Shopping....

Do you spend more time shopping for guitars than playing them? Is the excuse that you are searching for the Holy Grail of Guitars? What does Keith Richards do? Ahhhh... all will be answered, please sit down. We are all similar. We are all looking for the perfect guitar. Ideally, we would like ONE guitar, that we can identify with in sound and feel, that we can strap to our bodies and also go to bed with. When we become famous and die, it will be the guitar they identify with the legend (haha). Bo Diddley had his square guitar, and B.B. had his Lucille... but how did they do it? How did they manage to pick just one? Isn't that what all greatness does... find one guitar at a time to lavish their time on? How about Clapton... and "Blackie"? How about Jeff Beck and his Esquire? I think most musicians know... to get great on guitar... you should connect with one, and make it an extension of your being. After that, when you ARE well known, roadies give you a guitar they've found for you, friends and luthiers send them to you, and you go shopping at the Vintage room in Hollywood... and your girl gets you one. Only when you are well known does the collection grow.... I know Mark Knopfler has tons... he actually owns one I used to have too...Mick Jagger admits to over one hundred now I think...so let's go to our closets, get all those guitars out, and pick one or two we feel we would take to our grave... and sell the rest.... then really...I mean REALLY... get to know those few remaining guitars well....

WOOD...

Is Indian Rosewood the same as South American Rosewood? Where does Korina come from? How about a guitar built from Thomas Jefferson's tree? Which one sounds the best? My final word: It doesn't matter where the wood comes from, as far as your wood sounding good... but if you want to sound like Muddy Waters, in the 1960's... woods from modern sources will NOT be able to reproduce the sound effectively". Ok... what does that mean? ....Paul Reed Smith (of PRS Guitars) says, when asked the question "Can you talk about Brazilian fretboards? Some say they sound better. What's your take?"....: Paul responds: "I don't particularly think it sounds that much better... it sounds different...(like the) stuff used in the 30's, 40's, the '50's. It's the stuff of old violins". (Thanks, by the way, to some Guitar Center™ advertising for that info). So it's not BETTER, but it lends a SPECIFIC sound. Do you listen to Muddy Waters a lot? Do you like Howlin' Wolf....? Well, all that music probably didn't have any Indian Rosewood in it. Ravi Shankar DOES probably play indian wood (genius).. WHO DO YOU WANT TO SOUND LIKE? (Maybe yourself). Next item... When you buy a MIM (made in Mexico) Fender... where does the wood come from? Well, to quote p. 80 of The Fender Book (ok, all I am doing is quoting... but go with me here... we are learning... I hope)... MIM guitars are made in Ensenada..."... Ensenada is some 80 miles south of Los Angeles, and is situated just across the California/ Mexico border... technically speaking, Fender's Mexican plant doesn't manufacture guitars. It ASSEMBLES guitars... MIM guitars are produced at the US factory in Corona and then sent down to the Mexican plant. There they sand them, paint them, buff them" (that was a quote). So what does all this mean? What it means to me is WHAT WOOD ARE YOU PLAYING? A MIM guitar has American wood. Korina is an AFRICAN wood, but it made the sound that the original Flying V guitars made (yes, the originals). When it comes to wood.... find another artist you like... find out what wood he uses... and maybe go get it... now if you want a NEW sound, or a modern sound, do something crazy... go get a guitar made out of Kevlar...but I'm happy with good old '56 Strat in Ash (after '57 Leo used Alder), and a maple neck, from a good old American Maple tree... that's my favourit sound.

Wood...

Many after-market guitar makers are using FIMC approved parts... but where are they made? What trees go into making these woods? Does a tree from another country play and sound the same as one from the Good Ol' US of A? Does Fender use the same wood in all their guitars... from their MIM (Made in Mexico) guitars... to their Top of the Line Masterbuilt Guitars for Eric Clapton? The scoop... coming up....

