Vintage Tele restoration - and a vote on colour

Rocker

peteri said:

Naturally aged red - it will always be a refin, so let it wear the scars with pride

I am in this camp.  This guitar has a history so why hide it?

WezV

Jonathangus said:

So - late 60s, originally blonde, refinished red, impeccably aged.

It's Gillian Anderson.

Leave it.

you make a strong argument

WezV

Rocker said:

peteri said:

Naturally aged red - it will always be a refin, so let it wear the scars with pride

I am in this camp.  This guitar has a history so why hide it?

I like to understand the history of a guitar, i liked uncovering the previous work done to this one and speculating what the reason may have been.   I was also totally on board with removing some of its (Admittedly uglier) history to reinstate an original and rare feature it obviously had when it left the factory.

So at this point we have already wiped out some of its history (fully documented along the way),  and started it on the next chapter.

bgmartinsbridge

From my perspective it's been great to see the extra wood that was added, now removed. And the rare smugglers route now visible - that's a big piece of cool history opened back up.

I know from the previous owner that the red refin was done around or prior to 1980.
Following that it was gigged to hell and back around London and I've got some pics.


Personally I'm a big Gillian Anderson fan but then you could get into a cuffs and collars argument... 

andrewaward

blonde gets my vote

munckee

Defo red, a) it looks great anyway and b) its already reliced.  I think teles look better in darker colours.  I maybe woiuldn't pick red it you had a blank bit of wood but I wouldn't strip that.

rsvmark

What's the story behind 'smuggler' - never heard of it before

GuyR

Great work so far, but I'd leave it as-is, with some carefully matched paint under the scratch plate. Every mid-60s tele you see is blonde and it will always be a refin, so custom colour gets my vote, particularly with all that lovely wear & fading.
Refin with 30 years of honest wear or refin with simulated ageing; easy choice.

richardhomer

rsvmark said:

What's the story behind 'smuggler' - never heard of it before

Weight relief - large chunks of wood were routed out beneath the pickguard.

WezV

rsvmark said:

What's the story behind 'smuggler' - never heard of it before

Just a silly name for the weight relief fender added under the guard in 67.

The story goes that wood was getting heavier and this was the first attempt to do something about it.  It wasn’t considered that effective so stopped quite soon.  The thinline followed shortly after.

However, its removed 6oz so far, which is more than I expected from the story above and should put the guitar about 8lb when done

WezV

GuyR said:

Great work so far, but I'd leave it as-is, with some carefully matched paint under the scratch plate. 

Given the colour variation already there, this does become an easy option

EricTheWeary

When I see a rosewood board tele I think Steve Cropper. Seems to be some dispute what colour his actually was as the record is primarily black and white photos. It was probably Olympic White ( I think his earlier Esquire was blonde as was his later maple board tele)so I’d quite like that.  Of the two options given probably the blonde. 

lovestrat74

I was in the blonde camp but now that I've seen @bgmartinsbridge pics I think it should be left as is. Agree with the natural relic comments above..

EricTheWeary

Rory Gallagher ‘s 1966/67 tele seems to be described as white, I presume Olympic White. I know I’m going it alone in suggesting white but here’s some brief nudity to back up my argument...

https://youtu.be/vzSKAwnlrMY

GoldenEraGuitars

As @WezV has said.. the next chapter has begun. Someone refinished that guitar already and butchered the innards. At least it’s on the right path to being period correct once again. I refinish vintage guitars every month from a variety of eras. It’s a joy to get them back to the original colour scheme with fresh nitro.

The red looks great but there no point in getting sentimental about someone else’s choice of paint colour and the apparent use of a rather large belt buckle  

Ive just sent a dirty blonde off to Germany. Here’s a few pics... 

https://i.imgur.com/H2C4JBO.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/zXHlJcj.jpg

Im easy either way on the final choice, it’ll be great to see the outcome.

Jalapeno

Dirty blond, definitely !

mistercharlie

Keep it red. It looks great. 

meltedbuzzbox

Looks to be level pegging. 
I guess the compromise is shell pink?

pmbomb

Leave it red, it's part of the story. Leave the wear too.

WezV

thanks for all your help.  The decision has been made.

meltedbuzzbox said:

Looks to be level pegging. 
I guess the compromise is shell pink?

That’s not it