52 tele project underway

i've only posted here a few times, but i have this forum bookmarked and visit it often. i want to show you a project i'm working on.

i refinished a strat last year with great results. here's a link to my strat project from last year. red strat project

so this year i am trying to make a 52ri tele clone.

this is how it looked when i received the body
http://home.comcast.net/~jaysguitarpage/telebody.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~jaysguitarpage/telebody3.jpg

i used epoxy to grain fill and then used cabot sanding sealer to make a nice flat surface
http://home.comcast.net/~jaysguitarpage/afterSS2.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~jaysguitarpage/afterSS4.jpg

then i ordered some reranch butterscotch blonde. i only used about 1/2 a can so the grain would show through nicely.
http://home.comcast.net/~jaysguitarpage/colorcoat2.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~jaysguitarpage/colorcoat4.jpg

2 cans of reranch clear on the whole body and 1 can around the edges to prevent sandthru. 3 coats per day. i have about 12 coats on the body and another 3 coats just on the edges.

i ordered a vintage gloss neck from WD parts (which i live about 25 miles away from). they dont cut you no deals unless you own a store or are a parts dealer, so i went to my local mom and pop music store and had them order it for me. saved about $70. they spray the tinted clear over the frets, so you have to scrape the frets or play the crap out of them for a few days. i also noticed there are dots on both side of the neck (cant really see anybody flipping a lefty tele neck upsidedown).
http://home.comcast.net/~jaysguitarpage/tmvlh1.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~jaysguitarpage/tmvlh2.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~jaysguitarpage/tmvlh3.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~jaysguitarpage/tmvlh5.jpg

while the body has been curing in the garage, i made a black pickguard. i had to make a template out of one of my other tele guards. cut out a template of 1/2" fiberboard. now i'm good to go.

bought all my parts from angela.com and warmoth. also bought a new set of vintage original pups.

everything is ready for the big day i start wetsanding (with mineral spirits) and buffing/polishing. this is the hardest 30 days to wait. i keep everybody informed on the outcome

here is my guitar/amp page for those that like that kind of stuff.
my guitars

looks good! somehow the pictures must have gotten reversed when you posted them...:biglaugh:

can't wait to see it all together.:party:

That's some purdy wood.

Those Gretsch's are awesome! The Tele, Strat, and others look real purdy too, but man those Gretsch's just blew me away.

What Meso said.

i love my gretsches. some people like to use relic guitars because they play and sound great, but with the type of solo work i do, i've been able to raise my fees quite a bit since i've been using these gretsches at my gigs.

95% of the audience could care less if i'm using a strat, tele, agile, sx, etc. its all the same to them. but when you bust out one of these beauties, people take notice.

i still love the sound of a tele, especially when i do some pickin'. this BSB 52 will be my third and hopefully it will have its own twangy sound. by the way, this tele body was off of ebay for $79. cant beat that

That paint job is looking nice!!

nice

Lookin' nice! Great collection, I'd love to have an Elliot Easton one day myself. I recovered my 66 Champ just like your blonde Deluxe.

thanks for the compliments.

most of the live recordings in my sample page was done on my EE Gretsch with a pod xt live direct into the PA mixer. that guitar is super lightweight (5 lbs). i dont miss the bigsby on that guitar. guess its because i have 4 others that have bigsby's.

i love the blonde tolex on my amps. my 66 princeton is the perfect amp for jamming. its got a mojo cabinet with 12 inch peaker. my superchamp can keep up with the big boys and sounds great with a 4x10 cabinet. my blonde drri can keep up with a 4 piece band, so i'm pretty well set with amps.

I just got a nice Super Reverb, I love it but it's kinda big for practice so I'm gonna hunt for a 12" combo...sure wish I still had my Deluxe Reverb. I'm gonna consider recovering my SRRI in Blonde to match the little guy...think it'll look kool. I had a brown Concert too but I like the Blonde.
http://images.lilypix.com/albums/old...32_p29365.jpeg
http://images.lilypix.com/albums/use...4-0410_IMG.JPG

my lil 66 PR has served me well. i've fiddled with different speakers, but have decided the 12 inch is the way to go in this amp. it has a nice warm low end but still has that fender sparkle that i know and love. my gretsches sound great with it.
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/jaysmith/66_pr_front.jpg
my teles sound suprisingly well with my superchamp.

finished it up tonight. i got to say that those fender original vintage pups are awesome. lots of bite and twang.

http://home.comcast.net/~jaysguitarpage/finished2.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~jaysguitarpage/finished3.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~jaysguitarpage/finished4.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~jaysguitarpage/finished5.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~jaysguitarpage/finished6.jpg

schweeeeeeeet! Ya did an awesome job, vintage mojo!

Love that color, and the way the grain comes through. How'd you get the neck so amber? It looks great. The knobs are a great touch of class as well.