String Gage-to-Nuts

There is actually a "string gage to nut ratio". To quote an on-line factoid: "String Gages- 1st- .011, 2nd- .013, 3rd- .018 wound, 4th- .024 w, 5th- .011 .... Suggested nut spacing is 9/32” between strings with overall width of 1 1/8” ...". It may not make sense for a guy with a tele... but I have heard before about this... apparently, it DOES depend on what nut width you have, for a given/ expected string gage. This is all in the realm of the little elves that build these things, and maintain them... I am a pilot, and the mechanics joke about "When the little dohiccus in the back goes 'boing, boing', you always come and get us to fix it"... otherwise, we tend to go unnoticed and unrecognized and un-respected. Luckily, musicians are more feeling and caring about other people on our little orb, especially those who tend to our sick intruments/ friends. We take out guitars to the luthier like some would drive their wife to a doctor. What I mean to say is... the pilot has no idea how the condenser works, apart from in theory... likewise, we as guitarists play these things... but WHO really knew there was any connection at all between the nut width and expected string gage? (More reading required...)

Pickup Problem...

I just found out that the TV Jones™ pickup I was going to put into my next T-Style Guitar was made for a semi-hollow body guitar. Without being a total pickup nut, if you go to the TV Jones website and look through the pickups, and order one, most people could make this mistake... so DON'T. Meanwhile, I am going to try one or two Lace™ alumitone humbuckers, which seem to have great reviews on Musician's Friend. They are made of aluminum, and are therefore lighter than regular humbuckers. In addition, it says that the pickup uses 90 percent less windings, and is current driven, instead of voltage driven. I will keep all posted on how this turns out. Also, coming up... what happens when someone takes standard 10-46 string sets, and decides to have a little 'tweak'... by making them 10-50 (.10,.14,.20w,.28w,.40w and .50w).UPDATE: Tom at TV Jones got back to me immediately. He advised that the pickup and set up I got would be right for a Tele: "You ordered a TV Classic neck with no ears and short pole screws. Most people that use the TV Classic for a Tele neck position use the no ears short screws version."

Keith

I was just reading in the 2005 "Six Decades of the Fender Telecaster" book that Fender™ makes Keith exact 'Relic' copies of all his favorite 50's Teles. This includes the neck coloring, which will eventually wear off. Dennis Galuzska from the custom shop informed me that the uses Lemon Oil to acheive this effect (vs. 50 years of hand sweat, grease, food and blood). So whereas the look is exactly the same as a 50's Tele fretboard, it doesn't wear the same after MANY hours (think Keith on stage, touring from country to country). What does Keith do... probably sends it to Fender for an oil change. I also recognized something new about my John Cruz '56 Tele copy (that I have spoken about previously)... the frets are either new frets that are lower than usual, or they have been artificially worn down. This makes sense, since the edges of the fretboard are rolled. Call me dumb, but I never noticed this before. My luthier informed me that you can generally get three or four 'dressing' jobs on the frets... over the lifetime of your original fret job...this pretty much erases those unsightly, ugly 'holes' left in the frets, from lots of play, in specific areas on the neck. To a novice, this might fool them that the frets are new... but they are not. As I say, frets can be 'leveled' a few times, before you get into the first re-fret on your beloved instrument (that you want to be buried with). So where is all this going? 'Relic' guitars are just that... I have realized that they look very close to the real things (darn close, with John Cruz and Dennis at the custom shop), but since they are artificially done, they will not continue to age the same as an original as they are played (and sweated on) by you. Is this a problem... well, not if you accept them for what they are... Keith uses them, and they sound amazing, and look amazing.. and stand in for a $40K guitar that might be not only a worry on stage to leave lying around, but slightly unreliable to play (I was at a Jeff Beck concert some time ago... and his guitar was severely acting up.. leading to a really nice guy getting down on his knees at the Hollywood Bowl and raising his fist to the sky....

Duuuuude

"Duuuude...that guitar is like...worth sooo much...."
"Man you could get $15K easy for it."
"That guitar is worth the same as my Dad's house."
Appraisal from well known store: $8.5K
Offer from same well known store when they are asked to
purchase the guitar: "$4K, but we are not buying right now,
we have too much stock, and the holidays are over."
Ebay sale price: $2800.00
Price (NET) after PAYPAL fees, listing fees, and the
extra shipping YOU added: $2527.39


Price on guitar at yard sale: $75.00
Price you get it for at 4:15pm at yard
sale: $45.00
Price your friend thinks it's worth: $45.00
Price local store offers you: $45.00
Price well known store appraises it at: $55.00
Price well known store offers you as you leave: $45
Amount sold for on EBay: $45



(All these are guitar stories we know about)...
Remember though, Eddie Van Halen as a kid
must have also played, owned and
sold guitars that are still floating around
out there right now...that nobody
knows he played and ever owned...until YOU find
his doodling in the pickup cavity...

