MIMF

Hi

I am new to the forum and a novice in the world of guitar repairs. I really appreciate all the ideas I have learned from reading posts from more experienced guys. Thanks for sharing so generously.

I have been shown a 1968 Teisco EP-2L like the one in the attached photo and asked if it is worth fixing. Hardware is OK, main body looks OK but I would need to get inside to know for sure. Real problem is the original neck and parts of fretboard have been eaten by termites and is just a hollow shell. Apparantly they ate their way through the original case for main course and enjoyed the neck for desert. Headstock seems OK and may be salvageable.

Seems impossible to buy original Teisco replacement parts here in my little corner of Australia so would probably need to find another seller and try and pick up a similar guitar with good neck.

I appreciate it may not have any monetary value but am wondering if its worth it just for the sake of having a genuine 60's guitar.

steve barton
Western Australia

Welcome to the MIMForum Steve. This is a new one! Well, let's see a photo of the damage, so we can get a better idea of what you are dealing with. If the neck is just a shell then it's time for a new neck I'd think.

Thanks Mark

Sorry I am unable to show any photos as the owner has not handed it over yet. There is a hole on the back of the neck and judging by the weight I am assuming it has been eaten away internally all along the length. As we know termites eat from the inside out so once they break through the surface that is pretty much the end.

Steve

I have no hands on experience with this type of problem.

You might consider using a small nail in a locking plier to push into the the neck. If it is solid, it will not penetrate. If it is just full of holes, it will easily go into the neck. Then you can decide how much is good and how much is bad.

Thanks Steve, good idea. I will do that but suspect the necks totally gone. I guess my dilema is whether the guitar is worth doing anything to if I cant get a genuine replacement neck or if its just trash. I wouldnt mind restoring it as a project, it would certainly would be one for the photo album but I just wonder if there is any point if I end up with a guitar that is not a genuine 60's guitar nor sounds as good as a cheap modern guitar.



PS Today is ANZAC day in Australia. The day we celebrate the immense courage and sacrifice of all who served our country, especially the fallen heroes from all wars. On a day when we are asked to remember and think about their sacrifice I salute all the guitar lovers who died and whose songs we will never hear.

Back in the 60's, when that was a new guitar, it was what we refered to as "JapCrap". (hidden by staff) They were crap then, and i can't see how they could have gotten better with age. I owned several of them when I first started playing. HOWEVER, there are those that consider anything that old as "vintage", and not every guitar made in Japan during that period is bad, but Teisco was never anything better than "entry level". The fretboard may be Brazilian rosewood and worth salvaging, but by 68 BRW was beginning to be scarce so it may be something else.
There are also those that like the sound of those old pickups, usually too microphonic to be used with any gain or significant volume. Make a new neck and have some fun with it, I wouldn't worry about genuine Teisco replacement parts.

Just out of curiosity.
Was the instrument still strung?
I would think If it still held the strings at tension it would have to have some considerable wood left would it not?

Rodger, please note that the term you used could be considered offensive, and such terms will not be tolerated on the forum. Thanks.

Back to the guitar. I do not know it, but found a reasonably sounding comment on it.

- does it have an intangible value? To You? To the owner?

- is it only the neck wich is affected? What about the body?

- it it possible to improve the instrument during repair?

Examples: a new, stiffer neck, better fitted into the pocket. Modified pickups, especially by waxing.

I apologize to anyone who was offended by my remark. My intent was to point out that in the 60's, "Made in Japan" had the same connotations as "Made in China" has today.

That's okay, Rodger, I remember the many Japanese (and European) knockoffs of the 60s and, as you say, "Teisco was never anything better than 'entry level'" Lots of my friends had them and brought them to garage sessions to try to play Stones tunes. They were barely playable, for the most part, and zero quality in most of the parts. Electronics were often scratchy and the designs were often awkward with painted on bling that made them look cheap back then. A lot of guys (girls didn't play electric guitar back then) had Fender Mustangs which were a little step up but no one I knew except the ones who played in "real" bands had Les Pauls or Strats. One of my friends fathers had a black LP that we thought looked old fashioned...it was before CCR. Silvertones were popular, especially the ones with an amp in the case. I had a Kent (Made by Haegstrom I think) that looked like Elvin Bishop's Red Guitar and it wasn't too bad. I'd like to have it just because it was my first electric and maybe that's the market for Tiesco.

Many of those old cheapies had a bad rap because of the way they played but much of that was because we didn't know or understand how to set them up right! They are popular today partly because once you get them right, they aren't quite so bad. Folks these days can buy a lot better guitar for 75-100 bucks than we could back then!

I've got a late 60's or early 70's Apollo, in remarkably nice condition, that is a real great player... but it took some work to get it there. (New nut, fret levelling and lots of tinkering with the bridge and truss rod). The only thing that isn't great about it is the wonky tremolo.

My first electric guitar was also a Kent, but mine was NOT made by Haegstrum, it was made in Japan. It was not a bad guitar, but the passage of time will not make it vintage. I learned how to do set-ups on that guitar, and it played nicely. I also had an Apollo 12 string, in six months the action went from 1/8" to 3/8", and the truss rod didn't help. In 1966, I traded that guitar, my Kent amp, and $100 for an old, beat up Gibson acoustic that was my first "real" guitar. I've still got it, it's a 1956 J-50.
By the way, IIRC Teisco was the "store brand" for Radio Shack back then.

Mark Swanson wrote:Many of those old cheapies had a bad rap because of the way they played but much of that was because we didn't know or understand how to set them up right! They are popular today partly because once you get them right, they aren't quite so bad. Folks these days can buy a lot better guitar for 75-100 bucks than we could back then!

And 100 bucks was a whole lot more money back then than it is now!