Tom M
New member
I hinted around about a year ago that I was doing a custom Tele project. I finished it back in June, but never took pictures because taking, resizing, and posting digital pictures is one of my least favorite activities. But, I finally dusted off the camera (and the guitar...) tonight and took some pictures.
I started out with a 2002 MIM Fender Tele in black/maple. I bought it new, and it lived a rough life. It was my 'experiment' guitar. On it, I learned how to solder (poorly). I changed the stock pickups to a SD Quarter Pound set. It stayed like that for quite awhile. I played it pretty often until I got my Schecter in 2004, and it was only brought out occasionally.
Last winter I was really bored. Looking for a project, I just decided to work with the Tele sitting in the corner. I stripped the thick poly off. To anyone wanting to strip a MIM body: the nastiest chemicals imaginable barely touched this paint. The only way to do it is get a heat gun, a scraper, and a lot of hours in the basement. Fortunately, this project wasn't so much about the results as the actual process.
I went to Reranch and looked around. I figured dying the wood would be the easiest way of getting color down. I picked up some spray Fender Neck Amber, and two bottles each of dark brown and orange. The actual coloring process was an experiment, ending up with me rubbing down a layer of orange and sanding most of it off. Then I put down more orange, and sprayed a thin bit of amber over the orange. The neck was stripped and redone in Fender Neck Amber as well, with a nice eBay-bought "Fender Custom Telecaster" decal.
You may notice I never sealed the wood or even filled some of the Fender-provided holes in the body. If I did another project, I would take those extra steps. The result of this is the Gibson-Faded-Series-esque finish, especially noticeable on the back. There's also a hole next to the jack, which was previously covered by the thick black paint. I never covered the burn marks on the inner horn from getting too close too long with the heat gun, either.
Clearcoating was done with Reranch's spray nitro. I started running out toward the end, so the back didn't get as much as it should have. By the time I got to sanding and polishing, I was getting tired of the project and just wanted it done. As such, the fretboard really didn't come out very nice. It could definitely use some more sanding time. The body is fairly smooth, with some of the edges needing a bit more work.
I started out with a 2002 MIM Fender Tele in black/maple. I bought it new, and it lived a rough life. It was my 'experiment' guitar. On it, I learned how to solder (poorly). I changed the stock pickups to a SD Quarter Pound set. It stayed like that for quite awhile. I played it pretty often until I got my Schecter in 2004, and it was only brought out occasionally.
Last winter I was really bored. Looking for a project, I just decided to work with the Tele sitting in the corner. I stripped the thick poly off. To anyone wanting to strip a MIM body: the nastiest chemicals imaginable barely touched this paint. The only way to do it is get a heat gun, a scraper, and a lot of hours in the basement. Fortunately, this project wasn't so much about the results as the actual process.
I went to Reranch and looked around. I figured dying the wood would be the easiest way of getting color down. I picked up some spray Fender Neck Amber, and two bottles each of dark brown and orange. The actual coloring process was an experiment, ending up with me rubbing down a layer of orange and sanding most of it off. Then I put down more orange, and sprayed a thin bit of amber over the orange. The neck was stripped and redone in Fender Neck Amber as well, with a nice eBay-bought "Fender Custom Telecaster" decal.
You may notice I never sealed the wood or even filled some of the Fender-provided holes in the body. If I did another project, I would take those extra steps. The result of this is the Gibson-Faded-Series-esque finish, especially noticeable on the back. There's also a hole next to the jack, which was previously covered by the thick black paint. I never covered the burn marks on the inner horn from getting too close too long with the heat gun, either.
Clearcoating was done with Reranch's spray nitro. I started running out toward the end, so the back didn't get as much as it should have. By the time I got to sanding and polishing, I was getting tired of the project and just wanted it done. As such, the fretboard really didn't come out very nice. It could definitely use some more sanding time. The body is fairly smooth, with some of the edges needing a bit more work.