My Lineage....

Ok... (how I start off all these posts)... here is my pedigreed guitar lineage...got a '51 Les Paul Gold Top (from Vintage Center, in Hollywood)... traded that for a '58 Stratocaster, traded that for a '59 Esquire in like-new shape, traded that for a '58 Blonde Stratocaster, traded that for a metal-top Zemaitis (now owned by non other than Mark Knopfler... now I want it back!). Traded the Mark Knopfler owned-guitar for another Zemaitis, and so the trading stops.... for now. (To mention here that this all took place over a very long period of time, let's you know I am not a bored moron... also, like most musicians, I saved and saved to do all this, at a time when vintage guitars were a fraction of their prices today). What have I learned? Any regrets...well, YES...I want the '58 Strat Back... (the guy at Guitar Center Vintage room said Eric Clapton's tech said it sounded better than the one Eric has). What 4 guitars do I want in heaven? I am a player... so this is not going to be based on price at all...I want the Linhof Special, my Masterbuilt Esquire, my Monroe 'T' Style, and the John Cruz '56 Copy. Almost ALL these guitars come in under 3K apiece... and the average price of them all added up and divided by four is $4750 (the Esquire brings the average up)... what does this mean? To me it means that $4250 will get you whatever you want, if you put time into a little looking... it will get you a great sounding, professional instrument that you can take to your grave. The '58 Strat would be unreliable to play on stage, with all the electrical interference and old wiring. The Zemaitis is wonderful to look at, and with 3 humbuckers, it kicks a*s. It also is hand made, and Ronnie Wood and Rich Robinson have one..so can't be anything but an amazing player... but until I raise the super-low action, and string it with .12's, I have no idea whether it would be moved into the little group I chose. As we all know, without a set up, the way you want it, it can be hard to judge how a guitar plays (admit it). I feel one guitar, costing UNDER $4750, should get most people a great player ($189.95 was the cost of a Tele in 1951, plus $39.95 for a case.. total..$229.90... that's $1725 in today's money, just for reference here)... How about all those players in 1960's England, who went on to fame and fortune (Hank Marvin of the Shadows bought what is thought to be the first Stratocaster in England around that time, I am sure it cost him a 'mint'). I am pretty sure that the price those guys paid... in today's dollars... was about the same as what it takes today... things don't change. You need quality to sound great... but you don't need to buy something that's in the Robb Report either.

EPIDEMIC!

OK.... it's official... the distressed/ reliced/ destroyed guitar market for 'T' Style and 'S' Style guitars has now gone epidemic. What do I mean... I mean I have been on line, and have come to the conclusion that the number of people who have gone to their garages, and decided they can do it as well or better than Jonathan Wilson did (of GVCG fame... who made guitars in his apartment in Greenwich Village some time ago) has been increasing exponentially. But why not? If I am artistically inclined, and live in a small town in America... I have already been down to my local Walmart to look for a job... the good news... YES, they are hiring... but at minimum wage... and NO, you cannot have creative input. Smart money; I buy 'Fender licensed products'...like necks, bodies and jacks... and call up Mr Lollar... and get a big bucket full of dirty water and put it in my back yard. I dump all the metal parts I buy in the bucket, and leave nature to do it's work for a month or two. Meanwhile, I take some nitro-spray-painting lessons with Jack at my local autobody spray paint shop... and I call up my friend who does web design to do me a site. I go into business making guitars... I wake up happy, sand and spray necks and bodies, get another friend from my local Sam Ash to help assemble the parts, and BINGO... I don't need to sell my soul to Walmart. Some of these people are truly going to pan out to be sheer genius (usual story)... and most will be lost in the pages of history... how do you tell the wheat from the chaf? Keep your eye's and ears open, and play many different makers guitars... also keep an open mind... diamonds are lying all around you... pretending to be plain old rocks.... lesson for the day, in the the twilight zone...

Jonathan at GVCG... Pickups...

