Impulsive NGD Teisco Spectrum 3 - now with pictures!

Discussion of vintage Jazzmasters, Jaguars, Bass VIs, Electric XIIs and any other offset-waist instruments.
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MayTheFuzzBeWithYou
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Impulsive NGD Teisco Spectrum 3 - now with pictures!

Post by MayTheFuzzBeWithYou » Sun Jun 14, 2020 7:55 am

First off: I don't care for overpriced vintage guitars. So don't expect a 4k+ guitar.
Also it's going to be my first vintage electric guitar. hurray!
I found it on my country's used market portal. And couldn't resist snapping it.
Originally I intended to be just the "middle-man" as a befriended german-pickup-winder recently called those very specific headstocks his favorite...
And he would offer me an even "better price" on the custom Telemaster pickup set I want from him - if I could get a good deal for it and would pass it on to him - but he also understands if I'd keep it - so let's see how I like it!
vibrato arm and cover are missing and the fretboard/neck might need some work - but the electronics seem to be okay. :-)
They are at Reverb for up to 16x the price I just paid - so there is some room for making adjustments/restauration-work if need be.

some hints:
- it is an offset
- oddball as hell
- probably made in the 60s
- probably somewhere in Asia
- 3 pickups
- some switches.
- some chrome (or other metal)
- screams for SURF or GARAGE
- has somewhat of a similarity (color-wise) to one of the guitar I already own.

TAKE YOUR GUESSES! :-)
Last edited by MayTheFuzzBeWithYou on Sat Jun 20, 2020 9:59 am, edited 1 time in total.

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sholkham
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Re: Impulsive NGD ahead! who wants to guess?

Post by sholkham » Sun Jun 14, 2020 9:02 am

some kind of teisco spectrum?
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Re: Impulsive NGD ahead! who wants to guess?

Post by SignoftheDragon » Sun Jun 14, 2020 1:43 pm

Something Matsumoku-

Univox?

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Re: Impulsive NGD ahead! who wants to guess?

Post by mortron » Sun Jun 14, 2020 2:37 pm

You just described every cheap guitar I've foolishly dismissed as junk when I was a kid.

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Re: Impulsive NGD ahead! who wants to guess?

Post by windmill » Sun Jun 14, 2020 2:55 pm

Is it a Yamaha Samurai ?

Like this ?

Image

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Re: Impulsive NGD ahead! who wants to guess?

Post by crianlarich » Mon Jun 15, 2020 3:51 am

Wait, YOU don't know how to name it, where it is from, what age, but want US to guess?

"Der Typ Headstock, wo ausschaut wie ein Hockeyschläger, nur ned so gebogen, weisst was ich meine?"
- Sverdlovsk Ural 650 - a 70s guitar.
mortron wrote:
Sun Jun 14, 2020 2:37 pm
You just described every cheap guitar I've foolishly dismissed as junk when I was a kid.
;D
Pop is the most wonderful music – as long as it's played with three basses, a string section, and two french horns going "Vroop-Vrooo".

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Re: Impulsive NGD ahead! who wants to guess?

Post by PJazzmaster » Mon Jun 15, 2020 4:19 am

Japanese Silvertone 1445 or a Teisco Spectrum ?

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Re: Impulsive NGD ahead! who wants to guess?

Post by MayTheFuzzBeWithYou » Mon Jun 15, 2020 12:00 pm

mortron wrote:
Sun Jun 14, 2020 2:37 pm
You just described every cheap guitar I've foolishly dismissed as junk when I was a kid.
Haha! :D
Well...that would also apply to various Fender offsets back in the day when they were only to be found at pawnshops...
windmill wrote:
Sun Jun 14, 2020 2:55 pm
Is it a Yamaha Samurai ?
Sadly not. Those old Yamahas are pretty dope! Also this one offset Yamaha SG (I always got confused as I always thought - when reading about them - they were just Gibson SG clones of some sort... then finally the enlightenment that there could be multiple „solid guitars“ even within the range of Yamaha who also do trombones and airplanes...
crianlarich wrote:
Mon Jun 15, 2020 3:51 am
Wait, YOU don't know how to name it, where it is from, what age, but want US to guess?
Well, I know how to name it (after some research, but there are more names for it, it seems) while the seller did not. So no, it‘s not a Sharkfin either.
I think I already gave too many hints as the very first (and sixth) guess were right!
sholkham wrote:
Sun Jun 14, 2020 9:02 am
some kind of teisco spectrum?
:ph34r:
It‘s one of those seemingly extremely rare Teisco Spectrum III guitars. Also known as Kawai Hsin Mi/Teisco K3L? These japanese 60s guitars always were a huge mystery to me. Not exactly a hockey bat headstock - but a 4/2 headstock which I also never had before. It bugs me on Musicman guitars but here I find it kind of cool!

