Guitars anyone???
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@LewisStonehouse pretty good one. It was at Guitar Center and they thought it had been refinished because black light showed some splotchiness.
Thing is, black light alone isn’t enough to make that call, at least not since llike the 1980’s. Nowadays we also look for cracking and shrinkage of the rosette and binding as it expands and contracts under new nitro lacquer.
None of that was evident, so I bought it with a three day return policy and had it shipped to my luthier. He confirmed that the finish was completely original. His thought was that someone had spilled a cocktail on it at some point and just wiped it up with a rag, since the splotch looks just like rag strokes and alcohol would leave that splotch in black light but water would not. Either that or it’s a hell of a lot of bodily fluids haha. . But again, can’t see any of that without a black light.
So yeah, due to some good old due diligence on my part and some all too typical idiocy on theirs, I basically stole the damn thing.
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@chillmonroe Amazing. Amazing story how you acquired it. Amazing instrument with incredible sound. And beautiful playing. Just an absolute grail guitar. Did it need much in terms of setup by your luthier after you bought it? Neck reset? I’m just in awe here. Thanks for posting about it
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@SKT thanks man. Yeah it need a fair amount of work.
It had some funky shitty replacement tuners on it so replaced those with a period correct set of Grover 9-98s, fretboard was sinking into the body at the extension with dual cracks on either side so moved that into proper position, glued and clamped for about a month, then installed ultra thin maple trapezoid brace underneath to stabilize it for future, neck set necessary during this process. Refret with actual period correct nickel wire from the late 1930’s, threw it on a plek machine, slapped its ass and got to pickin.’
All else straight, original, and unmolested. It’s a gem for sure. I’d didn’t realize this thread existed so I’ll start posting about some other guitars too. Crazy cool crossover between my favorite denim and guitars. Looking forward to hangin’ here for sure
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been through lots of guitars over the years, but currently just have this one as it is simply the best I've played - plus it looks nice and subtle......
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@Darth-fader hell yeah! Sparkle on, man (modestly, of course
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Since we’re talking teles, I’ll share this one. It’s a Jeff Senn, ash body, 60s spec, Lollar Vintage T pickups. Definitely the lightest guitar I own, weighing in at about 6.5 lbs iirc. It’s a pretty killer tele, just spent some time the other day tweaking the pickup heights to get them dialed just the way I like. Previously the neck pickup was pretty high and had quite a lot of low end, so it needed some adjustment — it’s kind of amazing how much you can tailor the middle position quack just by turning a screw just a quarter turn.
Anyway, it’s an amazing guitar for sure. Sometimes I lean more towards strats, JMs, or whatever, but I’ve always owned more teles than any other guitar and they’ll forever be home base. Chunk of wood with wire tied to it — let’s go.
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@popvulture how did I not know about this guitar!? It’s no surprise we have similar tastes here. My version is a somewhat custom fender from wildwood guitars. Apologies for the shitty pic but I had to show you
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@popvulture @SKT
We apparently have a "type".....
https://www.ironheart.co.uk/forum//post/729420
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@SKT ha! Great minds…
Wildwood has some great shop-specific stuff — I have one of their thin skin avri Jazzmasters and love it. What’s the story with yours?
And haha yes I think this guitar is the only truly light one I have. I’ve got a couple other teles that are real chonks, but more to love I guess
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@GraemeE even though I’m childless myself, I feel like the tele is the ultimate dad guitar. Practical. Authoritative. Refuses to change.
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@popvulture not to mention it can get knocked over by a kid and not lose it's headstock (looking you at you les paul)
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@GraemeE haha I remember seeing a Marc Maron post of a Les Paul with a snapped headstock — typical situation of being propped up on the amp or something and just took a spill. Sadler Vaden chimed in with “NOW it’s a Gibson!” Truth.
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@popvulture technically mine is a “Fender American Vintage Thin Skin ‘59 Tele”. It has custom shop “NoCaster” pickups. I’ve had it since 2011. The only thing I might change is that it has those high 6105 frets which take some getting used to. My other tele is an American Vintage ‘52 Reissue which has the lower vintage frets. Anyway love the tele faction here! @GraemeE
Edit: and looking at the spec sheet, it weighs 8.23 lbs
someday I may just get a saw and cut off a couple pounds -
@SKT right on! Mines the thin skin too. I feel like those AVRIs, especially the thin nitro Wildwood spec ones, are some of the best deals going. I had a Custom Shop strat that I eventually ended up selling, and I feel like the Wildwood is just as good or even better than plenty of Custom Shops, especially in terms of consistency. My only gripe about mine is that I wish it had a light relic. Also wish it didn’t have neck binding, but it’s no biggie.
I actually prefer the 2105s. Vintage frets don’t bother me, but if I had the choice I’d go for the narrow/tall.
No real preference on pickguards, other than the fact that I’m a dork about wanting it to be period correct (unless it’s a guitar that just threw all that out the window and just is what it is). I have a 71 blonde tele that’s sort of a mongrel, has had tons of stuff replaced. It came with a blackguard style on it and it sorta drove me crazy not having the right 70s one. I put a black 8-hole / 3 ply on there and even that still sorta drove me nuts, felt like I was trying to pull off an older guitar or something haha. So now I have a white one on it, and I guess all is well. Like I said, dork.
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@GraemeE haha I feel like I brought up my two most modified guitars. I usually have a tendency to just buy a guitar that I’m as close to 100% happy with and just leave it alone. Sometimes I’ll tweak though if there’s a need, or if the guitar’s already been messed with plenty, like my old tele.
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@GraemeE said in Guitars anyone???:
I do have some custom relicd pickgaurd screws though due to hours of nasty sweaty hands
True relic production here