Show and Tell - a favorite guitar of yours!
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Midgetje94
Friend of Leo's
This guitar has been featured here a few times. I have and have had much “better” guitars. But this is a build I did about 3 years ago. Many of you may remember it.
Nothing fancy. A cheaper eBay nitro body. Mostly fender hardware except the bridge. Beautiful Extra Crispy pickups from none other than @Bootstrap
A mighty mite neck.
Seemingly a pretty generic partscaster. But was built after our son passed. It was my coping mechanism. But it gave it a sense of magic. When I worked on it, I worked with Memphis (son’s name) in mind. When I play. I get a different feeling than when I play another guitar. It’s hard to explain. But. I feel it’s a connection. When I have a bad day, music helps. But there’s a magic that happens with this Telecaster.
Edit: the headstock features his initials. As well as a sunflower (my mom turned to gardening when he pasted.) Sunflowers very quickly became “M’s” thing. So wanted to include that. Wanted to add some flair to it. @Steve Holt i believe actually helped with the stone layout. (Gave my concept some meaningful direction.) so thank you again for that sir!
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Well, it ain’t a Telecaster!Pretty much all of my guitars are favorites, in one way of another, or I wouldn't have them. But this one is a special favorite for me:
It even matches my beloved pups!
I bought the body on eBay (In-trance guitars), as an empty, bare-wood Thinline body, crafted by a skilled guitar wood worker. It has an alder body with a beautiful 1/4" thick, figured maple cap.
Then, the bare, empty body sat for well over a year, as I pondered just how I wanted to finish it. Ultimately, I decided that multiple coats of clear, wipe-on poly (which is very thin, but durable) would be the easiest for me to apply (not being skilled at applying guitar finishes) and would provide a beautiful and protective finish.
Then, I selected pickups and electronics (Cavalier Wolf and Huge Lion pickups) and neck (a 2018 Fender American Special maple with some cool figure in it) and brought it all together. Resulting guitar is 6.3 lbs.
I love it because it plays, sounds, feels, and looks great. And because it was, largely, a very personal vision and creation of my own.
I like how the figure in the maple fretboard goes with the figure in the maple top.
What chu got?
But, I do have a favorite guitar.
This axe was my first electric guitar, so it holds a special place in my heart.
In 1985, my bass player insisted that I buy an electric guitar. I think he was getting frustrated with my acoustic guitar ramblings, and he wanted us to sound more electric.
Anyway, he knew a guy with a Guild for sale at 200 smackers. That was a lot of clams for me back then, but I bought it sight unseen, based on my bass player’s recommendations. (He was also a good buddy).
It turned out to be a 1969 Slim Jim T-100, which was perfect for me, because my first name is Jim!
We started to get more gigs, and this guitar became my gigging guitar for 8 plus years.
It is like a Tele, in the fact that, I can virtually play any genre with it. Blues, rock, jazz, or pop! You name it!
Around the same time that I bought this guitar, I was heavily into recording original songs, so the Guild is featured in some of my songs, plugged and unplugged.
This guitar is not mint, but I think it qualifies for very good, considering the age and use.
According to the internet bull, this guitar is worth anywhere between a grand to $3,000. Anyway despite that, it’s my first electric, I love the sound, it’s lightweight, and it looks good.
Gibson J-160E. It is part of a custom shop special run/one-off officially called 'Late 60's J-160E'. One of two in North America. Beatles spec except for a std bridge in place of the adjustable ceramic. I had a Std J-160E for 11 years before the neck developed an issue that could no longer be adjusted out - sent it to Gibson Bozeman who offered this as an exchange. I happily took it.
Skydog1010
Poster Extraordinaire
dougstrum
Poster Extraordinaire
Favorite 
Probably a toss up between the blue tele and the redwood guitar. They both get equal playing time; mostly it depends on the gig.
Probably a toss up between the blue tele and the redwood guitar. They both get equal playing time; mostly it depends on the gig.
39martind18
Poster Extraordinaire
Favorite guitar? OK, Electric, 2006 MIJ/USA Epiphone Sheraton '64 Reissue, made in Japan, finished in Gibson's Nashville plant. Acoustic, 1939 Martin D18, my avatar.
