double cutaway tele-type with glued in neck...

I grew up watching a kool old guy play this guitar at church...it's his playing that set my mind to believe that all those songs in the hymnal were supposed to have a twang to them...somewhere between honkytonk and southern gospel.

Long story short, I never got to record with him, he passed away a couple years back, I thought he had sold the old guitar because what few times I saw him before he passed he had a black strat squier, the twin reverb amp was nowhere to be seen. I was tossing around the idea of building a replica of it for my own use/to look at. I talked to his daughter and son-in-law the other day, lo and behold they told me they had the old guitar at their house and I could come by and get photos and dimensions whenever I had time...for some reason my memory was seeing a les paul Jr, obviously my memory was wrong lol...

I've never seen another guitar like this, knowing there are so many folks here that have seen and done most everything, I'm turning to the forum for some info...

...It's not "reliced," every nick, scratch, worn spot on the fretboard, missing dot inlay were earned over a space of probably 60 years, the first time I laid eyes on it was in 1978 when we moved to Arkansas from Texas, and it looked like it had been around a while at that point.

Any clue who made this? The family doesn't have any clues, his daughter just remembers "dad always had that guitar." It looks a lot like a tele but a double cutaway, and that neck isn't a bolt-on affair...



That knob on the volume control isn't the one he used to have on there, it was a rather large knob from an old OLD radio, he would use the back of his hand while playing to mimic the volume pedal of a steel guitar...and that single pickup...anyone know what kinda pickup it is?



not a bolt on...I guess it's glued in place?






Nobody had played it since he passed away, I didn't want to disturb the tuners from where his skilled hands had left them the last time it had been touched...but his daughter and son in law requested I go ahead and do so...it was a privilege to be able to play one of the songs we used to sing at church, we all shed a few tears and memories...anyway...

so yeah, if anyone knows what this is, I'd really appreciate the info.

Thanks,
Mark

 

They load through the bridge, yeah the nut has been replaced at some point since the late 90s, as have the tuners...it used to have the old open geared ones, three to a plate.

I wish I had audio or video of the guy in his heyday, he and a brother of his had a band in Michigan back in the 50s and 60s, first evidence I saw of it was at his memorial service, photos of them in white suits like real hep cats...he also played the piano in a style similar to, but one that had more soul than Floyd Cramer, and I'm a huge floyd fan.

 

OH WOW! That looks a lot like it for sure...looking up photos of it on google now, and that "new york" pickup from the earlier model sure looks a lot like it...

THANK YOU!!!