FENDER 52 BLACKGUARD TELE, by KEVIN HANCOCK ( BRICKHOUSE GUITARS ) and myself ROB LLOYD  

To find out more about Rob, visit his Facebook

(All the photos are of the finished project)

HOW WE DID IT

First off I bought a Fender Highway 1 Texas Tele ( colour Honey Blonde ). The reason : Well it is pretty much the same as the Custom Shop ones except the finishing is not great, and neither are the pickups. Also it has a 2 piece ash body ( as a lot of the original 52's did, sometimes 3 pieces ), but best of all it has a 12 inch radius neck.

So, took everything apart, and rather than strip the body down to bare wood and re - start with opaque white, decided sand down the honey blonde to an ultra thin layer and use that as the base coat instead ( Best move we ever made ). Sanded down the satin finish on the neck also to an ultra thin layer.

Off we go then.  After buying the Tints and Lacquer from Tonetech we used a can and a half of AMBER TINT NITRO and half a can of NICOTINE TINT NITRO on the body, obviously sanding between coats. Finished off with CLEAR GLOSS NITRO, T cut back, then used SIMONIZ car wax and buffed to a mirror finish. Used only two coats of AMBER TINT NITRO, then half a can of NICOTINE TINT NITRO on the neck and finished off in the same way as the body, this gave more of a true vintage colour to the neck. Oh, forgot to mention prior to spraying the neck we removed the nut and replaced with a bone one ( the reason you replace the nut before spraying is so you get lacquer up sides and front and back as they did in the old days ), you then finish off the nut when the lacquer dries.

We waited for 2 weeks and then put the guitar back together but with a few major improvements: We ditched the original pickups and replaced with JASON LOLLAR ALNICO 3's ( you won't see them on his website - you have to ask ), these are the best TELE pickups on the planet. The 4 way selector switch got binned and replaced with a CALLAHAM CRYO TREATED CRL 3 way one. The flat topped knobs got replaced with dome topped ones ( FENDER ). The white pickguard got replaced with a black CALLAHAM BAKELITE one. All wiring was binned too and re - wired with vintage cloth wire.

I've owned and played many TELE's, including FENDER CUSTOM SHOP 52 ones, and this one blows them all apart. The combination of a 12 inch radius neck, ash body, and LOLLAR ALNICO 3 pickups just has THAT MAGIC.

See the next page for more photos.

I've owned and played many TELE's, including FENDER CUSTOM SHOP 52 ones, and this one blows them all apart. The combination of a 12 inch radius neck, ash body, and LOLLAR ALNICO 3 pickups just has THAT MAGIC.

See the next page for more photos.

More Photos

More Photos