Villager Tele 12

DGNR8 · Post by **DGNR8** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 1:30 am

THIS looks like something RobOG made. It's even in Wisconsin. Look at the stack of Strat bodies. I smell GFS.

Mo Law-ka · Post by **Mo Law-ka** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 1:35 am

It looks like they put a new fingerboard on it. The Villager had a heel and fretboard end which curved with the soundhole.

MattK · Post by **MattK** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 11:26 am

There was a reissue a couple of years ago with a "normal" fretboard heel -

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 12:34 pm

they probly sanded it flush. the truss rod is recessed enough to do that. and you can always remove the nut but to get more space to do so.
i can't believe you remember that thing i did with the villager neck

Mo Law-ka · Post by **Mo Law-ka** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 2:21 pm

Dude, that thing was awesome. I was totes jelly that you made it, even though it never really worked like you wanted it to.

Matthew, the newer reissue has a set neck, compared with the older Villager model that was a bolt-on.

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 2:33 pm

i did get it to play like i wanted it to for about a week, but the pickups were too fucking loud with the addition of overdrive or distortion, so i scrapped the whole thing. i was going to make a supersonic semi hollow with a gun f-hole and use that neck, which i still have the body, top wood, and the neck, but i never finished

holyCATS1415 · Post by **holyCATS1415** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 4:38 pm

What happened to that thing Robog? I remember that project, it was super rad. Made me want to build one, I still want to build a 12 string electric real bad. Maybe this summer. . .

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 5:54 pm

i still have the neck, and the body, and everything really, i ended up putting the tuners on my jag-stang while i was in wiscsonin, when i moved back to indiana i started to re-work the acoustic body, and made a new back for it, glued it on, bound it, and actually the day i got arrested i had finished scraping the binding on the back, its still sitting in my parents basement, tho when i last saw it, the back had started to buldge slightly in one area, basically just from not being finished and sitting in a basement for 18+ months. i want to finish it as an acoustic and keep it that way. i have a 69 neck that was warped rather badly. took off the fretboard, removed the truss rod. and i think its plained flat, so i could put a new truss rod in there and a new finger board on it, but the fact would remain that the headstock is even warped to the point that the end of it bows out passed where the fretboard was. technically that would fall under the garenteed for life under any defects since it was partially a bad bit of wood/craftsmanship. but i doubt fender would do much other than maybe send me a cheapo 200 dollar 12 string, that would be at best. in reality they would probly laugh and tell me to deal with it.

holyCATS1415 · Post by **holyCATS1415** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 7:05 pm

Glad that it still around, you should definitely post any repairs you do on it. I almost bought a vintage villager from goodwill's website but I forgot to bid on it, it sold for like $170.

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 7:32 pm

i got my first neck in a trade on here. and i bought a complete villager on ebay for cheap, i think it was just over 100 bucks, but the back was seperating, and that was the one with the shoddy neck, i bought re-issue tuners and sold the vintage ones, which paid for the re-issues and like 20 bucks leftover, BUT! the lefty re-issue gear boxes are not "lefty" the tuners are but the gear box itself is a righty one. so the high and low e string will re-quire an extra hole to be drilled and it won't look "correct" on the back of the stock.
i would like to finish the fucker, but it will be a long time before im able to get back down there and get anything done. plus at the time i was working on it, my camera stopped wanting to upload pics to my computer and my phone was not able to take pictures, sooooo there are a few problems there.
and somewhere along the line, i lost the fucking neckplate and screws, which isn't a huge deal, but the neck plate was a super worn f-plate(not the badge plate) and the screws were the right amount of rusty.

MattK · Post by **MattK** » Wed Apr 10, 2013 11:31 am

Mo Rawka wrote:Matthew, the newer reissue has a set neck, compared with the older Villager model that was a bolt-on.

Uh huh, I kind of figured Fender had been quite badly burned by the bolt-on acoustic reputation after I posted the pic.

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Wed Apr 10, 2013 12:16 pm

which is funny when you stop to realize that pretty much every manufacturer made a bolt on acoustic at some point, epiphone being the most widely done/known. and the most current would be taylors bolt on design. most folks don't even realize it. which is the beauty really.
Most of the early american flatops were bolt on esque. i will see if i can dig up som pics, but i remember seeing a book loaded with really early guitar design pictures, rather cool stuff. let me see if ican find what im talking about.

MattK · Post by **MattK** » Wed Apr 10, 2013 12:37 pm

I am thinking maybe the problem was the tube. I mean, if Ray Davies can't save your public image ...

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Wed Apr 10, 2013 1:27 pm

the body rod is actually an old selmer mackaferie design from.... god, a long ass fucking time ago. i assume that image was from a newporter or kingman. i had a newporter neck and i was supprised to find that the heal was rather narrow, like, by a good 2mms or more at the 12th and it carried thru the rest of the way. i know i made a neck template of the neck i had.
that seems to be an untapped market, buy a newporter neck for less than 50 bucks, sell the tuners for 60 bucks. buy some nice re-issue tuners for about 20-30 bucks. walla, vintage fender neck with nicer tuners. but like i said the heal is different.

MattK · Post by **MattK** » Wed Apr 10, 2013 1:43 pm

How weird - would have thought a wider heel for an acoustic neck. That pic was a 68 Palomino by the way, apparently.

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Wed Apr 10, 2013 1:45 pm

i would have thought so as well, but no. i really wish i had this stuff readily availble to look at and measure but, alas, i do not. therefor i suck and must be shot in the back of the head, twice. once for fun, twice for good measure.

MattK · Post by **MattK** » Wed Apr 10, 2013 1:58 pm

Nah that was taken off the list of capital offences a couple of years back, you should be fine.

Awstin · Post by **Awstin** » Wed Apr 10, 2013 3:55 pm

I saw this the other day. I want that neck to make an electric xii

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Wed Apr 10, 2013 5:03 pm

in reality its not hard to take one of those necks and throw it onto an electric. just make a bigger than needed neck pocket, and make the guard to fit the shape of the neck and you are in business. in reality i want to say that i made a tele style neck pocket and then just drilled two holes on either side of the butt end of the neck pocket and the neck slipped in and was snug as a bug in a rug. obviously it didn't fit like a strat,tele, neck pocket, but it was close enough, or as close as you can expect to get it with a hand held roughter.