Fender American Standard Telecaster

Fender American Standard Telecaster
'08 Model in Two-Tone Sunburst Finish (Ash)











This is one of my dream guitar come true. It is a joy to play and just to look at. The whole guitar is resonant and is satisfying to play even when unplugged.

It answers most of my preference for a guitar when I went looking: Ash body, one piece maple neck, 22 frets, no middle pick-up, and a 2-piece body.

I wanted a guitar different and/or higher spec'ed than my Yamaha SC-800. My Yamaha SC-800 (made in late '70s) has an Alder body, maple neck with striped ebony fretboard, 21 frets, has a middle pickup (strat config), and a 3-piece body.








I also prefer transparent finishes like in my Yamaha SC-800 and consider sunburst as one of the more desirable finish. There were a number of 'transparent red' and 'natural' finished ones at that time but only this one 'sunburst'. Those have 3-piece bodies. It was fortunate that the only one in 'sunburst' is a 2-piece.

Many would select a guitar base on tone. I am shallow and tone deaf so this one got selected on the basis of its appearance.

I believe though that this tele is as good tone-wise as any of the same models that were hanging on the wall. The body resonate well and the notes sustain long with a very gradual decay. Fender did pretty well with the design and manufacturing of the '08 American Standard Telecaster.

The neck and body joint is tight and the satin smoothness of the rolled neck ensures great playability.

Ace Tone Base-3 Tube Amp / Ace Tone A-3B Tube Amp

Ace Tone Base-3 Tube Amp
aka Ace Tone A-3B Tube Amp
1960's?
Made in Japan, 100V

Tube Complement: 2 x 50H-B26 power tubes, 2 x 12ax7 preamp tubes, 1 x 6av6 tremolo tube

Speaker: 8-ohm, Alnico 12in., Ace Tone branded

I've searched and searched and searched and could not find any information about this amp from the net. Fortunately, the amp came with a full schematic so all is not lost.

This is a highly intriguing amp. In original form, it uses an unheard-of power tube, namely, 50H-B26. Some info are available on the net for this tube so this is another plus.

This tube requires 50V AC for filament power and the filament of the 2 power tubes are connected in series at the primary side of the power transformer, getting filament power directly from the 100V Japanese house voltage.

This explains why the 6.3 V output of the power transformer is designed for 1 Ampere only. It only need to provide filament power to two 12ax7s and one 6av6 tube. The power transformer therefore does not need to be so big.

When I got it, the power tube bases were already converted to accept 6V6s. Whoever did the conversion did not scrimp on the tubes as they were DELCO brand 6V6s. The replacement tube bases used are ceramic type.

The work was done cleanly and looked like it was executed by somebody who knows what he was doing. Only upon consulting the schematic and looking closely on the actual amp components did I realize that the amp did not originally use 6V6s.

There is a minor modification done in the circuit board that does not look like it was done by the same person who did the tube conversion. It looked like temporary work to make a test. Fortunately this is easy to undo.

A number of the original paper-in-oil caps in the circuit board have been replaced.

The amp works and sounds good when I got it though there were no provisions made to supply the additional filament current required by the two 6V6s. It doesn't seem to have the power that could be expected from a push-pull 6V6 powered amp. This is most probably due to the lack of filament power to the preamp and power tubes.

I feel that the amp can give more output once a proper power transformer is installed or an additional filament transformer is added to supply the filament current required by the two 6V6s.

The 12-inch Alnico speaker has a big magnet and looks like it can handle 20 watts or more of output power. The speaker is blanketed at the back likely because the amp is designed for bass guitar as well as for guitar with a selector switch on the front panel.

The amp as it is, presents a very nice starting platform for conversion into any one of the classic amps as most of the ingredients are already there...

Teisco 10 Tube Amp

Teisco 10 Tube Amp
1960's?
Made in Japan, 100V

Tube complement: 1 x 7189 power tube, 1 x 6x4 rectifier, 1 x 12ax7 preamp, 1 x 12ax7 for tremolo and spring reverb effects

Speaker: 1 x 10in. Alnico, Teisco branded





This is a 5 watt single-ended tube amp with a 10" Alnico speaker. It has tube-based Tremolo and Reverb effects. The reverb uses one triode of a 12AX7 and a small single spring transducer so it can't compare to a Fender amp reverb.

The power tube is a 7189. In this particular amp, this can be replaced with an EL84 with no need for modification.

There are two 12AX7 tubes in this amp; one is used in the preamp section and the other is used for the Tremolo and Reverb effects.

The amp is in relatively clean and unmolested condition when i acquired it. It did power up and has sound output but not at 100%.

The obvious suspects are the electrolytic caps which are all still the original ones. The oil-in-paper caps which were used in many '60s Japan-made tube amps are known to get bad and cause these type of problem.

The chassis gets abnormally hot when the amp is turned on for some minutes, again pointing to possible leaky cap/s.

Teisco marketed their amps domestically in Japan and also sold them overseas. I surmise that they designated different model names for one amp depending on where they are being marketed. So this amp (Teisco 10) is the same as the Teisco Checkmate 17 tube amp and Teisco 5 tube amp.

To add to this chaos, Teisco also made SS amps which they named Teisco 10 and Checkmate 17. They seemed to ran out of model-name ideas back then, or they took it for granted that domestic models will not stray off abroad.

In '60s Japan, it is not only Teisco who ran out of ideas in tube amp making. I've seen models from Guyatone and from Ace Tone which looked like clones of Teisco amp. I'm not sure though who copied from who.

The amp is wired point-to-point which some would like.