Top Views From Bass Bout angle.

Backside Views.

Top Treble Bout Angles and Neck Views.

BLANK.

Disassembled and Layout Preparation Views.

Pickups / Electronics Harness Views.

Pickup and Rocker Switch Internal Details.

Schematic and circuit logic.

Electronics, Neck and Headstock, Truss rod access screw hole repair.

Truss rod access screw hole repair.

Final Assembly 1

Final Assembly 2

Neck Joint screw holes refurbish

Work needed / suggested, work done, work I will do.





ll  Homepage  ll  Inventory Index  ll

If this guitar is to be refurbished as a player (and I sure hope that's a buyer's intent), ...then this poorly designed and inadequate bridge will need some not-too-difficult attention.  CLICK HERE to see the details of a number of options and suggestions.
I have lightly cleaned off these areas to show the contrast between cleaning and the remaining bar grunge on the guitar.
This guitar will clean up very nicely, but will need to be disassembled to do a good job.  The vibrato cover and the tuner string posts decor plate are painted silver at the factory.  What I had previously thought were heavy scratches on the vibrato cover (see here) turned out to be streaks of grunge ! ...as shown above completely removed just by wiping off !
Kawai was established in 1927 and built very fine Pianos, and started building some guitars in the mid 1950's.  Kawai bought the Teisco company in January 1967 to expand their interests into the electric guitar market that was growing rapidly worldwide.  There are some distinct features of this guitar that make me believe it was built in 1967 or possibly 1968.  It has some features that make me think it was a joint design between Kawai and Teisco's still separate efforts at that time;  Probably to service a jobber contract.  The body is distinctly Kawai philosophy, as seen on other Kawai's after 1967, but had not appeared on any Teisco models that were imulating Fender electric guitars in their low-end & jobber lines.  I am betting that the guitar's main frame was built by Kawai and it's electronics loaded pickguard was made by Teisco, and assembled at Kawai since the electronics package would be easier to transport than the main frame guitar.  With a distictive Kawai main frame, vibrato tailpiece mechanism, bridge, trussrod cover, distintive Kawai decor plate under the tuner string posts ferrules, and fret markers;  The electronics assembly is distincly Teisco:  Teisco pickups, knobs, rocker pickup selector switches with a 'Solo' /  'Rythm' rocker switch for each front-2 and rear-2 pair of pickups, and a plain sheet aluminum pickguard with a stamped mild steel hand riser on the treble bout side of the pickguard, ....parts that soon disappeared from Teisco / Kawai guitars.  By late 1968 both Kawai and Tesico departed sharply from their previous rather narrow, archaic and favored "Fenderish" design philosophies, and began to make many fresh and unusual designs as well as pseudo copies of popular American and European guitars, which had quite well matured by 1973.  So my best bet is that this guitar was made in either 1967 or possibly 1968, mainly by this guitar's GREAT pickups that soon disappeared from Kawai / Teisco guitars.

Besides the 3 pages of pictures provided here of this guitar disassembled for condition views;  Some additional pictures of this guitar assembled are on an older inventory page discussing Houndog Taylor favoring these old Kawai and Teisco guitars.

This guitar had been one heckuva "Road Warrior" when I got it about 10 years ago;  Well "patina'ed" with finger / hand and bar-room stains, and even one of the tuners had been repaired make-shift by cutting one on the 6 IL strip off and installing a single tuner in it's place!  ...and it worked just fine! I am certain this guitar is one heckuva raucus machine waiting a rebirth rejuvenation;  Which I will be delighted to do when this guitar's place in line reaches my bench. I HAVE NOT dared clean off the bar-room "patina" that some folks treasure.  I applied some preservative to the metal hardware and packed the guitar away, until just recently unpacking it to take these pictures for people inquiring about the guitar.  Although this guitar could be restrung, set up and played as is ...albeit with probably some electronic quirks as is common with old pots, corroded jacks, corroded switch contacts and possibly sticky / stiff parts;  I highly recommend this guitar be disassembled, cleaned up well while leaving what patina is desired if any, each part serviced, and any of the minor repairs noted on these pages performed. I will refurbish this guitar for an extra $100 above it's present as-is price.  Any other guitar tech would find this a quite easy clean-up and refurbishment;  Expect about 10 hours dedicated shop time to do so.  When I removed the electronics loaded pickguard and covers to take the pictures on this page, I confirmed that this guitar is actually in pretty darn good shape under it's many years of being a bar-room warrior with less than award winning cleanliness care.

