60s Kawai/Teisco? Anyone know exactly what this is?

[Bassassin]

I'm assuming from the pickups & scratchplate, and general look & build that this is a Kawai / Teisco, & probably mid - late 60s:



No brand on the headstock, doesn't look like it's ever had one:



Can't find any marks, numbers or stamps on it anywhere, apart from the cardboard shims in the neck pocket:



Made from the finest quality plywood, electrics work fine, but the bridge is missing so I'll have to source one or fabricate something before I'll know how - or indeed if - it plays!

Frets are in very good condition, it's pretty clean and looks like most of the knocks & bumps are the result of 30 years in the back of a cupboard.

Anyone know what it is?

Jon.

[VintAxe]

I agree with your Teisco/Kawai attribution Jon. I don't recall seeing that floral decorated pickguard on anything other than Teisco/Kawai instruments. Based on the pickguard, I would guess the guitar was made from 1969-73. A quick thumb through Bizarre Guitars suggests the floral border first appears in 1969. By 1974 or so, my literature indicates the floral border has disappeared.

Your bridge is probably just a curved bar that sits on top of the thumb wheels with notches for the strings. It would be nice if you could modify a tune-o-matic so that it would fit the existing posts for a replacement. That bar bridge pretty much ensures poor intonation as you move up the neck.

Maybe a vintage roller bridge like this one would work. At least you would have some adjustment to get the intonation right.

[Bassassin]

Thanks for that - a bit too late for the bridge! It wouldn't have been a direct replacement - the post centres on mine are 65mm - very narrow! For that reason a tune-o-matic won't go anywhere near it, so I think I'll settle for making one from a piece of plain metal rod until the right part turns up.

Good to have an approximate date for it too, I'd guessed vaguely late 60s so it's interesting that these were produced into the 70s.

I'll have a look for other UK brands that sold Kawai-built guitars & see what else i can dig up.

Jon.

[VintAxe]

Hey Jon.

I think I've found your guitar in a 1975 Sears catalog so it appears to be a bit later model than I first deduced. Since it appears in a Spring-Summer Sears catalog it was most likely built in 1974. I don't have a 74 Sears catalog to see if it appeared earlier but when I obtain one, I'll check.

Sears images are always so vague, but I think this is it:



I've tried to magnify the picture to see what type of bridge saddle is used but at magnification, the paper is like fabric and all resolution is lost.

The best that I can tell is that it is a straight saddle like this:



I put the guitar image in an unprotected server folder so you can download it for future reference. At least you can see the type of whammy bar you are looking for.

[Bassassin]

Great work! That's definitely the same guitar - the only difference I can see is that the Sears one has a bar-type string retainer and mine has a single butterfly type for the B & E.

I did wonder about this being a catalogue guitar - the UK equivalents would be Marshall-Ward or Freemans and the like. And Woolworths used to sell this type of thing branded as "Top Twenty".

Cheers - J.

[polarbee]

Hi all!

Could somebody help me to identify this guitar? Similar to Teisco rather Kawai, but I couldn't find this exactly on the google.
thanx a lot,
Rob

http://kepfeltoltes.hu/090719/P1000329_ ... es.hu_.jpg