Id Japanese made Tele - Tokai / Ibanez ?

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-Alan-

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Spotted for sale locally. Best clue probably comes from the 'Made in Japan' neck plate.

https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-instrument/vintage-telecaster/1348203454



Anybody confirm who made it ?

Thanks,
Alan
 
That looks like the old Dana's that i used to see around my parts. I would guess Teisco or maybe Mats made.
 
Interesting. Thanks for that.

Never heard of either of those makes. A bit of googling threw up this Sears and Roebuck Teisco Tele which seems to share a lot of the construction details:

https://reverb.com/ca/item/1682805-sears-roebuck-telecaster-1969-teisco

Any more background on the Teisco thing brokentoe - were they budget guitars manufactured for big retail chains like Sears Roebuck for example ?
 
I always thought the Teisco's pumped out a lot of very cheap/budget. They could have landed the Sears contract. Some were made of plywood etc.. however they did come up with some really interesting designs and i believe they had higher range models as well. Mats made (Matsumoku) i feel were a step up usually in quality. The serial number plate looks like its from an old Mats made guitar, but the rest doesn't so it's probably a hodge podge partscaster of many different guitars to make one.
 
Yeah - I hadn't considered that it might be a Bitsa: the neckplate looks to have been on and off a few times, and not always with the involvement of somebody with the right tools :)

At £350 / c. 425 of your USD, unless it's hiding a signed letter inside the body somewhere confirming it is a once-off experimental thing hand built by Leo himself, its vastly overpriced. And even if it did, then it's probably still questionable at that price :)

Thanks bt. Helpful input as ever.
 
Neck plates that say Steele adjustable on them are thought to be on Matsumoku made guitars.Newer mats 1983 etc just say Matumoku on them.
 
That might tie in with being a 2001 unit - manufactured in Matsomoku perhaps.

Either way, too rich for me, by about a factor of 3 :(
 
^ Oops sorry - 2001 ? Jz. Meant to say '81 - but that's probably reading too much into the 01***** serial number.

Hard to believe all the Mats guitars are at least 30 years old by now.
 

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