heavydutysg135
New member
Ron Kirn Telecaster with Top of Line Components 5.5 pounds–WCR, Glendale, Callaham
This is the lightest tele I have played at only 5.5 pounds total. Tone is subjective but the guitar does resonate like crazy unplugged.
Guitar specs are as follows:
Pickups: WCR Messia Set wired with 2-300k pots and a WCR .047 cap wired 50’s style with a 4 way switch to allow for parallel/series ($400.00 upgrade if you can convince Jim Wagner to wind these for you)
Body: Ultra-light 1 piece vintage ultra-light Swamp Ash with Genuine Nitrocellulose Reticulated Satin Lacquer with natural amber tint ($250 upcharge when available).
Neck: Fatback one piece Maple with "Skunk Stripe" Vintage Tinted Nitrocellulose lacquer.
Fingerboard: 9.5 inch radius
Frets: 21 Medium Jumbo (6150 or 6105)
Neck Contour: Vintage Fat Back, with hand lapped back, and fully polished headstock
Nut width: 1 5/8 inch
Nut: Natural Bone
Keys: Sperzel locking ($75.00 upgrade)
Bridge: Glendale American Standard "Blackguard" Cold Rolled Steel ($99.00 upgrade)
Saddles: Glendale "Twang Plus" Intone Cutting Edge ($67.99 upgrade)
Control Plate and Knobs: Callaham Stainless Steel Control Plate and Hand Turned Early 50’s Broadcaster Dome Heavy Knurled Knobs ($95 upgrade)
The guitar does have some light play wear/clear coat dings in the back but the guitar is easily in 8.5/10 condition; I have tried to capture each small cosmetic issue in the pictures below. One cosmetic issue to note is that the tuners were not originally Sperzel so you can see 1 small extra hole and slight indents in the clear in the outline of the other tuners only on the back of the headstock (no cosmetic issue on the front). The other minor cosmetic issue is that I changed the bridge from the 6 saddle Gotoh that came from Ron to the Glendale; if you hold the guitar diaganolly you can see less than 1mm of the top of the bridge pickup rout out the side of the bridge (see 4th picture); this is small enough that you do not see looking head on. This very small gap is not visable with the original 6 saddle Gotoh bridge and Ron is a master builder so I assume that this is more a function of the glendale bridge being slightly narrow; however, I like the sound of the Glendale bridge more than the Gotoh (so I am planning to keep this with the guitar). If you just want the original 6 saddle bridge I can take $50 off the price of the guitar and sell the glendale bridge and saddles separately. I want you to know exactly what you are getting.
It would be approximately $3K to build a similar guitar from Ron and I am willing to sell for $1,450 with the pickups or $1,250 without pickups plus shipping (local sale obviously preferred). No Trades. Guitar comes with a Morgan Monroe case (probably not original to guitar) and will be packed professionally. I have references from past sales on TGP, Ebay, and the this forum.
This is the lightest tele I have played at only 5.5 pounds total. Tone is subjective but the guitar does resonate like crazy unplugged.
Guitar specs are as follows:
Pickups: WCR Messia Set wired with 2-300k pots and a WCR .047 cap wired 50’s style with a 4 way switch to allow for parallel/series ($400.00 upgrade if you can convince Jim Wagner to wind these for you)
Body: Ultra-light 1 piece vintage ultra-light Swamp Ash with Genuine Nitrocellulose Reticulated Satin Lacquer with natural amber tint ($250 upcharge when available).
Neck: Fatback one piece Maple with "Skunk Stripe" Vintage Tinted Nitrocellulose lacquer.
Fingerboard: 9.5 inch radius
Frets: 21 Medium Jumbo (6150 or 6105)
Neck Contour: Vintage Fat Back, with hand lapped back, and fully polished headstock
Nut width: 1 5/8 inch
Nut: Natural Bone
Keys: Sperzel locking ($75.00 upgrade)
Bridge: Glendale American Standard "Blackguard" Cold Rolled Steel ($99.00 upgrade)
Saddles: Glendale "Twang Plus" Intone Cutting Edge ($67.99 upgrade)
Control Plate and Knobs: Callaham Stainless Steel Control Plate and Hand Turned Early 50’s Broadcaster Dome Heavy Knurled Knobs ($95 upgrade)
The guitar does have some light play wear/clear coat dings in the back but the guitar is easily in 8.5/10 condition; I have tried to capture each small cosmetic issue in the pictures below. One cosmetic issue to note is that the tuners were not originally Sperzel so you can see 1 small extra hole and slight indents in the clear in the outline of the other tuners only on the back of the headstock (no cosmetic issue on the front). The other minor cosmetic issue is that I changed the bridge from the 6 saddle Gotoh that came from Ron to the Glendale; if you hold the guitar diaganolly you can see less than 1mm of the top of the bridge pickup rout out the side of the bridge (see 4th picture); this is small enough that you do not see looking head on. This very small gap is not visable with the original 6 saddle Gotoh bridge and Ron is a master builder so I assume that this is more a function of the glendale bridge being slightly narrow; however, I like the sound of the Glendale bridge more than the Gotoh (so I am planning to keep this with the guitar). If you just want the original 6 saddle bridge I can take $50 off the price of the guitar and sell the glendale bridge and saddles separately. I want you to know exactly what you are getting.
It would be approximately $3K to build a similar guitar from Ron and I am willing to sell for $1,450 with the pickups or $1,250 without pickups plus shipping (local sale obviously preferred). No Trades. Guitar comes with a Morgan Monroe case (probably not original to guitar) and will be packed professionally. I have references from past sales on TGP, Ebay, and the this forum.
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