Teisco ET-440 Spectrum 4

Late 1960's early 1970's solid body electric guitar

Teisco was one of the more popular Japanese guitar names back in the 60s. The company started importing guitars into the U.S. in the late 50s. By 1964 Teisco guitars were starting to flood the American market and in late 1965, Chicago Musical Instruments became the exclusive importer of Teisco instruments. Teisco’s were department store or mail order catalog guitars and were considered budget guitars compared to makers like Fender and Gibson. They made solid body and hollow body electrics, acoustics and amplifiers. More information on the company history can be found here.

This ET-440 spectrum is from the late 60’s and was considered one of their top of the line models for that time. It came with 4 pickups, a mute handle at the bridge, a whammy bar and an insane amount of switches. They were available in sunburst, bright blue and red finishes and had a nicely etched pickguard with a vine pattern. There is information suggesting that Teisco used maple, mahogany and birch for their bodies. I believe this blue one has a maple body. The neck is maple with a rosewood fretboard and plastic block inlays. The headstock is Strat-like with 6 inline tuners and a rosewood veneer on the headstock. The neck is fairly slim like most Japanese guitars from the 60’s. It feels comfortable and is easy to play.

The ET-440 came with Teisco split sound pickups. They are an odd size..not quite a standard humbucker or a P-90. They are actually single coils that can be split between treble and bass using the slider switches. It has a 3 way toggle switch near the upper bass horn that selects between Rhythm, Bass and Solo. Sample of how they sound.

The guitar will never play and feel like a new Stratocaster, but with a good setup they are loads of fun to play. You can get some really great sounds out of it and it surprisingly has some range in its quirky way. The old blues guys would play them. People like Hound Dog Taylor and R.L. Burnside. They are fantastic for slide guitar if set up correctly. The pickups have a unique vintage sound that you just don’t get out of anything made after the 60’s. It has great chimey tones and you can nail that clean yet slightly broken up Velvet Underground sound. I love playing grunge like Nirvana, Melvins, Pixies and Sonic Youth songs switching from clean to distorted with it. It does surprisingly well with pedals.

At the time that I’m writing this, you can still find them on eBay, Reverb and FB Marketplace for $700 and under which is a great buy for a vintage guitar. Check them out if you’re looking for something different to add to your collection.