Wierd pickup.

[Bmxbarspin724]

I found a no-name guitar in my basement. it has one pickup that looks like a humbucker, but it has a metal casing on it, so you cant see the winding. its not like other pickups ive seen before though. it is just like a microphone. when i turn it up, i can tap on the body of the guitar and i hear it through the amp. i can also tap the pickup and it sounds just like a microphone. i can hear every tap.

what kind of pickup could this be?

[spud1950]

Without seeing a picture of the guitar and pickup,it would be impossible to say what make it is as there were many different brands made that do exactly what you describe. Micrcophonic pickups are very common on those type of guitars.

[Bmxbarspin724]

ill try and get a picture

[David Schwab]

Some cheap (and not so cheap) pickups become microphonic, usually due to parts, or even the coil wire being loose.

[Bmxbarspin724]

eureka

i found out the guitar is a teisco del ray e-110. here is a picture.
http://www.vintaxe.com/cgi-bin/vinta...ar_teisco_e110

is there any way to fix the microphonic pickup without damaging sound. right now it sounds really nice and open. i heard you can pot a microphonic pickup, but will that affect the sound?

and on a side note, does anyone know about these guitars and/or play them?

[Bmxbarspin724]

Bump

[olddawg]

Bump

They were cheap , low end crap when they were new. I used to see them for sale at the PX an the Navy base when I was a kid in the late 60s. A few years ago you couldn't give one away but lately a few fools are collecting them. You can try wax potting the pickups but they are pretty horrible to begin with. Your best bet is playing open tuned slide on it since the intonation will probably be impossible.

[Bmxbarspin724]

They were cheap , low end crap when they were new. I used to see them for sale at the PX an the Navy base when I was a kid in the late 60s. A few years ago you couldn't give one away but lately a few fools are collecting them. You can try wax potting the pickups but they are pretty horrible to begin with. Your best bet is playing open tuned slide on it since the intonation will probably be impossible.

it didnt have a bridge when i got it, so i put a bridge on it, which has intonation possibilitys. i actually really like the guitar. its lightweight and it sounds good through my 10 watt amp. so i imagine it would sound even better on a better amp. the neck is also really nicely made. its really good on the hands.

[David Schwab]

They were cheap , low end crap when they were new. I used to see them for sale at the PX an the Navy base when I was a kid in the late 60s. A few years ago you couldn't give one away but lately a few fools are collecting them. You can try wax potting the pickups but they are pretty horrible to begin with. Your best bet is playing open tuned slide on it since the intonation will probably be impossible.

They couldn't give away Flying V's and Explorers when they were new also!

Ry Cooder has a 60's Fender Strat with one of these very same Teisco pickups at the neck position! (See attached photo... it's the guitar on the right)

There area lot of cool sounding pickups out there that don't sound like a Fender single coil, like DeArmond/Rowe gold foils that were in Harmony and Silvertone guitars. I think we have lost a lot of variety these days, with everything being either a Fender or Gibson style pickup.

All the Teiscos made after 1967 were manufactured by Kawai. My first bass was a Kawai/Teisco Concert. It actually got a really nice sound though my 60's Ampeg B-15N. Eventually I removed the frets after I got my Ric 4001, and used the Teisco as a fretless.

They are becoming quite collectable these days. I've been wanting to pickup a black Teisco Mayqueen.

[spud1950]

There area lot of cool sounding pickups out there that don't sound like a Fender single coil, like DeArmond/Rowe gold foils that were in Harmony and Silvertone guitars. I think we have lost a lot of variety these days, with everything being either a Fender or Gibson style pickup.

Absolutely. There's a guy who sells Teisco and many other similar type Japanese guitars on eBay.Each auction includes a video of him playing the guitar through a Blues Jr. amp and they sound great. Speaking of the Ry Cooder guitars,check this out. Very cool indeed!

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/stratocas...-underway.html

[olddawg]

Absolutely. There's a guy who sells Teisco and many other similar type Japanese guitars on eBay.Each auction includes a video of him playing the guitar through a Blues Jr. amp and they sound great. Speaking of the Ry Cooder guitars,check this out. Very cool indeed!

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/stratocas...-underway.html

I owned several of them before I could afford a real guitar when I was a teenager. I found nothing exceptional about them. The hardware sucks, the necks are usually crap and they are made of cheap materials like packing crate grade Philipine mahagany. Sure you can make one playable and yeah they may have a different sound, but tone is in the hands. You may not sound like the guy on ebay. But as my friend from Chicago always said, "The milk that makes you fat might kill me." If you like them, more power to ya. Most of them flat out suck IMO for most of what most people want to do. I did have an old Victoria that I played slide on for years until someone stole it. It was old and Japaneses too.

[Gtr_tech]

Everyone who has been playing for a resonable amt of time has owned at least one of those "tulip" teiscos. I had the 2 p-up version for a little while back in the early 80s. I think someone gave it to me....don't remember. I had real guitars at that time so I paid little attention to it. Now I wish I had it back so I could pimp it out with good hardware, pickups, and a refret to take out and gig with.....just to f**k with people's heads.

The guitar I learned on was a similar affair....plywood body POS with a single neck p-up and a red-blk burst finish. The name on it was "Lindell". I don't remember what became of that but I'd like to find another one. Its also the same guitar Cobain learned on. Heh, small world eh?

[TD_Madden]

I had the bass-version of this guitar......short-scale and all.

[David Schwab]

I owned several of them before I could afford a real guitar when I was a teenager. I found nothing exceptional about them. The hardware sucks, the necks are usually crap and they are made of cheap materials like packing crate grade Philipine mahagany. Sure you can make one playable and yeah they may have a different sound, but tone is in the hands. You may not sound like the guy on ebay. But as my friend from Chicago always said, "The milk that makes you fat might kill me." If you like them, more power to ya. Most of them flat out suck IMO for most of what most people want to do. I did have an old Victoria that I played slide on for years until someone stole it. It was old and Japaneses too.

Yeah, they are crap for the most part. I had a few nice Eko guitars, but then they made stuff for Vox.

I think they are interesting from a historic point of view, and some of the pickups are interesting, if now noisy.

[LtKojak]

Yeah, they are crap for the most part. I had a few nice Eko guitars, but then they made stuff for Vox.

I think they are interesting from a historic point of view, and some of the pickups are interesting, if now noisy.

The EKO factory in Recanati, Italy made some iconic guitars for both Vox and Hofner, like the Beatle bass.

Have a look here: http://www.fetishguitars.com/

Pepe aka Lt. Kojak
Milano, Italy