Dik Ellis
Tele-Afflicted
My Parker Fly Classic, an amazing guitar.
Midgetje94
Friend of Leo's
Had a chance to buy one at a steal about 10/11 years ago. Passed it up, couldn’t get over the silly shape. Couple years ago I actually got a chance to play one for the first time. Dear god I kicked myself for passing it up in the past.
Bruxist
Poster Extraordinaire
A few years ago, there was an ad on a FB gear group I was on for this loaded white tele body. Had a cool Decca record made into a pickguard. He wanted $40. My curiosity was worth that.
He was headed to a recovery facility about a mile from my house so I agreed to meet him. He was taking the bus and somehow got off like 2 miles away. I went and picked him up and drove him to the facility near my house only to find out he needed a different location of the same facility several miles away. I drove him over there. He wanted to give me the body free or discounted but I really wanted him to have the money. He seemed a little down on his luck. Hope he is doing ok.
Sadly, the pickguard was broken at 4 of the 5 screw holes. The neck pickup was DOA. Bridge pickup was super quiet -- shorted, I would guess. Bridge was good but the saddles were really rusted. One of the screws all but disintegrated upon adjusting it.
Feb 2020, just before the hullabaloo, I see a CL ad for a Squier Vintage Modified Telecaster Custom II (the one that is like a Tele deluxe only with P90s and a typical tele headstock). Picked it up for $165 with a hardshell case. Sounded great. LOVED the neck, which had black Ibanez tuners replacing the stock tuners.
I tried the neck on that while body and knew it was where it needed to be. It has not come off.
I had some bent saddles from another project I put on that bridge. Installed an Electrosocket. Added a red competition stripe.
First incarnation was a Cavalier Phoenix Firebird in the neck and a Cavalier Holy Grail Nocaster Lion in the bridge.
Sounded great but I wanted the Phoenix to put in my actual firebird.
I decided to go a different way with it. I always wanted an Esquire.
I just bought a DiMarzio Chopper T from a fellow TDPRIer here in the Classifieds.
Picked up a new control plate for $5 when I was checking out at Music-Go-Round from buying something else. It is brushed metal, so it does not match the chrome bridge or the black tuners -- perfect!
I just drilled a hole for a mini-toggle that is on its way from Philadelphia Luthier Supply so I can set it up with Series/Parallel/Split options.
Main switch will be an Eldred mod, but might go for a 4 way with Straight to the Jack/Vol Only/Vol + Tone/Cocked Wah. Have not decided.
Anyways very excited to get it going! I love this stupid thing!
And, at some point, I want to get another vinyl LP pickguard.
He was headed to a recovery facility about a mile from my house so I agreed to meet him. He was taking the bus and somehow got off like 2 miles away. I went and picked him up and drove him to the facility near my house only to find out he needed a different location of the same facility several miles away. I drove him over there. He wanted to give me the body free or discounted but I really wanted him to have the money. He seemed a little down on his luck. Hope he is doing ok.
Sadly, the pickguard was broken at 4 of the 5 screw holes. The neck pickup was DOA. Bridge pickup was super quiet -- shorted, I would guess. Bridge was good but the saddles were really rusted. One of the screws all but disintegrated upon adjusting it.
Feb 2020, just before the hullabaloo, I see a CL ad for a Squier Vintage Modified Telecaster Custom II (the one that is like a Tele deluxe only with P90s and a typical tele headstock). Picked it up for $165 with a hardshell case. Sounded great. LOVED the neck, which had black Ibanez tuners replacing the stock tuners.
I tried the neck on that while body and knew it was where it needed to be. It has not come off.
I had some bent saddles from another project I put on that bridge. Installed an Electrosocket. Added a red competition stripe.
First incarnation was a Cavalier Phoenix Firebird in the neck and a Cavalier Holy Grail Nocaster Lion in the bridge.
Sounded great but I wanted the Phoenix to put in my actual firebird.
I decided to go a different way with it. I always wanted an Esquire.
I just bought a DiMarzio Chopper T from a fellow TDPRIer here in the Classifieds.
Picked up a new control plate for $5 when I was checking out at Music-Go-Round from buying something else. It is brushed metal, so it does not match the chrome bridge or the black tuners -- perfect!
