On a lazy late winter afternoon recently I was sitting on the sofa in the sunlight, half dozing and half noodling on this guitar (a perfect couch electric), and I suddenly realized how accidental it was. As opposed to being a purely intentional or purpose built guitar.
I’ve put together several project electrics, but they've had a more or less specific end goal in sight, unlike this hodgepodge of random parts. It started with a tub full of various components tossed into it over the past ten years, some used, most new. Then along came a precision crafted pine plank Telecaster body from Canada and, rummaging though the parts bin, it looked like there might be enough bits and pieces to assemble a guitar.
I’ve put together several project electrics, but they've had a more or less specific end goal in sight, unlike this hodgepodge of random parts. It started with a tub full of various components tossed into it over the past ten years, some used, most new. Then along came a precision crafted pine plank Telecaster body from Canada and, rummaging though the parts bin, it looked like there might be enough bits and pieces to assemble a guitar.
A Rundown of All Those Unintentional Parts:
- ToneBomb knotty pine body. Made in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Two piece knotty pine, seam straight down the middle but not bookmatched. This was one of a limited run of knotty pine bodies ToneBomb made several years ago; luckily I was allowed my pick from a few available unrouted blanks (all unique and lovely), then had a choice of pickup configurations. Totally vintage early ‘50s spec in all dimensions except the P90 pickup rout, and wonderfully lightweight. It came presanded to 150 weight, and I had a pleasant few days outdoors in early autumn weather doing finish sanding.
Started first with another 150 grit sanding (shown above), then a couple passes at 220, and then three with 400 paper: one run gets the pine plank to very smooth, followed by a water coat to raise the grain. A second 400 pass knocked the grain down, and after a final light 400 sanding the body was better then velvety smooth and ready for a finish. It got three double coats of Watco oil based varnish, their "Golden Oak Danish Oil", spaced out over two weeks and after that the body hung from the ceiling in the fairly dry garage work space over the winter, curing like a ham or bacon.
- Fender Classic Player ‘50s series Stratocaster neck, made in Mexico in 2022. Over a few months I bought five various Tele necks, and I’ll cut that long story short to say they each had flaws, fit issues, or been misrepresented by the sellers. One day I took the neck off my Strat project guitar, put it on the ToneBomb body - it fit perfectly - and that’s where it stayed. Fender calls it a “soft V” back profile, I've always liked the shape. My first good quality guitar, a 1947 Martin D18, had a similar feel neck - the guy I bought that Martin from, a pro player in L.A., had sanded its original harder V-shape neck down a bit, and it was a great guitar to learn to play on. Until recently most Yamaha acoustics have had that neck shape; this Fender neck and the one on my 2005 Yam parlor are very close.
- Fender Classic Player ‘50s series Stratocaster neck, made in Mexico in 2022. Over a few months I bought five various Tele necks, and I’ll cut that long story short to say they each had flaws, fit issues, or been misrepresented by the sellers. One day I took the neck off my Strat project guitar, put it on the ToneBomb body - it fit perfectly - and that’s where it stayed. Fender calls it a “soft V” back profile, I've always liked the shape. My first good quality guitar, a 1947 Martin D18, had a similar feel neck - the guy I bought that Martin from, a pro player in L.A., had sanded its original harder V-shape neck down a bit, and it was a great guitar to learn to play on. Until recently most Yamaha acoustics have had that neck shape; this Fender neck and the one on my 2005 Yam parlor are very close.
It's basically a fine neck, but it has one aggravating issue. I
bought it brand new in a factory sealed box, and yeah, they said it would take some work before it was in
playable shape. But I wasn't expecting all the frets to be completely
covered in the same super tough and hardened polyester that the
rest of the neck was coated in. Some AI generated websites suggest you
can simply and easily chip this finish off, but that's a 'bot concocted
lie - it's hours of careful labor to remove the tenacious poly without
damaging the rest of the fretboard. Once again, many thanks to friend
David for not only his expert work, but also having the right tool for
the job.
