What the heck is this guitar?!?!?

Question

Came across this vintage at a pawn shop recently:

http://i41.tinypic.com/24zbvih.jpg

My dad says it looks like an "Airline". I thought the neck must have been aftermarket, but it has this mechanism at the bottom that looks like something an old guitar would have (a truss rod right above the pickups?). There is ZERO writing on front and back. Either way I love the looks of the thing and can't wait to go back to the store and plug it in. I just have no idea what brand it is.

Answer 1

It is a Japanese guitar, probably made by Teisco in the late 60s. The oddball truss rod adjustment point is a big giveaway, and the neck is most likely original. In the UK these sort of guitars were sold in Woolworths and similar places for about £20-£30, under the Top 20, Audition and Kay brands.



They were always cheap, and as such will not acquire much value. That said, they can often be persuaded to play quite well, and are usually lightweight and comfortable.



Addendum: $200 is a top dollar price, but a similar one sold for that on eBay last year, which is probably where they got the price from. jcr has not mentioned Teisco, and it's no Jedson, it is in the wrong country.



John E Dallas and Son made banjos before WWII. They imported a lot of musical stuff and put their Jedson brand on it. They were bought by the CBS Fender organisation and joined with Arbiter to form Dallas-Arbiter, which was the UK branch of Fender, and also had a store called Sound City in London, from which Sound City amplification emanated. For the brief time of its existence that was the most impressive music store in the world - a genuine department store with levels/floors for different things. There were financial anomalies in the company - the company put all the anomalies into Dallas and let it sink, whereas Arbiter was allowed to remain as a financially viable company.



You sometimes see Jedson and Arbiter labelled copy guitars from the lawsuit era, but they didn't make them - they were all from Japan, and a lot of those were made by Teisco/Kawai (Kawai bought Teisco, like a lot of other companies - their biggest name is Bechstein). The Arbiters are really good, they came out of the factory that Fender bought to make their MIJ line.



Robert Smith of the Cure used to play a similar guitar branded Top 20, when his management wanted to see him with something more up-market he had the pickup mounted on a Fender Jazzmaster.



How much info you want? None of this is relevant. It is a Teisco-made guitar, probably sold mail order as a Kay in US, or bought from FW Woolworth. If it plays OK it is probably worth $180 top dollar. If you work with it you can probably get a sound like Robert Smith of the Cure, a man famous for tuning his guitar open and playing with one finger.

Answer 2

Yes Russell kicks @$$, personally I think he has too much time on his hands and has a overactive attraction to old odd ball guitars, But back to the rest of the question to its value? Condition is everything, the old Teisco's looked cool, but were pretty bad when it came to quality control, So without actually picking it up, looking at it and playing it I cant say, might be playable or could just be a wall queen for display, and to be honest that one is not very cool looking as Teisco's go, Just a simple archtop, nothing very special about it. My guess is that one would sell all day long at around $125, in other words not very collectable, You also need to look at the source, Its at a pawn shop, these people are in business to make money, generally from people that have no clue as to what there looking to buy or selling, don't expect a deal of a lifetime there, they have the internet also and they know exactly what its worth and will do there best to get a few dollars more if they can get away with it. Granted some of the cool old Teisco's are collectable and command a premium price there just not very good, If you really wanted a retro guitar you could play everyday without the problems you'd look to an Eastwood, Not exactly cheap but far superior to the guitars they have copied.

Answer 3

Airline was a label used on guitars made by Valco in the USA for sale by Montgomery Ward (the name is currently being used by Eastwood). You've almost certainly got a guitar made in Japan in the 1960's. I haven't got my copy of Bizarre 60's Guitars on me at the moment, but I'll have a look when I get home. It looks very familiar somehow, but if I've owned one it was before I started keeping photos.



As you guessed, the thing above the pickups is the adjustment nut for the truss rod. I see no reason from the photo to think the neck is aftermarket. Having the adjustment at that end is common, and those big doohickeys with the holes so you can turn them with a rod of some sort are often seen on this type of guitar.



"60's bizarre" guitars were mainly budget instruments marketed to beginners, but they do have their fans and some people collect them. They seldom fetch more than a few hundred and most can be had for less than $200. Prices are highly variable depending on demand, though.



P.S. The way the bridge is slanted, the intonation is gonna be way off. That's easily fixed, but no telling what other setup work it may need.

Answer 4

Well, what you're trying to play isn't easy for a beginner going it alone (although once you've put in some time playing all kinds of songs, the song isn't that hard). You'd be best off going real slow for now. You're asking your body to do new things and its not going to react fast. Get a metronome and set it to a slow rate, & try to play along to that beat. As you master a slow beat, click the metronome up a few faster beats til, if you keep this up, you'll eventually hit the speed of the song. I didn't do that for 15 or so years that I was learning guitar & it only led me to get frustrated at not being able to match a song I was trying to learn b/c, to me, it was going 'too fast' to catch up. Playing bass for the last 5 years or so, I've come along a lot faster b/c of my use of a metronome. Anyway, regarding your hand: I can't figure if you're a lefty or righty from your writing. Regardless, at this point its no big deal if you stare only at one or the other. Again your body is learning something new to do and its not used to it. So go slow and get used to your right hand going to this string & that string cleanly. Alternate looking at your fretting hand too. It really takes time to learn any instrument. Hell, it took me years to be confident enough in my just 'knowing' where this or that fret was that I can now look up at the crowd, the bandmates, the ceiling (lol) and not have to stare at my fretting hand or picking hand. Not that I'm 100% accurate at it either! lol. b/c I will still miss a string but ... Good luck!

Answer 5

I love these questions. It reminds me of the guitars I had to choose from as a 13 yr old looking for a cheap electric guitar.

I'm still image browsing as I write this first part. The pickups look exactly like the ones on my first electric, as does the bridge.

mine was a solid body though.

Here's a Teisco guitar that is almost the same as your picture, but no tremolo:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Teisco-EP-7-RARE-MODEL1960s-electric-guitar-surf-garage-/171092586036?pt=Guitar&hash=item27d5e9ae34



Here's a teisco "silvertone" that was sold by Sears back in the day. The tremolo bridge and tail piece and the pickups are an exact match as is the truss rod hole below the neck.

So I'm narrowing it down....:

http://hollowbody.org/files/2011/11/-181081905999495400.jpg



you can see the pickups here. That's how we narrow the guitar down to a Teisco made guitar.:

http://www.cloudyproject.com/potting-teisco-pickups/



getting close now....here's a "Telestar" brand guitar just like yours except only one pickup....:

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lk4w0lEcGI1qga93r.jpg





AhHA!!!! Eureka!

You've got a "Jedson" there. A style "I" semi hollow electric.



http://canadianvintageguitarhunt.blogspot.com/2012/08/teisco-60s-jedson-electric-guitar.html



http://m6.i.pbase.com/o4/20/42620/1/97531886.Tt1bmQxf.JedTeisco_Semi1.jpg



Here's a video of a guy playing the "Teisco" version of the guitar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k40NutbG6Is



I believe Jedson was a brand sold in the U.K. by Dallas Arbiter guitars (who of course had them made by Teisco)

http://www.jedsonguitars.net/



Do I kick *** or what? LOL

Answer 6

I'm not sure about this

Answer 7

jedson series one