Won a parts Tele on eBay - Pics

[baytamusic]

Well, I just bid and won this custom built Tele on eBay for $225 + $60 shipping. The guy makes guitars under the name Blue Frog in Tennessee. This one has a Fender sticker on it, but he usually puts his own decal on the headstock I believe. He finished them in nitro and seems to put decent parts and some type of custom Texas Special pickups in them. Can't get him to spill the beans on who makes the bodies and necks. Listing said "licensed by Fender body and neck" so I guessed Allparts or Mighty Mite or something. When I asked he said "private luthier I won't name". Whatever.... Anyways he normally charges $450 for a finished guitar so I guess I got a good deal considering it's finished in nitro. I like the matching headstock.

This will get converted to a Bigsby with a vintage ashtray style Vibramate bridge once I get the guitar. I also have another maple neck here at home, so I think I'lll make a regular Tele with that one, maybe a Esquire or something. I'll probably just buy a cheap body from GFS to see how bad they suck. Here's some pics from the listing:

[Jondog]

VERY NICE! That guy should be careful running a business that builds and sells guitars labeled as Fender though

[baytamusic]

No kidding, right? All his other guitars have a different headstock decal usually from what I see from his eBay page and website. Wondering if this was a special order that someone backed out of or something?

[myboss57]

Sweet! Very nice looking Tele.

[Icarus]

NICE
Damn I wish my tele was that colour... They look so sweet in white.

[baytamusic]

Hey thanks! I'm sort of bummed because it has the three hole bridge on it. My vibramate bridge that's made just for a Bigsby on a Tele with the three saddle design is a four holer... I'll probably have to drill some new holes and may need to fill the old ones. The good thing is that it's a toploader so there aren't an stringthrough holes which I don't need anyways.

[Thinline_slim]

Just curious, have you read much about downside to the vibramate? I know the upside is that it's reversible but I've also read that the sound can be thinner and sustain less than a top mount bigsby.

I don't have any experience with the vibramate but I will say I had a top mount that I was never really that thrilled with side by side with my string through Tele since it did kind of act thinner and had less sustain. I talked with a guitar tech/builder and he told me to not only pull off the felt pads but take a belt sander to the bottom of the bigsby (where it lays against the body) and sand it as flat as I can so I get the most bigsby/body contact as possible. I will admit that it seems like it made a positive difference..... but then there's the whole actual vs perceived accounts.

Just curious is all.

Great looking Tele btw!

[TESLA_EL34]

awesome man! telecasters are my fav guitars.... they are so simple and i just love that tone!

[baytamusic]

Just curious, have you read much about downside to the vibramate? I know the upside is that it's reversible but I've also read that the sound can be thinner and sustain less than a top mount bigsby.

I don't have any experience with the vibramate but I will say I had a top mount that I was never really that thrilled with side by side with my string through Tele since it did kind of act thinner and had less sustain. I talked with a guitar tech/builder and he told me to not only pull off the felt pads but take a belt sander to the bottom of the bigsby (where it lays against the body) and sand it as flat as I can so I get the most bigsby/body contact as possible. I will admit that it seems like it made a positive difference..... but then there's the whole actual vs perceived accounts.

Just curious is all.

Great looking Tele btw!

I'm not going to use the actual vibramate to mount the Bigsby I don't think. I'll probably have it directly mounted to the body. I bought a specific kit that comes with a bridge that is pre-notched in the back. It's an ashtray style bridge so you can still use the vintage three saddle design with the Bigsby. I had to pay $50 for the entire setup, but I'll probably sell just the vibramate mounting plate to offset the cost.

[Thinline_slim]

Just curious, have you read much about downside to the vibramate? I know the upside is that it's reversible but I've also read that the sound can be thinner and sustain less than a top mount bigsby.

I don't have any experience with the vibramate but I will say I had a top mount that I was never really that thrilled with side by side with my string through Tele since it did kind of act thinner and had less sustain. I talked with a guitar tech/builder and he told me to not only pull off the felt pads but take a belt sander to the bottom of the bigsby (where it lays against the body) and sand it as flat as I can so I get the most bigsby/body contact as possible. I will admit that it seems like it made a positive difference..... but then there's the whole actual vs perceived accounts.

Just curious is all.

Great looking Tele btw!

I'm not going to use the actual vibramate to mount the Bigsby I don't think. I'll probably have it directly mounted to the body. I bought a specific kit that comes with a bridge that is pre-notched in the back. It's an ashtray style bridge so you can still use the vintage three saddle design with the Bigsby. I had to pay $50 for the entire setup, but I'll probably sell just the vibramate mounting plate to offset the cost.

That's a great call! I really don't care for the mustang/jazz master bridge on my set up. If I knew about the old notched bridge plates 10 years ago I would have definitely gone that route.

[the_blue_bomber]

Can't get him to spill the beans on who makes the bodies and necks. Listing said "licensed by Fender body and neck" ...

My guess is Squier.

[baytamusic]

Can't get him to spill the beans on who makes the bodies and necks. Listing said "licensed by Fender body and neck" ...

My guess is Squier.

I was thinking that, but wouldn't it be a major pain to strip the poly finish just to refinish with nitro? I mean a Mighty Mite unfinished body and neck is like $200 and doesn't require any stripping work. I'm sure you could get seconds even cheaper. I saw a factory second Allparts body on their site for $60.

[jason41224]

that's a purdy looking tele. nice snag.

maybe try either building another tele with either WRHB's or P90s when you find a use for that other neck. between my two teles (one HB/filtertron, one singles) i get just about everything.

[baytamusic]

So I got this guitar yesterday. Not too hot. The finish work is rather shoddy, not absolutely horrible, but definitely not evem close to "factory" good. The pickups sound like absolute garbage. The headstock white isn't the same as the body white. And the final big one is... the neck is cracked at the heel through the screw holes all the way down to the fingerboard at the butt end of the neck from either over-tightening or too small of pilot holes in the maple or something.

The guitar is just barely OK, and probably worth about what I paid, nothing more and with the cracked neck it's really sort of a problem. Also the pickups are literally unusable IMO. Completely harsh and muddy with overdrive.

I've sent the dude a message about the neck crack, and also about the non-matching paint colors, and the sucky pickups.

Another lesson for me in the "you get what you pay for". At least it finally just set me straight on how I choose to spend my money. Quality and reputation is #1 regardless of price.

I'm going to use my nice maple Tele neck I bought a while back and continue on with my Tele build using all stuff that I buy myself, so I know what I'm getting. If it costs $700-800 to build the guitar I want with a Bigsby, then that's how much it costs. At least I know I'll have a pro guitar. At this point of my musical "career" I've realized that I've became really picky about gear and really prefer to have the nice stuff. Makes me play better and feel better about what I'm doing. Not sure how Jack White plays all those junky vintage POS import guitars.

[baytamusic]

For anyone interested I just got a reply from this guy. He literally said "dude, you bought a $200 guitar, what did you expect?". WTF, hahaha. I couldn't believe what I was reading. He also said since you took the guitar apart there will be no refund whatsoever?! How would I have seen a crack in the neck heel without taking the neck off?! Dude has problems...