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NGD - Partscaster Tele with Rexter body - picture heavy

Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2019 7:39 am
by Bradley-Jazz
Hi all - hope you don't mind me sharing my new guitar - we all love Teles anyway, don't we?

It's an Ice Blue Metallic lightly aged tele, approximating a 1962....

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(I know IBM isn't a 62 colour, but there's plenty on there that isn't accurate anyway...)

The body is from Rexter, and is fantastic - a pretty light alder two-piece, with a great nitro paint job. It's lightly aged with some nice checking....

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The IBM is lovely - going from almost silver to dark blue depending on the angle...

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The neck is a Hosco - first one of those I've used, and it's ok. The slab rosewood board was quite anaemic, but after a couple of doses of scratch cover and F-One Oil, it has a nice dark colour, but with the figuring still; showing. The maple was treated with amber aniline dye, then a few coats of Tru-Oil. The finish was then rubbed back to age it, and make it feel ace!

Before:

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I put a Fender repo transfer on the head - I thought long and hard about that. My previous builds have had "own-brand" transfers, but I like the look of the F-decal on there, so on it went. I'm never going to try to pass it off as a real Fender (my soldering alone would be a horrible give away, anyway!), but I put a "tell-tale" transfer on the back of the head...

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I've never been into relic guitars before, but I do like the feel of it, and I love the fact that I never need to worry about chipping a pristine finish (my JM Jag has one chip on the side, and that nearly reduced me to tears!). Once I'd decided to have the body aged, I thought I'd carry it through with all the hardware, so it's all nickel plated, aged with white vinegar. I thought it wen't pretty well, for a first attempt.

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The machine heads are Gotoh, the bridge is Kluson, the pickups are Fender Pure Vintage 64s. I aged the pickups with ferric chloride (didn't want them sitting in the vinegar fume box for hours on end). The mint scratch plate was from Charles Guitars, and I cut the truss-rod scoop and took the shine away with Micro Mesh.

The saddles are Gotoh titanium compensated. These are interesting - the intonation is brilliant - absolutely bang-on. The note separation is excellent, and chords really ring. But... I'm not sure I like them yet. I find the sound is a bit too hi-fi, perhaps, and maybe too bright. I'm going to live with them a bit, let the strings age a little, and give it some time. I principally chose them because I wanted compensated saddles that look like plain steel early 60s saddles. Any suggestions?

Anyway, if you've read this far, thanks!

B

Re: NGD - Partscaster Tele with Rexter body - picture heavy

Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2019 8:40 am
by marqueemoon
That’s very nice.

Those Gotoh ti saddles sound like they’d be right up my alley.

Re: NGD - Partscaster Tele with Rexter body - picture heavy

Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2019 9:33 am
by MechaBulletBill
brilliant, love jon's finishes. which ferrules did you get? everything i was told said that the ferrules i got (for an mjt body) should have mounted flush but they didn't. I don't think the hole was countersunk

Re: NGD - Partscaster Tele with Rexter body - picture heavy

Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2019 10:25 am
by Bradley-Jazz
Thanks both.

I used Axecaster vintage smooth nickel plated ferrules that I aged a bit myself. The body was Jon’s standard Tele with counter bored ferrule holes. When I dropped them in, the ferrules stood proud and I thought I might have a problem, but I followed the tip Jon put on Instagram I think, and pushed them in steadily with a hot soldering iron. That worked brilliantly.

Re: NGD - Partscaster Tele with Rexter body - picture heavy

Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2019 3:12 pm
by Maggieo
What a beauty. :-* :-* :-*

Re: NGD - Partscaster Tele with Rexter body - picture heavy

Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2019 6:05 pm
by HNB
Looks lovely. Congrats on the guitar. :)

Re: NGD - Partscaster Tele with Rexter body - picture heavy

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 2:13 pm
by JVG
Tastefully executed - very nice!

Regarding the brightness of the guitar - before you change saddles, try a set of pure nickel strings. I've often found that to be a good antidote in such a situation. The difference is noticeable.

Cheers!
J.

Re: NGD - Partscaster Tele with Rexter body - picture heavy

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 5:44 pm
by i love sharin foo
Nice work! It looks really great!

Re: NGD - Partscaster Tele with Rexter body - picture heavy

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 7:18 am
by Bradley-Jazz
Thanks all, and many thanks for the pure nickel strings tip - will certainly try that!

Re: NGD - Partscaster Tele with Rexter body - picture heavy

Posted: Fri Apr 19, 2019 4:53 am
by X-Ray Spex
Jon does amazing work, I'm so in love with the Jazzmaster he finished for me http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/vie ... p?t=110415