Not that I am getting lazy... I was going to rave about Jonathan's custom wound Lollar pickups, but he gets super detailed and technical, so I wanted to pass on this info to everyone else...."A first in electric guitar pickups, the GVCG / Jason Lollar AlNiCo 3 Staggered Poles. Give your '60's guitar the famed early 50's Flatpole tone, or give your Flatpole guitar the '60's staggered bite.....

These I dreamed up after being blown away time after time installing Lollar AlNiCo 3 Flatpoles in my guitars, and I asked Jason if a Staggered AlNiCo 3 was a possibility. He sourced the magnet slugs, and after a long wait, here they are...

These are simply the best of both worlds, in my opinion, for several reasons: AlNiCo 3 magnets associated with early Flatpole guitars are famous for their warm, robust, and "brown" sound, and the Lollar 3's have the most tonal character I have ever heard in a new pickup, period. The midrange in these pickups is very dense, and snarly, and the top end is rolled off, with not even a hint of "icepick", or any other "modern" tonal attribute. These are especially wicked in this staggered configuration, where you get the snap and urgency of a Staggered Pole AlNiCo 5 pickup, with the meat and potatoes of an old Flatpole...
Ohm Readings on these sets are perfect at 7.5k, allowing a very balanced tonal range, a biting but not harsh top end, and a rich bottom end that will punish your amp while you bask in the glory of these puppies... They are hardly potted at all in pure Beeswax, Jason and I have worked out the perfect potting time for an "Alive" sounding pickup with minimal "Squeal". The neck pickups in these sets are amazing, they defy what has always been a plague with this style pickup, the dreaded "dullness factor". This neck pickup design uses the AlNiCo 3 slugs slightly underwound, and a Nickel/Silver cover to let the full range of frequency pass. The result is the finest, most balanced and useful neck pickup you've ever heard. The sets ship with conical metal springs, which I use exclusively here at GVCG, please do not use tone robbing surgical tubing with these pickups. They are wrapped in cotton string, and are meticulously hand aged by GVCG.
These will be available from time to time on a limited basis, and the sets will be numbered.
They are $250 per set shipped." If you want some, contact Jonathan at: fivestarstudios@earthlink.net

These pickups are Lollar pickups on speed, with Jonathan's GVCG ageing also... what more could you ask for. I can tell everyone that they are the pickups you need, and should get. Other than these, try and get yourselves some Abby Ybarra pickups for your Tele... trouble is, they are currently NOT available individually, unless you are buying the whole guitar.

The Rainforest Foundation

This is straight from the site...."The Rainforest Foundation was founded in 1989 by the musician Sting and his wife Trudie Styler, in response to the continued violation of the rights of indigenous peoples’, and the wanton destruction of the rainforests in which they live.

The Foundation’s first major initiative was to campaign globally for the protection of the lands of the Kayapo Indians in Brazilian Amazonia. This resulted in 1993 in the legal recognition and demarcation of an area of more than 17,000 square miles as the Menkragnoti Indigenous Area.

This was followed by projects to help the Kayapo to monitor and protect the reserve’s boundaries, and to develop health, education and income-generating activities within the area and the adjacent Xingu Indigenous Park.

Following this important success, the Foundation expanded and diversified its programme of project support. From 1993 onwards, support was given to projects in other parts of Brazil and Latin America, as well as in Africa and Southeast Asia". Don't buy exotic woods, unless you know where they came from...and no... that big tree with lots of leaves and monkeys in it was NOT dead.

Recipe

Just read about how Jonathan Wilson used original cloth wiring in all his guitars...we don't know how many he built, working out of his apartment in Greenwich Village. He seems to have been a real stickler for authenticity, in a way nobody else has ever been, in the Boutique Guitar manufacturing scene. Is this a factor? I just bought a Monroe Guitar, as I mentioned, and he makes concessions to modern times... graphite nut, mini-schaller tuners (that actually keep the strings nicely in tune, and are micro-adjustable). Also a Gotoh bridge... so, which is better? Cloth wiring, and original 50's electronics... or concessions to modern times? What is all boils down to is 'What gives older guitar's their mojo?'. What's the recipe? Here's my guess (since we all have one): Take 2 parts wood, 1 part nitro paint, 1 part pickups, and 1 part expectation... and finally, the main ingredient...2 parts gifted luthier. Total 'parts'...7 parts.... so wood accounts for about 1/3.... you can do the rest of the math. Did I include old electronics....? No... Why? Because other than the pickups, I don't feel the current electronics are much different...(unlike tube amps vs. solid state). It's NICE to think that inside that guitar is original looking electronics... just in case the 'Doc' pulls up in the DeLorean and takes you back to 1959....but other than that, it's still less of a factor than the expectation....

