Now, there’s a reason I’ve jumped from doing the Jazzmaster to this and I’ll document that shortly.
First up, id like to know how much info do you want in this thread? Full fat? Semi skimmed? Skimmed?
Im happy to detail the entire process or simply provide pictures with a sentence to accompany each one. In the next post I’ll put more info about why I’m doing a Tele and some of the research I’ve done to explore the ins and outs of the build.
Obviously I could bore you to tears with a diary style thread, maybe something like that would be good so that you can see what goes on at SC Relics HQ.
Comments
Unless extra thick double cream is an option.
No! Lard!
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I'm hopeful for a bit of a relic tutorial.....
Now, I will say this... while this is going to be full fat I will be omitting some details. It’s not that I don’t like you but I’m not disclosing details that will affect my business. Tbh, you may not even notice that anything is amiss.
Soooooo... why am I’m building a tele? Well as it turns out I need one as a demo guitar in my workshop. But I’ve also wanted a Tele for years and I genuinely don’t remember the last one I owned. It *may* have been while I was at uni 13 years ago. It was a heavily polyurethane coated Japanese blue floral model with a neck like the thick end of a cricket bat.
There is another reason.. I was contacted by a chap I did a body for last year. Lovely fellow, nice to work with and easy to speak to. He said he had acquired a vintage tele but had harvested the neck to use on the body i did for him. This was only meant to be a stop gap but apparently the guitar is now his number one guitar so hey, result right? That left him with a 69 body (which has been refinished already) and this....
https://i.imgur.com/P2r3HdX.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/UMDLA57.jpg
An original 69 fender bigsby unit complete with all the fittings. Now I know there are some of you who will say “amazing!” and some who will say “nooooo don’t do it!” but hey, these look cool, it’s all original and I’ve always wanted a bigsby on a guitar. When things like this fall on your lap you grab them with both hands. The customer and I have struck a deal that works for both of us and I also get to refinish a 69 tele. We’re both smiling about this one!
I think I’m going to break this up into a few posts because I’ve got a little bit of info to get through before anything happens and of course feel free to chime in. I’ll be thinking out loud quite a lot in this thread so you’ll be able to see how my poor little brain works.
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https://i.imgur.com/1K2bDp6.jpg
Okay, turning my attention to the finish for a moment simply because this will dictate whether I use ash or alder.
If I go with a solid colour I’m going alder, if I go blonde then it’ll be ash. I tapped @Gassage for some tele info as well as checking out a lot of info myself and guess what? It’s a mine field but I suppose that’s common of the guitar market back then.
By the time the tele (that the bigsby was on) was made fender had changed a few details. The routing channel was gone, the finishes weren’t nitro and the hardware was chrome. In my head I was hoping to be faithful to the era of the bigsby by replicating a tele from 69. Tbh, by the time you throw in the 7.25 neck it’s starting to become a guitar that I wouldn’t be too fond of.
But, back to the finish... here’s a few images that I’ve used for ideas
https://i.imgur.com/HUsTbBr.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/WgKjYAA.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/5bWmIyO.png
https://i.imgur.com/WJj9Hj4.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/bZCFRjF.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/WRqTdSv.jpg
My current thoughts are id use a burst on a bound body, and I’m veering towards blonde or sea foam green (allowing the clear coat to yellow over the years naturally).
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https://i.imgur.com/PTamdkB.jpg
Tbh, this has really thrown me a bit.
• Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@Goldeneraguitars
Any love for shell pink? Fiesta red? Sonic blue? I’m not sure I want sunburst unless on a bound body but I haven’t ruled that out.
• Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@Goldeneraguitars
Fiesra red? Nope.
Sonic Blue? Maybe. But if blue then daphne.