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Post subject: My Rat Rod Esquire
Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2011 11:14 am
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Location: Portland, Maine
Rat Rod "Deluxe" - Built to go, not for show!

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I love the whole hot-rodded Esquire concept of the Fender Custom Shop La Cabronita Especial. (Some early promo photos included the "Esquire" name on the headstock decal.) Starting with the classic Esquire design as a base, stripping it to the bare bones, and then rebuilding it with high performance components really appeals to me. My plan was to kick it a notch further into "rat rod" territory as a D-I-Y project with some custom parts and a few upgrades. My goal was to create a player's guitar with no "authentic & vintage" aspirations and without the high price associated with the scarcity & branding of a Fender Custom Shop Limited Edition.

Really enjoyed the process, including the photos and graphics - I see how this could be addicting!

Body - Pine, a little thinner than a standard Telecaster but not quite as thin as the original pine 1950 Esquire models. Finished with rattlecan John Deere Blitz Black, a flat black paint popular with rat rod builders because it's cheap, durable, easy to use, and looks great.

Neck - Large "C" maple neck & fingerboard with heel truss rod adjustment, medium tall frets, and 9.5" radius. Bone nut. Finished with Tru-Oil over amber shellac. Steel inserts and stainless steel neckplate & bolts for ease of adjustment and disassembly for travel. This particular neck/body combo required a small shim which is brass.

Tuners - Sperzel Sound Lock open back locking tuners in chrome with pearloid buttons. Great light weight tuners with an elegant design that offer a nice counterpoint to the overall "industrial" aspect of this guitar.

Pickup - Chrome TV Jones Classic Plus has slightly less of that mid-range PAF/humbucker sound compared to the TV Jones Powertron. I think it has a more complex Filtertron-style voice with plenty of punch and gives this single pickup instrument extra character. Especially nice with a low gain overdrive pedal.

Controls - CTS pots: 500K volume, 250k tone with Greasebucket tone circuit. Some people prefer a standard tone circuit but I think the Greasebucket works here. Switchcraft jack with aluminum Electrosocket.

Bridge - Custom machined solid brass bridgeplate with six stainless steel saddles. Same materials mix, with a little more "rat rod" attitude, as the American Standard Hard Tail on the original La Cabronita.

Knobs - Custom machined solid brass. Domed with heavy knurling.

Pickguard & control cover - Custom cut single ply .060" Parchment.

Hardware - Stainless steel throughout.

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Post subject: Re: My Rat Rod Esquire
Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2011 11:58 am
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Nicely done. mine's pretty ratrod-ish, as I scraped together parts. Yours would look good with the knobs I have on mine.

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Post subject: Re: My Rat Rod Esquire
Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2011 11:59 am
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Love rat rods of all varieties! Got any pix?


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Post subject: Re: My Rat Rod Esquire
Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2011 12:06 pm
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viewtopic.php?f=7&t=61516

This thread. bottom of page 1.

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Post subject: Re: My Rat Rod Esquire
Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2011 12:14 pm
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Nice! Black knobs look good with the red and chrome. Like the humbucker in the neck, too.


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Post subject: Re: My Rat Rod Esquire
Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2011 12:17 pm
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It's nothing special. Just needed a new one because I parted my other guitar out to friends who needed it. I'm in it about $400 or so now. Got about $100 to go for it to be complete.

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Post subject: Re: My Rat Rod Esquire
Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2011 1:08 pm
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I like that style. I do repairs on old barns here in Indiana and had a customer give me some planks of lumber that are 2"x13"x12feet long. They could be as old as I am or older. If you know what powder post beetles do to wood , these boards have had some . Not bad but I was considering making a Tele body out of this and didn't know what to do about the little holes . After seeing those pictures I've gotten some ideas. I could just leave them and go for a (Rat look) Tele. Thoughts?


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Post subject: Re: My Rat Rod Esquire
Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2011 1:18 pm
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Sounds like a very cool project! If you Google "Barncaster" and "Pinecaster" you'll find some similar builds on one of the Telecaster forums. That rustic look seems to work well with the Tele form.


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Post subject: Re: My Rat Rod Esquire
Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2011 1:37 pm
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I recommend getting a colored epoxy or darker wood and filling the holes. Sand smooth and stain with gun oil.

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Post subject: Re: My Rat Rod Esquire
Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2011 2:06 pm
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looked at the barncaster site. Those are a little more finished than what I thought they would look. Maybe my thought of just rough primer painted wood would be a little to tacky. I've got nothing to lose by trying one. The wood was free and I have four of those boards.


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Post subject: Re: My Rat Rod Esquire
Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2011 2:10 pm
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Get clear epoxy and thickly coat the body and sand it down to the wood again. Then stain (with gun oil) and clear coat it and buff it to a gloss.

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Post subject: Re: My Rat Rod Esquire
Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 5:15 am
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Looks tough. Very nice.

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Post subject: Re: My Rat Rod Esquire
Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 8:40 pm
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Mate, I don't think people are going off about how crazy awesome this guitar is!!!!

Where did you get the parts from? Did you make the body yourself? What did you use to print the decal? SOOO MANY QUESTIONS!!! Have you got a "through the build" photo montage!?!

You've completely undersold this thing by just putting up expertly taken photos of the finished product ;)

Great job and LOVE the mat black finish!

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Post subject: Re: My Rat Rod Esquire
Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 5:39 am
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Impulse7, thanks glad you like the finished product. Sad to say I was so focused on getting the thing done without any major screw-ups that I have no photos of the project in progress.

It's your basic partscaster, everything sourced from common online suppliers. AllParts neck, Red Dirt body, Sperzel tuners, Armadillo, and Callaham hardware. A few odds n' ends from the local hardware store. John Deere Blitz Black tractor paint in spray cans. Zinsser shellac and Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil Gun Stock Finish. TV Jones for the pickup.

Decal is a straight ahead laser printed waterslide made using clear decal paper from decalpaper.com. Designed using standard type fonts in Photoshop and printed on a Xerox laser printer.


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Post subject: Re: My Rat Rod Esquire
Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 6:08 am
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Well mate I can't praise u enough, infact it has given me serious case of GAS.... My american special and blacktop teles seem like posers next to this bad boy. It's like the relic look without it being relicd, just kick arse really!

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