I just drilled a hole for a mini-toggle that is on its way from Philadelphia Luthier Supply so I can set it up with Series/Parallel/Split options.
Main switch will be an Eldred mod, but might go for a 4 way with Straight to the Jack/Vol Only/Vol + Tone/Cocked Wah. Have not decided.
Anyways very excited to get it going! I love this stupid thing!
And, at some point, I want to get another vinyl LP pickguard.
RodeoTex
Doctor of Teleocity
This one lately. Nothing all that special really but somehow the feel and balance are just perfect. 
JJLC
Tele-Holic
this one for multiple reasons but the neck thickness is just off the charts; .974" @ fret 1 
is beyond anything I've ever heard of ....... yep, you read that correct and it's 1.056" @ fret 11
this guitar is an incredible white Limba (Korina) beast and the sonic signature is like nothing I have had in my hands, guitar wise, for the past 50 plus years. This guitar just vibrates like some magical time machine that's been transported from some magic kingdom ......
a true desert island axe IMHO .......
this one is prolly second place, LOL .......
is beyond anything I've ever heard of ....... yep, you read that correct and it's 1.056" @ fret 11this guitar is an incredible white Limba (Korina) beast and the sonic signature is like nothing I have had in my hands, guitar wise, for the past 50 plus years. This guitar just vibrates like some magical time machine that's been transported from some magic kingdom ......
a true desert island axe IMHO .......
this one is prolly second place, LOL .......
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CalebAaron666
Tele-Afflicted
One guitar to rule them all..
Gretsch White Falcon
2004 6136T modified with a TV Jones T-Armond in the front, stainless steel frets, and a pinned brass dBridge.
Gretsch White Falcon
2004 6136T modified with a TV Jones T-Armond in the front, stainless steel frets, and a pinned brass dBridge.
saltyseadog
Tele-Afflicted
A few years after returning from living in Scandinavia for 15yrs around 1997/8 my youngest son's friend Brian came in with the 12 string in pic 1. He said that his dad and him had been out of town clearing out his aunts house after she died and had found it in the loft. It was a 12string with a sticker inside saying made in Østbu Gitarfabrik a Norwegian company which I later found out was a respected company consisting of a husband and wife who had supplied some of Scandinavia's top musicians with acoustic guitars. Unfortunately the state it was in it was unplayable, the neck was bowed with well over a quarter inch action, it also looked like someone had filed the frets down nearly to the fretboard. There was a hole about an inch round on the upper bout and a smaller one on the lower bout. I hung it on the wall as an ornament.
Over the next ten years I got pretty good as an amateur luthier building my own partscasters and doing my own refrets etc. As I learned more and more on luthiery I realised that the old 12 string had a solid rosewood back and sides and a Norwegian spruce top, a maple neck I think, and a palisander fretboard. To all intents and purposes a well made professional guitar built from quality components. It was also the lightest acoustic I'd ever held, in fact on a strap it would dip down by the neck as the headstock and tuners were heavier than the body it seemed.
In the summer of 2010 I decided that I would attempt to convert it into a 6 string. I worked out the scale etc and bought an ebony fretboard with the fret slots already cut from a luthier supply company in Durham, built a steamer from an old electric kettle and proceeded to take the neck off, remove the fretboard, cut and reshape the headstock into a Gibson style moustache. I also cleaned and repaired the truss rod channel. On the body I managed to repair both the small holes using my soldering iron, a damp cloth and some superglue. The hardest job was cutting the excess from the ebony fretboard to the side of the neck. Never realised that ebony being a hardwood was so brittle. I filled and redrilled the tuner holes and installed a set of Schaller tulip button tuners, refilled the 12 bridge holes with rosewood plugs and redrilled them in an arc for 6 strings, cut a new bone nut and saddle and began to put it all back together.
I was well chuffed with the outcome, the action was lovely, intonation spot on and it played like butter and sounded really good to me. A week or so later I took it into the local guitar shop and asked the owner for a second opinion. He checked it out, played it a bit and said you don't want to sell that one, that's a keeper. He also told me that he had been to a guitar show where they had a few of the Martin 0042 acoustics built for Eric Clapton on show, which he thought were very light in weight and that my acoustic was as light in weight as them.
