Have a look at my 'other' guitar

[karl1171]

So, the story goes, way back in the early 90s I splashed out on a new guitar, it was a Vester 335 copy, a beautiful red thing, and my bargain basement Tele, pictured here, which was still stock and blonde, was put to one side. A couple of years down the line I decided the Tele was too good to be left unused and made it into something i wanted to play, refinished, new pickups and rewire. It was a great success for me, and I don't believe I played the 335 again, reluctantly parting company with it a few years later.

So I got around to deciding I didn't want any more guitars, unless it was a custom one (ha ha some hope of that!) That would be a strat, no trem, with 2 humbuckers and a through neck with 24 frets...And then I found the Oakland in my local Cash Converters, more or less exactly what I wanted! I believe its a Matsumoku guitar. Its good, and exactly what i want in a guitar but the Tele still has the edge on it, so it only comes out occasionally! Its been slightly rewired, I've bypassed the active circuit and xlr output. I can't remember the original control layout but its now two volumes and tone. The mini switches are for active on/off,(basically a kill switch now), phase and coil tap.

It's pretty unique, I've never seen another, so thought you might like a look!

[hooper]

Surely looks like a beauty!!
Cool to see those laminations in the natural finish...
Can only hope she sounds wonderful

[Geir]

That guitar looks quite, but not entirely unlike my Ibanez ST-300.

It also has activ tone-controls (which I never use so the first switch is a kill switch for me too) and phase/coil tap switches for each pickup. Also 24 frets. No xlr tho.

They do look suspiciously similar tho. I bought mine as my first guitar when I was 16, an up until I got my tele 10 years ago it was may main guitar for everything. It still plays really well and I don't think I've had another guitar that keeps its tuning as well as this one. I used it live for many years without backup, and I didn't once even break a string. A solid and reliable workhorse.

[T.C. Elliott]

I'm not a fan of cream pups and usually light colored wood with darker colored necks don't usually grab my attention, but... that looks awesome. I've been in full control of my GAS of late but that makes me want to look for something similar, tbh.

[Farrell Jackson]

Karl, the redo on the Tele looks great! I bet it sounds good with the humbuckers. What is the neck pickup? I'm not familiar with the Oakland guitar but the inlaid wood through the body is very striking! It does resemble Geir's Ibanez a bit.

[Mike_S]

Very original looking the Oakland... I like it

Mike

[karl1171]

Karl, the redo on the Tele looks great! I bet it sounds good with the humbuckers. What is the neck pickup?

The Tele is another story. I bought for £90 around 1991, just because it was a Fender, and fairly cheap. Its some early 80s Japanese model withouth the through body stringing. I didn't really have any strong desire to own one before that. The orignal pickups were pretty weedy, and I didn't like the colour, so eventually decided to change this and fit new pickups.

This being pre internet days (for me and most people) my local music shop had to suffice. The pickups were just cheap unbranded ones, but I've always been happy with the sound from them. Its wired with two volumes, and a 2 way coil tap able to switch to inner or outer coils.

The finish isn't very good close up, and the wood grain is quite prominent. I should have used grain stop really but didn't know where to get it at the time. Its not so bad that I've felt the urge to re-do it though!