Pete Townshend played a Telecaster

I suppose you can call that "playing".

My New Toy

I got a $35 Factory Clearance body and a bridge from GuitarFetish.

I got an $8 Squier Tele pickup from Reverb.

The neck came from a First Act mongrel (Gibson-style 3-per-side headstock, Tele body, Strat pocket, tremolo bridge and controls, single bridge humbucker pickup) that self-destructed years ago.

Nut is from another guitar, but really fits neither, so I have a capo on the first fret, making it effectively a zero-fret guitar.

I took the control plate, jack, and strap buttons from other projects, mostly hardware replaced on other guitars. I lost my old jack cup, so black duct tape is serving.

And, for now, it has no electronics besides a pickup and a jack, yet I still reversed the control plate, because that's how I roll. I'm torn between volume-only ("EVH"), volume w/ push-pull or push-push kill switch, volume/tone/kill, old Esquire wiring, Eldred "cocked-wah" wiring and leaving it just like this. I have a wiring harness I might stick in and leave alone, just to be like that.

Because is is a cheap factory reject body (and I still need to work on it to get the neck sitting right, so the high E stays on the neck), I feel free to modify the body in any way I feel like. I have vague plans of carving cool stuff into it with a laser cutter, and I've recently been inspired by the art on Johnny Hickman's "Lucky 7" Les Paul, but looking good pales in comparison to playing good, so that can wait. And I'm thinking about getting another, Tele-style neck, but honestly, I like the way this neck feels.

My #1, besides my #1, is called "Johnny" because it was signed by John 5. My white Tele-style was signed by Bill Kirchen, so I call it "Bill". My dual-humbucker Bullet Tele has yet to be named, and the same with this one. Over time, it'll reveal a personality and receive a name.

I'll set up a camera and play something with it soon. Last time, the mic was close and the amp was far, so you only got the acoustic sound. I'll move an amp closer, or maybe DI it, and try again.

Have to credit the new image

That guitar is an x-ray of a 64 Tele reissue, part of Project X-Ray, getting a deeper picture into classic guitars. It really shows how bear-bones the thing is. There's also shots of some harp guitars, guitars made by C.F. Martin and Orville Gibson, and some golden-era Gibson's and Martins. The project started to see if there's a difference between the Gibson instruments built pre-WWII and those built by the "Kalamazoo Gals" during the war. Check it out!

NGD Squier Bullet HH Tele

Guitars, left to right:
1986 MIJ Fender Tele, murdered out by owner,
2013 Squier Bullet Tele, murdered out by factory.

I saw a deal on Musician's Friend and couldn't resist. It's a Squier Bullet Telecaster HH Blackout FSR and cost me $150. I was getting a new gig bag (seen in the background) and could not resist.

Honestly, I like the look of a maple neck on an all-black body (heavily influenced by Sting's video for "Fortress Around Your Heart" — I should get a black Strat with a big CBS headstock some day) so I've been thinking of getting a maple Squier neck off eBay for it.

I was a little worried, because I've played budget guitars from even decent brands that had issues, and getting a guitar you never touched is somewhat worrisome. The biggest issue I've had is frets that stick out of the side of the neck. But this guitar has none of those issues. As you might guess from the picture, I've played it out once. The humbuckers have higher output than my #1 guitar's single-coils, which means I'm going to have to set up another set of patches to my pedalboard so that the output is about the same.

Right now, it is my "working" guitar, as I'm not liking the stage buzz on my old Tele, I have to work out some issues and maybe get some new pickups for my Hohner Steinberger copy, and my white Tele copy has some fretboard issues above the 12th fret, making it only good for rhythm playing. That means I won't do any mods until I have another guitar fully functional. But, when I get to that point, I have so many ideas for this thing. Since it has a six-saddle bridge, I could easily put on a GraphTech Ghost system and fairly easily switch between acoustic and electric sounds on it. No, wait: Looks like GraphTech now sells 3-barrel Ghost saddles for Teles. They didn't before. Maybe I should put that in my #1? And when I do, switch to Seymour Duncan Hot Rails to up the output?

Or maybe not. I've been thinking of that mod for over a decade. Anyway, eventually I will have the HH set up for volume-tone-switch, like my #1, instead of switch-volume-tone. That's the non-negotiable.

Shiny!

Totally metal! I love the tone for shred, for blues and fingerstyle. Santa! I'll be good the rest of the year!

