NGD! MIM Thinline 72 RI

[psyched]

I already have three teles I've modded the bejeezus out of, figured I was done. But always thought thinlines sure looked pretty... made the mistake yesterday of looking on CL a few hours after someone posted a MIM 72 RI in natural with a tweed case for 500. Did some reading, decided it was a fair price considering it came with the case, looked to be in decent shape. Well, it was, so it followed me home.

The action was a little low and the pickups were too high, and it needed new strings. So it was set-up time. Took it apart, put contact cleaner in the pots, did a level and crown, shimmed the neck toward the headstock end of the pocket, cleaned the body with a rag and some good ol' spit, backed all the screw tips into a small block of paraffin wax before I put everything back together, lowered the pickups by a mile, lubed the nut/string tree/saddles, put new strings on, adjusted the truss and saddles, stretched the stings and retuned a few times... and damn this is a nice player now. I already liked 7.5 radius necks, but with the low action and the vintage frets this baby plays like butter. Definitely happy to have a thinline in my tele family, and digging the difference in the WRHBs after playing nothing but single coils for a good spell.

So yes, picture:

[garyd5158]

Sounds like your enjoying a great "mistake". Love the natural look. Happy NGD.

[Controller]

Congrats, I love mine!

[psyched]

Originally Posted by garyd5158

Sounds like your enjoying a great "mistake". Love the natural look. Happy NGD.

I like the natural finish a lot more than I thought I would... thinking about throwing a white guard on it, though.

[dave1z]

I never was a fan of the mother-of-toilet-seat look of the pearl guards either. A white one would be much classier and more reserved and would mix better with the natural finish ... imo.

Originally Posted by psyched

I like the natural finish a lot more than I thought I would... thinking about throwing a white guard on it, though.

[ESQUIREoholic]

Beautiful Score!
REal nice grain on that one.

As far as the Pickguard, if you are thinking of changing it,
Black looks great on Natural too.
Look at Tele295's thinline:

[Frank B]

I love black PGs

[stilesg57]

Congrats, that one's purdy. I've always loved that thinline+natural+pearloid look -- it was the first Tele I ever really fell for visually.

[Rolling Estonian]

Originally Posted by Frank B

I love black PGs

I'll take three saddles vs. black scratch plate Alex.

M

[boris bubbanov]

I think black is the way to go, also!

Unfortunately, neither Darren Riley nor Allparts have such a thing ready made in their inventory. You may be looking at something that has to be fabricated.

So strange!! Black is simply a no-brainer on a strong ash grained body and that's how these look, for the most part. The Classic Player Thinline '72 Pickguards are different in that they have 4 pots, and I think there's a toggle on the upper left bout.

[kraigeyroxx]

That is a lovely guitar, would swap the pearl for black tho. Bet it sounds great!

[twangplank]

Ok guys. Y'all are simply gonna hafta stop showing all these nice 72 thinlines!!!!!

I just had a ngd and I got gas again!!!!!!

[psyched]

Yeah, I realized after the fact that aftermarket pickguards for these are waaaaay less common than I might have suspected... I wish Darren Riley did stock one, I'm local to his store...

Also thinking about dropping 500k pots in it, at least to try (what's that gonna run, like $8 or something? big whoop), and maybe some heavy knurled dome knobs for the hell of it. Haven't tried the Fralin mod with the WRHB yet, but will next time I'm due for a string change and I have the thing in pieces...

[Frank B]

As i mentioned in another thread, the 500k pot mod really wakes up the pups.
It's def worth it.