Well my story goes back to 95-96 when I opened a guitar shop In Wincanton.
As is often the case, the guitar you want is one that always sells, so talking to a mate Andy Stevens, he said why don't I knock you up a tele then as it will have no real value,there will be no point selling it.
Good idea in practice so we literally drew round a USA tel with a felt tip marker pen, and off he went.
Two weeks later, if that, he turned up and said what about this.
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i278/bargoedboy/originaltele.jpg
Well I had given him the spare 6 saddle bridge off a 52reissue that I had lying around, and some other dubious hardware inc a strap button off a Aria ProII bass, a control plate off of my old tele which I had drilled holes in.
Then a spare set of EMG pickups was added along with my first attempt at a B bender made of aluminium.
That guitar was tweaked and bits changed with for a while including a Mighty mite neck and new B bender made of Steel.
With new neck.
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i278/bargoedboy/SCAN0001.jpg
Then after a while got talking to a young lad who knocked me up a new body out of spalted beech top and a ash back, but top loaded. So it looked like this.
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i278/bargoedboy/cd3051ee-0c31-4815-bd63-1fe6ad35144a_zps8693adad.jpg
Then i started having more and more problems with my hands cramping up with Arthritis and a new neck was made so it looked like this. After Keith Robbins of Yeovil made me a new fat neck.
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i278/bargoedboy/3505ad70-2630-493f-8012-356b80be5df6_zpsbb788fd9.jpg
Then after a myriad of various pickups being used in middle and neck I decided to go to a Esquire.
But after so many different enquiries how to wire an esquire using a Gibson toggle switch, I decided to go back to a fender style switch, which meant hacking body up a bit, then I ended up putting a scratchplate on it and then darkened top down with a mixture of oil,boot Polish and dirty rags.
So it now looks sort of like this.
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i278/bargoedboy/image_zps30a30758.jpg
Still fancy a change to another tapped pickup like Ash does, just got to get round to it!
Sorry it's so long winded
But it's the same guitar as you can see the bridge plate( even though it went from 6steel to 3 steel then 3 compensated brass saddles. Oh and it's the same Aria strap button, at least I think it's an Aria could have been off an old Ibanez.
Comments
That really is a "Triggers Broom" guitar.
Ringleader of the Cambridge cartel, pedal champ and king of the dirt boxes (down to 21)
Yep, when I made a SS version, to hide the fact it was a B bender, I cut a tele knob in half and fitted it on the top of the spindle, so it does look like an extra control.
1988 US Standard Tele. Not much of story really. I bought it in 1994. My first good guitar. Paid IRL£375. It replaced a Charvette super strat with a reverse headstock. I'd been a metal only guy up till then, but Dinosaur Jr, Sugar, Soundgarden and Sonic Youth had a big impact on me. For years it was the only thing I used, but when I started working around 2000 I started buying other axes. It's had the nut and the first 5 frets changed, and the bridge pickup died a few years ago. There's a Rio Grande Halfbreed in there now. The thing I love about this guitar is the it feels like home. It'll also do anything! It'll do heavy stuff, it's to strummy stuff, it's just a fantastic guitar. I play other guitars for different bands and different things, but this tele, a boost pedal and an decent amp is all I need really.
I've heard a few times that when then started making Strats and Tele again in 87/88 there were only a few people building guitars at Fender, and the guitars were of a very high standard. That could be BS, I dunno. Anyway, it'll never ever be sold, not for anything. My kids will own this guitar one day.
Noise, randomness, ballistic uncertainty.
Noise, randomness, ballistic uncertainty.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein