12 string Tele project

[rubis]

I have recently got myself a new 'winter project' to fiddle about with on those dark evenings while the current Mrs Rubis watches "I'm a celebrity" etc 

I've always fancied a 12 string for a bit of jingly jangly Johnny Marr action, and I spotted those Gear 4 Music kits online, which seem to get quite good reviews for the low cost involved, perfect for tinkering with!

The problem is, they look to be maple fingerboards, and I prefer rosewood, but I did see an assembled one (they have the rosewood board) which was advertised as B stock or returned goods with £20 knocked off, so for the very reasonable price of £79 I snapped it up. 

It arrived very promptly, all nicely double boxed and still with the cellophane on the scratchplate, the allen keys, strap, leads gig bag and even the plectrums were all still in there.

No signs of damage at all...………..better than a Black Friday bargain!  Excellent service from Gear4Music, I might add.

I must say that for the money, the quality is very good indeed, the body is ash (European I should imagine) but it's not heavy, the neck is nice and chunky, which I prefer, the fretting is all good and the neck joint is better than on a very expensive Strat I once owned 

Obviously it's not perfect, at this price I would be foolish to think it would be, but I was happy to note that all the little things which would need fettling are the ones I was expecting to find, having read reviews of them before buying, mostly set up and minor cosmetic things, such as (oddly) one of the string ferrules doesn't match the other 5 on the back!

As I said at the start, this is just a little winter project, to see if I could make something decent playing and looking out of a cheap online bargain bucket. 

My intention is to turn it into something which looks more like this...…….

……....continuing with my love of Fenders' pastel colours, I will be respraying it in Surf Green nitro, with a matching headstock and amber neck tint.

At the moment the finish is all clear, a thick poly on the body and a very anaemic looking satin on the neck, and although the finish quality is excellent, I want it to look more retro. 

So that's the plan, I shall try to sort out any little issues I find on the way, although having had it for a couple of weeks, I must say there is nothing wrong with these guitars as they come, and if the other stuff is like this I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them....check out the double necked Tele 

Jangle on Wayne !

Edited November 25, 2018 by rubis