Teisco guitar company history:
Teisco was a Japanese musical instrument company founded in Tokyo in 1946 by guitarist Atswo Kaneko and engineer Doryu Matsuda. The company originally operated as Aoi Onpa Kenkyujo, then later became Nippon Onpa Kogyo, and finally Teisco Co. in 1964. The Teisco name began appearing around 1948 and was used on microphones, amplifiers, lap steels, and eventually electric guitars.
By the late 1950s and early 1960s, Teisco became one of Japan’s major electric guitar exporters. Its guitars were sold in the United States under names like Teisco, Teisco Del Rey, Silvertone, Kent, Kimberly, Heit Deluxe, Kingston, Norma, and others, depending on the importer or department store.
Teisco guitars became famous for wild 1960s designs: offset bodies, lots of chrome, rocker switches, multiple pickups, striped metal pickguards, unusual tremolos, and models like the Spectrum, May Queen, Sharkfin, and Tulip-style guitars. They were inexpensive compared with Fender, Gibson, and Gretsch, but they gave beginner players access to electric guitars during the garage-rock boom.
In 1967, Teisco was bought by Kawai. After that, many “Teisco” guitars were actually Kawai-built instruments using the Teisco or Teisco Del Rey name. The original Teisco guitar era was basically over by the late 1960s, though the name continued on some export guitars into the early 1970s and in Japan longer.
For years, Teisco guitars were dismissed as cheap pawnshop imports, but they later became collectible because of their odd designs, gritty pickups, and connection to 1960s garage rock, surf, lo-fi, and indie music. Today, original Teiscos are valued less for perfect craftsmanship and more for character, weirdness, and unmistakable vintage Japanese style.
Teisco company names and years:
• 1946–1956: Aoi Onpa Kenkyujo, Tokyo, Japan
• 1956–1964: Nippon Onpa Kogyo Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan
• 1964–1967: Teisco Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan
• 1967–early 1970s: Teisco Shoji, Kawai-owned export/distribution era
• 1967 onward: acquired by Kawai Musical Instruments, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan
• 1969: Teisco guitar brand mostly discontinued for export markets
• 1977: Teisco guitar brand reportedly discontinued in Japan
• 1980s: Teisco name still used on some Kawai electronic keyboards/synths
• 2018–present: Teisco brand relaunched by BandLab Technologies for effects pedals
Independent company period: 1946–1967
Factory/location notes:
• Main original factory: Tokyo, Japan
• More specifically, sources place the early Teisco factory in the Furukawa-Bashi area of Tokyo
• After the Kawai takeover, production moved into the Kawai-controlled era, associated with Kawai Musical Instruments in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan
• Some early 1960s Teisco-related/subcontracted instruments are also associated with FujiGen and the Matsumoto/Nagano guitar-making area, but those are not the core Tokyo Teisco factory
Names/brands commonly associated with Teisco-built or Teisco-supplied guitars:
• Teisco
• Teisco Del Rey
• Del Ray
• Checkmate
• Silvertone
• Kent
• Kimberly
• Kingston
• Heit Deluxe
• Beltone
• Duke
• Encore
• Jedson
• Lyle
• Norma
• Tulio
• World Teisco
• Arbiter
• Audition
• Playsound
• Sonatone
• Top Twenty
• Kay
One of the most exotic and collectible Teisco electrics is the 1966–1967 Japan Teisco Spectrum 5, famous for its futuristic offset body, multicolored rocker switches, stereo wiring, German carve top, and wild space-age styling that perfectly captured late-1960s Japanese guitar design
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