Teisco Top Twenty

My Top Twenty is from the Teisco stable and was made in 1970 in Japan. There are 21 frets, two idiosyncratic microphonic pickups cotrolled by two on/off slider switches, two volume controls and one tone control (which doesn't work on mine). The vaguely Strat - style body is (I think) plywood and the fingerboard looks like rosewood, but I'm not sure what the neck is made of. There's an adjustable truss rod, the tuners are the original cheapies and the bridge is a piece of steel bar with slots cut in it for the strings. The tailpiece is equipped with a tremolo, and still has its bar.

I love this guitar (and all my other cheap Japanese guitars!) I've owned Strats, Teles, a couple of Gibson Les Pauls and SGs, a Patruick Eggle and a Washburn Hawk over the years, to name but a few, and I've never found anything that sounds as individual and interesting as this does (except my other Teiscos). I play in a sort of funky disco folk band and tend to be in charge of rhythm guitar and making odd noises during the occasional solo, and this guitar is perfect for that. The creative possibilities are endless; for example, we play a modern sea shanty and I've discovered that the microphonic pickups will amplify the creaking noise my leather strap makes when I move it against the guitar body ... it sounds just like the noise a sailing ship makes and fits the song really well. I play it through a 40 watt Fender Hot Rod, usually on the dirty channel and through a wah wah and a Z Vex Super Hard On preamp pedal. There's lots of variety when I play more conventionally, too: the bridge pickup is bright and has a great clean sound for rhythm work, while the neck pickup overdrives well and is good for solos. Both pickups together lose a little volume though, and there's sometimes some buzzing when the gain is turned up high. I can't think of much I dislike about this guitar - I still own a 1979 USA Strat and I don't think I've used it in the six moths since I bough the Teisco - and I love the fact that you rarely see another one being played.

These were only ever cheap guitars, sold in Woolworths to those who couldn't afford Fenders, so the finish leaves a little to be desired. That said, after nearly 40 years it's all still in pretty good condition, it stays in tune (even when I use the whammy bar), everything except the tone knob works and it's standing up well to my rather abusive playing style, so it can't be too bad.

I've had no problems at all gigging with this. I always bring a couple of spare guitars, but that's mostly because I use different tunings on stage. The finish seems robust. The strap buttons need tightening up every so often, but I've never owned a guitar where they don't.

The people who made this stopped making guitars a long time ago. I think any warranty there may have been has long since expired!

I've been playing since I was 11, which makes it <counts on figers and toes> 26 years. I also own a 1979 Fender Strat and a Squier Fat Tele with Seymour Duncan Quarterpounders. Since buying my Top Twenty, I've also bought four other cheap sixties and seventies Japanese guitars, and now my Strat and my Tele, nice though they are, sit gathering dust in my spare bedroom. I can't imagine anyone stealing this, but if they did, I'd be straight on Ebay looking for another one. Idon't want to sound uncritical, but I really can't think of anything I don't like about this guitar; it's exactly the sort of thing I like.