Fender Bullet Owners Club

[Ploppy]

Originally Posted by yoreel

No problem, always feel free to ask anything.

I have just bought another one as well, also a red tele shape, with a black guard, it also has a damaged decal, unforunately that makes number 13 in the collection - not ususally superstitious, but think I may need to get another to even things up, not sure my better half would agree ...........

Looks really nice - i think i prefer the black guard on the red body rather than the white.
Are you going to replace the decal or leave as is?
Doing a deal on a red tele shaped one at the end of the month, but was just let down on one - arranged my day off work to pick it up and the guy went and sold it the day before, didn't even give me the opportunity to up my price - was very dissapointed to say the least!
In the mean time i'm going to tidy up my cream one - there's one nasty chip to the rear of the bottom horn - given that the cream colour has aged does anyone know what's the best way of getting a colour match to touch it up?

[yoreel]

Originally Posted by Ploppy

Looks really nice - i think i prefer the black guard on the red body rather than the white.
Are you going to replace the decal or leave as is?
Doing a deal on a red tele shaped one at the end of the month, but was just let down on one - arranged my day off work to pick it up and the guy went and sold it the day before, didn't even give me the opportunity to up my price - was very dissapointed to say the least!
In the mean time i'm going to tidy up my cream one - there's one nasty chip to the rear of the bottom horn - given that the cream colour has aged does anyone know what's the best way of getting a colour match to touch it up?

I think I am leaving the decal as it is, I could get one made, but I don't think its worth the hassle, may change my mind later tho

Concerning touching up your guitar, you could look for a match in car paint spray cans, I know some smaller shops stock the touch up cans for vintage vehicles & you will probably find some info on the internet. You could also try to match with match pots from the DIY stores & experiment with mixing them up, I know its emulsion, but cover it with a lacquer or varnish & you should be able to get a decent finish.
Another way is to take the body into a DIY store that does the Dulux mixing, they can scan it, whack it in their computer & mix it up, you will get a more or less exact match in either satin wood or gloss, but you will have to buy at least a 250 ml can of paint I think & that will be quite expensive, thats the way I would go if I really wanted to touch up the chips, buff it in after a few days & lacquer it & buff out again, you probably won't even see the join - you could use the rest to paint something else the same colour as your guitar .......
Let us know how you get on.

[yoreel]

Originally Posted by elams1894

Welcome back J!

Ha the kids, I bet they take some work and time ay.. and Leeroy twin girls! I'm late at that game but it won't be too long now for me and a massive reality check in store for me I'm sure haha.. That will no doubt signal the end of guitar building for a while.

@Leeroy - I checked out the warwick dolphin your bass player acquired - they are some nice pieces! There are some real nice bass builders out there and those warwicks are a beautiful shape. The wood looks amazing too. I re read through this thread and checked out your other website posts and got some real good info regarding sizing templates and pickup technicalities. I should be able to turn out a decent bullet sometime soon. Such great contributions to this thread its great.

I'll send some photos of one of my strats I made to your email Leeroy all good.

Good luck with that tele J
G

Ha ha a reality check - you bet - normal life on hold for the first few years, take a tip from me & during the bedlam, take time out & savour those little memories, it all goes far too quick.

That Warwick is a work of art, they know what they are doing with those woods, I suspect you could not get away with the top horn design with most woods, its quite thin & would probably snap, its also very well balanced & has a lovely action for a bass.

That would be a top feature if you managed to build a replica Bullet, I can't wait, get those machines running now .......

BTW you have me thinking about wood a lot, since those emails

[yoreel]

Originally Posted by jays0n

@leeroy, wow 14 and then still un built ones! Glad your gettin em all though and your work situation should as you say alow for some building. I am actually totally jealous of what you have planned after the company thing ends. I dream of doing something like that but the dang mortgage has too many years all mapped out for me. Weekly gigs still happening? You using the bullet you supped up still?


@Elams1894, thanks and oh yeah kids are tough. I cannot imagine twins. I have two but the oldest at 4.5 can pretty much take care of himself so we can watch the little one. With twins, I cannot see where a break would come. Leeroy, how did you do it? Oh and dang I mentioned to someone in the office that I was putting a new duncan in this tele I will sell and now he wants it. So it never made it to any place for sale really. But I had assumed it would sell here at tdpri if I had to.

Jay, the work thing has not quite worked out how I planned, but the early closure does offer a change in direction & I look at it from a positive view point. The rules in the UK concerning company pensions have changed recently, so I can't get at mine for a few years, but I have a good redundancy package & should be able to pay off that dreaded mortgage, I will have to find work for a few years, but no more shift work for me, happy days !

The main thing being that I aim to take some time out when I do leave to fiddle with guitars & get that website finished ......

The twins thing was relatively easy, because we did not know any different, if we had one before the twins it would have been a different story I think. The girls were born premature at 28 weeks & I take my hat off to the doctors & nurses in the special care unit, there were scary times, but they always remained calm. Because they were so small, they had to be fed every 3 hours, so we did it in shifts when they finally came home. I would say the key to everything is routine & regularity & after a few weeks they were sleeping through the night, I remember things being quite tranquil & calm in those early days & quite therapeutic - a calm before the storm so to speak, they had their moments, but on the whole it was good !

