Shad's 5th Black Tele Robroe Tribute Edition

theshadowofseattle · Post by **theshadowofseattle** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 2:16 pm

Bought it a couple weeks ago for $150 on Craigslist. I believe from the body, neck, and the oversized control plate that it was originally a BLACK AND CHROME. Came with:

a BWB pickguard that the owner had warped all to hell by sticking his picks under it
a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder for strat rigged up to a tele bridge pickup baseplate
a surprisingly good MIM strat neck pickup fit through a normal tele neck pickup slot on the pg by not having a cover on it
reverse control plate
MATCHING HEADSTOCK
stupid dice knobs and switch tip

I HAD EVERY PROBLEM IN THE UNIVERSE SETTING THIS THING UP. When I first opened in, the wiring was hideous. The leads on both pickups had been snipped to the bobbin and then patched together out of several 3-6 cm long pieces of wire. They were frayed really near the pickup on the strat neck pup, so I just replaced them entirely by soldering new wires right on to where the copper windings meet the leads. I don't know why I was so freaked out about this like it would kill the pickup, but it was way easy.

List of bullshit that occurred:

GFS pickguard with strat slot doesn't fit with oversized control plate. Switch out with a spare.
Wire it all up with GFS rails bucker in Robroe cover in neck and GFS Tele PROFESSIONAL SERIES 63 in bridge. Bridge pickup is quiet. Freak out.
Assume its the treble bleed cap or 500k pots I put in, replace entirely with two 1M pots wired as 2 volume.
Still doesn't sound right. Throw switch in trash, replace with spare.
Realize the neck pickup is the problem and the previous switch was wired backward. Great.
THROW ALL THAT SHIT OUT THE WINDOW. Neck bucker, switch both go in trash.
Now wired: 500k vol with Treble Bleed, 500k Tone, Mexi neck pup, 63 bridge, confirmed functional switch.
Have to take off the neck, bridge, and pickguard to replace neck pickup.
Mexi neck pickup barely fits in the body's route due to thickness of wire and tightness of space, have to bop it with my fist to snap it into the pickup route. First time I do this, it severs the ground lead. Re-replaced ground lead. Doesn't sever the second time I bop it into place.
GFS pickguard warps a little due to tight fit. Sticks up as though I had kept picks in the top bout for a long time. KILL ME.
FINALLY EVERYTHING FUNCTIONS. String it up only to discover.
OF FUCKING COURSE THE PICKUPS ARE OUT OF PHASE.

That's omitting little shit like stripped screwholes and that. Basically, if I ever see the inside of this guitar again, I'll smash it. But, now, it looks rad and sounds FREAKING AWESOME. The GFS Profesh Series is officially SHAD APPROVED, because this bridge pickup is bangin'. The two pickups sound great together, and, like I said, the strat neck pickup was pretty great. I see now why so many dudes replace the usual tele neck pups with them. It gives major MARTY STUART vibes.

The matching headstock is fresh to death, doe. This is also my only tele with a reversed control plate, and I kind of dig it.

I even fell asleep playing it, which amused Lady Shad enough to put this on Facebook:

timhulio · Post by **timhulio** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 5:15 pm

Great looking guitar, right up my street. That matching headstock and the white pickup cover make this one of the nicest teles I've seen in a while.

theshadowofseattle · Post by **theshadowofseattle** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 6:18 pm

Thanks, tim! Here's the ghetto engineering behind the old bridge pickup:

Looks to be household caulking holding it down to the plate, but painted black.

YuriK · Post by **YuriK** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 6:24 pm

I lyke teh geetar.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 7:51 pm

That looks lovely Shad, really cool. I've been eyinng up the custom squier tele in a shop nearby. I love the matching headstock with silver lettering. I'd buy it and stick a plack 3 ply on there after seeing yours

laterallateral · Post by **laterallateral** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 8:11 pm

dopecaster

Also: It totally looks like you're wearing corpsepaint, in the reflection, in that first pic.

theshadowofseattle · Post by **theshadowofseattle** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 8:42 pm

Dave wrote:I love the matching headstock with silver lettering.

Me too. I love the CHROME lettering on my John 5's headstock as well.

theshadowofseattle · Post by **theshadowofseattle** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 8:44 pm

laterallateral wrote:It totally looks like you're wearing corpsepaint

Wouldn't be unlikely. I'm sure someone will post a picture from my more-heavily made up years.

theshadowofseattle · Post by **theshadowofseattle** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 8:44 pm

2/5

BillClay · Post by **BillClay** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 4:17 pm

Man, why you got so many good guitars. Is good man.

theshadowofseattle · Post by **theshadowofseattle** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 8:27 pm

BillClay wrote:Man, why you got so many good guitars.

idk mayne.

1. Main Telecaster (humbucker bridge)
2. John 5 Telecaster
3. Black and formerly Chrome Robroe Tele
4. Squier Affinity Tele
5. Squier VM Tele Custom
6. Shadowmaster
7. Squier Vista Musicmaster
8. Prisonstang
9. SGuar
10. Jaguar
11. MIM P-Bass
12. Martin D-28