Is modding a teles body sacriledge?

It doesn't matter what people do to their guitars, or how much they paid for it...
Modding is a way of individualizing your guitar... meaning: making it perfect for YOU...

So I quite like the guitar here, but I wouldn't buy it, because it's not the guitar for me... Nor should the seller expect to get much money for a probably very expensive and very "professionally destroyed" guitar... Expecting people to pay a large sum of money to have a guitar that was made to the exact specifications of somebody else, might be a case of megalomania, unless the seller is a really, really big star...

Second hand, I'm always willing to pay at least half MORE for an untouched guitar, than for a modded one... Once, a seller asked me why, and I answered that I had to deduct the cost to get it back to a blank canvas. He didn't see why I thought his modifications were not the right ones for me, and I didn't buy it... I lost track of it after a few months, and a few price changes... The last price I saw for it whare barely higher than what I offered.

 

And it's not even a Fender neck....

 

Is there a telecaster rescue league?

 

I saw the old precision bass after the fact.The strings were buzzing on the lower frets
so the Idi-t just pulled them out.Believe it or not,some fellows do not know what a
"set up" is.This Kid was 19 years old.There are old timers right now who have guitars
they bought way back in the 50's and 60's,,and really don't know what they have.
Some are sitting on goldmines and don't even realize it.They say;;"So what if I chop
the horn off,it'll give me something to do".

 

I think it looks fine, not what I'd have done but if you view it as a partscaster that isn't trying to be a Tele it looks natural and well executed. Of course, with that 'original 72 style' decal he obviously still wants it to be a Tele which seems a bit weird, but with a non tele headstock shape that complimented the modified body it could look pretty cool.

It goes without saying that the resale value is trashed with a mod like that though.

 

Sacrilege? Of course not, it's a tool. Worth $1100? Only you can answer that...

 

I like it!

 

Here's a couple pics of my personally reliced, 1991 American Standard, that was sunburst.. You might say that I also 'personalized' it.. I carved a picture of a dog house and the names of the three dogs in my life, along with my name and the name of my recording studio, " DCF Studio", Winchester, Va. It has a Pat Pend bridge, a Warmouth boat neck, a Cavalier Nashville lion bridge pup, a CS. Texas Special neck pup, and a .o15 tone cap...Hey? But that's all, ha ha ha. I don't think a thief could sell or show this guitar if he stole it... I wouldn't do this to a Custom Shop model oe a 52 reissue, but these aren't all that great It has a seven piece body and book-matched alder top and back..

 

Do anything you want to your Tele or parts build.
Just don't expect it to have any value to anybody else.

 

It's done well but it's not for me, hey anyone else notice the heart tattoo with Mom in the middle.

 

That's a great reminder that mods that devalue a guitar in the eyes of everybody else might be priceless to the guitar's owner. It's your guitar and if you can make it something that personal to you then the value of the mod goes far beyond what effect it has on the guitar is worth.

Of course, the argument would be undermined somewhat if you stuck it on Craigslist for three times what it's worth...

 

I agree.

If somebody wants to make a tele-ish guitar cut like that, fine, but to do it to a Fender is just ridiculous and to try and sell it after you do that is even dumber. That guitar would have the most value disassembled and parted out.

 

I have taken two guitars to Mr Bannerman for set-ups and neck work, and he has not offered to cut the horns off either guitar
He does good work

 

I agree that people can do whatever they want to their belongings , I dont really care
That one isnt really bad , some headstock designs would bother me more....

 

Why would someone do that to a '72 Tele? Just doesn't make sense to me.

 

I don't hate it, but I wouldn't buy it either. It sort of looks like a Toronado or one of the handful of other Fenders that don't look as good as a Tele to me.

 

Rick Kelly has been making Teles without a lower horn for a while.. think he started doing it after being contacted by Fender regarding trademarks.. Don't totally hate it but don't love it either. Looks much better on a traditional T than on the Custom.

This thing that the OP posted is a wreck. I get a kick out of the way these guys try to make a disaster sound like something special.. The description given for the Allparts neck was particularly amusing..

BTW I bought a brand new American Vintage 72 Custom for $1050 about a year ago..

 

Leo did it right the first time!!

 

D'oh !
I guess I didn't look at the neck...

 

Me too!