SOLD: Parts Tele Custom | GSP/Graham Poole body neck, SC Relics/Golden Era, Oil City

timmypix · August 2023

Downsizing time, plus a fair few large costs looming in the coming months, so this is up for grabs.

Backstory: having never really played Teles or been drawn to them, I got the itch in 2019 to try one (I blame this forum). Then @Zoolooter posted this body, and having been drooling over SC Relics' Instagram for too many hours, I snapped it up, then realised I had inadvertently started a partscaster. I'm sure Russ won't mind me linking to his original sale post for the body, as the pics are brilliant.

It's a two-piece ash body, bound and chambered, and even without the stunning reliced finish by Scott at Golden Era Guitars/SC Relics, it'd be a looker, with a beautiful bookmatched grain.

So, body in hand, I needed to assemble the rest of a guitar! Full spec list:

Body: two-piece ash, chambered, bound
Finish: SC Relics, I'd call it a dark tobacco burst? Heavy checking all over and light dings.
Neck: Custom ordered from GSPBasses / Graham Poole via the forum. Roasted flamed maple, 21 nickel frets (not sure on size, they feel comfortable, not too small and not enormous), 7.25" radius. Finished with roughly 7/8 coats of TruOil to a point where it's almost glossy to look at but still feels satin to play.
Electronics: full loom provided with the body by @Zoolooter. Oak Grigsby switch, Oil City Pickups PIO cap, I'm fairly sure the pots are actually 500K, as I found the bridge pickup piercing compared to the neck until I added a 470k resistor in parallel to the volume to tame the bridge a bit. Really nice aged look and good sturdy knobs (stop it).
Hardware: Gotoh inTune chopped down bridge with adjustable brass saddles, Fender standard tuners pinched from my Highway 1 Strat.
Pickups: Oil City Summer of Love '67 in the bridge, Winterizer Firebird pickup in the neck. I will harp on about these further below.
Scratchplate: 3-ply black, custom built by Tiny Tone/ Jack's Instrument Services in Manchester.

Rather than risk cocking it up at the final hurdle, I handed the pile of parts over to the guys at Jack's Instrument Services to assemble and set up. As part of this, they fitted threaded inserts to the neck so it always screws on perfectly snug.

When I ordered the pickups from Ash, I was set on a Firebird neck and he recommended a Hardman in the bridge to match. I found that a bit too dark, so went back to him and he recommended the Summer of Love '67, which balances perfectly with the neck pickup. So you've got a Tele bridge that's ballsy and twangy, a neck that feels like the perfect blend of Strat attack and humbucker creaminess, and most importantly, the Tele middle position cluck is present and correct.

Acoustically, this is a very resonant guitar - it sings and rings, and this comes through plugged in, too. In isolation, I really, really enjoy this guitar and I'll be sad to see it go, but if I'm honest with myself, I'm not a Tele man. I don't find them uncomfortable, per se, but I find my Gibson-style guitars more comfortable, and if I want something twangy to sit alongside humbuckers, I'm more likely to reach for my P90 or Filtertron guitars than I am the Tele.

I'm not really sure how to price this. It's a truly stunning guitar, and much as I hate the cliché, it really is the rival of CS guitars in terms of components and finish. All in, it's cost me a touch over £1,100, so I reckon £750 ONO seems reasonable?

This doesn't have its own case, and I'd really like prospective buyers to see it in person and play it, so I'll stipulate collection only from Birmingham B14 (Kings Heath) for now. I won't be parting it out, and in the spirit of downsizing, I'm not after trades.

I've taken a video to try to show off the checking and the flame in the neck; please ignore my absent-minded whisper-whistling!

Full imgur album link; 23 large pics in the link, some downsized highlights embedded below.

I can sort any more pics if needed, and I'll try to do a decent playing demo one evening this week.

markblack · August 2023

very nice. GLWTS.

roberty · August 2023

Phwoar would you look at that

Zoolooter · August 2023

Nice to see that body again, it truly is a stunner and you've gone a great job putting it together. Very tempted to buy it back! Surprised about the pots possibly being 500's as they were bought as 250's, but you never know.