62 retro Tele

Jusatele

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I was 4 when she was built, when I was nine, my father was buying me a Mustang, 69 competition orange with a yellow stripe. And I saw her the first time.
It was love at first site, hanging on the wall was a 62 fiesta red custom order Telecaster, the custom order I was told was the maple fingerboard, in 62 Production Teles had Rosewood.
I asked to play her and finally she was taken down and put in my hands. Nothing had ever excited me so much in my short life than holding a real professional guitar. I had in my hands a Telecaster, It was one of those guitars at that time you just felt you could only afford if you found a buried treasure. I messed with it a bit, the scale was to long for me and I walked out with my Mustang.
Sitting in the car I kept wondering why my father was taking so long inside, He walked out after 15 minutes and we went home where I had to do extra chores for the next year to pay for the extra 64 dollars that Mustang cost over the 40 dollar I had save by not spending my allowance for close to a year, yes a dollar a week takes time to buy your first electric.
My Fathers excuse for being in the music store so long was he spent 10 dollars for a 4 watt used tube amp so I could play. I continued studying classical guitar but when ever my father allowed me I plugged in the Mustang and Played rock and roll and outlawed country. About the age of 12 I had outgrown the abilities of the Mustang and was dying to get a REAL guitar. when Christmas came around around my father asked for my mustang and asked if I would trade it for a Tele. I cussed I was so excited and after a back hand for cussing in front of my mother and sister, he took me to his bedroom and pulled a guitar case from under the bed, in it was the Fiesta Red Tele I had fallen in love with and talked about for 6 months the day I bought my Mustang.
My heart soured as I picked it up and ran my fingers down the strings. o they were rusted, been sitting 3 years but I had a fresh set in my room and that day I played till my fingers bleed.
Advance till I am 51, that Tele which had been my best friend for close to 4 decades is totally worn out, the body is split, the neck is shot, the pick guard had lost pieces broken off, and someone offered me 16 gs for it. I sold it, I was unemployed and that represented not having touch savings to pay the house note for a year. And I cried.

I built Barn Door, and I love that guitar, she sounds so much like what I want to sound like. But she is not my TWANG MONSTER 62 RED HEADED WHORE

Today, at 12:43 UPS pulled up and there was my Warmoth Package, A Vintage Adler Tele Body.

I opened her and ran my fingers over here looking for every flaw, there are 2 sets of very fine seasons cracks, I will have to uses a grain filler/sealer on the front but she is perfect
Tomorrow the build starts, I will use a thin water based filler and sand back to 600, I am about to order a primer and Fiesta Red Nitro from ReRanch to set it off right and then the fun will begin

Pics are soon to start showing up, by December I expect to have her finished and I fully expect to have a nice replacement for the guitar I loved.
 
What a wonderful story! Almost brought tears to my eyes. It's too bad she's gone now, but I'm quite confident you can make a proper doppelgänger of the TWANG MONSTER 62 RED HEADED WHORE <grin>
 
Research is so cool
62 seems to be a transitional year
there are a few things you need to decide about
first is what they call nail hole Fenders
It seems that fenders were not hung up by paddles like today when painted, instead they put them on their backs, drove in 4 nails and painted the tops, then when they flipped them they stood up on their nails and protected the paint. so sometime in 62 they stopped doing such, and guitars before this time have nail holes in the front.
read here, down about 3/4 of the page under finishes
http://home.provide.net/~cfh/fender.html
and here about 1/3rd down under Nail holes and finish
http://home.provide.net/~cfh/fenderc.html
 
Cagey said:
What a wonderful story! Almost brought tears to my eyes. It's too bad she's gone now, but I'm quite confident you can make a proper doppelgänger of the TWANG MONSTER 62 RED HEADED WHORE <grin>
Could this be the same one from the RED LIGHT district..... :laughing11:
 
That was a cool story. I hope your build turns out exactly as you imagine it.  :rock-on:
 
This makes me very sad. I love vintage twang monster red headed whores. Seems we're building vintage twang thangs together, eh? Well, how about that. Can't wait to see yours completed, man. Fiesta Red is one of my favorite colors. Fiesta Red Jaguar with a matching headstock... mmmmmmm..........
 
well guys, behind every early solid color Tele, is a botched burst job

so I wanted to do that, but I fell in love with the burst

that means no Fiesta Red we are going tobacco burst, (and to think this was just practice to learn to do a burst)

anyway, I then applied my decal and instead of doing my guitar Graffiti on da wood, I decided to put it on parchment and put that on

so far I have the decal on, the parchment on and then sealed the wood so they are on the bottom of the finish

now I need to apply the nitro and let that outgas

here are a few pics

007ih.jpg


006vq.jpg


004ze.jpg
 
Sooo... still a twang monster whore, just not red-headed?

I suppose that's alright. Non-gingers need love, too. Plus, they tan better.
 
guess I am going have to update this soon, got the body hardware on and am waiting for the neck to arrive.
In true retro fashion I stuck with a classic bridge and got custom shop vintage wound pickups, I wired it with reverse plate controls how I always switch my Tele wiring to anyway. I find I like my volume pot right next to my hand and I prefer the PUP switch where I do not accidentally switch them mid strum. Another point is I do not get pickguards with pickup hole for the neck pickup, I prefer that wood mounted, seems to get a bit more high end out of it.

My first wiring on this is an experiment, I am going with 2 500 pots with a .022pf tone cap and a .022pf volume wiper cap. I just wanted to hear how it sounded so I wired that up the other day. I have a plate already wired with 250 pots and just a Tone cap. But hey can't hurt to see how it turns out, If that wiper retains the highs I may get some beef out of those 500s. Or it may turn out as bad as the grease bucket circuit we all love to lambast.

Anyway neck ordered Friday last week, Dangerous has been informed and money sent off to him for proper plating on the rear, ( as if I would run anyone else's neck plates). went with vintage style tuners, decided not to go as far as the long line ones as after all they are taller so whats the point. That is the great thing about a retrobuild, you can upgrade. Oh did I mention, I have fallen in love with Goncalo Alves necks, so this one is quartersawn Goncalo.
 
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