The band has been playing about once a month this year, but in September we have one every week, the Bullet is performing sweet as a nut & I am getting used to the pickups now. We are giving ourselves a well deserved kick up the arse & learning some new tunes, Stevie Wonder's Sir Duke being learnt as we speak & some old school Parliament Funk toons also in the bag.

What Duncan pup are you putting in your tele ?

[Ploppy]

Originally Posted by yoreel

I think I am leaving the decal as it is, I could get one made, but I don't think its worth the hassle, may change my mind later tho

Concerning touching up your guitar, you could look for a match in car paint spray cans, I know some smaller shops stock the touch up cans for vintage vehicles & you will probably find some info on the internet. You could also try to match with match pots from the DIY stores & experiment with mixing them up, I know its emulsion, but cover it with a lacquer or varnish & you should be able to get a decent finish.
Another way is to take the body into a DIY store that does the Dulux mixing, they can scan it, whack it in their computer & mix it up, you will get a more or less exact match in either satin wood or gloss, but you will have to buy at least a 250 ml can of paint I think & that will be quite expensive, thats the way I would go if I really wanted to touch up the chips, buff it in after a few days & lacquer it & buff out again, you probably won't even see the join - you could use the rest to paint something else the same colour as your guitar .......
Let us know how you get on.

Cheers, i'll try and find somewhere to colour match it - i'm thinking of Focus or Halfords maybe - i don't mind all the other wear and tear on it, but this one spot, about 1cm really bugs me.
I got one decal made up for the bullet i was let down on and it cost a tenner all in but is a fantastic match.

[Five-O]

Where can you buy replacement parts for these, esp pickguards ?

[yoreel]

Originally Posted by Five-O

Where can you buy replacement parts for these, esp pickguards ?

For the 1st generation tele shape standard Bullet, you will have to source an original on ebay or another auction site, or get a metal one made.
The 1st gen Deluxe is the same as the S2 2nd gen, not sure if they do an S2 at WD, but you can get one made elsewhere.

2nd generation strat type Pickguards here ;
http://www.wdmusic.com/pickguard_bg_3900.html

or ebay here , same thing ;
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-White-3-Pl...item20b201865d

But beware, I got a WD S3 & it did not fit too good, holes not matching & badly cut round the bridge area (too small), I had to modify it, but wasn't happy so got another made locally in the UK & its spot on.

I would source a supplier & get one made from a template or send an original pickguard to copy, for an exact fit.

All other parts are strat parts, ie switches, pots, knobs, klusons or F tuners, there are bridges available also, I posted one thats suitable a couple of pages back, angelainstruments is a good source for parts as you are in the US.

Good luck Leeroy.

[gururyan]

Originally Posted by yoreel

Just got this one - another evilbay purchase.

It was in a bit of a sorry state when it arrived & I thought I had made a big boo boo on this - but after 3 hours of TLC & a set up, its not bad at all. It has a ply body & is the only one I have that is built in 81, it has March 81 pot dates (12th week 81), although the Bullet was not introduced until June 81, this is quite normal to see earlier part dates, as Fender purchased parts like this in bulk. The 30th Oct 81 is the written date on one pickup, this Oct date is the latest date on the guitar (no neck date), so I would assume from the info supplied by John Page, that this guitar was built in Korea then returned to the USA for assembly.

The decal is damaged, I think its due to a humid environment, as there was also a lot of rust around the bridge end.

The headstock & neck pocket serial match & heres a little bit of minor info :- I noticed as with some of my other Bullets that there were two serial stickers in the neck pocket, the one underneath has the printed serial, but it is very faint, so another has been added & hand written, I suspect the print machine was a bit unreliable !

This one has double line Kluson Deluxe tuners, most that have Klusons have the plain Klusons, the tuners are original as they have the patent No. stamp & you can see thay are old, a litlle too much grease used on them in the past I think, as they are really stained & yellowed.

The case is the original ie; cut out for the tele shape & not one with a strat shaped cut out that has been purchased separately. I usually remove stickers from the case, but I thought this one had some mojo going on, so left them on, it also has the dealer sticker where the guitar was first purchased.

It plays great & this one has a relatively flat 12inch radius & a soft V profile, very comfy in the hands, it also had slightly higher fret wire than the vintage spec that is usually used, I don't think its had a refret as the fret wear although not too bad, is consistent with the the rest of the guitar & its age.

The truss rod needed a tweak to get a tad more relief, as the strings were buzzing around the 12th fret & the intonation was way out, I had to remove all the saddles & use some easoil & 0000 grade wire wool on the saddles, springs & screws, all cleaned, back on & intonated - its great, needless to say I widdled away for another hour or two - happy days

I wanted this, still do. All the specs I have been waiting to find.

[yoreel]

Originally Posted by gururyan

I wanted this, still do. All the specs I have been waiting to find.

Were you bidding on it too ? It was an ebay buy, the neck on it is really comfortable, sounds great with new strings.

