NORMA HISTORY: Normas were built in Japan between 1965 to 1970 by the Tombo Company and distributed in the U.S. by Strum´N Drum, Inc. of Chicago, Illinois. The company specialized in copying Italian guitars like EKO and Goya and sold them in the U.S.A as NORMA's. The most blatant EKO copy is the SDEG 490-4, a guitar that confused the heck out of MANY. The Tombo Company is still in business, but these days they specialize in harmonica production.
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7 comments:
I have one of these guitars. It's pretty beat up but the pickups are still in good condition. I plan on selling one and keeping the other. What do you base your 'market value' on? I'm sure the pickups are worth a little more now. Thanks for the info. And also..you mean the pickups were manufactured by Teisco, correct?
I base the value on my research on what I find they sell for on the open market.
I too have one of these guitars. Got it in the 70's from a kid who was trying to learn to play but couldn't get the hang of it. I love the pick-ups in this guitar! Tone is beefy yet not overbearing, high end is smooth and sparkley without biting, and sustaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiin. Don't know if this is common but they sound fantastic. I have played it through a wide variety ($) of amps and in each case, while they all sound distinctively different, it sounds really good. Is this indicative of the pick-ups and if so who did Teisco buy pups from?
Thanks in advance...
Sig
It's the goldfoil pickup that gives you that unique sound and I've never seen who made them for Teisco.
You said you've already used the pickups for a project. I have that same guitar and I want to put the neck pickup in a telecaster. Since the Norma has the pickups mounted on top of the pickguard, what did you have to do to make it fit in a guitar where the pickups sit inside a cavity. Are these the size of mini humbuckers or P90s. Just wondering if I'll have to cut custom hole in the pickguard or if a mini-humbucker or P90 space would work.
Thanks,
Kirsten
They aren't the same size and you really have to watch the thickness on the pickups. They are more of a soapbar sized pickup but thinner.
mY 11 YR OLD INHERITED THIS VERY SAME GUITAR FROM HIS GREAT GRANDPA!!! HE IS NOW LEARNING TO PLAY IT.
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