Heads Up! Brian Jones 54 BlackGuard Tele inspected

[vtcyclist]

Right on Gil. I was 4 days old when that strip of tape was signed/dated and placed in that body. I had to look at the date close up in photoshop because I thought at first it said "24/9/54". but it is a "29/9/54". And the neck is made in Sept 54. I know it is a pointless conversation, but how cool would be to have a tele from your birthdate/month?

[Casual_Reader]

Originally Posted by preeb

a wide to thin skunk stripe?

now granted, I've not seen a lot of vintage telecasters close up (oh, ok - none as old as this one), but that seems a bit odd.

[rangercaster]

i see other issues ... i said it would be interesting !!! more close-ups!!!

[DustyDave]

Originally Posted by vtcyclist

Right on Gil. I was 4 days old when that strip of tape was signed/dated and placed in that body. I had to look at the date close up in photoshop because I thought at first it said "24/9/54". but it is a "29/9/54". And the neck is made in Sept 54. I know it is a pointless conversation, but how cool would be to have a tele from your birthdate/month?

It would be Really cool to have a tele from your birthdate/month.
This one would do just fine for me, also, since I was born that month!

[Scatter Lee]

say hey, Will Mays caught that ball that day

[Mark-00255]

Fantastic! Great thread - cool guitar - can't wait to see and hear more details.

Nice one, scatter, on the Say Hey kid reference!

[9-Pin-Phoenix]

I can't wait to hear the story on this one.

That sure is a beautiful guitar.

[preeb]

The story:

Back in 1987, when I was 21 years old, after 3 years in the Israeli Air force, I was kind of pushed to get me a decent profession. I went to the Tel Aviv University and started a degree in accounting and economics. Hating every minute, I was looking for a way out and still had that little flame of music and playing buried in there as I used to play guitar a lot since 12 years old... life was going the wrong way I guess...
At that time I met a guy who played guitar and worked at a little guitar store and he asked me to drop by... that store was a 15ft X 15ft cellar in Tel Aviv and the owner... you guessed it right... was Mordechai. The store name was JazzRock and the place was loaded with killer instruments. Something happened to me that day and the little flame turned into a blazing fireball with blue lightning popping out of it, consuming the remains of the dark matter that kept me in the university... I quit, and on the same day went back to Mordechai and bought a black 1979 P-Bass. I just wanted a new start, new instrument and was really into the bass thing for some reason.
I'm not going to tell you my life story here... but things went well and a few years later Mordechai became the official Fender distributor in Israel and I worked for him on and off.
This was the beginning of guitar repair for me which eventually led me to building etc...
I have to say that Mordechai was like an angel to me... He wasn't the bossy kind... he was all heart and gave me the opportunity to do my thing and to self develop in his yard. All those years I knew that Mordechai has a stash of well kept vintage guitars and I had the chance to see a few of them for maintenance... but I never knew about the crown jewel. After many years I contacted him just to say hi... found out that he has 5 kids and left the musical industry long long ago... but remained the same great guy and it was fun just to hang out together.
About a week ago, while I was sitting in his kitchen and talking about guitar building, he mentioned that he has an old Tele... The way he said it... I felt that he doesn't speak about this guitar too much and I was surprised he never mentioned that to me all those years. He asked his son to bring it from the "vault" room...
As you know, Israel is targeted by its "nice" neighbors every other Thursday...so it's a must to have a safe room in every house. It's a thick concrete room with a heavy steel door... That was used by Mordechai to protect his precious collection.
I've seen many vintage guitars in my life and wasn't feeling anything special while waiting for the son to return with the guitar... and then Mordechai spoke about the way he got it... and here's how it went:
In late 1979 Mordi (That's how everybody really call him) was looking to make a few bucks by buying vintage and used guitars in London and importing them to Israel for a little profit. He went back and forth every once in a while and made a good connection with a dealer named Phil in London. Phil sold vintage guitars at his home and kept them in his attic. Not a real store... but Mordi says he knew vintage very well and bought and sold many guitars as a respected well established dealer. In one of his visits, Mordi was patiently waiting for Phil to get off the phone in order to close a deal on a few Strats... while waiting, he over heard Phil saying this on the phone "... You're not going to believe what I got here... I'm holding the Brian Jones guitar...". Now... Mordi is a great guy and I like him a lot... but he's not a big Stones fan... He only over heard something about a great old Tele belonging to a famous player... When Phil got off the phone, Mordi asked him politely about this Tele. Phil laughed but Mordi felt that this might be a good buy... (LOL) and asked Phil if it's for sale and how much was it. Phil said "Sure" and quoted 1800 pounds (about USD $2500). Back in 1979 you could buy 10 old Strats for that money and Mordi was planning on buying a few Strats but never realized that he's going to get one Tele instead... He did. He described it like this to me: "I didn't care much for Tele's but hearing that it belonged to a rolling stone made me want to have it in any cost. I just felt that I gotta have it. I was possessed...".
When I saw the guitar I noticed that it was probably original that was heavily and lovingly played but had a few parts replaced. I asked Mordi to bring it to the shop for inspection and measuring and he agreed. I will get into details (and you will input too) soon but... This is where I really need your help. I was trying to find a photo of Brian playing this guitar on the net and couldn't find anything... I read that he had quite a few guitars but he only used a few on stage. The guitar wasn't played at all for the last 30 years and it looks like a real player or players used it intensively between 54 and 79. This was not a 3 chord player's tool and it sounds really really good.