New Pedal on my X-Mas List

I've wanted to get a Fernandes Sustainer or similar unit in my guitar for a while, just so I could do that sort of thing. This is a big reason why I want a Moog guitar or lap steel, too. Or, at least an eBow.

For the record, those are still on my wish list, too, but from the looks of things, if I had a Fender Runaway, it could do most of what I'd want all that for. I'm not sure how it works, but it seems like a variant of compression and likely to want to be at the front of my pedal chain, toward the right side (not just because of the way guitar pedals go, but also because I'm right-footed and would rather have wah, volume and this right next to each other in front of my right foot, no matter what way things are wired.

These aren't in stores yet, as far as I can tell, but I'm waiting with decreasing patience for them to show.

Vegas, Baby! Or, Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago

This is a Fender FSR Classic Series '72Telecaster Deluxe in Vegas Flake, as seen in Chicago Music Exchange. It wanted to come home with me, but alas, it had to stay.

They also have a Supro 8-string lap steel that's a dead ringer for my 6-string (on the table in this post). And a  James Trussart SteelCaster in rasta colors and a number of surprisingly affordable Squier Jazzmasters which don't seem to be on the site. And the B-Bender, and an FSR Black Paisley Tele, and so many others.

Chicago Music Exchange is one of the cooler guitar stores I've ever been in.

Cool Floral Teles from Fender Japan

Those in the know are well aware that many of the coolest, best made Strats and Teles come from Fender Japan, and this floral Tele, one of a series of kimono-inspired floral designs, shows it. Hat tip to Guitarz for making me aware of these.

The Thing That Should Not Vee

This is why I love Premier Guitar! As is clear, it is a guitar with Telecaster stylings on a guitar with a Flying V body style. It's called the Tee Vee and it's from RS Guitar Works. This one draws from the original blackguard look of 1950s Teles, while the one Premier Guitar reviewed is more drawn from a 1960s Custom Tele, sunburst with a rosewood fretboard.

On TDPRI, the great guitar sparkler Buckocaster once put holographic sparkle on a Tele-V body, but I don't think I ever saw the completed guitar, so this is not quite as original as it seems, but it's a great and wonderful thing.

Which One Is Pink?

How many of you remember Twisted Sister? "I Wanna Rock"? Metal meets Animal House meets Warner Brothers cartoons? If you remember them, you remember lead man Dee Snider, especially him testifying to congress besides Frank Zappa and John Denver against record labeling. You might remember Eddie Ojeda's pre-Wylde bullseye superstrat. And, if you really liked them, you'll remember Jay Jay French, who played a pink-to-red sunburst Les Paul.

The February issue of Premier Guitar has an interview with French. His daughter, it turns out, has uvelitis, which is the leading cause of blindness for American girls. The funding and awareness for this condition isn't near the levels of other illnesses, so French convinced guitar and amplifier makers like Fender, Gibson, PRS, Martin, Gretsch, Marshall, Vox, Mesa/Boogie and others to make 25 pinkburst guitars and amps to be auctioned off as a fundraiser for MERSI, the specialists in the field.  It's called the Pinkburst Project, and images of the instruments, along with more information of the disease and the auction.

Gonna Make You Burn, Gonna Make You Sting

This is from a gallery on Premier Guitar, showing Robert Kantor's Swarovski-bead-encrusted guitars. I of course went to the Tele Deluxe, which is named "Black Dog". Evidently, they're available at Rudy's Music in New York. As you might guess, the Black Dog is a little plain compared to some of the others. For example, take the Crash guitar Eric Clapton has been playing recently. Then, redo the art in glass beads.

Goin' Down To The Crossroads

Fathom is a weird thing. Using the silver screens of movie theaters to show streamed video. And tomorrow, Tuesday, July 27, they'll be showing Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival. It was filmed the day before Gearfest. Live, the show featured Albert Lee, BB King, Bert Jansch, Buddy Guy, David Hidalgo and Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos, Derek Trucks, Doyle Bramhall II, Earl Klugh, Eric Clapton, Gary Clark Jr., Hubert Sumlin, James Burton, Jeff Beck, Jimmie Vaughan, Joe Bonamassa, John Mayer, Johnny Winter, Jonny Lang, Keb' Mo', Pino Daniele, Robert Cray, Robert Randolph, Sheryl Crow, Susan Tedeschi, Sonny Landreth, Stefan Grossman, Steve Winwood, Vince Gill, Warren Haynes, and ZZ Top. I don't know which of those names they'll show.