[Ploppy]

Originally Posted by yoreel

Were you bidding on it too ? It was an ebay buy, the neck on it is really comfortable, sounds great with new strings.

The necks are superb! Cant believe how good mine feels, probably one of the nicest i've played.

[Five-O]

Thanks for the info Leeroy ( yoreel ), that helps...Five-O

[yoreel]

Blister caused by muting the strings over the protuding bridge saddle screws on my Korean bullet

I had some veg out time today on my day off, so spent it playing along to some classic songs on my Korean Squier Bullet - time to change the saddles I think .........

Mustn't grumble tho, I spent some time playing along to some classic Hives, Phoenix, Kings of Leon, Razorlight, Biffy Clyro & a great old Groove Armada toon called Purple Haze, its got a great guitar riff a bit like American Woman, anyone out there know if its a sample ? Listen here :-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx1_M6IHoIU

Also had one of the Bullet Deluxe out for an airing & the Walnut S2 Bullet tuned to drop D in E flat for the Biffy Clyro stuff - sounds confusing but its not really & you can pin those Biffy licks - Mr Simon Neil is a great geetar player with a good voice too, I got quite engrossed in "Many of Horror" a very emotional & beautiful toon - well worth a listen & the sound is easily achieved on a USA Bullet, click the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAh--lH0H3U&feature=av2n


I was meant to be learning some more tunes for the band, but it all went out of the window - I love geetars

[ac15]

I owned a Bullet bass in the early to late 80's. I played numerous gigs and rehearsals with it, kicked it around stages etc (we were kind of rowdy), but unfortunately it got stolen at one of our gigs playing Metro (a club in Chicago). Wish I had it now. It was a pretty nice bass.

[yoreel]

Originally Posted by ac15

I owned a Bullet bass in the early to late 80's. I played numerous gigs and rehearsals with it, kicked it around stages etc (we were kind of rowdy), but unfortunately it got stolen at one of our gigs playing Metro (a club in Chicago). Wish I had it now. It was a pretty nice bass.

Its quite reassuring to know that musicains are the same the world over, unfortunately so are thieves, its probably ended up on ebay by now !!!!!!!

[yoreel]

Join me in saying thanks to Jay for getting this little club started, its been over a year now & we have learnt a lot about the USA Bullet in that time.

THANK YOU Jays0n

[Rubberfunk]

Originally Posted by yoreel

a great old Groove Armada toon called Purple Haze, its got a great guitar riff a bit like American Woman, anyone out there know if its a sample ? Listen here :-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx1_M6IHoIU

Yep, rather appropriately it's a sample of 'April, Spring, Summer & Wednesdays' by Status Quo :)
Great live version from 1970 here, with Telecasters in full effect : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDoU3q1NaMw

[yoreel]

Originally Posted by Rubberfunk

Yep, rather appropriately it's a sample of 'April, Spring, Summer & Wednesdays' by Status Quo :)
Great live version from 1970 here, with Telecasters in full effect : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDoU3q1NaMw

Thanks for the info & the memories !
Wow that is a blast from the past, Status Quo had so much to do with me picking up a guitar, especially Francis Rossi.
I have that album somewhere & should have recognised the riff, their early stuff was great.
I saw them at The Empire Pool Wembley in 1973,which is now Wembley Arena, they were a huge act in those days & have always been a great live band - that was my very first concert & a turning point .......

[bulletsq]

hi,
I'm from Romania, Bucharest,i'm new here and i have found this forum few days ago.I own a Fender Squier Bullet1 MIJ Sq series, serial number SQ17114, since 2002, and i like it very much.It sounds great for a low cost guitar.Last week i was going to selll this baby, but yesterday i faught it-s a stupid ideea.i want to know thinks about this guitar, want kind of wood is constructed, i don-t know to interprate the serial number...what pickups are on it....i want to learn everything abut this guitar.and i realy want to know if she worths something.i want to change the pickups, waht pickups are u recomand me?i play blues, classic rock, i play something like TOTO, steve lukather...etc.
Sory for my english and i wait an opinion! i will try to put some pictures with it

[jays0n]

@bulletsq, welcome and DON'T SELL IT. You will regret it and never be able to replace it for the money it will bring. I have a japanese bullet neck on one of mine and it is fantastic. I have no idea about the bodies from japan but others here will. Neck is nice maple though, with nice frets. Leeroy and njjoanjetfan both have asian bullets and should tell all. I just want to say welcome and, yeah, where are our photos :)

[jays0n]

@leeroy, hey thanks for the thanks. I tried and tred to find a home for a bullet club or group, whatever we wanna call it, and just for these reasons. I wanted more info and to get everypone else out there to come out and share stories and photos. We sure have collected a lot of stuff here. Hats off to TDPRI to for sponsoring the thing. We even got tpo talk with the man himself here (Mr. John Page). But also you Leeroy, with half the bullets in the UK are a huge source of info and probably the biggest contributor. Thanks for all that help. Oh and sorry I missed your question about the pickups in my tele at the end of you other post. Bridge was an stl1 and neck I will have to get back to you on. I just got it but forget. :)