by Gabe Landry

I bought an early 60’s Teisco Jazz guitar about 40 years ago. I was going to repair it but I snapped the head off the neck trying to straighten it out… the wrong way! I decided to strip the guitar of all its hardware and electrical components before I threw it away (oops…second mistake) and stored everything in a box for future use.  Fast forward about 25 years when I found a Harmony Archtop guitar on eBay.  It came in its original alligator case and the guitar arrived with the back falling off and minus all hardware as advertised. I then went ahead with my first guitar build project. I removed the back which allowed me easy access to install the electrical components. All I had to do was cut two squares for the pickups and drill a few holes on the sound board for the volume controls and pups. The back was tricky to glue back on but I managed using an assortment of clamps and rubber bands. The faux purling on the back was a little tricky but I lucked out and found the perfect spray can with the exact colour. The guitar neck was in almost perfect condition and I managed to set everything up properly. The only parts not original were the bridge and tuning heads which I could not use. It plays very well and sounds like an old Jazz guitar from the late 50’s or early 60’s which is pretty cool. I really like how it looks and enjoy playing it.