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Zenta Tele 1960's Charitly Shop rebuild

Grangur

By Grangur,
in Guitars

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Grangur Mentor

Grangur

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Guitars really aren't my thing. I totally can't play the cheese-wires, but this morning I found a guitar in a Sue Ryder shop in the town and gave in to the temptation to try my hand at a quick restoration.

Well it looked SO unloved and it looked straight forward. The ticket said the "input socket" needed replacing.



Not only was the socket broken, but it was disconnected and useless.


The Truss Rod was stuck, but a squirt of WD40 in the hole, got it freed up.

All cleaned, polished up and re-strung with new D'Addario Nickels and here's the result.


It does still have one small problem; some of the pickguard screw holes are bunged up with broken off screws. So I'm thinking I might try moving the whole pickguard a few millimeters to one side and re-drill all the holes. Other than that I now have a guitar I can't play to save my life... but I thought it might bring back memories to someone here.

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MoonBassAlpha Mentor

MoonBassAlpha

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There's a shop in Abingdon called Remade Guitars that takes old duffers like this and makes them playable, often by removing the useless bridges and trems and replacing them with parts that actually work, intonate etc. Great for low-fi garage sounds and usually lightweight and small.

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Grangur Mentor

Grangur

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[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1457864370' post='3002376']
There's a shop in Abingdon called Remade Guitars that takes old duffers like this and makes them playable, often by removing the useless bridges and trems and replacing them with parts that actually work, intonate etc. Great for low-fi garage sounds and usually lightweight and small.
[/quote]
That would be sensible. There's no intonation adjustment on this. If I were to keep it, that would drive me mad.

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Grangur Mentor

Grangur

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[quote name='SubsonicSimpleton' timestamp='1457872612' post='3002502']
Holy sh*t, you've stumbled across an ultra rare vintage pre-CBS Fender SG prototype manufactered at the legendary Matsumoko factory- get thee to gumtree/ebay immediately, or convert it to a short scale three string bass for sausage fingered gentlemen.
[/quote]

Cripes SS, you're right there. Where's me tenon saw?

Come to that.... anyone got a blow lamp or a chain-saw I can borrow to make improvements?

Joking aside, it's up on evilbay now. All good revenue to the bass fund.

Edited by Grangur
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Grangur Mentor

Grangur

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[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1457969066' post='3003478']
Woolies Special. Cost about £25.00 in the mid-70s. Unfortunately only worth the same today.
[/quote]
We'll see what happens. I'll let you know. It's been up 24hrs and has watchers. (FWTW)

Ironically, £25 is exactly what I paid.

Edited by Grangur
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BigRedX Grand Master

BigRedX

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I find it very difficult to get misty-eyed about instruments like this, because back in the 70s when I was just starting to learn the guitar, unless you had parents who were relatively well off and supportive of any rock music aspirations, this was all you could dream of affording.

And even back then we knew they were sh*t. A class-mate scraped together enough pocket money and saturday job earnings to buy one. He spent weeks levelling the frets and adjusting the truss-rod, nut and bridge to get a bit more playability out of it, but all that fettling couldn't disguise the fact that it had a neck like half a baseball bat and the pickups sounded like crap unless you played it through a distortion pedal turned all the way up. It also went out of tune at the drop of a hat.

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FlatEric Community Regular

FlatEric

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[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1457973481' post='3003554']
I find it very difficult to get misty-eyed about instruments like this, because back in the 70s when I was just starting to learn the guitar, unless you had parents who were relatively well off and supportive of any rock music aspirations, this was all you could dream of affording.

And even back then we knew they were sh*t. A class-mate scraped together enough pocket money and saturday job earnings to buy one. He spent weeks levelling the frets and adjusting the truss-rod, nut and bridge to get a bit more playability out of it, but all that fettling couldn't disguise the fact that it had a neck like half a baseball bat and the pickups sounded like crap unless you played it through a distortion pedal turned all the way up. It also went out of tune at the drop of a hat.
[/quote]

Oh. . . . How well I remember all that! :o <_< ;)

Kay, Teisco etc - it's a wonder we all stuck at it!!

:D

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Grangur Mentor

Grangur

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I know what you mean. I was a child of the same period.

At the age of about 17 I bought my first bass for £40. That was a LOAD of money to me. Possessing an amp was FAR out of my league. The prospect of parents chipping in with present money was never going to happen. It was a short-scale Eros, single pup "instrument".



I actually sold it on Ebay and got way more than I expected. In some ways I wish I'd kept it and routed it for a split-coil pup; just for a laugh and the experience of doing it.

When I hear of folk like Clapton saying these days, "I had it tough, Mum and Dad bought me a wreck of a guitar..." I can't believe how lucky they were. "Tough", my foot.

