SOLD: Audition (Teisco) Model 7002

Thumper · December 2021

Up for grabs at the negotiable asking price of £150, this fine piece of Japanese engineering which apparently dates to '68 or '69 (happy to be corrected by those more knowledgeable than I).

The Good Points:
All parts are original. The neck (apparently a single piece of mahogany) is straight. The trussrod works. The body, apparently a fine piece of industrial grade plywood with some nondescript veneer facings, has no structural issues and few scars. There is a zero fret untouched by the Not-So-Great Leveller (see below). Yay. The pickguard is spectacularly unwarped by time.

The Not-So-Good Points:
The frets have been "levelled" by someone who clearly didn't understand the word "level". The electronics work, kinda. One of the pickups is pretty low output. The neck and bridge have had positions reversed. The switches and pots work, one selector switch screw is missing. The original "Audition" headstock logo is AWOL. The strap button locations have been changed and plugged/not plugged* (delete as appropriate) One tuning peg collar is missing, but the tuners work. The tremolo arm is missing, but could easily be replaced with a toilet cistern handle, Poundland spanner, or suitably reinforced breadstick. It's not like you're ever going to use it and stay in tune anyway.

The "Fun" Points:
You can expect to stay reasonably in tune all the way to the 12th fret, but the genius roller bridge design (presumably designed hand-bent by a former Sumo wrestler with an excess of Saki in his system) will allow a degree of intonation which is, at best, approximate and always at the expense of string height balance. Just use it for microtonal Eastern dronings. The trem plate has been installed off-kilter so the strings pass over the rollers at an angle, further adding to the creative tuning stability.

This was bought purely as a "Do-er Upper" vanity project and to own a guitar from my birth year, from a local seller who claimed it was "easily as good as any Ibanez or Yamaha I've played". One presumes the gentleman in question used the payment to get the bunch of bananas at the end of each wrist replaced with real hands. I would much prefer local collection from the NN5 area of Northampton, alternatively I may be persuaded to post it with the neck removed.

If all else fails, it's going to be a cold winter and I need firewood... May also be interested in exchanges for anything except projectile weapons, RayBans or used Skid Row T-shirts. Effects pedals are always tempting.