First Guitar Re-born project....cool story

[LavaMan]

Below is me and my first guitar I bought in 1979 for $100 - a 70's Telecaster that was customized by master Santa Barbara luthier Jim Lombard in 1980 with new paint job (pearl purple - just looked killer in the sun), pickguard (custom shape - did have 3 metal covered humbuckers) new jack and wiring, and new bridge and tailpiece.

Jim Lombard was my math teacher at the time and I worked at Taco Bell for about a month before getting fired to pay for the work.

6 months later the guitar was stolen from my living room - I was devastated...

Remembering how this guitar looked outside with the pearl glittering just gives me goosebumps...



So.....

I call Jim Lombard about 6 months ago and ask him to re-build this guitar from the above picture. He Tells me he has a couple of vintage Tele pickups identical to the ones in my orginal guitar that he was holding for a Tele Project...!

He then tells me he has the the same bottle of pearl used on my orginal guitar with plenty left...!

Wow...

So instead of re-doing a vintage, we are building as a parts guitar:

(I will post pics of progress....)

[LavaMan]

Jim called today with some questions - looks like he will put standard Tele 3-way switch and we are going with one volume (close for pinky rolling - I am not very good at that, but at least it will be proximate) and one tone....

Non-locking tuners - most likely Grover (not a big fan and it will not have tremelo, so no need really)

He's going to do his best to match the paint....

[wademp]

That's awesome that he has the same bottle of flake that he used over 30 years ago! Nice!

[LavaMan]

Originally Posted by wademp

That's awesome that he has the same bottle of flake that he used over 30 years ago! Nice!

I thought so....just think it's going to be a killer re-make....

[zastruga]

This is really cool... can't wait to see progress!

[Guitarworks]

Cool. I thought I was the only person using old photos to remake guitars from my youth that I no longer have.

[LavaMan]

New progress:

[zastruga]

Love that pickguard shape... I've always thought the stock Tele Deluxe guard to be a little strange.

[LavaMan]

Originally Posted by zastruga

Love that pickguard shape... I've always thought the stock Tele Deluxe guard to be a little strange.

It's pretty cool when the guy that made you a custom pick guard for your first guitar makes essentially the same one again for you 30 years later...gives me chills....

[R13D]

Great story,I love watching the build!

[zastruga]

Originally Posted by LavaMan

It's pretty cool when the guy that made you a custom pick guard for your first guitar makes essentially the same one again for you 30 years later...gives me chills....

Agreed! Wish I could do the same, but I've never had a guitar custom made (or any parts for that matter)! Though I do plan on doing that in a year or two with some wood from the house my grandfather grew up in...

[LavaMan]

She's done: (except for a couple opf knobs)

[Pikesoldier]

killer build, great story,

[Mark Robinson]

It's beautiful Mark, so "you",. What are you doing for knobs? Regular Tele would be good. Jim Lombard is one fine gentleman. He refretted a Les Paul for me a few years back. Good for the both of you!

[LavaMan]

Originally Posted by Mark Robinson

It's beautiful Mark, so "you",. What are you doing for knobs? Regular Tele would be good. Jim Lombard is one fine gentleman. He refretted a Les Paul for me a few years back. Good for the both of you!

Not sure what he's going to do for the knobs. Got goosebumps when I looked at the pic being held up in the sun - as that was my favorite thing to do - play the guitar out in my front yard with a cord running back into the house so I could see it glitter...