The Tele body was listed on Ebay-US. Original it was US-shipping only but after mailing with the seller I got permission to bid on the body. Over the next few days of the auction I mailed several times with Bret (seller/owner of the Blues Oasis - guitar shop in Yuma Arizona) it gave me confidence I was dealing with a serious party. There was another guy on the prowl for this Telecaster body but in the end I won the bid. Which created the next question – What neck shall I use?

An early 70’s or even a 60’s original Fender neck would certainly rocket my budget sky high and other project plans to pieces. I did not want a MIJ (made in Japan) or MIM (made in Mexico) neck on this Telecaster. Wanted it to be close to '73 specs. I don't know by experience but a guitar guy told me fret work on MIJ and MIM is not so good as on US made necks. So I searched for an Allparts, Warmoth or Mighty Mite neck – Some suggested that Mighty Mite necks produced nowadays are made of rock maple and are of better quality then early ones. I prefer a Maple neck – and if possible the ones with the nitro finish. I found a beautiful ’52 Reissue neck produced in '89 – it is nitro reliced and a Fender US made. It had some scares of a few years on the road – perfect for my project. When a '69 -'73 comes along I will probably change the neck.

Finaly it's here - the 52 RI neck - nice color, a bit more scares then I anticipated, but no serious ones. The frets are unbelievable smooth - No big square frets. Running my fingers on the neck - feels just silk. The nitro finish does the rest.

And there it was on the Internet - cannot believe, just days after purchase the 52RI I found an early 70's Telecaster neck with original F-tuners installed. In the months before I searched the web for an affordable/not-high-priced 70's neck. Not a trace of one - and now having bought a substitue neck I find one. An original early 70's neck - I had to have that on ths body - it's a maple one! The 52RI is saved for the next project - a reliced ash Tele with Bigsby B-16. It is on it's way - again waiting on parts think an other 2 weeks and it's here.
Meanwhile let me tell the story on the bridge.

MYPROJECT[1] [2] [3]