Royal Relic

Once the crown jewel of Teisco Del Ray's budget lineup, this circa 1966 ET-460 commands a comparative king's ransom on the vintage market.

IF YOU CAME of guitar-playing age in the 1960s and couldn't afford a Gibson or Fender, chances are one of the offerings from the Japanese company Teisco captured your attention and your budget. In fact, if you came of guitar-playing age in the '70s, there's a strong possibility that you started on a used Teisco, a guitar that would have been cheap enough for your parents to write off if your interest in guitar failed to take hold. Despite their budget prices, many of Teisco's offerings were entirely playable and sounded cool, too. Take the circa-1966 Teisco Del Ray ET-460 featured here. It had enough body points, pickups and switches to excite any starryeyed adolescent. It's also among Teisco's guitars that have attracted something of a cult following in recent years, and for good reason, as we shall see.

Teisco's origins date back to 1946, when renowned Spanish and Hawaiian guitarist Atswo Kaneko and engineer Doryu Matsuda formed Aoi Onpa Kenkyujo in Tokyo in 1946. The company name transitioned to Nippon Onpa Kogyo Co. Ltd. before changing to Teisco String Instrument Corporation in 1961. The Teisco name itself had appeared on instruments since 1948, and on the rudimentary solid-body guitars the company was manufacturing as early as 1954. Teisco made in-roads in the North American market starting in 1961. Although some of these guitars appear to have been issued with the brand's name, it seems that most initial offerings were rebranded as Kent, Kingston, Norma, Encore, Duke and occasionally Kay and Silvertone.