I showed the guitar to Pete Jenkins (who is a country guitarist and thus Tele specialist, but fixes all kinds of guitars and has done all of the professional work on my SGs, Explorer, and Jazz bass) and his view on the bridge was that it is a good bridge and replacing it with a string through body type would not be worthwhile. His verdict was that the guitar needs a new wiring harness, new bridge pickup, and just a general setup. The fretwear is not too bad and the neck is straight. The hardware all seems very functional even if crusty looking. Bert just doesn't clean it. Thinks it looks more punk that way. The bridge pickup though is awful. All rusty and bent, completely trashed, as is the selector switch. I disconnected the switch and wired the bridge pickup straight to the bridge pot to get it working again a while back, as Bert really doesn't use the neck pickup much, but it really does need a full harness and we will no doubt fit one once he hears the improvement made by replacing the pickup.