Over the years among other things I have sanded and shellacked the top and sanded to a mirror finish the back and sides, added a soundhole pick up and it is just my favourite acoustic ever.
Favorites are tough to pick…so I’ll do two, favorite electric and favorite acoustic.
For acoustic, at the moment my favorite is my Gibson J-150. Got it in around 2015-2016 and the serial number puts it as a 2001 I believe. It came to me a little beat up and had some buzzing going on. I replaced the nut and saddle and touched up the frets and she plays great now. While I was overhauling it I put in a K&K acoustic pickup set up, which sounds really good plugged in. There are a few dings and a bunch of scratches, at this point I’ve added some of my own too. I’m lucky enough to have some other great acoustics too; couple of nice Takamines, two Martins…but this one really just stands out. I had assumed that it would be bass heavy because of the shear size of it, but it’s one of the most balanced and responsive acoustics I’ve ever heard/played. Absolutely love it.
Coincidently, in the background of that pic is my favorite electric! It’s my Jazzmaster inspired build I put together somewhat recently, think it was early 2022. I never had much interest in Jazzmasters, but I was reading up on them and got hooked. I set about designing one as my perfect gigging guitar, and I actually think I got it right! It’s not very traditional, as I removed a lot of stuff that people would probably say “make” a jazzmaster, but that was not my goal. I set it up with a hard tail plate since I’m not much of a trem user. I originally had a TOM bridge on there, but on a whim swapped in a Compton brass bridge and loved the effect it had. The notes seem to just pop out of it now. The intonation isn’t perfect but it’s close enough for me and I like that there’s nothing to move or rattle on there. I also did not do a rhythm circuit for this one. I snuck a tone pot up where the rhythm circuit normally would be. I don’t tend to mess with tone pots but figured I’d include one just in case. The pickup selector is a Freeway switch, giving me the usual N-N&B-B option but also series, series out of phase, and parallel out of phase options. I also put a blower switch next to the volume kno that gives me the bridge pickup right to the jack. It is incredibly versatile but still simple to operate.
I had Pure Vintage 65 pickups in but replaced them right away due to the 60 cycle hum. I knew it would be an issue but I thought I could live with it…it drove me crazy haha. I put in Brandonwound Noiseless Jazzmaster pickups and absolutely love them. No affiliation with the company in any way, but I absolutely recommend them for any guitar that fits the jazzmaster pickup shape. They are my favorite sounding pickups of my 20 something guitars.
The body is an alder body I got from Guitar Mill and stained black, finished with a few coats of tru-oil. Love how it came out and how the grain still shows through the black finish. The neck is a roasted maple/rosewood boatneck from Warmoth. It has stainless vintage sized frets and Hipshot locking tuners. Probably the only thing I would change is the radius, it’s a compound 10-16” and I’m finding I really do prefer a more rounded radius. The neck shape is perfect though and since the Compton bridge is for a 12” radius, it probably just works better to have the compound radius on this one. Definitely not a deal breaker. The locking tuners are staggered, but after I had the high E string jump out of the neck during some spirited strumming, I added a string tree (not in these pictures) to be safe. No issues since. I haven’t weighed it but it’s pretty reasonable considering the size of the jazzmaster body. Very well balanced too. I’ve been using it exclusively the last few band rehearsals and am always happy to pick it up. It’s easily the best guitar I’ve assembled and just does everything I want it to do.
For acoustic, at the moment my favorite is my Gibson J-150. Got it in around 2015-2016 and the serial number puts it as a 2001 I believe. It came to me a little beat up and had some buzzing going on. I replaced the nut and saddle and touched up the frets and she plays great now. While I was overhauling it I put in a K&K acoustic pickup set up, which sounds really good plugged in. There are a few dings and a bunch of scratches, at this point I’ve added some of my own too. I’m lucky enough to have some other great acoustics too; couple of nice Takamines, two Martins…but this one really just stands out. I had assumed that it would be bass heavy because of the shear size of it, but it’s one of the most balanced and responsive acoustics I’ve ever heard/played. Absolutely love it.