Here's the same neck, mounted on a Strat project:
- Gotoh vintage type tuning machines. Nickel plated steel, with “butterbean” Waverly style buttons. Japan
- Fender vintage style round string guide, nickel plated steel. USA
- Gotoh nickel plated steel neck plate. Japan
- Fender nickel plated steel strap pegs. USA
- Gotoh Les Paul style output jack plate. Curved nickel plated brass or nickel. Japan
- Gotoh nickel plated steel neck plate. Japan
- Fender nickel plated steel strap pegs. USA
- Gotoh Les Paul style output jack plate. Curved nickel plated brass or nickel. Japan
- Switchcraft output jack, new old stock, unknown date, possibly 1970s. USA
- Gotoh control plate, nickel plated brass or nickel. It’s reverse mounted, a bit easier to grab the volume knob. Japan
- Gotoh bridge plate, nickel plated brass. Cutaway sides for comfort, and cutaway rear for possible use with a Bigsby tailpiece. Japan
- Gotoh control plate, nickel plated brass or nickel. It’s reverse mounted, a bit easier to grab the volume knob. Japan
- Gotoh bridge plate, nickel plated brass. Cutaway sides for comfort, and cutaway rear for possible use with a Bigsby tailpiece. Japan
- Fender “Vintage ‘58” bridge saddles. Solid and smooth unthreaded and unplated steel. No intonation compensation, but my not so secret Tele adjustment seems to work: keep messing with the string length until chords sound okay, and you’re done. Most of the Telecasters I borrowed when I started doing country bar gigs had these same style smooth steel barrel saddles. To my ears, better tone and sustain than either brass or the thinner threaded steel types, and amazing they're still made today. USA
- Fender vintage-type rear body string ferrules, nickel plated steel. USA
- Gotoh “Gibson Speed” style volume control knob. Japan
- Gotoh “dome” Tele style tone control knob, heavy knurled nickel plated brass. Japan
- CTS (Chicago Telephone Supply) 250k audio taper potentiometers; one with a splined split shaft, one with a solid shaft. Both new current production. Mexico
- Sprague .039uF capacitor. It's old, maybe late '50s or '60s, I don't really know; a vintage sized large tube, possibly mylar composition construction. I have a limited stock of old and new caps; tried a few of them with a home built external (yet in-circuit) tone capacitor tester, and this one worked well with the two disparate type pickups. Smooth jazzy tones rolled back with the neck pickup, and tames any tendency toward harshness in the bridge pickup. USA
- Oak Grigsby 3-way blade switch. NOS (New Old Stock), spring loaded. It's mid '90s, old enough, and cheaper than a new production one. USA
- DakaWare switch knob, NOS 1950s, maroon barrel style. Chicago, Illinois, USA. A gift from David in Massachusetts, who has a genius ability to find cool old stuff. Or maybe they find him.
- Mighty Mite neck pickup; Gibson single coil “P-90” style. Made in Korea mid 1990s, Alnico magnet, 8.5k. Bought this from a seller named Martha; Martha, it turned out, was a really cute Labrador puppy!
- DakaWare switch knob, NOS 1950s, maroon barrel style. Chicago, Illinois, USA. A gift from David in Massachusetts, who has a genius ability to find cool old stuff. Or maybe they find him.
- Mighty Mite neck pickup; Gibson single coil “P-90” style. Made in Korea mid 1990s, Alnico magnet, 8.5k. Bought this from a seller named Martha; Martha, it turned out, was a really cute Labrador puppy!
- Philadelphia Luthier Supply P-90 cover, unplated and non polished solid nickel; what Phil Luthier calls "Raw" - plenty of character right out of the box. USA.
- MojoTone bridge pickup. “Broadcaster” model, flat top magnets, string-wrapped and wax potted coil, 9.6K. Made in Georgia, USA
- MojoTone bridge pickup. “Broadcaster” model, flat top magnets, string-wrapped and wax potted coil, 9.6K. Made in Georgia, USA
- WD pickguard, thick one ply, 5 screw. USA
- Wherever possible, all screws are nickel plated flat blade type, not phillips. Various makes; Fender, Philly Luthier etc. USA
- Currently the strings are a GHS Gilmour set, gauges .010, .012, .016, .028, .038, .048. Next string change I’ll go back to my old fave Hybrid Slinky set: .009, .011, .016, .026, .036, .046. A very minor difference; hopefully the slightly lighter gauges will have a bit better couch noodle-ability.
A Low Power Couch Noodling Amplifier
Here's a photo of my living room amp, along with another piece of vintage furniture:
A quick description: a modified 1950s 5F2A circuit built into a small early '60s Bogen PA amp chassis (I'm guessing maybe 4 watts at most), bolted to an old-growth alder plank and sitting atop a Hammond M3 organ external speaker cabinet with an Altec Lansing 417-8C 12" inside. This cab, without the Altec, was a gift from Nashville Tele slinger extraordinaire Chris Wade, from whom I also got the mid '90s Japan Fender Stratocaster body shown above.
Accidental Addendum:
Luckily there was a set in the string stash box of what Ernie Ball calls Hybrid Slinky (.009 - .046), in this case GHS Custom Light. From geographic necessity in a past life, I learned to be mostly agnostic regarding string brands, and always used whatever I could find. After the string swap, the Accidental Pinecaster and I retired to the ancient Flexsteel sofa, and there it was: all the wiggly couch noodle-ability I could ever ask for.
Besides feeling pretty darn good, a final question might be: Does this mess of random componentry sound any good or not? One might say: The sum total of all these quality parts has to end up sounding good, maybe even great. On the other hand, you could think "Meh, tone comes from the fingers, not the hardware, so who cares!" Both those viewpoints are correct.
More subjectively, based upon years of extensive gigging with borrowed guitars, I'd say this one sounds and plays as well as any Tele that ever found its way into my hands. Then again and honestly, the days of plugging into a pair of cranked Super Reverbs (or a Princeton and a Super Champ) are in the distant past, so any comparisons are meaningless. At a very basic level though, the Accidental Guitar feels and sounds just like a Telecaster, so... alright!
* * *
Photo of the living room amp was taken with an Olympus PL-5 w/ a Lumix 14-45mm zoom lens, and the Strat project guitar was shot with a Lumix ZS-25 pocket camera. All other images were taken with a 2016 iPhone SE.
ps - One last photo:
The living room is in the process of getting some new furniture and some old removed, so stuff is being temporarily rearranged. A bit crowded, but it makes an interesting picture.
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