1960?s era MIJ Teisco EP-8T six string electric guitar. The bolt on neck has 19 small frets, 3X3 angled headstock, rosewood fretboard, pearl dots and side markers. The neck is made from several strips of wood, perhaps six pieces, that looks like Mahogany. The neck finish is clear and very thick. It is smooth and not sticky. It is ?steel reinforced? and adjustable from the heel of the fretboard. Tuners are exposed gear, with rectangular white plastic knobs. Scale legnth is 24 ??. The neck has a narrow fretboard width but has the thickness of a Gibson Les Paul neck. There is a ZERO fret and a plastic nut.

The strap buttons are metal. One attached to the neck heel and one on the tail.

The body is a laminate, arched top and back with two F holes, finished in a nice three color, yellow to red to black, sunburst. It is shaped like a 335, but much smaller. It?s about the size of a Danelectro DC59 body. The body is bound in 5 layers on the top and one layer on the back. There is a small internal wooden support under the adjustable bridge, but no solid center block, like you might find on a Gibson 335 hollowbody. The bridge has adjustments for height and string spacing, but not for intonation. There is a Teisco vibrato. It keeps reasonable tuning using the vibrato thanks to the bridge rollers. Using the vibrato, tuning is much more stable than my three Fender Stratocasters. The pickguard is very unique. It is black and has a floural pattern in it that looks like Abalone, in that it has rainbowed hues.

It has two, height adjustable, single coil pickups, mounted in black plastic mounts. The coils of which are completely encased in metal. Hum is almost zero. It has master volume and master tone controls. The tone control works in reverse of conventional tone pots. ?0? is bright ans ?10? is dark sounding. There is rhythm pickup on/off and a lead pickup on/off rocker switches. Knobs are cream colored plastic. You can see a picture of an EP-8T at teiscotwangers. Com There is a EP-8 model, whithout the tremelo.

This guitar sounds good for Rockabilly, Surf, Swing, Jazz and various clean stuff. Through my clean amp, a Fender M80 1X12 SS combo, the sound is excellent. Cranking up the ?verb it easily emulates Duane Eddy?s ?40 Miles Of Bad Road? or ?Rebel Rouser? and The Ventures? ?Walk Don?t Run?, ?Telstar?, ?A Summer Place? or ?Out Of Limits? tones. Rolling down the tone on the rhythm PUP gives a great smooth jazz tone.

The pickups are HOT but kinda microphonic. If you like distortion pedals, it will squeal if you?re too near the amp speaker. It works well with an overdrive, like a Tubescreamer. I considered potting the PUPs but since they get some of their tonal character from the body vibrations I decided to leave it alone. Why spoil a good thing? Hehe I'm playing this through a TubeScreamer for OD and a modded Boss DS-1 for the heavy stuff.

Dislikes? I wish it had a more sustain and better access to the higher frets. Likes? The twang factor! This guitar is Twang-zilla. Pure nickel wound strings sound dull. Nickel plated steel strings sound bright and full, with plenty of low end and a nice balance between all strings.

I have no idea what the factory setup was like. The Teisco EP-8 model came out in 1964, the year I started playing guitar. I used to see them in Zody?s and Thrifty Drug Stores going for like $29 to $59 USD.

Apart from wear, chips, dings and nicks, the guitar is in excellent shape. No rust anywhere. The finish has a few hairline cracks. The hardware is all original. I did spend three hours leveling and crowning the original frets and tweaking the neck to get it straight. Access above the 15th fret is limited but this guitar if a lot of fun. It weighs 4 ? pounds.

It?s about 39 years old and has all the original parts. Heck, yeah, it?s durable!

I?ll find out if it will withstand live playing at my next gig. But I?ll bring along my usual, a Tele, Paul or Strat, until I?m familiar with it. I can?t wait for people to ask me what it is!

Teisco was bought by Kawai many years ago. Go to Kawai?s Japanese web site and you can see they are reissuing some Teisco models.

I have been playing rock guitar since 1964. I build & mod my own tube amps and effect pedals, I teach guitar and I read music. I play Contemporary Christian rock. I have a bunch of guitars, amps and effects. Those have nothing to do with this review.

This guitar is a lot of fun. It stays well in tune and is as light as a feather. I hope to find a complementary non-vibrato EP-8 in the Green/Black sunburst.