Teisco VN-4 Project

[dbf909]

So my father, who knows nothing at all about guitars, calls me up on the phone and tells me that he "found" a guitar leaning up against a dumpster near his house so he grabbed it for me in case it was something I wanted to play with. Like I need another project... I've been buying, selling, and repairing guitars and amps for nearly 40 years so I always have plenty of "projects" going.

I didn't know what to expect so the next time I'm over at his house, he brings out this guitar. I immediately noticed that the scale was a bit longer than normal. It has nothing on the headstock but looked like there was a badge near the top at one time. My immediate impression was that this was a Teisco or some derivative brand. I had never seen this exact model before but it just had that Teisco "look" to it.

It has 4 pickups and lots of switches, dials, and knobs - all this seems to be in decent shape. There were only 3 strings on it. All of the tuners were there (loose but there) and 3 of the plastic bushings were missing. I also noticed that the tailpiece which is some sort of tremolo/vibrato unit was missing at least one spring and maybe some other parts.

A closer inspection revealed some significant neck issues. The fingerboard seems to be loose of the neck in many areas with a crack over 1mm showing and the nut is completely loose. It is not obvious if the truss rod is broken or not either but the neck is significantly back bowed - again only 3 strings on it at this point.

Without removing the pickguard/electronics assemblies, the only sort of identification on the guitar is a silver label on the back of the headstock that says Model No. VN-4.

So I did a quick web search and low and behold up comes some info on a Teisco VN-4 and the photos positively identify it. It seems to have been made in the mid-60s and the model is apparently associated with Houndog Taylor.

A week later I attended the Orlando guitar expo hoping to find some additional information and possibly some parts. I actually did pick up some tuner bushings but could not find a suitable tailpiece. I also found an identical VN-4 in excellent condition for sale at the show. The dealer wanted $495 and it never sold but at least I got to see what the tailpiece was supposed to look like.

So at this point, it is on my project list but not quite at the top yet. I've got a couple of amp restorations ('66 VibroChamp and a '60 Tweed Princeton) to finish before I can really dig into this guitar.

Obviously, the neck is the biggest risk. If I cannot fix the neck, it may not be worth it to try and restore the guitar. I don't know if I can find a replacement neck for it at a decent price but I definitely don't want to invest any significant time or $ before I can make a determination on the neck.

The fingerboard has definitely popped up off of the neck. This could be due to someone way over-tightening the truss rod although I've never seen this before. I suppose if someone was trying to maintain this guitar at standard E-E pitch with standard guage strings, the tension could be great enough to require the truss rod to be overtightened. I have not tried to move the truss rod yet so I have no idea if it is tightened or broken.

The guitar does not look like it was wet or over humidified. the neck is back-bowed and there is a 1mm crack along both sides between the rosewood and the maple. I may use a steamer and a putty knife to try and remove the fingerboard entirely in order to see what is going on - not sure yet what I'm going to do. I guess the first step is to try and relax the truss rod and see if it moves. Either way, I will need to re-glue the fingerboard and dress the frets (best case) or replace the frets (worst case).

In any case, this a really cool old guitar and the fact that it is a baritone makes it even cooler - I'd really like to restore it to good playing condition. A replacement neck would be the easiest way to get there but so far (in the last month or so) I have not been able to locate one for this guitar.

Any comments or ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[VintAxe]

Hey dbf909.

You seem pretty experienced in restoration so I doubt there is anything I can say you don't already know.

The guitar is very cool but the problem is this isn't the only one with neck issues. What that means is you will pay a premium for a replacement neck and it may take years to find one. The original bridge will probably be easier to find since the necks go bad and people part out the bodies but you will likely spend a great deal of time locating one.

In my experience, a project like this is a money pit. The $500 guitar show price for the instrument is very optimistic, you can probably find a similar instrument in good working order for $350 if you put your mind to it. When you calculate the time and parts cost it will be hard to break even at the $350 price point even though you started at "free".

I think you have identified the key variable. If the neck can be fixed, the guitar will be a worthwhile project. If you need a replacement neck, you start down a long and expensive road.

Let us know how the neck straightening works out once you get a chance to work on the guitar.

Best of luck