What will I find???

[lmrogp]

I've got a plywood bodied, Kawai Teisco body, with a sunburst finish. Is the wood grain I see in the lighter colored part of the body a veneer over the plywood, or the plywood itself? If I were to strip the poly and paint off of the body, would I see the plywood cross section on the sides (which are currently black from the sunburst) or is there a veneer over it?

It would be an interesting look to strip, stain and clearcoat the body, but it only makes sense if there is a well applied veneer over the whole thing with any seams hidden or disguised. Which I doubt...but having never seen one of these without paint I thought I'd ask.

Thanks...

[VintAxe]

Hi lmrogp

There is no veneer over the laminate, that's the job of the black paint. I've got a 1967 Kingston listed on the For Sale page that has a laminate body finished natural. I have no "edge on" pictures but you can see what the laminate looks like in the body contours. It's not a bad look in my opinion.

Here's the link, just scroll down to Kingston:

[lmrogp]

The Kingston looks good...that laminate has much more character than the "grain" I see on mine.

The sunburst body I have is pretty beat up...a lot of extra screw holes and a couple of dents. And I really don't want to deal with stripping the thing down to bare wood. So I'm going to fix up the body and paint this one Antique White, which I believe was one of Teisco's original finishes. Coupled with a tortoise shell pickguard it should be a good look.

Thanks...

[BluesHawk]