Vintage Tele restoration - and a vote on colour

GoldenEraGuitars

guitars4you said:

lonestar said:

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.

is that the one I think it is ?

Not yet mate, it’s actually getting the bigsby holes plugged just now. It’ll hopefully have some colour soon

ATB_Guitars

WezV said:

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

Nice guitar. What is the neck date on yours?

The two I had both had neck dates of September 1967 and even though they were both 'smugglers' weight relieved guitars, they were still real heavy!

Fender must have had a particularly heavy batch of ash in 1967 which made them do this relief work, probably just for this batch as not all '67 Teles from that period are weight relieved. I have a '67 Tele on my site right now that is non weight relieved, has a neck date of October '67 and is just 3.3KG.

Good luck with the restoration.

SteveRobinson

ATB_Guitars said:

Fender must have had a particularly heavy batch of alder in 1967 

All the blond guitars were ash of course.

ATB_Guitars

SteveRobinson said:

ATB_Guitars said:

Fender must have had a particularly heavy batch of alder in 1967 

All the blond guitars were ash of course.

Yes you beat me to it I was just about to correct it. Been doing write ups on Strats all day!

WezV

ATB_Guitars said:

WezV said:

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

Nice guitar. What is the neck date on yours?

Its a bit of a victim of the previous work - very pale.  Seems to say JAN but the day and year are less clear

It is also having some work, but we don't need to ask anyone for advice on that

WezV

okay, okay.   maple or ebony fretlines on a fretless tele?

ICBM

WezV said:

Its a bit of a victim of the previous work - very pale.  Seems to say JAN but the day and year are less clear

It is also having some work, but we don't need to ask anyone for advise on that

It would be amazing if the day was clear, since it's not printed on them . The first number will be a 3.

If the month is Jan, then the neck may not be original to the body...

WezV

ICBM said:

WezV said:

Its a bit of a victim of the previous work - very pale.  Seems to say JAN but the day and year are less clear

It is also having some work, but we don't need to ask anyone for advise on that

It would be amazing if the day was clear, since it's not printed on them . The first number will be a 3.

If the month is Jan, then the neck may not be original to the body...

didn't you know they only made necks on the 3rd of the month? 

bgmartinsbridge

Always a chance the neck has been changed but all parts stack up on this - it could be that the couple of maple neck/ fb we have seen are Sept (though there could be other month stamps) and this is rosewood fb and therefore has a slightly later stamp.

I also know the red refin, and the filled route were done when it was about 13 years old, circa 1980.

alexmitchell17

Looks great as is to me mate so I'd leave it. My personal preference is the blue with tortoise shell pickguard tho 

jonnyburgo

I like the red. Muddy Waters.

richardhomer

Were most Custom Colours in the Fender catalogue until ‘69? Custom Colours were always rarer on Teles than Strats - but that one looks particular good to my eyes....

ATB_Guitars

richardhomer said:

Were most Custom Colours in the Fender catalogue until ‘69? Custom Colours were always rarer on Teles than Strats - but that one looks particular good to my eyes....

I have an original 1973 Fender catalogue which states Custom Colours (Lake Placid Blue, Sonic Blue, Olympic White, Black, Candy Apple Red and Natural) were available for an extra $17 above the base price of $302.50 for a Telecaster.

Seems amazing you could have had an original sonic blue Tele back then for an extra $17...!

ICBM

ATB_Guitars said:

I have an original 1973 Fender catalogue which states Custom Colours (Lake Placid Blue, Sonic Blue, Olympic White, Black, Candy Apple Red and Natural) were available for an extra $17 above the base price of $302.50 for a Telecaster.

Seems amazing you could have had an original sonic blue Tele back then for an extra $17...!

That strikes me that they may have been using up old stock, either of paint or completed bodies... most of those colours - especially Sonic Blue - were already out of fashion by then.

ATB_Guitars

The 70's custom colour Teles and Strats I have had were definitely correct bodies of that period and not older ones.

Old paint maybe. You still occasionally see them and the paint is fairly thick compared to the 60's which is again correct for the era. I have a '74 LPB Strat at the moment and have sold 2 x LPB Teles from 1972 and 1973 recently. Olympic White, Black (and sunburst) are a lot more common. 

Going back to the OP. Not that it makes any difference to taste or personal preference, but you would never see an original 'smugglers' Tele in a custom colour like the red it is at the moment. Custom colour Teles were made from alder and it was the ash which caused the weight problems so all smugglers Teles, I am pretty certain, would be blonde, or possibly sunburst.

Of course, the OP is entitled to enjoy it exactly as he/she prefers and should ignore everything I have said..!

WezV

No, it matches what we know.  It’s why we have been describing the red as the wrong colour... but it is an old refin itself, hence the dilemma.

there are traces of white on the inside of the smuggler routes, where stripping will have been most difficult.  There is also a bit of red, which confused me at first but I assume it’s a bit of bleed from the refin

ICBM

The red is certainly the wrong colour for the body wood but I would still leave it, although I would probably try to redo the finish under the guard so it covers the repair. It just seems a shame to destroy its history for the sake of making it 'original', which it can never be.

I don't even really like red guitars either! But it just looks right as an old refin like that.

WezV

ICBM said:

The red is certainly the wrong colour for the body wood but I would still leave it, although I would probably try to redo the finish under the guard so it covers the repair. It just seems a shame to destroy its history for the sake of making it 'original', which it can never be.

I don't even really like red guitars either! But it just looks right as an old refin like that.

That was option 1, it was well worth giving it proper consideration.  

we are going for option 2

WezV

definitely refinishing it now.

I just pushed the ferrules out - note the rim of white paint in the ledge and some white in the grain in the wear

GoldenEraGuitars

Well, this just got interesting