Coincidently, in the background of that pic is my favorite electric! It’s my Jazzmaster inspired build I put together somewhat recently, think it was early 2022. I never had much interest in Jazzmasters, but I was reading up on them and got hooked. I set about designing one as my perfect gigging guitar, and I actually think I got it right! It’s not very traditional, as I removed a lot of stuff that people would probably say “make” a jazzmaster, but that was not my goal. I set it up with a hard tail plate since I’m not much of a trem user. I originally had a TOM bridge on there, but on a whim swapped in a Compton brass bridge and loved the effect it had. The notes seem to just pop out of it now. The intonation isn’t perfect but it’s close enough for me and I like that there’s nothing to move or rattle on there. I also did not do a rhythm circuit for this one. I snuck a tone pot up where the rhythm circuit normally would be. I don’t tend to mess with tone pots but figured I’d include one just in case. The pickup selector is a Freeway switch, giving me the usual N-N&B-B option but also series, series out of phase, and parallel out of phase options. I also put a blower switch next to the volume kno that gives me the bridge pickup right to the jack. It is incredibly versatile but still simple to operate.
I had Pure Vintage 65 pickups in but replaced them right away due to the 60 cycle hum. I knew it would be an issue but I thought I could live with it…it drove me crazy haha. I put in Brandonwound Noiseless Jazzmaster pickups and absolutely love them. No affiliation with the company in any way, but I absolutely recommend them for any guitar that fits the jazzmaster pickup shape. They are my favorite sounding pickups of my 20 something guitars.
The body is an alder body I got from Guitar Mill and stained black, finished with a few coats of tru-oil. Love how it came out and how the grain still shows through the black finish. The neck is a roasted maple/rosewood boatneck from Warmoth. It has stainless vintage sized frets and Hipshot locking tuners. Probably the only thing I would change is the radius, it’s a compound 10-16” and I’m finding I really do prefer a more rounded radius. The neck shape is perfect though and since the Compton bridge is for a 12” radius, it probably just works better to have the compound radius on this one. Definitely not a deal breaker. The locking tuners are staggered, but after I had the high E string jump out of the neck during some spirited strumming, I added a string tree (not in these pictures) to be safe. No issues since. I haven’t weighed it but it’s pretty reasonable considering the size of the jazzmaster body. Very well balanced too. I’ve been using it exclusively the last few band rehearsals and am always happy to pick it up. It’s easily the best guitar I’ve assembled and just does everything I want it to do.
ZackyDog
Poster Extraordinaire
2005 Gretsch G6122-1962 Country Classic (essentially a Country Gentleman, sans mutes)
Truarc Bar Bridge, Ray Butts TV Jones Ful Fidelity Filtertron Pickups
Truarc Bar Bridge, Ray Butts TV Jones Ful Fidelity Filtertron Pickups
Bruxist
Poster Extraordinaire
What bridge did you use on your tele to fit the Filtertron-style pickup?
Ol' Nonchie here has been resting on the hanger a while, but when he gets his turn, P-90s allamasudden are my favorite!
Shoen tell: Nonch Tidric was the name of a boat my dad built, crudely represented with my woodburner here (Simple J. Malarkey at the oars). The boat was plywood covered with fiberglass, three boxes that nested into each other and fit in the back of our '57 Microbus with the middle seat out. In the water it was held together with bolts, washers and wingnuts joining the boxes at the top; woven steel cables underneath, tightened with turnbuckles
Heckuva craft. We floated the Navarro in it once, and I caught my first steelhead. The name is "Boontling", meaning either "bad company" or "bad trip". My dad was a strange and wonderful man. RIP, Dad, I miss you
Shoen tell: Nonch Tidric was the name of a boat my dad built, crudely represented with my woodburner here (Simple J. Malarkey at the oars). The boat was plywood covered with fiberglass, three boxes that nested into each other and fit in the back of our '57 Microbus with the middle seat out. In the water it was held together with bolts, washers and wingnuts joining the boxes at the top; woven steel cables underneath, tightened with turnbuckles
Heckuva craft. We floated the Navarro in it once, and I caught my first steelhead. The name is "Boontling", meaning either "bad company" or "bad trip". My dad was a strange and wonderful man. RIP, Dad, I miss you
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