Tele to Esquire Conversion
This partscaster arrived with an aftermarket swamp ash body and a genuine Fender neck - both nitro finished - and the brief was to convert it to Esquire specs and do some relic’ing.
I installed an Oil City pickup with a very useful coil tap feature, along with a single ply white pickguard and some steel saddles.
The guitar was a very well put together Blackguard replica, with brass saddles, domed knobs and an added humbucker.
Under the control plate I found some CTS potentiometers and a massive orange drop tone capacitor.
The original wiring was removed and the switch and control pots were carefully cleaned up for re-use.
The owned asked me to use the ‘Eldred Mod’ wiring scheme and add a push/pull switch for the coil tap.
I could only find a push/pull with a split shaft potentiometer, but this brass sleeve from Allparts ‘converted’ it to a solid shaft.
Hydrochloric (muriatic) acid fumes were used to age the steel saddles, which were chosen for extra bite and twang.
After stripping the guitar of all electronics and hardware, I placed the body and neck in a deep freeze overnight to induce lacquer checking.
Adding chips and dents around the edges enhanced the aged look.
Lacquer tends to do whatever it chooses when you induce lacquer checking, as you can see from the patination near the pickguard
Stain was used to enhance the checking lines on the body and neck.
...more checking lines...
I was particularly pleased with the way the lacquer checked on the back of the neck.
The finished guitar!
Video
The Tele to Esquire Conversion as part of Guitar Magazine’s DIY Workshop series.