Rust

I got my GVCG the other day...very high action... a little too high, but the guitar looks amazing, and plays very nicely. In the case was a replaced 3-way selector switch... obviously the original one from when it was made. The 'original' one is rusted. Looks like a piece of electrical switching from a 1958 Buick. What I mean to say is...the good friend that told me to buy the GVCG also told me that Jonathan Wilson... who he met and who used to make them, used to put them on his back portch on display... and to get more mojo. My friend said he wandered around outside and thought they were all real vintage tele's, lying around the house like artwork... which they were. After a while outside, they looked even more real...trouble is, I think it might have hurt some of the electrical stuff inside. My luthier (where I took it)informed me that a wire to a pickup had come loose, and there was also more parts with rust problems. When ageing a guitar artificially outside, I guess you have to bear this in mind ... I mean, there is also a chance this happened after it left Jonathan's house... (but the story I heard from my musician friend at the time seems to back up the rust from the porch idea... but just a guess, I may hear from Jonathan to the contrary). The neck also needed a shim in the neck pocket, so we could lower the action where necessary. Will this affect the tone? Find out next... also learn more about 'shims'...in my next entry! Having overspray between the neck and the body, or even a shim in the neck pocket, can actually improve the sound of a tele believe it or not.... I will be finding out for myself...and will report back. Meanwhile... I still have to point out that GVCG's are legendary... one day someone will do a book of them all, with big glossy pics and photos of the insides... just like the Blackguard Tele book! There is no doubt anywhere that these guitars are amazing.