1960s Teisco Violin-Shaped Hollowbody Electric Guitar

I've worked on a few of these and they usually all have similar things needing to be addressed. Once they're fixed-up, though, they're undeniably cool. I mean -- forget violin-shaped basses and hello violin-shaped guitars! I suppose it's really more of a "gamba" shape, though.

These Teisco-made instruments were made in Japan and often have all sorts of weird brand names. I see Conrad brands a lot up here. They've got fully-hollow bodies and weird, surfy-sounding single coil pickups. The necks are the higher-grade, multi-piece maple affairs usually found on the maker's Sharkfin-style guitars (though with a different headstock style) and they feel like a hybrid between a Gibson scale and nut width and an old, '60s Strat neck in terms of the round-C back profile.

As a rule, the whammies on these are terrible and the wiring on the inside is as well. I wasn't surprised to find the bar had been removed on this one ages-ago and the wiring a rat's nest of loose ends. The necks often have a little backbow to them near the nut and this one does, too, at rest.

Now that it's handling correctly, though, it's a fun instrument to play and definitely "striking" in looks.

Repairs included: fret level/dress, new wiring harness (500k full pots, 010 tone cap, Switchcraft jack, 3-way, proper ground), cleaning, setup, and brand-new Gotoh Kluson-style tuners (originals are garbage).

Body wood: ply maple

Bridge: rosewood bass, adjustable steel top

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: multi-piece maple

Pickups: 2x Teisco adjustable-pole single coils

Action height at 12th fret: 1/16" overall (fast, easy)
String gauges: 50w-11 w/unwound G

Neck shape: slim round C

Board radius: ~10-12"

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight w/hair of backbow in 1-5 "at rest"

Fret style: low/small

Scale length: 24 3/4"

Nut width: 1 5/8"

Body width: 12 3/4"

Body depth: 2 3/8" +arching

Weight: 5 lbs 12 oz

Condition notes: there's plenty of finish cracking/weather check throughout and it's obviously been played a lot. There's wear throughout. Still, it's better than average for one of these and I believe this one's an earlier model than many due to some features. I've "blocked" the whammy so it acts like a normal trapeze tailpiece. The wiring harness and tuners are replacements, but the rest is all-original. As noted above, there's a hair of backbow in frets 1-5 with the neck at rest, so heavier gauges are advised. It will have backbow if you go with anything lighter than 11s or 12s.