The continuing story of the charity shop tele

[Johnny Robbo]

I recently posted a tune I'd recorded on a guitar I picked up in a charity shop for £25. Well the guitar is gradually edging towards what I want it to be. I had a really nice USA tele a few years ago which I had to sell when the recession kicked in. I've always missed that guitar - there's something elemental about a tele & it's stripped down to basics vibe. Now my new charity shop guitar is making me fall in love with old Leo's square edged plank all over again.

Here's the story so far:

Guitar bought from charity shop for £25. Poplar body, maple neck, ceramic p/ups & top loader bridge. Oh... and an action you could slice a hard boiled egg with.

Vintage style "ashtray" thru-body bridge bought on ebay for a tenner.

Artec "hot rails" style bridge p/u with alnico V magnet, also from ebay, costing £17.

Iron Gear "Steel Foundy Overwound" neck p/up (basically a SD quarter pounder clone) bought for £27

£80 for a local luthier to drill the holes for & fit the new bridge, and do a fret dress to get the action down.

And 2 quid for a custom headstock logo

Did the rest of the setup myself - tweaked the bridge saddles & adjusted the truss rod & now it's a smooth, choke-free, slinky, low action & fast feeling neck.

Then the missus (who has a bit of a hobby of restoring & up-cycling old bits of furniture) did a bit of decoupage on the scratchplate to make it look a bit more interesting than just the original plain, clinical white. It's a design using old sepia tinted sheet music.

Jobs left to do... only one really - I've got some proper brass tele bridge saddles turning up this week with the "staggered" edges which should help the intonation, an area where traditional tele bridge saddles are often found wanting. It's not a problem as it is - the guitar plays in tune OK, but I thought "why settle for OK when for a few quid extra I can have perfect?"

I have to say I'm staggered by this guitar now. It's every bit as good as my old USA tele & perhaps... a little better. Or maybe it's just better suited to me & the way I play? Who knows? It's a great classic rock, blues, country & jazz guitar which pretty much covers everything I'm going to be playing on it. The "cheap" pickups are great for setting up a monster rock tone on the amp & then just dialing back the guitar volume control to go all the way down to a warm, bell-like clean sound.

Here's the tune I recorded with it https://songcrafters.org/community/index.php?topic=23852.0

And here's a few pics.

In case you haven't guessed... I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself  

[fenderbender]

Johnny it looks the bees knees and sounds like it too

like the own logo 

congrats



Tommy

[bruno]

That's a beaut :-)

[thetworegs]

It's sure a beauty John

[Farrell Jackson]

Very nice Johnny......I like the JR Guitar headstock logo and the custom pick guard! A custom tailored guitar by you and specifically for you has to be a rewarding feeling.  A great project that came out well!

Farrell

[chapperz66]

That is a fine looking tele.

Have you covered the manuscript scratchplate with something to protect it?

Paul

[Johnny Robbo]

That is a fine looking tele.

Have you covered the manuscript scratchplate with something to protect it?

Paul

Cheers one & all!

It's actually specialty decoupage paper that the wife uses on furniture & is available in various designs - just search ebay for it. Apply it with PVA then yacht varnish over it, sand back, varnish again, sand back again about 5 times over to give the glossy finish. An easy way to decorate any surface... might do a guitar body next time 

[Blooby]

That's a beaut. I admit I wasn't nuts about the pickguard, but then I read your description of how it came to be and think it's great. A very nice personal touch.

How are you digging the bridge pick-up? I am assuming it is a humbucker like the Duncan.

Blooby

[Hook]

What a super sweet axe! That logo rocks out totally, I dig.
Rock on!

[Johnny Robbo]

How are you digging the bridge pick-up? I am assuming it is a humbucker like the Duncan.

Blooby

Thanks again chaps... the bridge p/up cost me 17 quid on ebay... pretty much the same spec as a SD Hot Rails. Here's the demonstration video from the company's website:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXOTug3j78A

What I like about it is that, although it's definitely a humbucker & packs a humbucker punch, it still retains enough of the telecaster character - dial in a dirty sound, then roll back the guitar volume & you get a sound pretty close to Springsteen on "Darlington County" (my benchmark for a tele bridge p/up sound). Plus, of course, you get the extra power on tap for ballsy lead stuff should it be required. Also, since these pics were taken I've replaced the bridge saddles with some "proper" brass ones. I mainly wanted the improved intonation you get with this type of saddle:



What I also found was that the guitar became even more of a "tele" once it had some brass under the strings. The headstock logo was another ebay find. Just search for "Custom Headstock Decals" & you'll find the company who I got it from - you get a choice of fonts & colours, then just email them the text you want. It's just a rub-down transfer, much like Letraset, but a lot more robust - didn't even have to lacquer over it.

All in, this guitar has cost me about the same as a Squier Affinity Series tele, for something I would happily put up against a USA Fender in terms of spec, sound & playability. My advice? Keep an eye on your local charity shop... you never know what you'll find