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? :)