Elvis...

OK... I promised Elvis... his guitars...I don't know if he is really still around at this point.. In the movie Spinout, Elvis sports an Electric XII (1966). This guitar had a 12-saddle bridge design. In the movie Speedway, we see him with a semi-hollowbody Fender, with traditional Fender headstock on it. In Girl Happy, he is seen with a canary yellow Telecaster, with a Bigsby. At the end of Speedway, he is playing two drumsticks...then he picks up the Semi-Hollowbody... then he trades that for Nancy Sinatra... truth be told, could Elvis play guitar? Apparently, he was last in line to get a mike for his instruments, and there didn't used to be too many mikes to go around sometimes when it came to his live performances, so he had to play louder... and he tended to break strings. He also developed the habit of throwing his guitars to Charlie Hodge at the end of a performance. Most of his movies are loaded with Fender guitars, and if Elvis is not playing one, his group is... when got big (literally), we can only imagine what those belt buckles must have done to the guitar finishes! By the way... ever wonder where that Canary yellow Fender Tele went? Lots of movie props are languishing in the hands of people who have them, and have absolutely no idea who might have once played them. Some might say Elvis used guitars much better for props than to play. He found this out, and used it to his benefit. Most people have only seen Elvis with acoustic guitars, playing them in the 'cowboy chord' areas (the first four frets). There are 8 cowboy chords... if you know these chords, you can call yourself a guitar player... so I guess Elvis was certainly a player... Elvis still gets five stars.

Inspiration...

Do you sit in front of the computer monitor during your free time, with a guitar in your lap, unplugged? Do you strum a few chords, then go to the Barrow Sea Ice Webcam? Just to see if any cars have moved since yesterday in Barrow Alaska? Unfortunately, to spur creativity in the musical department, anything and everything is necessary... you don't want to deny yourself at all here. I read the Graphic novels by Templesmith (30 Days of Night). Why? Because while driving around in Hollywood, one can't miss the billboards...looks like a great movie. Truth seems to be that it lacks punch on screen... meanwhile the graphic novels are hard to beat. Also, quite possibly the graphic novels have simple plots, that don't translate well into movies. Next... Elvis and Tele's...12-Strings...Jazzmasters... and buckle rash...

Checkered Flag Out.. Wreckage on the Track...

Got my Monroe™ 'T' Guitar today. I designed/ drew up the checker pattern, with Rick Nielsen in mind. They duplicated my drawing EXACTLY. I sent them some GVCG pickups, bought from Jonathan at GVCG. Turn-around time was less than one month... let's call it three weeks. They come with a warranty too. I asked them to make it look like it has 40 years of fooling-around on it... and they did... in fact, I think it survived an explosion intact. It looks AMAZING. Plugged it in... already have a favourite position... neck pickup, with the tone totally CCW. Every position sounds great. I love the fact that concessions to modern times (as if an old guitar had been lovingly updated over 40 years) have been made... mini-schaller-type tuners, graphite nut (well... it's black anyway...looks like graphite... ). Neck is amazing thin, low-action, .11's, and vintage-type frets (why do I say 'type'... because there are MANY different width and height frets... more on that later). Also has a GOTOH bridge (a-la Keith Richards' Tele). It also comes with a pin-up girl on the back. This guitar matches GVCG guitars, or the best NASH puts out for tone. Twangy, vintage sound...that sound so hard to capture... so here it is... Looks: A+, Feel: A+, Fit: A+. Oh... and they 'brand' their name in their headstocks... this guitar also weighs enough that intruders should be wary at night.... 8.6 pounds....overall, one amazing situation.

Five Minutes...no Lying...

