1960s Teisco (Kawai) Hollowbody Violin-Style Electric Bass Guitar

I've worked on a lot of Teisco (at the time this was made, Kawai had bought-out Teisco) violin-style electric basses, but this is my favorite thus far. It's either late-'60s or early-'70s and has three things going for it compared to "the usual fare."

First, the body has a better shape on the treble side that looks cool and also hugs the leg so much better without leaving a bunch of indentations on your thigh for the rest of the day. Second, the pickups are the Sharkfin-style single coils with the bigger square polepieces. These sound great on whatever they're mounted-to and are a lot more saucy than the usual adjustable-pole, Strat-looking pickups found on the '60s Japanese violin basses. Third, the neck on this is the super-ply-maple construction that latter-era Sharkfin guitars used and that allows for this neck to be slim and modern while also being stable and functional.

So -- yes -- a win-win all over. It plays fast, it sounds great, and it's lightweight to boot.

There were funny things to deal with, though, during repairs. The wiring harness was simply non-functional and I found-out why pretty quick -- someone had stuffed an entire flannel shirt along with some foam damping in... perhaps... an effort to fight feedback at high volume? Said flannel damaged the wiring on the way in, though, but it was already a replaced/modified harness.

I replaced it with a new harness and simplified controls (3-way, master vol/tone) and filled an extra control hole with a blue amp jewel. Who doesn't like guitar jewelry?

Repairs included: fret level/dress, side dots install, new wiring harness, cleaning, setup.

Body wood: ply maple

Bridge: fully-adjustable

Fretboard: rosewood w/slick binding

Neck wood: multi-ply maple

Pickups: 2x Teisco/Kawai square-pole single coils

Action height at 12th fret: 1/16" overall
String gauges: feels like 105w-45

Neck shape: slim C

Board radius: ~10-12"

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium-small

Scale length: 30 1/4"

Nut width: 1 11/16"

Body width: 12 3/4"

Body depth: 2"

Condition notes: modified control plates, new wiring harness, otherwise original and in good order. There's finish weather-checking throughout (as usual) but it looks good overall. There's one small patched/repaired spot on the bass-side (pictured).

It comes with: an original chip case in ratty condition.