The Rebirth of My Tele

I originally got this 2011 MIM Special Edition Telecaster by trading in my Framus Diablo Pro. Back then, it featured a custom blue paint job, an anodized gold pickguard, hand-wound “Nokkel” pickups, and a 3-saddle Wilkinson bridge.

For almost two years, I tried to sell it to fund a fixed-bridge, dual-humbucker guitar. Fortunately, no one bought it. It finally dawned on me: why sell it when I can just rebuild it?

I took it to Róbert Erdős (“Robesz”) at Svajcsik Gitárműhely. He suggested stripping off the non-original blue paint, and I’m so glad I listened. The natural wood grain of the ash body is simply beautiful.

To complete the transformation, we made a few functional and aesthetic changes:

• Pickups: Swapped to a Tonerider Alnico 2 Plus set. My first impressions are very positive – they sound clear and full of character, both clean and distorted.
• Hardware: Added a classic black pickguard and a modern 6-saddle bridge for perfect intonation.
• Electronics: Reversed the control plate. This layout feels much more natural and makes volume swells much easier – a technique I love to use). I’ll just need to nudge the tone pot a bit in the future, as the switch currently touches it.

I just brought the guitar home two days ago, so I don’t have any sound demos ready yet, but I can’t wait to properly put it through its paces. Huge thanks to Robesz for transforming my guitar!