The transition happened slowly, but by mid-67, all Teisco guitars were being made at the Kawai factory. The Teisco company closed shop in late 1966, and sold all the assets to the giant Kawai company. Confused? OK so let’s define a Teisco guitar. The original headstock badge says “Del Rey” but this old guitar isn’t a Teisco. But as always with these vintage guitars, it’s not always as simple as a name plate. There was also variation with the Teisco labels, like “Teisco Del Rey” and simply “Del Rey.” So you can see why that name became so common. So with Teisco, many guitarists saw that ‘ol Teisco name up there and it just became synonymous with Japanese electric guitar. Fujigen and Matsumoku made thousands of electric guitars and I have never seen a single one with the Fujigen or Matsumoku name on the headstock. Guyatones were mostly sold as Kent guitars in the USA, and were labeled Guyatones in Japan. For instance, Guyatone, Fujigen, and Matsumoku were some of the other Japanese guitar factories back in the 60s, and rarely did these guitars ever have the name of the company on the headstock in the states. But Teisco was sorta unique because many Teisco guitars carried the Teisco name. Of course, in the states Teisco guitars also carried other labels like Silvertone, Kent, and Zim Gar (to name a few). In the late 50s, Teisco guitars were being exported to various ports around the world, and many of the guitars came with the Teisco label.

Then in the early 1950s six string hollowbody guitars appeared, and then later in the 50s solidbody guitars arrived. At first the company made lap steels, amps, and pickups. Teisco began as a company right after world war II, in Tokyo. Anywhoo, the name Teisco comes from the company with the same name. People do the same in other countries where old Japanese guitars are called Top Twenties or Hertiecasters.

I suppose it was what you could call a “blanket” statement. See, back when I started having fun with vintage guitars, people in the USA used the term “Teisco” to refer to any old Japanese guitar. This is a question I get all the time, so I figured it was high time I talked a little about Teisco and why a lot of people think every Japanese guitar is a Teisco.

Japanese teisco guitar wood type