Incoming Nacho caster

chris78

I’m sure most people know about Nacho Banos (certainly anyone in to Fender, Teles or vintage guitars). I’ve wanted one of his blackguard replicas ever since he started building them. For those who don’t know though, Nacho wrote the infamous Blackguard book, now out of print and generally £400+ to buy, which is the most complete history of the early Esquires, Broadcasters, Nocasters and Teles. The book itself is huge, heavy and wonderful. Nacho himself owns a number of blackguards and has had his hands on even more. I’d argue he knows more than anyone alive about these magical early Fenders.
So, when he tries to recreate them, I’m expecting a level of detail simply not available on a production guitar. He builds very small numbers twice a year, opens his books for those limited numbers and once sold, you’re waiting another six months.
Theyre expensive, slightly more than a team built custom shop, way less than a masterbuilt.

Anyway, Nacho emailed me yesterday to say mine was built, will be photographed fully in the next couple of days and then sent out. That’ll be my 6 month wait done and I can’t wait to get my hands on it. I have been lucky enough to briefly play 2 blackguards, 1 esquire and 1 nocaster, though I think I was so tied up in the mythology, I won’t be able to make much of a comparison, but I certainly will be able to with the significantly amount of modern Fender copies I’ve both played and owned.

Here are my first teaser pictures which I’ll update.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/jzspb2qnfp4y5817k9sri/IMG_8790.jpeg?rlkey=uh0pwf0cfnofbiyefeykpxgmi&st=as8jn3x4&raw=1
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/1w1wmhmnw4ke3d49xm8db/IMG_8789.jpeg?rlkey=bdb0i1z0vo3k0xzzidyolcftr&st=uvp98wjh&raw=1
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/1w1wmhmnw4ke3d49xm8db/IMG_8789.jpeg?rlkey=bdb0i1z0vo3k0xzzidyolcftr&st=uvp98wjh&raw=1
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/7jimqbt53ft138c6vfrx1/IMG_8787.jpeg?rlkey=w8ixlbn4mc9z80a9pion0c0y0&st=9b7q7jlz&raw=1
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/5g80b8c1dom2tgbrg3u4r/IMG_8786.jpeg?rlkey=qrj45psb34o1pby7lexnpbhwu&st=toe005uu&raw=1
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/6pjej8hvoismx80xqjpz0/IMG_8785.jpeg?rlkey=jy9ei29afvor4b6z3iffmnndu&st=v6eq5433&raw=1
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/4om9eqbr6oo3qdm8vda45/IMG_8784.jpeg?rlkey=22jesyx5nhh8kjhgz7bqd8g5k&st=noroxysa&raw=1

guitars4you

sometimes wow is not enough - tell us more in due course

stickyfiddle

Crikey! I have Nachos in my saved searches on Reverb and they never disappoint!! 

Offset

Now I'm not generally a fan of relicing, but that looks pretty realistic and nicely subtle.  I bet it's going to be an utter belter.  Keep the updates coming!

H(Almost)NGD :-)

Seziertisch

If I came into some money, ordering a Nacho Hello Kitty Strat would be something I’d do. 

guitars4you

Are they all built pure vintage spec - Or can you choose 9.5" radius plus/or 6100 frets

stonevibe

You can't beat a nice Tele, and these look very nice indeed. We want a video review, I'm just saying. 

mo6020

Oh my goodness, that is quite something. 

HT986M2

That is some mighty fine relicing work!  I'm not normally a fan of Murphy Labs and the like, but that has been exceptionally well done.  It looks filthy and like it has seen a few decades in smoke-filled bars!

chris78

guitars4you said:

Are they all built pure vintage spec - Or can you choose 9.5" radius plus/or 6100 frets

Limited options. This is a broadcaster so 9.5 is correct vintage spec (which is handy as 7.25 would be a deal breaker!), medium frets. You get a choice of neck shapes, based on nacho’s measurements of originals. This is the soft v. From memory 0.89 to 1 inch.

I’ve looked back on my original email and the options are neck profile -d, hard v, soft v, pickups - broadcaster or telecaster and ageing. That’s it!

chris78

stonevibe said:

You can't beat a nice Tele, and these look very nice indeed. We want a video review, I'm just saying. 

You mean you want to listen to my lousy playing. I think I’d rather hand it over to someone to bring the best out of it! Form an orderly queue

sweave

Wow! Some of the nicest relic work I've seen - looks old rather than worked on.

hollywoodrox

Wow ,that ace, very chuffed for you , well done, worth the wait 

Strat54

I had a real early one back when Banos was doing more of the work himself and tbh I prefer these later ones. He doesn't tend to work on them anymore but he's assembled a great team and they look stellar. Congrats....next step a real vintage one! 

S56035

Looks like it could do with a bit of TLC!  HOnestly, that's one of the best tele's I've seen.

JezWynd

That's very impressive relicing work. hngd!

chris78

Strat54 said:

I had a real early one back when Banos was doing more of the work himself and tbh I prefer these later ones. He doesn't tend to work on them anymore but he's assembled a great team and they look stellar. Congrats....next step a real vintage one! 

I think the vintage ones these days are out of reach for mere mortals, even well heeled ones. The nocaster I played was £60k a few years back. Assuming I could add another third on today for an unmolested one?

Strat54

chris78 said:

Strat54 said:

I had a real early one back when Banos was doing more of the work himself and tbh I prefer these later ones. He doesn't tend to work on them anymore but he's assembled a great team and they look stellar. Congrats....next step a real vintage one! 

I think the vintage ones these days are out of reach for mere mortals, even well heeled ones. The nocaster I played was £60k a few years back. Assuming I could add another third on today for an unmolested one?

Yeah all gone crazy, maybe still £50k for a decent 52/53 but nice Nocasters and Braodcasters are over £90k now. I bought a a body refin only '53 Esquire for £9k in 2014. Seemed plenty at the time lol. 

Wazmeister

Chris, you’ve owned some nice Teles and that is an absolute beauty ! 

Very jealous. Enjoy.

Hootsmon

LOVE his stuff and have all his classy books inc # 37 of his last book

HNGD you lucky sod 

YourArsenal87

Just had a look on their website and their Terms and Conditions are, odd? I wonder if some of that stuff is even legal. They only give a 48h approval period and don’t offer any warranty as they consider reliced guitars as “used”. Strange stuff.

Well they are probably fantastic guitars that seldom get returned.