guitar finish question

[teal]

Hi all,

I've been bumpin round the net, scoping out Telecasters.

While I really really dig the 50's style Road Worn tele - it got me to thinking. In all the reviews I've seen of the guitar, they often mention the thin nitrocellulose finish. They say it helps the wood breath better and offer better tone.

1. Does this make sense to the guitarists here? I am rather new and don't have the practiced ear to hear such a thing.

2. How hard would it be to apply such a finish? I can get a Baja tele for less, do a refinish and let the runt beat it up for the look.

I did handle a road worn tele on Saturday and instantly fell in love with it but not the $$ tag.

[basementrocker]

go ot this web site to find out about guitar refinishing. I have used them several times to refinish my strat and got the perfect color to make mine look like Jeff Beck's. They sell the nitrocellulose finish also. just go by thier instructions and if done correctly should turn out nice.BUT it takes alot of time and patience to get it right.

[basementrocker]

oops - here is the link www.reranch.com/

[teal]

Thanks. The more I look, I am thinking it might be cheaper for me to buy a reg Tele for under 400.00 and modify it as I see fit. (That Warmoth site will make a man go blind)

I love the sound Mojo gets out of the TDL flame tele he has. Fralin blues set of pick ups. IIRC

[Happy Jack]

I don't want to spoil the party but have you heard of Fullerplast?

All may not be how it seems!

home.provide.net/~cfh/fenderc.html

reviews.ebay.com/Fender-apos-s-Dirty-Secret-Lacquer-Scam_W0QQugidZ10000000004616415

I would have thought it a lot of work to do a refinish on a Baja, you would need to remove the Fullerplast and then you wouldn't know how good the wood is underneath - would be better off buying a new body

I think type of wood and more importantly pick-ups will have the biggest effect on tone

Saying that if I had a choice it would be Nitro cellulose. My Custon is Nitrocellulose, much harder to get a good shiny coat according to the Luthier.

[teal]

Wow- thanks for the reading. I had not heard of that. I guess it would be easier to start with a fresh body were I to be really jonesing for the look.

Most likely I'll still get a reg Tele and mess about with the pickups and the like and then go from there. No sense jumping into a guitar build from scratch early...

Thanks again.

[kevina]

To be honest the amount of money for a Mexican Tele is not worth it compared to the Baja, you can buy a Reg Tele and upgrade it but you will still only have the option of the 3 way switch. The Baja will give you those 3 options as well another 2.

The Baja is only a fraction more than the regular and your going to bump the cost up with modifications

[Happy Jack]

Apr 20, 2010 6:23:46 GMT -5 kevina said:

To be honest the amount of money for a Mexican Tele is not worth it compared to the Baja, you can buy a Reg Tele and upgrade it but you will still only have the option of the 3 way switch. The Baja will give you those 3 options as well another 2.

The Baja is only a fraction more than the regular and your going to bump the cost up with modifications

I have to agree here for the price the Baja is superb, American made pick-ups 5 way switching and S1 switching.

I would also look at G&L Tribute ASAT if you are after a Tele style guitar at that sort of money

[469roadking]

Oh...........sorry, I thought you said guitar fetish question. I feel qualified to comment on that subject. ;D

[teal]

Ha!

At this point - I don't know what I'll do exactly. I don't have the cake to just go buy a 50's Road worn or a 52 hot rod (another one I love the sound of) and could see myself just getting little bits of kit here and there and then putting it together.

Part of it is I really want to point to it and say "I flipping built that - I don't care what you say, I built it, taught myself how to play and now I am happy". The other 1/2 says just buy a reg tele and learn and be done.

It's hard because the only real definite is I want a tele, I want to play the blues and maybe if I got really drunk - put together a little combo to mess about in.

Combine my intense desire to do this with my recent Paul Butterfield Blues Band album purchase (listened to it for 8 hours today at work) and I've gotten fired up.

[kevina]

If you buy a road worn guitar your wasting your money. Your pay 200 plus just for a look, its not going to play/sound better.

[pwfirst]

I will be starting my, I built a teli link in the next week. I will show and tell everything about the guitar I am building, why and where I got every thing and cost. Custom built neck and custom pick ups come in this coming week. Might give you some insight on a build.

[teal]

Awesome - I'll look forward to it.

Am thinking on ordering a tele body from Warmoth on Monday. 175 bucks - can't beat that with a stick.

[Happy Jack]

Apr 20, 2010 21:38:32 GMT -5 pwfirst said:

I will be starting my, I built a teli link in the next week. I will show and tell everything about the guitar I am building, why and where I got every thing and cost. Custom built neck and custom pick ups come in this coming week. Might give you some insight on a build.

I too will look forward to this. I seriously considered building a partscaster but realistically I don't have the time and I need to spend more time improving my crappy guitar skills

What custom neck have you gone for - compound radius?

[pwfirst]

It's custom birds eye maple neck. I like two types of necks, the old fender C neck and the clapton V neck , this is the old fender C neck with jumbo frets with the classic teli shape. I have never seen a neck with so many hilights in it and the luthier says the wood is over 50 years old and extremely hard. It is coming in this week. I hope it is a s good ast the pictures he has sent me