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USA tele refurbish


bob123

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Hey guys... got this USA telecaster dirt cheap from guitar center. It was butterscotch blonde, and was just absolutely beat to hell. Had chunks of wood missing, electronics weren't working, neck had clear coat chipped off all over, neck was FILTHY, hardware was nasty, etc etc....

Well my dumb*** self thought I took before pictures at the store. This is the closest I have to a "before", because apparently I didn't take pictures of it -.-

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So basically I got the guitar, took it apart. Cleaned and polished all the hardware. All the screws were rusty and trashed, so I threw them away (even the neck screws).

I cleaned the neck with acetone and a tooth brush, sanded the back to bare wood, resprayed some clear and got a nice satin finish. I leveled, crowned and polished the frets while I was at it. I then installed a graphtec nut, because the stock nut EXPLODED when I tried tapping it out. I didn't even hit it hard, just tapped on it with and allen wrench haha.

The strangest thing happened. When I was backing one of the neck screws out, the wood on the corner just crumbled out like it was rotting! I've never seen that happen before, so I had to rebuild that corner. I also had to fill in the gouges in the wood and did a lot of prep work.

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I painted the guitar a lovely burgundy metallic color. It looks like wine red with pearl on it, which is nice. Classy color. Sprayed some 2k urethane clear over top.

did the usual wet sanding and buffing that everyone here is familiar with.

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got everything shiny and smooth like glass.

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Once that was finished, I got everything put back together. I used slightly oversized stainless steel screws instead of stock screws. These will last forever, look better, and hold better. I also used much oversized stainless screws for the neck. The stock screws are tiny... These new ones are almost twice as large. Much more torque can be applied without stripping the holes AND they, again, will last forever.

Got it soldered up, and ready to go... yes yes I dont have knobs for a tele !!! All in all I'm extremely pleased with the result. The time took to do this was only a few hours, so definitely worth it to me. Some people LOVE that butterscotch blonde to death, but Im not a fan. I also enjoy a nice clean finish, not that "beat to hell" look. lol

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