VERY COOL LJ! that just looks AWESOME!

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Originally Posted by Mesotech

Love that color, and the way the grain comes through. How'd you get the neck so amber? It looks great. The knobs are a great touch of class as well.

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WD make a vintage tinted gloss neck. i live about 20 miles from their warehouse, so i have access to look through the necks in person.

you can get this color amber by ordering a can of reranch amber neck paint. i'm currently spraying a strat neck and it looks axact.

i got the bridge and all the slotted screws from angela.com. they carry a lot of the vintage fender parts.

the knobs and control plate and gotoh kluson tuners was from warmoth. i bought a few other parts off ebay.

i did go with an electrosocket jack. these are the greatest!

total cost was only 1/3 of an american 52 ri. of course i dont get the case candy or the case, but i do have an 80s vintage tweed case already.

i cant figure my time as an expense doing the project because it wasnt for anybody else. i was in no hurry to get it done.

thanks guys for the compliments.

it makes me proud to play something that i pieced together and painted. the greatest thing about this project is how excellent it plays and sounds. just what i was hoping for.

this is my 3rd job and they all are keepers.

this is for the righties that think this guitar looks weird :smile:

http://home.comcast.net/~jaysguitarpage/finishedrh2.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by leftyjay

this is for the righties that think this guitar looks weird :smile:

http://home.comcast.net/~jaysguitarpage/finishedrh2.jpg

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It looked good before, now it looks correct as well :salud:

Nice work!!
Greg

It took me a while to realize that the whole guitar was a lefty, not just the neck!

That's simply beautiful. Well done!

thanks, here are some outside pics to show the correct color. plus the perfect amp for this guitar. twang for days!!!

http://home.comcast.net/~jaysguitarp...leoutside1.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~jaysguitarp...leoutside2.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~jaysguitarpage/perfectpair.jpg

...respect... wonderful guitar... great job... :appl:

PIT...:salud:

sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet :D

Yeowza-wowza! Super nice!

Wow...wow...wow...That looks great. I also like that you didn't relic it or anything. It looks PERFECT!!!

w00t!
:appl: :appl: :appl:

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Originally Posted by jjthinline

Wow...wow...wow...That looks great. I also like that you didn't relic it or anything. It looks PERFECT!!!

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thanks....and yes....i wanted it to look as if i bought it new. hopefully 20 years from now and 1000 gigs later, it'll still look new. i tried to make it close to the original right down to the slotted screws, pickups, tuners, pickguard, etc. the neck is a tad more orange than i would've wanted, but....

i personally like the look of a shiney new guitar. if it gets a scratch, i fix it. i have 18 guitars and they get heavily used. (22-25 gigs a month) they all still look like brand new. no belt buckle rash. maybe some pick scratches, but that'll buff out. i take care of my gear.

i'll probably get burned for this.......i really dont understand refinishing a guitar, then relicing it all to hell to make it look old and used. THAT IS THE STUPIDEST THING....(just my opinion)

i really think people try to cover up their bad refinishing job by relicing it.

as for paying custom shop for a relic fender......LOL.....they should give you a discount for making them look so ugly.

rant over

by the way...check out my guitar/amp page link to my gear

Quote:

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i'll probably get burned for this.......i really dont understand refinishing a guitar, then relicing it all to hell to make it look old and used. THAT IS THE STUPIDEST THING....(just my opinion)

i really think people try to cover up their bad refinishing job by relicing it.

as for paying custom shop for a relic fender......LOL.....they should give you a discount for making them look so ugly.

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+100 :applaudit

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Originally Posted by leftyjay

rant over

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If only.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fezz parka

I too, am sick of the anti-relic rants. If it floats someone's boat, then it's cool. I just have a hard time with the venom spewed about them.

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Well, it takes twelve muscles to smile, but only one to lift your middle finger. Or so it would seem.

I don't get the relic thing either. But amazingly enough, some folks don't get pink guitars either.

See the signiture. :hi:

What I really don't understand, is taking such a beautiful bunch of Tele parts and putting them together backwards.



:couch

There must be some kind of tonal reason for it. Hell, Jimi Hendrix learned to play left-handed just so he could use one of those backwards guitars.:dude

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NeoFauve

What I really don't understand, is taking such a beautiful bunch of Tele parts and putting them together backwards.



:couch

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:laughing: Wait; what? that's not funny....
All kidding aside that guitar looks beautiful.

it isnt hard finding a lefty body, neck, bridge, tuners, pickguard.....

its finding those dang lefty strings thats hard:spin:


i had a righty strat, but i kept turning the knobs off with my arm as i played. thank goodness there are more lefty guitars now. i dont have to order a custom shop and wait 8-12 months for it.

i've been very lucky with ebay and finding some great BIN deals late at night.

but nothing beats building one yourself. next will be making my own body shape.