1960s Conqueror (Kawai/Teisco) Tele-Style Electric Guitar

I'm not entirely sure, but I think these odd-style, Japanese-made, Tele-ish guitars were made in the late '60s in the Kawai factory (which, at the time, was also the Teisco factory). Someone correct me if I'm wrong!

Compared to a traditional Tele, the body is a lot thinner and a bit smaller. The scale is shorter and the neck has quite a different heft compared to a Fender. Despite the single coil pickups having metal covers, it has a brighter, snappier tone than I would normally expect from a guitar of this era and construction.

This one was in from a local for repair and the owner had, apparently, used it in all sorts of punky, lo-fi, cranky-sounding endeavors because it's lightweight, has an odd tone, and was cheap enough to be something he didn't have to care about much. It arrived with a strap taped heavily across the body at the buttons -- and for so long that the tape had begun melting into the finish. We cleaned that up a bunch but some of the adhesive is now part of the finish.

Jacobi (with some help from Jose) did this guitar up as I recall -- a level/dress of the frets, much cleaning, a bit of grinding/modification to the sharper saddle adjuster components and back edge of the bridge), and setup work. I think I may have reglued about 1/4 of the fretboard before anything else started, too. It's a champ, now!