My Tele project is finally DONE!!!

And there she is, in all of her beat to hell glory! I've got a bunch of pics on my Facebook page right now - www.facebook.com/stressedoutguitars, and I'll have some HD ones on my actual website - www.stressedoutguitars.com. But for now, she's lookin' good! I still want to pick at the electronics some. I want to add a couple of mini-toggles with some fun mods, and I want to switch out the neck pickup with something funky like a mini-humbucker or another P-90 like I had in my other black Tele. I'm leaning towards a mini-hum, since that's an option I've never had in one of my own Tele's before. The only thing I don't like about that is that it'll look similar to the setup of Fender's '52 Hot Rod Tele. But maybe I can deal with that... I'm going to be asking Jon Baxter about a custom wind on both of those. I want another Nine-Five in the bridge for sure, regardless of what I put in the neck position. And I'm going to get them both 4-conductor so I can do some crazy sh** to the wiring. So many options, so little money! :) 

But at any rate, this thing sounds and plays awesome right now! The pickups were donated by my best bud - it's a Fender USA Standard in the bridge and a Fender USA Vintage in the neck. They really do sound great, but I'm probably going to spend my life tweaking this thing. I'll open it up for you guys when I get my new pickups and post some pics of the wiring afterward. 

Thanks for reading!

Merry Christmas

I hope that all of you had a joyous Christmas. And remember, Christmas is the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If this offends you, I don't care. Merry Christmas, everybody. 

 

Progress!

Well, I've got to admit, the holiday season at GC has kept me so busy that I haven't felt much up to working on my Tele project at home, but I got a wild hair up my ass tonight [on Christmas of all days!] and started to work on it again. Super happy with the results so far. The body is about 90% done. I still have to melt/sand away the finish on the arm bevel up top, and the "belt wear" section on the back. After that, it's all about the neck. I'm going to go for a pretty decent amount of fingerboard wear and give it a fret level and re-crown for maximum playability. It'll have a hand-rubbed lacquer finish that I'm going to wear off as soon as it dries. I'm just using it for color, really. And I'm slightly considering wearing off the Fender logo too, but I can't decide if I want to commit to the "parts-caster" look or not... Hm... And there's still the electronics conundrum. I ended up buying a large Vitamin Q cap, so that is going to limit my mini-toggle experience to just one due to the small amount of real estate in a Tele's control cavity. But I can do plenty with that option. I could, of course, go to a push-pull or two, but I hate push-pull's. Wiring them is easy and somewhat fun, but just something about pulling a knob in and out makes me crazy. Hard to explain. I just hate it. So yea... Probably won't be doing that. I know I'm going to stick with a 3-way blade though. I'm not a 4-way kind of guy. The extra position makes me get lost when switching. Hard to teach an old dog new tricks, I suppose.

So here's a look at it so far. Pretty good looking, if I do say so myself. It'll look much better with the arm rest worn away. Should have that done by tomorrow.

Look closely at the lit up part of the photo. You can see tiny lines running with the wood grain. Those finish checks are all over the guitar. Old lacquer finished instruments often have these kinds of markings, and I really dig that look. So I am rocking that like a hurricane on this bad boy. After the arm rest area and belt wear area, I'll add a few more specific dings and wear spots, but nothing major. So far, so good. Next in line is the neck and fret job. Lots more to do, but the end is finally in sight. Hard to believe this used to be a white Mexican Tele, right? :)

One last thing.

I forgot to mention the wiring scheme for my own guitar. I can't have a Tele with just normal wiring, now can I??? I'm thinking about 2 mini-toggle's, one being a phase switch, and the other being a direct-through mod. But I'm not sold on either one yet. I always have trouble making up my mind on that. My last Tele has been wired every way possible. It was my wiring guinea pig for many years, in fact. I might even do something totally bizarre. I have an idea floating around in my head, but I don't want to type it out. If I don't do it, people will think I'm a wimp for not doing it... But a man has got to know his limits, right? :P

One after the other!

So what's next after I finish my project? I've got a white Strat that's getting the Stressed Out Guitar treatment! Keep 'em coming, people!

Lots and lots of STUFF!

In addition to getting completely refinished, this baby is getting a complete electronics and hardware overhaul! It's going to have a new USA bent steel, 3-saddle bridge, Fender USA vintage tuners with extended bushings to make up for the larger hole size, a new cap, American Fender pickups and an Electrosocket jack plate with a Switchcraft jack! I also had to go with a black pickguard, which is the only logical choice on a black Tele, in my very humble opinion. This guitar is going to be dead sexy when she's done! Here's a shot of some of the hardware after it was finely sanded and rusted. Each piece has to be hand sanded before it gets dropped into my "special rusting potion". It takes some time, but the results are worth it, I think. 

Finish the finish, dangit!

And here she is in all of her blacked out glory! There are 2 scars on the front [you can see them in the photo] that I just barely sanded flush and then sprayed over again. If I was finishing this guitar without an aging job, they would be unacceptable. But since I'm going to beat it up, they're going to work to my advantage! When I'm done with it, you won't even know they're there. But all in all, I'm happy with the results. In about 2 days, it'll be ready to work on some more. Until then, I'm going to turn my attention to the neck. This might be the most violently Stressed Out Guitar that I've ever done, so I'm going to really work it over. I can't wait to finish with it!