Need advice! Original 1956 custom color

[2Old2learn]

I just purchased the Harold Bradley owned 1956 Telecaster and received it yesterday. If you are not familiar with it, there are detailed images online. It’s not functional at the moment, but it is legitimate in my opinion. I am not a dealer, barely a player and I just want to make it usable so I can experience the sound. My first objective was to get rid of the nasty sunburst finish and make it look like all the other 56 Telecasters. I couldn’t hurt the value, because it’s already messed up; that’s why it didn’t sell. Surprise! There is no blonde finish, the body is not ash and what I thought was a green second undercoat appears to be a colour coat.
Advise please!

 

[Killing Floor]

You have a 1956 Telecaster played by a guy who worked with Elvis Presley and Patsy Cline and you want to paint it?

Alright.

 

[MelodicBend]

Here's the real guitar in case anyone is wondering.

Nice try, OP. Haha. Good one.

Do Buddy Holly or Wes Montgomery next!!!!

 

[skunqesh]

advise? hoooboy

my best advice would be "STOP! put the sander down and step away from the guitar"

but here we are. you've made decisions that, imho, were highly inadvisable.
other's opinions will vary as they always do.
& of course, it's your guitar to do with as you will.

my 2c
a modified collectible guitar can't be made back into a non-modified guitar.
a modified collectible guitar that has a history and provenance with a known artist, is much much much more valued than refinished restored guitar.

ymmv.

Gruhn Guitars

guitars.com

edit: I seriously hope this is just a prank/trolling, but the forum has seen weirder things

 

[2Old2learn]

You’re correct, this is that guitar. I have put the sand paper away.
Unfortunately, no one seems to know the real history and why it was originally painted green. I’m waiting to see if more info surfaces.

 

[derekwarner]

I didn't realize Fender were using Polyester as at topcoat in 1956?......but then again I was only 7 years old whereas the OP was 8 years old

 

[cfay]

Yikes I think OP wasn’t kidding what a shame that guitar was ruined already. Unreal.

 

[Wildeman]

Ohh man!

 

[Monoprice99]

View attachment 1273242


Here's the real guitar in case anyone is wondering.

Nice try, OP. Haha. Good one.

Do Buddy Holly or Wes Montgomery next!!!!

Yep, what Harold Bradley made it into is what it should be reassembled as and kept for better or worse. Not sure why it didn't sell. But retaining it's history is a better bet than refinishing it. A shame that as this guitar ages, if it didn't sell until now, it most likely never will. Not sure today's generation knows or even cares about the artists HB recorded with of those names. It would probably sell easily & for more if the guitar could be identified with specific hit song recordings ? Then again, I just recall the Pawn TV show where they took a bath on the Vick Flick Strat. I recall reading that Strat was pawned for $ 55K, only to be resold for $ 25K.

Harold Bradley Estate Collection. Harold Bradley (1926 – 2019) was a member of the Nashville A-Team of session players and worked alongside his brother Owen Bradley to become one of the most recorded guitarists in history. He performed on many iconic recordings by Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Patsy Cline, Willie Nelson and Roy Orbison. VG, heavily modified, body reprofiled and refinished 3 tone sunburst (pro), original bridge cut in half, original stringing holes plugged and new holes have been drilled, HSC (homemade), tweed cloth/brown plush

 

[Festofish]

Hey could you do me a favor and not buy Eddies striped guitars.

 

[fretknot]

So this suggests that musicians have always had an urge to do things to their instruments to "improve" them, even when the results are a disaster. Myself included. Even Harold Bradley was tempted to do mods, instead of leaving well enough alone.

 

[hemingway]

So this suggests that musicians have always had an urge to do things to their instruments to "improve" them, even when the results are a disaster. Myself included. Even Harold Bradley was tempted to do mods, instead of leaving well enough alone.

Well . . . "well enough" depends on the individual.
If a guitar doesn't work for me I might well mod it until it does.

I got lots of sneers when I ditched the volume pot on my Strat and wired the other two as master V&T.

It's a common, popular mod, but you wouldn't think so from the people who told me I had vandalised my guitar.

Yes, some mods make my eyes pop and not in a good way. And I bet many of the owners know that they've screwed up, and then have to tough it out and pretend they love their mods.

But if something really works for me, I don't care who thinks it's a sin against the guitar gods.

 

[BigPapa-53]

You’re correct, this is that guitar. I have put the sand paper away.
Unfortunately, no one seems to know the real history and why it was originally painted green. I’m waiting to see if more info surfaces.

Wow…

 

[joaquinzinho]

View attachment 1273242


Here's the real guitar in case anyone is wondering.

Nice try, OP. Haha. Good one.

Do Buddy Holly or Wes Montgomery next!!!!

Look at the rust pattern on the bridge. If it isn't the real guitar, OP must be a really hard working jokester.

This thread is so sad. What was the purpose of sanding it yourself if you are not working on the refinish yourself.

 

[Sea Devil]

It's definitely the same guitar. The imprint of the odd bridge, and the small dot on the bass side of the "extra" rectangular part of that bridge, make that very clear. Why on earth anyone would even consider doing what the OP has done is beyond me.

It may be a refin, but the refin was done by a famous former owner who had a long history with the guitar. That's what it is now... or was. And the finish looked far from nasty, IMO; it was a total pro job.

I don't see how this can be made right. A horrible, horrible mistake, IMO.

That said, the damage is done. It's highly unlikely the the finish revealed under the sunburst is a factory custom color; it's probably just another layer of primer. Sometimes finishers will alternate contrasting colors of primer in order to clearly see filled scratches and dings, and will then finish it off with whatever color primer they prefer once it's definitely flat. I think that's what's happened here.

I suppose it could be fully stripped and finished in a period-correct whitish blond, but that won't get rid of the contoured parts of the body, and it will always be obvious it was a refin. In theory, you could replace the wood, but that would require removing more wood first. The restoration ship sailed long ago on this one.

 

[Engine Swap]

Flames, you gotta have flames!

 

[BigPapa-53]

that’s why it didn’t sell.

So they gave it to you?

 

[hdvades]

What the OP did was almost as bad as the time a priceless 145-year-old Martin acoustic was smashed on the set of a Quentin Tarantino film by Kurt Russel called The Hateful Eight. I hope this is some king of a sick joke, smh

 

[Sea Devil]

What really blows my mind is that someone would "investigate" a guitar's finish right on the front, in a very conspicuous area, rather than somewhere hidden -- under the bridge plate, for example, or at least under the pickguard.

Also, put on your thinking cap for a second: there's no grain visible under that sunburst. As the OP quickly discovered, there are multiple opaque layers of primer underneath. Could this be solely because of the plugged string holes, or could there be more damage to the wood underneath?

 

[Peegoo]

It's a guitar. It's wood and wires and some plastic bits. It's not the finger bone from Saint Wellrod.

There is no magic in this thing because until someone picks it up and plays it, it's a doorstop.

It's been previously modded, to include what appears to be a MIDI hex pickup. I doubt that was used on a Patsy or Elvis record.

If bought as an investment, then you don't touch it. At. All.

If bought as a player, then all bets are off.

It's not your money. Why the pushback? A guy buys an old guitar that has some provenance and a bunch of previous modifications, and he wants to play it and make it his own. Nothing wrong with that at all, because he knows the value of the piece: he bought it! With his own money.

Just my three cents