Thanks everyone for guessing! Sholkam how did you become so good at fortune telling? ;)

(Edit for failing at /quoting when copy-pasting all on my mobile phone) ;D

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Re: Impulsive NGD ahead! who wants to guess?

Post by sholkham » Mon Jun 15, 2020 1:11 pm

I think it was the '16x the price on reverb' that gave it away ;D those things can fetch a hefty price. But congrats that should be a really cool guitar
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Re: Impulsive NGD ahead! who wants to guess?

Post by Ceylon » Tue Jun 16, 2020 1:36 am

I think the official name is either the Teisco ET-360 (ET-460 being the 4-pickup version) although ET-312 seems to be the same guitar. As these were imported to the US under the Silvertone brand they were labeled KXL, X being the number of pickups, making yours a K3L.

Congratulations! I always sort of wanted one of these after seeing James Iha play one in the Rocket music video.
Science Friction burns my fingers
Electricity still lingers

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Re: Impulsive NGD ahead! who wants to guess?

Post by MayTheFuzzBeWithYou » Tue Jun 16, 2020 11:42 am

Ceylon wrote:
Tue Jun 16, 2020 1:36 am
I think the official name is either the Teisco ET-360 (ET-460 being the 4-pickup version) although ET-312 seems to be the same guitar. As these were imported to the US under the Silvertone brand they were labeled KXL, X being the number of pickups, making yours a K3L.

Congratulations! I always sort of wanted one of these after seeing James Iha play one in the Rocket music video.
I had to check back on that - but no!
It‘s another guitar! :)
The one I just purchased is shaped like the spectrum 5 (just with no Binding or whatever the middle stripe is) - so it has at least a different lower horn and vibrato than James Iha‘s.

I‘ll keep you up to date! Should be get picked up tomorrow and delivered either Thursday or Friday - so have patience! ;)

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Re: Impulsive NGD ahead! who wants to guess?

Post by MayTheFuzzBeWithYou » Sat Jun 20, 2020 9:45 am

Spectrum 3 arrived safely two days ago - and today I finally got the time to open it up, clean it, restring it and play it - Hey and I even took some pictures! ;-)


Image

Image
The 4+2 headstock I talked about. Weird to work with and not my favorite - but it already grows on me.

Image
My VM Jaguar's evil twin or cousin?
The pickguard is very very thick. like 4mm or so. And depending on the light it's either a kind of cola-pearloid or brown-red-almost tort.
The pickups look so cool.

Image


Image
On this one you can clearly see where the "issue" is - a piece of the fretboard-side is getting loose. It has some similar marks and in general the paint job looks sloppy or cheaply refinished. How have they been in the 60s?
Also WHAT IS THAT BRIDGE? it looks super weird but it somehow works...
It plays challenging but sounds pretty decent. Very surfy.
Sadly the trem-arm sleeve is not big enough to fit one of the arm I got laying around. Would look cool with the cover and the original arm - but I guess I have to figure something out myself - or has anyone of you any reliable source for such parts?

Image
And here is one with my offset (and reverse offset) family! The only one not in the picture is the yet to be finished Telemaster-Custom-Deluxe

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Re: Impulsive NGD Teisco Spectrum 3 - now with pictures!

Post by windmill » Sat Jun 20, 2020 5:10 pm

The spectrum look really good

As does that bound Jazzmaster !

Hope you enjoy playing them all.

:)

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Re: Impulsive NGD Teisco Spectrum 3 - now with pictures!

Post by SWFC68 » Sat Jun 20, 2020 5:46 pm

Damn, that's awesome. I've never seen one before.
I actually love that headstock FWIW

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Re: Impulsive NGD Teisco Spectrum 3 - now with pictures!

Post by MechaBulletBill » Sun Jun 21, 2020 2:44 am

a dab of glue and a clamp overnight will hold that loose binding in place a while longer

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