polara Posted April 3, 2017 Posted April 3, 2017 Doin' the Craigslist skim and a guy a few miles away is selling a Fender Joe Strummer Telecaster. For background, these were alder-bodied Mexican Teles with 60s Kluson-style tuners, three-saddle bridges with the saddles that look like they have threads on them, 7.25" neck radius and smaller frets on a rosewood board, and a kind of bizarre heavy relic job that involved black over primer over sunburst over bare wood, plus a ton of rust and gunk. I played one ages ago and despite the look, it played great: but they were pretty pricey. This guy wants $350 for his, and while askin' ain't sellin', the few I see on Reverb and eBay list from $650 (no case and warped neck) to over $1,000 (with case and sticker kit.) I drive over to see it, and it is either immaculate or it's a wreck, depending on what you think of relic jobs. He says it's been hanging with a bunch of other guitars he never plays and he wants to clear some space. It has two "issues." The neck plate is not the rusty "revolution rock" one but ordinary. And the control plate and knobs are not very rusty and relic'd. But it is definitely the real deal, so what the hell. Clean it up, oil the saddle screws, add some tension to the neck and plug in. The looks are just bizarre, but I'll be darned if it isn't a really nice Tele. Very loud and resonant, jumps in your hands when you strum it. Neck is bliss, on the chubby side and with really well done wear, how it's a bit curved and broken-in between the frets. Not shrill at all, even in the bridge position, and has this super lively, bouncy, chimey thing going. I couldn't put it down for an hour I still reckon I'll source a properly relic'd control plate, knobs and neck plate then flip it for a couple hundred bucks profit. I'm enjoying this as a hobby, finding undervalued guitars, playing them for a while, then flipping to make $50 or so. It it didn't look so weird I'd be tempted to keep this one. It looks just like the one below, just without the really rusty control plate and knobs.
DaveL Posted April 3, 2017 Posted April 3, 2017 cool snag, should definitely be worth $350... would guess that just the 60's style aged slab board neck would bring about that on ebay... One other thought since you got it low enough, would be to have someone like MJT do one of his aged finishes in a cool 60's color... that might match the guitar pretty well.
gorch Posted April 3, 2017 Posted April 3, 2017 Nice snag! Very nice working man's guitar. Have you verified the SN? Definitely worth more than $350.
polara Posted April 3, 2017 Author Posted April 3, 2017 14 minutes ago, gorch said: Nice snag! Very nice working man's guitar. Have you verified the SN? Definitely worth more than $350. No, I'll have to look up the SN. I wonder if a previous owner sold the neck plate for a fortune to someone. Or it may possibly have been very early, very late, or just a bad day at the factory as far as that Everything looks exactly like the photos I've found, so I'm not worried that is is a fake, though at $350 who cares?
DaveL Posted April 3, 2017 Posted April 3, 2017 those control knobs look kind of close to the strummers I'd seen in person... maybe they are stock.
anotherfreak Posted April 3, 2017 Posted April 3, 2017 I have a couple of plates/knobs/bridges burried out in the back yard if you are looking
Steve Haynie Posted April 3, 2017 Posted April 3, 2017 Shiny new parts on a guitar with tarnished/rusted parts make it look more like a "used" player's guitar than consistently aged parts. If Joe Strummer needed parts for his guitar to play a show, would he have cared about the look or the function?
polara Posted April 3, 2017 Author Posted April 3, 2017 5 minutes ago, Steve Haynie said: Shiny new parts on a guitar with tarnished/rusted parts make it look more like a "used" player's guitar than consistently aged parts. If Joe Strummer needed parts for his guitar to play a show, would he have cared about the look or the function? True dat. In reality this guitar is comically off the whole point of the Clash. A factory JS tribute? What? If the next great punk band is starting now, their Joe Strummer is playing a Squire that he routed for a humbucker with a chisel, sporting a Taylor Swift sticker that he's enhanced with a forked tongue and huge boobies, and he doesn't know than in 30 years people will crap themselves to buy replicas of his POS. But if I flip it, it'll be to some collector guy and I'll get more dosh if it's all original. Capitali$m.
polara Posted April 3, 2017 Author Posted April 3, 2017 23 minutes ago, LefThanDed said: What about those alien orders? If I keep it, I'm gonna sticker it with appropriately random stuff. Stickers from hospital supplies are often durable and confusing.
velorush Posted April 3, 2017 Posted April 3, 2017 One of the coolest stickers ever: go to the post office and ask for the "CREMATED REMAINS" sticker. It's not large at all - just right for a guitar. I got one a few months ago while discussing cool stickers with the lady working the window. ETA: just noticed, you can have two sent to your address for free! USPS
polara Posted April 3, 2017 Author Posted April 3, 2017 Just now, velorush said: One of the coolest stickers ever: go to the post office and ask for the "CREMATED REMAINS" sticker. It's not large at all - just right for a guitar. I got one a few months ago while discussing cool stickers with the lady working the window. I. Am. There.
velorush Posted April 3, 2017 Posted April 3, 2017 Just now, polara said: I. Am. There. Notice my edit while you were replying. Gotta love the USPS and their random free boxes, stickers, etc.
crunchee Posted April 3, 2017 Posted April 3, 2017 3 hours ago, velorush said: One of the coolest stickers ever: go to the post office and ask for the "CREMATED REMAINS" sticker. It's not large at all - just right for a guitar. I got one a few months ago while discussing cool stickers with the lady working the window. ETA: just noticed, you can have two sent to your address for free! USPS You can also put 'em on a guitar case, to discourage any 'five-fingered discounters'...right next to the Peavey Powered sticker. Edited to add: This one is handy for Les Pauls too...or any guitar/amp/gear that needs it, IMO: https://store.usps.com/store/browse/productDetailSingleSku.jsp?categoryNavIds=shipping-supplies%3afree-shipping-supplies&categoryNav=false&navAction=push&navCount=6&atg.multisite.remap=false&categoryId=free-shipping-supplies&productId=P_Label_035CH
mrjamiam Posted April 3, 2017 Posted April 3, 2017 Nothing wrong with Mexican teles that I've noticed. I say keep it and play it.
polara Posted April 4, 2017 Author Posted April 4, 2017 13 hours ago, mrjamiam said: Nothing wrong with Mexican teles that I've noticed. I say keep it and play it. I'm still trying to get the neck sorted. There's a real downside to these "I bought it and never played it, hanging there for ten years" guitars. Yeah, no scratches or abuse, but it had a lot of relief in the neck for ten years, and it's a little wavy after cranking the truss rod a bit. I'm letting it "relax" with some pressure on the truss rod and slack strings, but I may need to a do a little fret leveling, and play it with .009s until it's used to being straighter. Maple doesn't bend easily, but when it does, it likes to stay bent.
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.