Few non-American guitar brands have meant so much to so many American guitar buffs as Teisco guitars. Indeed, through their mid-’60s connection with the Sears and Roebuck company, many a modern guitar player learned his or her first chops on a Silvertone made in Japan by the Teisco company. Nevertheless, for years Teiscos were the object of ridicule, the penultimate examples of “cheap Japanese guitars” (a reputation more based on cultural chauvinism than objective analysis, truth to tell). Even Dan Forte, who essentially began the category of writing about off-brand guitars (and who has given me many an entertaining moment in my life), chose Teisco Del Rey as his nom de plume, with more than a little tongue-in-cheek humor in the selection, no doubt.

Times change, of course, and so do perceptions. No longer regarded with complete disdain, Teisco guitars