Items of substantial or nominal importance are noted on the pictures on these pages.
Kawai was established in 1927 and built very fine Pianos, and started building some guitars in the mid 1950's.  Kawai bought the Teisco company in January 1967 to expand their interests into the electric guitar market that was growing rapidly worldwide.  There are some distinct features of this guitar that make me believe it was built in 1967 or possibly 1968.  It has some features that make me think it was a joint design between Kawai and Teisco's still separate efforts at that time;  Probably to service a jobber contract.  The body is distinctly Kawai philosophy, as seen on other Kawai's after 1967, but had not appeared on any Teisco models that were imulating Fender electric guitars in their low-end & jobber lines.  I am betting that the guitar's main frame was built by Kawai and it's electronics loaded pickguard was made by Teisco, and assembled at Kawai since the electronics package would be easier to transport than the main frame guitar.  With a distictive Kawai main frame, vibrato tailpiece mechanism, bridge, trussrod cover, distintive Kawai decor plate under the tuner string posts ferrules, and fret markers;  The electronics assembly is distincly Teisco:  Teisco pickups, knobs, rocker pickup selector switches with a 'Solo' /  'Rythm' rocker switch for each front-2 and rear-2 pair of pickups, and a plain sheet aluminum pickguard with a stamped mild steel hand riser on the treble bout side of the pickguard, ....parts that soon disappeared from Teisco / Kawai guitars.  By late 1968 both Kawai and Tesico departed sharply from their previous rather narrow, archaic and favored "Fenderish" design philosophies, and began to make many fresh and unusual designs as well as pseudo copies of popular American and European guitars, which had quite well matured by 1973.  So my best bet is that this guitar was made in either 1967 or possibly 1968, mainly by this guitar's GREAT pickups that soon disappeared from Kawai / Teisco guitars.

Besides the 3 pages of pictures provided here of this guitar disassembled for condition views;  Some additional pictures of this guitar assembled are on an older inventory page discussing Houndog Taylor favoring these old Kawai and Teisco guitars.

This guitar had been one heckuva "Road Warrior" when I got it about 10 years ago;  Well "patina'ed" with finger / hand and bar-room stains, and even one of the tuners had been repaired make-shift by cutting one on the 6 IL strip off and installing a single tuner in it's place!  ...and it worked just fine! I am certain this guitar is one heckuva raucus machine waiting a rebirth rejuvenation;  Which I will be delighted to do when this guitar's place in line reaches my bench. I HAVE NOT dared clean off the bar-room "patina" that some folks treasure.  I applied some preservative to the metal hardware and packed the guitar away, until just recently unpacking it to take these pictures for people inquiring about the guitar.  Although this guitar could be restrung, set up and played as is ...albeit with probably some electronic quirks as is common with old pots, corroded jacks, corroded switch contacts and possibly sticky / stiff parts;  I highly recommend this guitar be disassembled, cleaned up well while leaving what patina is desired if any, each part serviced, and any of the minor repairs noted on these pages performed. I will refurbish this guitar for an extra $100 above it's present as-is price.  Any other guitar tech would find this a quite easy clean-up and refurbishment;  Expect about 10 hours dedicated shop time to do so.  When I removed the electronics loaded pickguard and covers to take the pictures on this page, I confirmed that this guitar is actually in pretty darn good shape under it's many years of being a bar-room warrior with less than award winning cleanliness care.

