About 3 years ago I decided to sell one of my Teles because I found a sweet deal on a ‘61 Gibson SG RI. I’ve decided to keep the SG, but I really missed my Tele. It was nothing fancy - an ‘07 American Standard, blizzard pearl with Danny Gatton Bardens, but it was such a sweet playing guitar and I just had a nice pro setup done on it, including fret crowning and polishing just before I sold it. I figured I had plenty of Teles, so I wouldn’t miss it. Wrong!
A couple years later I emailed the buyer, asked if he was enjoying the guitar. Of course he was - what was there not to like? I replied that it was good to hear he liked it and if he ever wanted to sell it to let me know. Surprisingly, he said he’d sell it back for what he paid for it if I really missed it, so I immediately worked out the details and got it back.
I decided to reverse the control plate, so I ordered a plate with an angled switch slot from Stewmac and a knurled metal switch cap with a set screw. While I was at it, I bought a Callahan bridge with three brass compensated saddles designed to replace the original 6 saddle bridge with bent steel saddles. I only did it for the look, but the heavy plate on the Callahan really improved my tone and sustain….NOT! Again, it just looks cooler, and that’s the important thing.
Now I’m all set, but I ran into a snag. On this model, the control cavity is stepped on the bottom, so when I tried reversing it, the switch bottomed out. I had to de-solder & remove the guts and rout the cavity to accommodate, and while at it, I coated it with graphite embedded copper paint. Probably did nothing, but why not? An amp builder buddy o’ mine who does the most beautiful soldering of anyone I know was then enlisted to solder everything back. It’s been restrung and I only lack getting out my old VU meter type tuner to tweak the intonation and she’s ready to go - after nearly a year. Man it felt good to plug that baby in and play, enjoying easier volume swells because of the reverse plate and heavy knurled knobs I forgot to mention!
For me, this is NGD!
A couple years later I emailed the buyer, asked if he was enjoying the guitar. Of course he was - what was there not to like? I replied that it was good to hear he liked it and if he ever wanted to sell it to let me know. Surprisingly, he said he’d sell it back for what he paid for it if I really missed it, so I immediately worked out the details and got it back.
I decided to reverse the control plate, so I ordered a plate with an angled switch slot from Stewmac and a knurled metal switch cap with a set screw. While I was at it, I bought a Callahan bridge with three brass compensated saddles designed to replace the original 6 saddle bridge with bent steel saddles. I only did it for the look, but the heavy plate on the Callahan really improved my tone and sustain….NOT! Again, it just looks cooler, and that’s the important thing.
Now I’m all set, but I ran into a snag. On this model, the control cavity is stepped on the bottom, so when I tried reversing it, the switch bottomed out. I had to de-solder & remove the guts and rout the cavity to accommodate, and while at it, I coated it with graphite embedded copper paint. Probably did nothing, but why not? An amp builder buddy o’ mine who does the most beautiful soldering of anyone I know was then enlisted to solder everything back. It’s been restrung and I only lack getting out my old VU meter type tuner to tweak the intonation and she’s ready to go - after nearly a year. Man it felt good to plug that baby in and play, enjoying easier volume swells because of the reverse plate and heavy knurled knobs I forgot to mention!
For me, this is NGD!
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