I consider vintage guitars that sell for less than $800 to be budget guitars, but in some cases, prices can slip up to $1000 for really nice examples. Fortunately for us, however, there are a lot of very interesting and well-constructed non-American made instruments from this era that are still within the budget of a collector with modest means. With prices for unmodified American Classics ranging from $2,000 to $20,000, most of us would be lucky to sport a collection of one or two guitars. Let's face facts, collecting mainstream American made guitars from the 50's, 60's and 70's is beyond the budget of most people interested in guitar collecting. How can I get started collecting affordable collectible guitars? The Tombo Company is still in business, but these days they specialize in harmonica production. It is covered in a blue-green plastic sparkle laminate that I was pretty sure EKO had never used but guys will market the guitars as EKOs ($800 vs. The most blatant EKO copy is the SDEG 490-4, a guitar that confused the heck out of me when I was shopping for an EKO. The company specialized in copying Italian guitars like EKO and Goya and sold them in the U.S.A as NORMA's. Normas were built in Japan between 1965 to 1970 by the Tombo Company and distributed in the U.S. Mosrite's 350 and certain models by Rickenbacker, Carvin, and Hoyer were also stereo.Ĭan you tell me about the history of Norma guitars? Other stereo guitars include Gibson's ES-355 TDSV and ES-345 TD. The first stereo guitar I'm aware of was the White Falcon-Stereo introduced by Gretch in 1950.
How to identify 60 teisco guitar serial#
You can find more information to help you identify your guitar using serial numbers, badges, headstock styles etc. In the '60s and '70s Teisco guitars were imported into the states with a variety of names including Heit, Kent, Kimberly, Kingston, Silvertone, Teisco and Teisco Del Rey. was providing Teiscos to Sears and Roebuck carrying the Silvertone moniker." If you are interested in learning more about Teisco history, Michael has two Vintage Guitar articles on the web. Corporation -originally owned by guitar importing pioneer Jack Westheimer - bearing both the Teisco Del Rey and Kingston brand names. Most Teisco guitars were imported into the United States by Chicago’s W.M.I. Teisco was the name used mainly in Japan but also on a few occasions here in the United States. According to Michael Wright, Teisco guitars can be found bearing at least eight brand names:"Teisco, Teisco Del Rey, Kingston, World Teisco, Silvertone, Kent, Kimberly and Heit Deluxe. Silvertone and Teisco are linked because Teisco supplied the guitars to Sears and Roebuck in the 60's. Actually, if we dug deep enough into the holdings of corporate America everything is probably related, but I guess that's another story.Ĭan you explain why people always say Silvertone and Teisco in the same breath? Interestingly, Vox products are currently distributed in the U.S. In 1985, Unicord was purchased by Korg and the Univox line went extinct. My hunch is both companies used Vox in their name because it is an acronym for voice. Guitars followed in 1969, and almost all Univox guitars were supplied by Arai and company of Japan.
How to identify 60 teisco guitar series#
The Univox name surfaced when the company Unicord purchased the Amplifier Corporation of America (ACA) in Westbury, NY in 1964 and marketed a series of tube amps under the name Univox. Vox is an English company started in 1957. Historically they have been separate companies but currently there is an interesting connection between the two. I don't want them out where they can get bumped. Having said that, I've got to admit that the L5 and a couple of my more expensive instruments live in their cases. I've got a mixture of wall hangers (see our pics) and 7 slot guitar stands (another auction site purchase)so that I can grab one of 20 guitars anytime I want to play. Why buy them if it's such a hassle to get them out of the case to play you won't bother. By using the dehumidifier, I'm keeping the relative humidity between 50-55% As far as "in cases" versus "out of cases", I like to keep at least 15 guitars handy to play at all times.
Try to keep the humidity level between 40-60% I purchased a digital temperature/humidity gauge off an auction site for around $25 so I can constantly monitor the humidity level in the studio. I like using the basement for storage since there is no sunlight and the temperature is pretty stable year round. I have a studio in my basement but I am currently running a dehumidifier. I think humidity, temperature and sunlight are the 3 biggest issues. What's the best way to store vintage guitars? The questions and answers below were selected from forums and E-Mails. Vintage Guitars - Freqently Asked Questions Javascript Menu by