In order to verify this was really his guitar I need two things:
1) Finding Phil - If anyone knows a 50+ year old guy that used to sell guitars from his attic in the 70's in London...
2) Finding a photo or any info regarding the issue

Now... we've all heard B.S. stories like that before... but I know Mordi and trust him and he says that he trusted Phil as a highly reliable guy and 100% believes the guitar belonged to Brian...
But still, I need a real proof. This could bring the guitar to the front end of the famous instruments hall of fame.

I can't think of a better place to post that... and we're going public with this request for help. your input is required. I have the feeling this is going to be a great adventure...


I'm going to the shop now to document all the info and cut the templates. I'll post the inspection photos later.

[preeb]

Originally Posted by ReVintage

I would be interested to see these newly generated templates against your current ones for any (if any!) differences in outer profile.

You're a lucky geezer Gil!

They are all a little different due to heavy hand sanding in the early 50's.
I just need to make a template of every 50's guitar that I can put my hands on... This template is important because if this story verifies... I'll be able to have a "Brian Jones Model" ..... YEAH!!!

[preeb]

Originally Posted by Casual_Reader

a wide to thin skunk stripe?

now granted, I've not seen a lot of vintage telecasters close up (oh, ok - none as old as this one), but that seems a bit odd.

It's a 1" area filled with wood filler. It looks like the router kickbacked while routing the TR channel and fillers turn darker with time. Those old ones were not cleanly made you know...

[ehawley]

Great story Gil. I enjoyed reading it ! Thanks a million! The guitar is great too. I envy you your profession. I can't wait to retire so I have more time! It would be great to get the whole history behind the guitar. The only thing that I have seen strange in the pictures is the date on the tape in the control cavity. It is written in European style, with the day first and then the month and year. I have never seen that before on a vintage tele. Here in the US it is always month, day, year. Could the person working at the factory been from England or another European country? I don't believe Mexico prints day first. Alot of workers at the Fender factory were Mexican immigrants. That will require some investigation.
Again, thanks for the look at the guitar. I wish I was there!!
Cheers
ED

[Jack Wells]

What is the name on the masking tape?

[KevinB]

Gil,

Well, it's not a blackguard but did you see this photo?

http://www.brianjonesfanclub.com/pho...ides/0061.html



Terrific story by the way. Thanks for sharing.

[preeb]

Not sure... It is very hard to read. I thought it was xxxxx x 9/9/54...
Maybe Boris or Doris...
Wish I had more time to dig in... I'll ask Mordi to bring it in again if needed. We'll see.

[preeb]

Originally Posted by KevinB

Gil,

Well, it's not a blackguard but did you see this photo?

Terrific story by the way. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Kevin,
Yeah... it's the famous ugly frog googles photo (-;

[magicguitar]

Cool story, great pics... thanks!

[preeb]

OK... long day... didn't even had the time to complete the templates or to look at the photos... Too many Strats... Not enough TELES...

This blackguard is legit. It has the original Body, Neck, pickguard (without 5" circle on back), pu's, Finish etc... but I was undr the impression it suffered from severe rust (maybe too close to the sea or in a humid ares in England) because there were rust marks all over the guitar around the screw holes, tuners holes and bridge.

Here's the list of non original parts:
* most of the small screws were replaced in the 60's or 70's with fully threaded fender screws.
* Tuners + tuners screws
* Bridge plate
* One control plate screw
* Possibly - the whole control plate (not sure)
* pots
* 3 position switch
* Bridge mounting screws
* 1 capacitor

I'm only guessing that the original parts were replaced due to excessive rust.

Neck is medium soft V with about 0.87" on the first fret.
Body depth is 1.77"
Body marks in pocket only is #2 9/54
Control masking tape is faint xxxxx x 9/9/54
Neck date is TG - 9/54
very slight gaps in the neck pocket... as usual
One piece body
Smell is correct too (-;

Regarding tone and playability, It is a very good example of a black guard.
fast neck with low action and lots of resonanse, Loud and rich acoustics.
I totaly forgot to measure the pu's DCR though.... can you believe that...?? I really had no time and it was late... (Sorry).

So here we go again...

Another shot of the "welcome party"


some important angleg...

[preeb]

Serial number 7960 on neck plate


I start by removing the neck first... Correct 2" wood screw


Shiny in the correct maple section

[Tidepoolbay]

Thank you! I can't wait!

[preeb]

A little surprize under the neck plate... ESQ... and a correct rough back side of the plate




Neck came out with out a popping lacquer sound... It has been removed before...
It's a 9-54 TG neck. Most of the blackguard necks were shaped by TG


Neck belongs on this body and the lacquer puzzle fits 100%. it says 9/54 #2 in blue