Items of substantial or nominal importance are noted on the pictures on these pages.
Kawai / Teisco
4 "nuclear" Teisco pickups; 6 Rocker Switches.
Tone right down to a banshee's bones.
1967?
Vibrato Cover Plate
Elevated hand rest decor. Fits on pickguard, below pickups, next to knobs.
Frets are in the micro-frets range and are in very good condition with minimal wear.
This red rag tag has catalyzed oil to soak, clean out and check the functional diameter of the output jack.  I recommend old jacks be replaced;  Each cleaning over their life takes some metal off of their diameter and tight fit, inviting noise and bad connection.
The brown tint on these knobs and on the tuner knobs are examples of the bar grunge this guitar has accumulated over a healthy history of being played, ironically by a small person / hands on light gauge strings as evidenced by minimal fret wear!  Knobs are in excellent condition.
I have lightly cleaned off these areas to show the contrast between cleaning and the remaining bar grunge on the guitar.
This guitar will clean up very nicely, but will need to be disassembled to do a good job.  The vibrato cover and the tuner string posts decor plate are painted silver at the factory.  What I had previously thought were heavy scratches on the vibrato cover (see here) turned out to be streaks of grunge ! ...as shown above completely removed just by wiping off !
These are the "nuclear" Teisco pickups that Teddy "Houndog" Taylor looked for in whatever Teisco / Kawai he chose to purchase for a gig ....and rightfully so as his 'head-cutting' tone showed; ....And being a hardy partier, he usually sold or pawned each guitar to buy booze and drugs until buying another guitar for the next gig or series of gigs !  That philosophy worked well since these guitars could be bought in pawn shops for about $25 back then, and new for about $60 !
">
">
">
">
If this guitar is to be refurbished as a player (and I sure hope that's a buyer's intent), ...then this poorly designed and inadequate bridge will need some not-too-difficult attention.  CLICK HERE to see the details of a number of options and suggestions.
Vibrato arm mount on rotating ball-ends spool.
Cover plate cap nut.
Return springs.
The underlying wood grain on this guitar is quite nice.  By appearance and weight, it appears to be in the mahogany family.
Click on pic for info about Teddy "Houndog" Taylor.
The vibrato's parts:
String ball-ends rotating spool.
>
V
V
V
V
This guitars electronics and harness are all original and functional.  However, true to these old japanese plastic rocker switches whose plastic detent nub always wore out within a few years of playing;  These switches will need to be opened up (easy to do), their contacts cleaned and small surgical rubber tube pieces cut to replace the detent springs and thus re-new a good detent that won't wear the plastic detent nub down.  The pots will need to be sprayed with a high quality cleaner / lube.  The output jack should be replaced (see info further below).
>
The reason I have gone to such extent to document this guitar, is because I know what a raucus tone monster this guitar will be with a nominal amount of cleaning up, normal guitar maintenance and a good set up.  The guitar is in pretty darn good shape under it's years of bar grunge, although it's pots and switches will need the usual clean-up attention most old electric guitars do.  If this guitar is still around when it makes it's way in line for my refurbishment bench, ...I will enjoy returning it to the condition it deserves, and would have a hard time parting with it ...if at all !  These 4 pickup Teisco's are big guns in a guitar arsenal.  Give a listen to Teddy "Hound Dog" Taylor;  He knew what tone monsters 4 of these Teisco pickups were loaded into hefty slabs of wood.  A Real Deal for someone ...or for me if it's still around when it makes it's way to my bench !  :~)
Before Cleanup
Top Views Page; Partially Disassembled
Top Views From Bass Bout angle.

Backside Views.

Top Treble Bout Angles and Neck Views.

BLANK.

Disassembled and Layout Preparation Views.

Pickups / Electronics Harness Views.

Pickup and Rocker Switch Internal Details.

Schematic and circuit logic.

Electronics, Neck and Headstock, Truss rod access screw hole repair.

Truss rod access screw hole repair.

Final Assembly 1

Final Assembly 2

Neck Joint screw holes refurbish

Work needed / suggested, work done, work I will do.





ll  Homepage  ll  Inventory Index  ll