So I will probably get flak for this, but I will talk freely and honestly about Nitro for five minutes. Just read a blog entry on another site, where a guy mentions nobody, not even Fender, has ever got a mid-to-late fifties Tele blonde right. There is actually a color people refer to as 'Relic Blonde'.. which is close, but not dead-on, for an original (say 57 Tele). Now I have owned a respray on an original 51 Tele. I commissioned it from an ex-Masterbuilder. It was yellow, translucent in areas, and had spider-web cracks all over it that were filled with some transparent brown stain. (Bet we have all seen this look... and it wouldn't fool your grandmother). It was FUN though... but also felt too new. Now on to Mr Nash, who builds amazing guitars by all rights... I will not buy his Maple neck guitars, because they are sticky, and way too brown looking (like melted gummy bear). My research on this from Nitro spraying guy's sites is that he has the nitro mix wrong for the necks, and the paint then also takes years to dry. Apparently the necks will be dry, but not until years from now. I have owned 1 Nash Maple neck, and it was slightly sticky to play. Mr Nash might aptly state that he has no intention of making exact copies, just guitars that play amazingly well (and we are talking sheer genius here with sound). This would be true. But I do have to mention he gets his Custom Color bodies 98 percent there for me. Now to Fender...I have owned many Relic guitars, and the colors have all been (possibly intentionally?) just a little off, as far as SHADE, AGEING or TRANSLUCENCE/ LACK OF IT. I owned a John Cruz hand-made tele (#0525)...and he was 85% there for my mind... but get this... I own one roughly 150 guitars later... and...BINGO...JOHN CRUZ HAS COME 99% OR MORE to recreating the original 56-57 Blonde color... in feel, translucence, color and cracking. The cracking seems to be the hardest part to get right... since time is the only one who seems to really get it right so far... but I think he has just about done it. For any builders who would be slightly upset with my comments... I only strive to give honest, fair and compassionate feedback to them, so we can all get amazing guitars that LOOK AND PLAY like the real 50's thing, without paying 50K.

Who's Flying this thing?

... and I'm not talking about the Flying 'V'...Does anyone remember wanting a guitar...and not caring if it was a Fender or a Gibson? (I think I was 13). By 16 I wanted a Fender Stratocaster (didn't everyone?). My friend wanted a Les Paul. First guitar he managed new was an Epiphone. I got a second hand Strat from a friend, that he had 'modified'. We all move on from this to developing a desire for specific pickups, switches and even tuners and bridges. If we are smart... we avoid the other 'cosmetic' modifications (Eddie VanHalen excepted). After this, we plug in to an amp, and load up on the pedals. We play with the pedals until we get tons of reverb and overdrive, and maybe some chorus too, and then we seem to be happy. Many do not evolve beyond this point, and then we go to our graves that way, with our cold, dead hands clasping our guitars. Many... including well-known performers (and not so well known ones).. like Bruce Springsteen, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck, also decide to get to know the inside of their amps... how they work (the TUBE ones)... and what thingumbob can be changed for another doohiccus, and then come up with a signature sound...that paired with their favourite axes leads to a 'signature sound'...for a truly customized combination.... (not unlike the guy with the 1975 Blue Sparkle Trans Am with the wing... ok, let's not go there....)... so read up, learn about tubes and electronics... and find a whole new world down the rabbit hole...

Guitar Hospital...

Thanks to the wonderful people at Performance Guitar in Hollywood, the GVCG is now (amazingly) set up with low action and .11's. Jonathan (at GVCG) was wonderful at making every little detail EXACTLY like an original old Tele... apparently he even used old fashioned wiring and 'grommets' on the pickups. As I say, every little detail was attended to, including the RUST. I knew what I was getting into though... I have always wanted to own a GVCG, and would certainly go after another one for Christmas... if possible... but they are very hard to find. Most musicians who find them never let them go. After Performance Guitars working magic on it, it now plays the way I want it... only thing left to do is to plug it in. It now has a shim under the neck, between the body, that is barely detectable (looking on from the side of the guitar). I have done much reading on the topic...and less contact between and bolt-on neck and the body supposedly will decrease the 'woody' tones (think Les Paul sounds), and increase the twangy 'punchy' sounds some old Tele's have, so my fingers are crossed. Apparently, shims are normal, if a luthier runs out of other options to get your neck adjusted correctly (think action height down the neck here). As I say... I love it now... but have to give credit to the guys at Fender for no rust in their guitars too.

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.