1968 Blue Floral - Maple Cap

[sangandongo]

I picked this puppy up recently. Mentioned it in another thread about Blue Florals. It's all original except the removed finish. Frets are original and have a lot of life. It has a dark circuit, which isn't my favorite thing, but I wont disable that. I lifted the bridge and there's some of the old floral foil there.

I have been able to recreate the original Blue Floral design and am working on the right way to apply it to foil. More to come on that later.

Anyway, here are the pics.

1968 Fender Telecaster Blue Floral Maple Cap

25 shared photos & videos

immich.dumb.org

 

[monkeybanana]

I like how bill put his ssn in the cavity. You have a 1994 Nacho?

 

[sangandongo]

I like how bill put his ssn in the cavity. You have a 1994 Nacho?

I don't know? I just call my '94 Mexican telecaster that. Always have. My Mexican girlfriend thinks it's hilarious for some reason, so... hey

Does it stand for something else and I'm just ignorant?

EDIT: Looks like there is a company called Nacho Guitars... time to change my sig.

 

[monkeybanana]

I don't know? I just call my '94 Mexican telecaster that. Always have. My Mexican girlfriend thinks it's hilarious for some reason, so... hey

Does it stand for something else and I'm just ignorant?

haha yes a Nacho guitar by Nacho Banos who wrote the book on blackguards etc. He's been making sort of bench copies of guitars in the last decade not 90s though

 

[sangandongo]

Understood. I don't keep up with modern instruments or people who make repros. Makes sense now.

 

[Baracus101]

So are are re floralling it? Very cool

Isn't Oct 68 very late for a dark circuit? thought they ended in 67.
Also the cloth wire I thought the same

Just an observation

 

[monkeybanana]

So are are re floralling it? Very cool

Isn't Oct 68 very late for a dark circuit? thought they ended in 67.
Also the cloth wire I thought the same

Just an observation

It has "modern" wiring which stars in '67. Some darks could have left later but I've definitely had/have "modern" in '67s. Plastic insulation comes in mid/late '68.

 

[Baracus101]

It has "modern" wiring which stars in '67. Some darks could have left later but I've definitely had/have "modern" in '67s. Plastic insulation comes in mid/late '68.

Thanks, was aware of the modern wiring happening in 67.
For some reason I also thought they made the change to plastic insulation in 67 as well. But obviously not.
Good to know

Looking forward to seeing the end product of yours

 

[sangandongo]

So are are re floralling it? Very cool

Yeah. I was able to do a good repro of the original pattern. Started out with photos and managed to recreate the whole thing in vector graphics. I was able to separate the layers and have done a couple of test prints, but won't be able to continue working on it until I get back to the States in mid August.

I'm in Mexico for a month starting Friday getting away from all this, uh, "freedom" we're having.

Anyway, here's what I mean about layers. I've also got a friend with decades experience in silk screening helping me. We're going to see which way comes out better on foil. Anything you see in the first image that's white will end up being exposed foil. The other layers will be colored. I'm using the print under the guard on mine to get the exact color matching.

 

[Highnumbers]

Always a shame to see a Blue Flower Tele that has been stripped of it's finish, and sadly that happened a lot. The Blue Flower cling foil was far more delicate than the Paisley and tended to lift/delaminate from the guitar.

That, coupled with perhaps the lack of interest in having a floral print guitar in the 1970s led to a lot of these being stripped down. I just barely managed to save the original finish on mine, gluing it back down to the body.

 

[sangandongo]

The poly on the florals was also thinner than the Paisleys according to Zac.

Amazing you were able to save yours. I'd love to see it.