Vintage 1960’s Tombo Ukulet Electric Ukelele w Amp-In-Case Redburst MIJ Japan Rare Norma Teisco

Vintage 1960’s Tombo Ukulet Electric Ukelele w Amp-In-Case Redburst MIJ Japan Rare Norma Teisco

Cool little package and pretty rare as well. Ukulet and Solid State Amp case both work.

Ukulet has some wear and tear and the back of guitar where neck plate screws into the body has some cracked wood. Good news is the ukulet still plays fine as is and should be an easy fix for those with some woodworking skills if you feel you need to. The neck bolts up just fine and holds under string pressure. The ukulet is missing the 16th fret but shouldn’t be an issue to replace or leave it as is. Amp case is missing exterior cover panel but case is in very good condition overall. All latches and hinges work and handle is secure. Amp can also run on 6 D Cell batteries but I haven’t tried that feature so not sure about the status of the battery operation although the battery compartment looks clean.

Electronics were spray cleaned but output jack can still can produce some static if cord is moved too much. Should be fine if cleaned better or you could probably replace the 1/8” jack on the uke with a full sized 1/4” jack if desired. Ukulet plays fine as is despite these flaws.

This is a pre owned set that has been around for about 50 years and as such will show dings, dents, scratches, paint chips etc.

Selling as and as shown.
Please see all pics and video for more details.

Here’s some history from Premier Guitar about this little oddity…

“The Ukulet was created by the Tombo Musical Instrument Company of Japan. Established in 1917, Tombo is still in business today, primarily making harmonicas. But back in the mid 1960s, the company jumped into the electric guitar frenzy with a line of sparkly, celluloid-bedecked full-sized axes sold exclusively through Norman Sackheim’s Strum & Drum company in Chicago, under the brand name of Norma.

Tombo, which translates to “Dragonfly,” had its own interesting take on electric instrument design that was clearly evident in its line of crazy and colorful basses and four-pickup guitars. Case in point: Back then, Tombo was the only Japanese guitar maker to offer orange sparkle guitars.

In May of 1965, Tombo released this granddaddy of all electric ukes. The company was advertising the heck out of its original Ukulet lines and there are all sorts of vintage-cool magazine ads to be found in the Japanese publications of the time. Unfortunately, Tombo’s contribution to guitar evolution was short-lived; within a year or two, they abandoned electric guitar and uke production.

But dig this lesson in efficiency: The handy case, which has some surprising hidden compartments, also doubles as a portable amp that can be powered by either batteries or AC (Photo 2). Pumping out about 4 watts, the amp sounds like an old transistor radio on steroids. These Ukulets are exceedingly rare and were primarily sold in Japan.”

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International buyers are responsible for any taxes, duties, fees etc. I cannot ship to Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Israel or Brazil at this time.