I have two tickets. Tell you about it tomorrow.

Rondo Lap Steel Change

Here's the Agile Labradoodle, the newest version of their lap steel. What's the change?

The old version, like the old-school Fender Champion steels, had the bridge cover and electronics cover connected. And they had a Les Paul Jr-style bridge, which means you had to take off the cover to change strings. It was considered a pain. Plus, I have one guitar w/ a cover and one without, and I don't see much of a point to the bridge cover anymore. I like right-hand muting with lap steels. So, I agree with the change and am officially tempted.

That's a Strat-style pickup, by the way, for your modding pleasure.

Shred, Gordon Freeman!

This is a Logicaster from Black Mesa. Through-body construction, 24 frets, reverse headstock, Steinberger gearless tuners, Thinline-style pickguard and my goodness look at that top!

I'm not too much of a fan of the to-one-side fretboard dots, though. I like centered or nothing, but you know what? I think I could live with it.

The electronics are chosen special, using handwound pickups and top-notch switches and pots.

And not really through-neck, but the explanation is a little on the long side to the point where I mostly get it but can't explain it, so check the explanation here.

It's a looker, and I bet it's a player.

The Return of the Daughter of How I Found The Woman Tone

The Museum of Music Making has an exhibition called The Art of the Stompbox. This is part of the exhibit, despite not being a stompbox, and this specific picture is from their Flickr gallery.

It is also a Girl Brand guitar. Specifically, the Sushi Girl. The site says this one was inspired by Henry Kaiser, who is involved with the DVD for this exhibition.

There's two words I've heard. First, the pickups come from the Schecter of Schecter Guitar Research and come with a three-way switch for each, controlling the number of windings. Second, these things run about $5000 each. Which makes sense. They're works of art, right?

Gorgeous Instrument

Some lucky guy is going to be the owner of this Fender Custom Shop Telecaster. Photo from the Custom Shop Twitter feed.

... but I know what I like

Saw this on TDPRI. It's a Tele Custom, with Seth Lover Split-Humbucker in the neck position and Les-caster wiring, modified by Jesper Eriksson. Look at the projects — he's got Gibsons and Strats and of course Teles — with these massively cool paint jobs.

Trip To Guitarworks

I went to Greenwood, IN today to see the Hellecaster Will Ray give a seminar at Guitarworks. He truly is a fantastic player, and store isn't half bad either. I mostly took video, which will be forthcoming once I upload to YouTube, but here's some pictures of gear for everyone's edification

That's from their wall of G&Ls. I don't know if these count as Legacys or S500s, but they're nice. The bound sunburst in the middle specifically is a guitar that wants to be in my collection, I promise you.

This is an Ibanez S series of some sort. I love the look of the S series. I love that straight-in jack under the bridge. I love the look of the switch. I love the Strat-but-not body shape. And I love love love love love that birdseye figure on the top. It is great!

Eric disagrees. Eric is wrong.

And, at the bottom, is the Peavey Power Slide, which is a lap steel meant to be played standing up, when you don't have a lap. Like a dobro, but electric. They come in red, too. I do think I like the black best, but given my #1, is that shocking?

Twangbilly Dive Bomb

This is the Tracii Guns Signature Nash Vegas guitar from Dean.

You know Guns and Roses? Notice how Axl Rose's name is Rose? Tracii was the Guns of Guns and Roses before everything happened.

I'm torn here. "Fish" would be a guitar with a Floyd Rose and big beefy humbuckers. "Fowl" would be standard Tele pickups on a hardtail, or maybe a Bigsby. This is neither fish nor fowl. Or maybe not. It says it has "Nash Vegas" pickups, which could be stacked humbucker versions of Tele pickups, but as the standard Nash Vegas is discontinued, I can't look that up.

There's a philosophy for this blog, which isn't necessarily clear. In purest form: "This is a guitar-" "I want it." If it has six or twelve strings (or seven, or eight) and is played with a pick, this blog wants it. But I'm torn on this one. Pin-stripes? I like pinstripes. Teles? I like Teles. Floyd Rose? I want my next guitar to have 'em. But this isn't quite add up to "want", except in the most abstract sense. But, cool.

Cool Guitar Animation