.So, this all started out as GAS for one of the reissues. But, they only came in black and sunburst. White, red, and blue were available on hardtail and/or P90 models, but I wanted the full model with the vibrato and Jaguar style wiring.
One day, I got this crazy idea in my head that this shape would look amazing in a sparkle finish. There are literally no photos out there of Thunderbirds in interesting finishes, though, so it was all up to my imagination.
On top of my obsession with sparkle finishes, I also have an obsession with bluebursts that started when I saw a G&L Comanche in the first Guitar Player magazine I bought as a 13 year-old.
Why are bluebursts so rare? They fucking rock.
So anyway, I give Stike at Rowyco a shout and then this happened.
The whole thing was a gamble. Because I'm in Canada, it only made financial sense to buy one from the US and have it sent straight to Stike. What it meant, though, was that I never got to play it before the refinish, and I knew that I'd never get my money back on it if I hated it.
Well, this gamble has paid off spectacularly well.
I love it. And not in the honeymoon sense - I've had it for around 6 months now. I posted about it when it was first on its way to me, but figured I'd make a new thread now that I've been playing it for a while.
Where has this guitar been all my life? It's possibly my ideal combination of specs.
A Jaguar was my first Offset, and my main guitar(s) for 20 years now. I loved the chrome, the switching, the shape, the scale length - everything.
More recently, I discovered how much I enjoy the Gibson scale length, though. Full-scale Fenders always feel a little big to me, but 24.75" Gibsons and even 25" PRS (boo, hiss) feel great.
Well, this guitar seems to take most of what I love about Jaguars and most of what I love about Gibsons, and mashes them up in a far more unique way than Jaguars with stop tails and humbuckers (of which I've owned several).
The switching is straight up Jaguar. Two extra chrome plates to house a darker rhythm circuit with volume and tone, and a brighter lead circuit with three on-off switches - even a high-pass capacitor in the exact same spot as the Jaguar's. The vibrato is a Hagstrom unit in roughly the same spot as a Jaguar's, too. The edges of the guitar are aggressively contoured which makes it as comfortable to play as a Jag, and it balances similarly on a strap.
The body is set-neck and everything is made of Mahogany though, like a Gibson. It's got two mini-humbuckers and (unfortunately?) a TOM, too. The blocks and binding are more Gibson-style, too, as is the 3x3 headstock.
But when you put that whole package together and play it, it's just so familiar feeling to me. Like a Jaguar and a Firebird had a baby.
And the finish. Stike nailed the blue sparkleburst I had in mind - I sent a few photos and asked for sort of a composite with some features of each. It's more saturated than a Pelham Blue but lighter than a Lake Placid, and he nailed the 2-tone fade to black I was hoping for.
We also decided to do the back of the neck in a matching burst and I'm so glad we did. Even while playing, you can see little moving glints of light from the sparkle behind the binding.
The only things I'm currently planning to change are one or both pickups - the bridge pickup is bright and jangly enough for me, but the neck pickup is sort of too much like a PAF, and I have my Flying V for that tone. I'm trying to cut down on guitar redundancy, so I'd like to get something unique for it. Oh, and it'll need something like a locking roller bridge, too.
The routs can fit Filtertrons, or if I get a new pickguard, Firebirds. That was my original plan - when I traded away my Firebird, I thought that I'd replace it by putting those pickups in this guitar whenever it was done.
I kinda dig the look of the stock pickups though, so I might see about opening them up and hiding the guts of a Firebird pickup in there. I also have two Filtertron-equipped guitars already, so despite how good I'm sure they'd sound, I'll probably go more into FB territory.
The labels explaining the controls are on the pickguard's protective plastic, so those will come off whenever I open it up for the pickup swap.
The thing that really runs through my mind as I play guitar, though, is that it's the first guitar that really felt like it was 100% "mine."
I don't know if it's because I've played Jags for 20 years, or because they've gotten so much more popular, but even my heavily-modded Jags feel like they're "just another Jaguar."
But this thing? Nobody plays Thunderbirds. Nobody talks about modding them. Nobody refinishes them. I know I sound like a special-snowflake hipster, but this thing is one of a kind, and I do get a kick out of that. And yet, with all its control plates and switches, it already feels like an old best friend.
With some Firebirds to lean into the whole "Fender meets Gibson" vibe, it's probably going to be my #1 for a long time.
Part of me is already wondering why I'm not planning out a second one in purple sparkleburst with single coils.
Oh wait. I think I already am.
). 
