From the Home of Tone bench
An offset for the ages - MIJ J Mascis Jazzmaster
This was such a pleasure of a customer project to be part of. Friend and long time supporter of the Home of Tone, had this particularly well looked after, and to be honest, mint condition, MIJ (Made in Japan) J Mascis signature model Jazzmaster. As lovely as it's factory specs and stylings was, the owner fancied making it a little bit more 'his own' so to speak, with some choice, and very easily reversable mods and kindly asked me to help carry out said mods. But with the guitar here I thought I'd document some of the existing specs and unique features too, in case the closer look at the factory fresh guitar helped anyone out there with research or restoration perhaps.
An awesome Ferrari Yellow Super Strat for Ryan!
This was a wicked project to be part of. A great Home of Tone supporter, Ryan, mentioned he had a project in mind quite some time ago, making use of an old Mighty Mite maple neck he had for years, along with a HH super strat body he picked up for a good deal from Guitar Build. After some discussion over time, specs were decided on and parts were compiled, body was painted and it was time for me to get stuck into assembly for him.
I won't go into lots of detail of each step of the assembly, as I've covered a lot of the same kinds of things a number of times on the blog via other partscaster builds. But I'll share the photos nonetheless.
Very much an EVH inspired build, featuring some wicked parts, some of which I was lucky enough to supply as well as install, such as numerous Gotoh hardware items, the Vega-Trem bridge, Tesi Switch kill switch button and all of the wiring.
I won't go into lots of detail of each step of the assembly, as I've covered a lot of the same kinds of things a number of times on the blog via other partscaster builds. But I'll share the photos nonetheless.
Very much an EVH inspired build, featuring some wicked parts, some of which I was lucky enough to supply as well as install, such as numerous Gotoh hardware items, the Vega-Trem bridge, Tesi Switch kill switch button and all of the wiring.
Full 'Burst' style re-wire for an incredible 80/81 Tokai LS120
Can't tell you how much I enjoyed this one. I've had a lot of Les Paul Standards in my hands over the years, right through the price ranges from factory standards, historics, traditionals, 80s, 90s to Custom Shop and Murphy Lab, (although 50s ones have alluded me so far I must say) but this incredible Tokai LS120 from 1980/81 is honestly the best and most fun to play I've come across
Thurston Moore Jazzmaster in for some TLC
I have had my head down working through the guitars that have come through the doors so have somewhat neglected the 'Home of Tone bench' blog of late, but I figured this was a special one so had to share it.
Chris got in touch to inquire about getting this awesome offset looked at as wasn't in the happiest of states. The wiring in particular was problematic, having been replaced prior elsewhere it came back sounding very muddy. After a bit of chat, he opted to send it my way for a closer look and a full setup.
Chris got in touch to inquire about getting this awesome offset looked at as wasn't in the happiest of states. The wiring in particular was problematic, having been replaced prior elsewhere it came back sounding very muddy. After a bit of chat, he opted to send it my way for a closer look and a full setup.
Nick's custom Telecaster Deluxe!
This was the first job on the bench after a brief summer break with the family last month, Nick’s lovely Telecaster Deluxe. It came in for a setup, rewire, installation of new pickguard and to smooth the back of the neck. Nick asked me to rewire it for two reasons, resolve some niggling faults but also make it more suitable for his playing preferences. After going over some options we decided to move the toggle switch out of the way of the strumming area down to the pots instead. He complained of accidentally knocking the toggle switch in it's standard position, and wanted to take that hassle out of his gigging! He plays long sets in bands as well as his own solo wedding work so his guitars need to be reliable. So in moving the toggle out of the way and down to the main pots area, we needed to change to a master tone whilst still keeping the two volume pots. This way you can still do the cool Tele Deluxe kill switch effect by rolling one off etc.
A unique mod to an already versatile PJ bass
This was an interesting project to be part of. Repeat customer, Will, had added this Fender Player Plus MIM PJ bass 2nd hand to his collection and had started to make it his own, flatwounds, thumb-rest etc, but had found an area he wanted to improve upon.
1988 Fender Strat Plus for some major TLC
Ian kindly contacted me to have a look at his long time owned 1988 Fender Strat Plus. It had been unplayed for a while sadly as there was some severe fret wear/divots along with a troublesome setup, but it was time to get it back in use and being enjoyed again. He popped by with it so I could see whether there was enough fretwire to play with for a level/crown/polish rather than a re-fret, of which there was plenty to work with so the level/crown/polish was the plan this time around. It was also in need of a thorough inspection/clean too, but selfishly I was really really looking forward to this little project as I have a soft spot for this era Strat, especially the Strat Plus, Ultra and Jeff Beck models from the Lace Sensor times. Very nostalgic for me, and this seemed like an era where it felt like every major player was sporting a Lace Sensor equipped Strat of some form! This one was particularly cool though thanks to it's original Graffiti yellow finish, which has darkened somewhat (which my photos don't really capture all that well unfortunately) but still looks super vibrant. Such a great colour.
Getting the most out of factory pickups; MIM Fender Classic Series 50s Strat
In this article I'm going to share some of the ways I decide on wiring specs, to help achieve a customers goal for their guitar's tone. As well as touch on some of the various steps I take when re-wiring a Fender Stratocaster. The specific guitar in question here was a lovely Classic Series 50s Stratocaster. A made in Mexico model which I'm always impressed by each time I get to see/play/work on. I've owned a couple of the slightly later variant of these, the Classic Player, which were great guitars but I've always liked both the Classic Series and Player models. Great vintage correct styling and build quality in my opinion is usually really nice on this era MIM, would happily own one again!
Left handed 'Delonge' conversion!
Well this was a fun one! For quite some time now, I have been offering a pre-wired volume pot kit, made to the same specs as what was installed on the original 2000/2001 Fender MIM Tom Delonge signature Strats, (having worked on an original to make reference of it's treble bleed specs etc) for both right handed and left handed players to either restore originals or make their own delonge projects. These have proved to be really popular, and Tom contacted me as a result of seeing these kits to 'convert' his beloved Custom Shop LH Strat so he could easily swap loaded pickguards over for when he's in the mood to blast out some pop punk. As this was a factory single coil equipped strat, it did require some routing work, so I stripped all the existing hardware and planned out the routing.
Chris' Tele partscaster project
Kind supporter of the Home of Tone, Chris kindly asked me to be a part of his Telecaster parts build which was a pleasure indeed after seeing the nice parts he had compiled for it. This has been a fairly long term project for him, taking his time to carefully consider and decide upon the specs to hopefully end up at a Tele that'll suit his requirements, and I think he did a great job with that. A body from Guitarbuild.co.uk, finished beautifully in a lacquer checked Olympic White by the great Paul at Retro169. No relic work on it, so it had a fresh look but plenty of character thanks to the generous checking. The body being paired with a new, genuine Fender Road Worn 50s Tele neck, a selection of aged hardware from Fender, Gotoh, Kluson and Charles Guitars, and pickups by Bare Knuckle. I knew this one would be a pleasure to build, when you're presented with nice quality parts it's reassuring you'll end up with a great guitar. So let's dive in!
