1960s Conrad Violin-Shaped Electric Guitar




I'm pretty sure this is a Teisco-made product, but if anyone knows better, please correct me. My Vintage Japanese Electric Guitars book is on loan. This is owned by a local player and the story on it is that the owner's Dad accepted it in trade from a (Puerto Rican or Cuban?) musician for a debt due. It then sat in its case for decades.

He brought it by for sprucing-up and, thankfully, the electronics were all good to go and so my worst fears were allayed (I hate having to dive into odd wiring patterns on these old Japanese guitars). Unfortunately, the tailpiece-mounted vibrato was missing its arm -- but that's lucky in one sense because it meant I could remove its tension spring and have it function as a normal "archtop" tail. This type of vibrato is almost pointless in that it's very unstable.

Work included: a fret level/dress, seam repairs, bridge adjustment (and hard-mounting to the body), cleaning, and a setup. The neck is straight, the truss-rod works, and action is bang-on at 1/16" overall at the 12th fret. Strings are 46w-10 gauges.

Scale length: 24 3/4"
Nut width: 1 11/16"
String spacing at nut: 1 3/8"
String spacing at bridge: 1 3/4" (narrow like a Harmony!)
Body length: 17 7/8"
Lower bout width: 11"
Waist width: 6 1/2"
Upper bout width: 9"
Side depth at endpin: 1 5/8" + arch heights
Top wood: ply maple
Back/sides wood: ply maple
Neck wood: super-multi-ply maple
Bracing type: tonebar + center post
Fretboard: rosewood, zero fret, synthetic nut
Bridge: rosewood, steel adjustable
Neck feel: slim D-shape, ~10" board radius

Condition notes: some repaired-but-damaged seams on the lower bout, minor finish cracking, factory misaligned neck-to-tailpiece path (rectified by fixing the bridge in one place to the top), and a bridge pickup at maximum height that needs to have more travel upwards to sound better.













Comments

Unknown said…
Conrad guitars are american made I believe in kalamazoo michigan I was told an Gibson employee set the factory on fire? It has some japanese parts , but I had one it played great, and definitely made an impression.
Love it. Is this guitar on sale?