Who made these krazy pickups anyway???

[ken]

Hello all,

I bought this guitar Saturday afternoon at a garage sale. Here are some photos.

Check out these pickups! Not only does the control panel call them 'mics', they even look like microphones too. The case faces have no polepieces visible, and are all perforated like a microphone screen.

This guitar is yellow metalflake, with those weird metalflake particles that look like glitter.

What IS this thing anyway???

Thank you,
Ken

[David Schwab]

I have no idea, but it's very familiar looking. Has that EKO/Teisco thing going on. I love those old guitars!

[Bill M]

I had an old Teisco a long time ago that looked very similar to yours. Not exactly sure if I remember the pickups, but I think they looked like yours and were very shallow/thin in height.

[Steve Conner]

Hah! That's cool. If it helps, the French call their guitar pickups "mics", so maybe it's French.

[LtKojak]

Hah! That's cool. If it helps, the French call their guitar pickups "mics", so maybe it's French.

Also Spanish and Italian.

Looks like one early sixties Italian guitar, probably made in the EKO factory in Recanati.

Many brands were actually made there, like VOX and Hofner.

[Brad1]

Yeah, that thing screamed TEISCO at first sight! I used to have one with those similar pickups, except I had three rocker switches, instead of a bunch of sliders.

Search around the internet for TEISCO, and you may find a lot of similar ones. It could be something else, though. Searching EKO and Teisco will probably reveal other similar brands.

BTW, is the neck bolt plate missing on that?

Brad1

[jonson]

So much like all the lovely "mother of toilet seat" guitars to come out of Eko in the fifties and sixties. Problem was there was so many in their metalflake and celluloid skins and numerous pickups and switch combinations that difficult now unless someone has an old catalogue which not all of them entered to define. My bet is Eko though. Many similarities here.

[Mark Hammer]

That is actually a VERY attractive guitar. I bet once it's cleaned up, it'll be a knockout. The switches may need replacement or serious rehabilitation, and I can't speak to what the action is like, but it's a nice piece.

[holio cornolio]

Also Spanish and Italian.

Looks like one early sixties Italian guitar, probably made in the EKO factory in Recanati.

Many brands were actually made there, like VOX and Hofner.

I'll second that. It looks a lot like an Eko 500 3V, but with less fancy inlays, and slightly different pickups / control layout. But I'd put money on it being Italian.
You can see a few here: MyRareGuitars.com >> 1960's Vintage Guitars - Vintage Guitars, EKO, Burns, Teisco, Silvertone, Fender, Gibson, Mosrite

Nice find.

[LtKojak]

I'll second that. It looks a lot like an Eko 500 3V, but with less fancy inlays, and slightly different pickups / control layout. But I'd put money on it being Italian.
You can see a few here: MyRareGuitars.com >> 1960's Vintage Guitars - Vintage Guitars, EKO, Burns, Teisco, Silvertone, Fender, Gibson, Mosrite

Nice find.

If you like bizarre instruments from the early '60s, this the link to visit:

Welcome to Fetishguitars.com

Enjoy!

[spud1950]

It's an Inter-Mark Cipher,made in Japan.

+ + + BLACK GUITARS - GUITAR AND BASS REPAIRS WORKSHOP + + +

Inter-Mark was an import and sales company.They didn't manufacture anything. I have seen this same guitar come up on other forums and have seen 2,3 and 4 pickup versions.The general concensus is,based on the styling,pickups and hardware that these were made by Kawai/Teisco, Kawai having purchased Teisco in 1967.That striping pattern on the control plates is pretty much exclusive to Teisco guitars. Also,I recently saw a 4 pickup version in very nice condition sell on the Goodwill thrift store auction site sell for $375.

[ken]

Thank You Spud1950 for knowing what it is! I spent the last two days on the net looking for it with no success. Someone at Goodwill paid $375 for this, huh? I only paid $30 for mine complete with a 1960's vintage yellow strap.

Truth be told, it actually does sounds good plugged in and it has a very comfortable neck indeed. There is a tiny bit of V at the top, and the bottom is almost like a vintage Fender neck. I do hate the huge volute though.

Somebody **REALLY** butchered this poor thing! I found the 'missing' neckplate, it was being used as a shim in the neck pocket. The frets are all ground flat right down to the neck, and in an attempt to "lower the action" there are slots 1/8" deep hacksawed into the bridge top where the strings should be. At least the trem bridge and the pickups all work.

I'm thinking a Fatdog-style 'pound rescue' - some nice new frets and tuners, a new Gib TuneOMatic bridge, and a surf green metalflake paintjob and plain white pickguard would make it purty.

How would you fix this up?

ken

[spud1950]

Sounds like a good plan to me. Given it's present poor condition, give it the Fatdog treatment and make it into a good looking,good playing instrument.It's suprising how good some those cheap Japanese guitar pickups can sound!

[jonson]

well spotted Sir Spud. I'd have staked a bit it was Italian Eko or something and was wrong. Glad I didn't place a bet.

[Sweetfinger]

Yup, Japanese. I can tell you EVERYTHING this needs but the short of it is, this is one of those projects that may be better off passed on because you're going to end up doing a ton of work and you'll want to change a bunch of parts. You will have spent several hundred dollars to change this guitar into something very different. Personally, I'd restore the broken machine head(s), refret it, and set it up to play good, dip the pickups and clean the pots and switches out as much as possible. I wouldn't change any parts but I'd certainly advocate disabling the trem.
That trem is horrible. Go by the pawn shop and look through the bin of socket wrench leavin's. Find one that fits in the trem and use it to block it. I wouldn't change the bridge- some of my best intonated guitars have straight saddles.
The danger with refretting these is that the neck is usually a little funky and when you plane the fingerboard to fix the funky neck, you may discover that the rosewood is just a veneer. Hopefully the neck is straight enough that you could just put new frets in and level them.
If you really feel like changing the trem, bridge, tuners, and controls- that's the tipping point where you might just want to buy one of those $129 SX guitars and let someone who really LOVES old Japanese guitar junk have it for a tidy sum.