I think, I will rather go with the Kent or the Harmony/Silvertone, however as I said the junkyard aesthetics of the first one kinda speak to me. I think the first one I posted is an absolut wreck and I dont trust the seller either, because he didn't even respond to my questions, however if I would buy it and get it to my local guitar store who already fixed my horribly setup Squier Strat, it could technically be running again, right? The Silvertone/Harmony one seems to be in quite good condition, same with the Kent. One of the seller of the Silverfoil Harmonies has a video of him playing it, I dont know if thats proof for playability or if I should still be cautious. Thanks for the insight, I totally forgot that Silvertone and Harmony aren't japanese brands. The 1st 6 tunes are of 60s variety of pickups.
Hope this helps.įound some old examples I made goofing around with a couple of these old guitars. Basically you will have to try them out or buy and sell like I did until you find what your looking for. These are of the Japanese type not to be confused with the American offerings of goldfoils, Dearmond or airline type. There's more types that I have tried, and many more I have not. The rest in this list will squeal with any amount of volume or drive. Although low output, they are very functional as a gigging pickup. The coils are actually molded in plastic which means there is zero microphonics.
Very early 1964 teisco pickups before they started using the square pole above. They don't offer much and basically sound like crap. If you see a guitar with one of these buy it.
These are quite unique as they feel like they have a built in compression, more hifi than the other lofi choices here. Low output, gotta fight them a bit to get the notes out but sound great. This type with the square pole pieces are fantastic and high output, very surf sounding and articulate. These seem to be one of the most widely used and can sound really good. I went through a fix and flip of 60s Mij guitars a while back and these are the pickups I found to be the most usable. Most of the pickups are pretty wonky, and they vary greatly even within the same type. I'm located in Germany btw, so working out CITES will be a pain in the CC But I'm okay with that, as I like that type of vibe. I'm aware that no matter what I choose, it's gonna be more on the quirky, kinda trashier side of things. So guys, what would you recommend to me? Note that I'm not looking for some sort of high-quality holy shrine of music history right here, like for example a 63 Strat or something. I think it might sound quite like the unknown one that I mentioned before. This one is quite nice too, and also played (at least at one occasion) by one of my favourite blues artists, R.L. Seller told me that he would pin the bridge as the strings are closer on the bassside (to the neck). The goldfoil/silverfoil pickups (this one claims to be gold?) The pickups are very distinct sounding, which really appeals to me because one day I might get my dream Strat or whatnot and this guitar really sounds entirely different so it will always be a unique part of my arsenal. This ones a classic in the scene of japanese 60s guitars (as far as I know). I'm not sure about the mentioned "Dip" in the fretboard. The missing screw in the bridge, the worn down finish, the weird rusty tuners, the whole thing just kinda attracts me to some degree, I dont know why. This unknown Teisco/Kawai/Kent is objectivley seen absolute JUNK, but hell do I like it. The ones that I chose for myself are the following (this is where you guys might help me out a bit, as you guys probably know your stuff and can give me a few tips on these!) I'm no gear nut so correct me if these aren't actually gold of silver foil PUs. That very hollow sounding, crunchy, microphonic gold foil/silver foil sound. Lookswise (which is important to me, a lot) I don't dig the guitar all too much, but soundwise its the best for me. Right at the beginning until about 4 minutes in, he's playing quite cool slide. I just love the sound of Dave Simpsons demo of his Teisco: I'm alot into old delta blues, slide, but also garage rock (you know, the whole White Stripes type of thing) and classic rock. So since forever I wanted to have one of those quirky, weird old japanese made guitars from the 60s.