Friday, August 20, 2010

This Week 1956 DuoSonic, 1957 Telecaster by Fiesta Finishes

This week we completed two awesome guitars. The first is Arthur's 1956 Duosonic. This guitar is literally one of the very first Duosonics from mid 1956! It was originally Desert Sand but had been stripped to bare wood. The tuner holes had also been enlarged for modern tuners. We installed adapter bushings while Arthur sourced some period correct tuners. Then we applied a Desert Sand finish, preserving the original finish in all cavities. The pick guard assembly and all electronics, knobs, etc. are just as they came from Fender in 1956. Nothing has been touched, and the anodized pick guard is signed by "Mel." I wonder if that's Melvin or Melissa? See more photos here

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Next we have a 1957 Telecaster. This guitar was in poor shape when we got it, having a bad finish on both neck and body, dead pickups, wrong tuners with drilled head stock, etc. We worked hard to bring it back to life but I never expected it to turn out to be such a cool guitar! It has a light, one piece Ash body, a pronounced V-Neck, and the rewound pickups sound simply amazing thanks to Tom Brantley at Lindy Fralin pickups! This is one of those guitars you just can't put down because it sounds so cool! I'm a big V-Neck fan so that makes it even more amazing to me personally. It really goes to show that with a little love, some good craftsmanship, and patience, a sorry old Fender can really come alive! I'd really like to keep this one, but alas, it's for sale. Check out more photos here

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Monday, August 9, 2010

This Week, Melody Maker Restoration

Who says we only do Fenders? This week we completed Arthur's vintage 60's Gibson Melody Maker. It was in rough shape, so it received a complete Cherry Red restoration. Arthur and I agreed we didn't like the faded brown Cherry, and we didn't want it too bright red so it looked like a new guitar, so we found a happy medium. A nice, aged 'closet classic' Cherry Red. This guitar plays great, the neck feels like a Les Paul.

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Friday, August 6, 2010

This Week, 1956 Fender DuoSonic, 1959 Stratocaster, 1958 Telecaster Fret Job

This week we have lots going on at Fiesta Finishes, restoring a Black '73 Strat body, a Desert Sand '56 DuoSonic, and a Sonic Blue '59 Strat.

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And we now offer re fret jobs at Fiesta Finishes on your vintage Fender. Finding it frustrating to wait for local luthiers who can't seem to get them done on time and are not experts at Fender maple necks that often require finish work during a re fret, we've brought fret jobs in house. Here a Telecaster neck gets new vintage style frets.

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