Now age 56, knowing I now play, my Mum said to me she'd wished she'd helped me back then. But I know my parents weren't unique in their scepticism. Kids today don't know they're born. (Did I REALLY say that??)

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BigRedX Grand Master

BigRedX

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I got a reasonably playable acoustic guitar for my 14th birthday. I think my parents were hoping that it would be a gateway into the world of classical (or at least folk) music rather than rock n roll. I was actually forbidden to buy an electric guitar, not that I could afford even a Zenta or a Kay as it would have involved saving all my money for the best part of 6 months, something I doubt any teenager of any generation would be able to do.

I finally got around the problem by building my own solid-bodied guitar in the woodwork shop at school during the free periods of my A levels, and buying the hardware to go on it as an when I could afford it. Also it was relatively easy to smuggle a pickup or a set of machine heads into the house and hide them in my room until they were ready to be assembled. I worked out that I had spent more time working on the guitar than I had on any one of my 3 A-level subjects, something that was probably reflected in my grades. The finished guitar was brought home on the last day of term and presented as a "fait accompli" I didn't care what my parents thought any more, and besides I was off to university in a couple of months time.

TBH I think that the difficulty I had playing rock music when I was growing up made me all the more determined and probably is a large factor in the fact that I'm still actively playing in bands today.

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Bassassin Grand Master

Bassassin

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[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1457969066' post='3003478']
Woolies Special. Cost about £25.00 in the mid-70s. Unfortunately only worth the same today.
[/quote]

You'd be surprised how collectable some of these things have become.

I'm not a fan (JapCrap got a [i]lot[/i] better) but looking at this guitar, it's a Kawai/Teisco build - the "gold foil" pickups fitted to this are particularly sought after and alone can sell for rather more than you'd expect:

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-60s-TEISCO-GOLD-FOIL-RY-COODER-NECK-PICKUP-JAPAN-SOUNDS-AMAZING-/151939046632"]http://www.ebay.co.u...G-/151939046632[/url]

I have found similar guitars to this for a tenner at the car boot, hosed them down & flipped them for £150+. Trust me, there's a hipster out there who'd bite your arm off for this.

Jon.

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Grangur Mentor

Grangur

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Right now I've got 20 watchers, a guy asking me if I'll post to Sweden and bids already that put me into profit. There's 4 days to go.

Many thanks Jon. It's great to hear your thoughts. (Please, don't anyone read this as "point-scoring". That's not in my nature.)

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Beer of the Bass Mentor

Beer of the Bass

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Some of those pickups can be cool sounding - low output and a bit microphonic, but a clear single coil sound that's different from a Fender. I have an old Guyatone lap steel, and the shonky old pickups work well in that. I can't imagine putting up with the neck, tuners or bridge of one of these old guitars, but I can see how people might enjoy the sound. Yes, I'm probably an irredeemable hipster...

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Grangur Mentor

Grangur

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[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1458077570' post='3004576']
Some of those pickups can be cool sounding - low output and a bit microphonic, but a clear single coil sound that's different from a Fender. I have an old Guyatone lap steel, and the shonky old pickups work well in that. I can't imagine putting up with the neck, tuners or bridge of one of these old guitars, but I can see how people might enjoy the sound. Yes, I'm probably an irredeemable hipster...
[/quote]

Hmmm... really. Would you like me to send you a link? :D

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pete.young Veteran

pete.young

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[quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1458070122' post='3004436']
You'd be surprised how collectable some of these things have become.

I'm not a fan (JapCrap got a [i]lot[/i] better) but looking at this guitar, it's a Kawai/Teisco build - the "gold foil" pickups fitted to this are particularly sought after and alone can sell for rather more than you'd expect:

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-60s-TEISCO-GOLD-FOIL-RY-COODER-NECK-PICKUP-JAPAN-SOUNDS-AMAZING-/151939046632"]http://www.ebay.co.u...G-/151939046632[/url]

[/quote]

Cleaned up nicely, good job.

The gold foils on this guitar are not the ones that Ry Cooder uses. These have strange rubberised magnets. Ry used the ones with Alnico magnets, which have the pole piece adjusters along one edge, not in the middle like these ones.

Edited by pete.young
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Grangur Mentor

Grangur

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[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1458638071' post='3009220']


Cleaned up nicely, good job.

The gold foils on this guitar are not the ones that Ry Cooder uses. These have strange rubberised magnets. Ry used the ones with Alnico magnets, which have the pole piece adjusters along one edge, not in the middle like these ones.
[/quote]

Thanks, this doesn't surprise me. The sound from the guitar isn't good enough for even Ry Cooder to climb to fame.

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