Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Mr. Brown brought me a gift today

This is the Telecaster body that I was talking about in an earlier post here. It needs only a couple of things done to it before I can start finishing it in this color. I guess I am assembling a guitar, not so much as building one. But, that is still righteous, and it will be done to my specs.

This is the neck that I picked for this project.It is a Fender licensed '50s reissue V-neck. I decided to keep everything old school on this project, so nothing too flash.

So, a bit of Telecaster history. The Fender Telecaster/Broadcaster/Esquire (same body style) were the first mass produced solid body electric guitars, seeing their way into high production by 1950. Most people think country music when they think of Telecasters--Telepickin'. Still, when you think that some of those country guys are Brad Paisley and Danny Gatton (R.I.P.), it makes up for country music's lameness--those two are/were outstanding guitar slingers.

What most people don't know is that Jimmy Page was a Tele player first before sporting his Gibson Les Pauls and Gibson Double necked SGs, played through huge Marshall stack amplifiers. Nope, Mr. Zoso recorded Zepp's first albums with his prized Tele that Jeff Beck gave him, played through a small Supro amp. That unassuming setup, in the hands of the master, made for a huge sound in the studio. Later, when Page went to his "classic" setup that I mentioned earlier, he used his "Dragon Telecaster" to play the solo on "Stairway to Heaven". Keith Richards, Prince, and Bruce Springsteen are also devoted Tele players.

I am so excited that I could give birth to a litter of puppies right now!

10 comments:

Julie Kwiatkowski Schuler said...

You are so knowledgable!

NYD said...

Man I can't wait to try out an electric guitar!

Chandra said...

I must be too young... Jimmy page in my most recent frame of reference is with P.Diddy in the song "Come with me" for Godzilla soundtrack... but equally a good rock out song!

Oh and the song with the border business was WORDS!!!

p.s Building your own guitar must feel pretty damn fab :)

The Grunt said...

Julie~ Well, I envy your talent for painting.

NYD~ I've been dreaming to own the big three types of solid body guitars: Les Paul, Stratocaster, and Telecaster. I've got a real Strat, a great fake Les Paul, now I will have a "Nocaster". I'm hoping to get a real good Richard Thompson sound. Even though he plays a Strat, his custom Strat has an old Broadcaster pickup in it, which is much higher output and has some sharp teeth.

Chandra~ Good song of mine. And, yes, building this guitar does feel damn fine.

Jules said...

She's going to be BEAUTIFUL when you're done Grunty... Can't wait to hear her first song!!

Christielli said...

Wow. Your skillz are amazing dude.

When I was in elementary school, I made a rocking guitar out of an old Kleenex box and some elastic bands. ;)

Keshi said...

wow I so want it too!

Keshi.

Claire said...

Awesome! And congrats on the puppies, I guess.

Cxx

Outdoorsy Girl said...

This is awesome! I really love the color your are finishing with. Next time someone asks my hair color, I'm gonna say "Butterscotch Blonde".

Anyhoo, can't wait to see and hear the final project!

The Grunt said...

Jules~ Yeah, I can't wait to get my hands on her. My other "ladies" will be jealous, but I can arrange a seven-way, wink-wink, nudge-nudge:D

Christielli~ Well, how come I'm just hearing about this? We need to start a band, pronto!

Keshi~ I'll make sure I spend plenty of time on the neck before I go down on the body;)

Claire~ I'll give you one of the puppies. You can name it "Banjo".

O-Gurl~ Butterscotch blond is what the original blond looks like after many years of heavy gigging and plenty of smoke-filled bars. I'm not saying that you got your hair color from the same process;)