So I meet the guy and he gives me the story. Old alder body from the early 90s, recently built neck with 12" radius, showing some wear around the first 3 frets but straight as an arrow and feels like a comfy modern thin deal of sorts, rings pretty well on .10s, acoustically twangs like a Tele. $100 easily covering the cost of the pickups, I look the thing over and see an interesting finish crack of sorts on top and notice how the thing has a dulled matte finish, being as he says "A well used guitar from the '90s". Stupid of me for not looking at it in the sunlight or under decent lighting, but I say what the heck and take the thing home.
A little finger working around the lower horn reveals that the whole top and back black finish are a very well-applied sticker! Ultrafooled but not thwarted, I peel things back to reveal a photofinished ugly birdseye image under a tacky wineburst, done over a nicely weighted alder body. I almost immediately dropped it off at my friend's repair joint, and he took it in for a complete strip and refin in black(should put me back another $60 or so, ho-hum). $95 will get you only so far, but we'll see how this things turns out. I have a feeling only a little TLC will get my friend a passable first Tele or sorts.
Observe the sickening horror.
