my young lady was shopping on Regent Street, so I went over to Denmark Street to pass some time. Tried a heritage '58 V reissue from 1983 which was really nice, but somewhat pricey at £3.8k.. i also tried a renecked 70s les paul deluxe, which i really liked the look of, since it has quite a plain maple top with a non-blingy looking sunburst, bags of sustain and a bit of a bargain at £1250 i reckon. anyway, i resisted both of them but couldn't resist this! it was a hell of a lot cheaper, and i had a right laugh playing it in the store! i probably paid slightly over the odds for it at £500, since shes lead a hard life, but shes still very playable.
so its a 1978 Fender Musicmaster, rosewood board (heavily worn!!) the shop had just refretted it - i bet they were utterly shot before. nicely worn body in my favourite colour, single neck pickup, 24" scale
its all pretty original - original neck, tuners, pickguard and electronics. though as i say the fingerboard is heavily worn, which you can't see on the picture. i should have seen it in the shop - but the bridge is at a weird angle. i whipped it off this afternoon, and its been fitted in about three different positions. i figured i'd just leave it where it is for now. the saddles screws were on there last legs, so i swapped two of the saddle for compensating tele saddles that i had knocking around - i don't think the brass suits the tone of the guitar, but it sounds alot better anyway, since the intonation was pretty bad, partly since the screws were a bit seized up and hard to adjust. i've also changed it from modern to vintage wiring.
so yeah, it is what is - a beat up musicmaster. its a fun play. the neck pickup isn't ideal for riffing, though its bright enough to just about get away with it. i wonder about cutting in a bridge pickup. but i might just leave it for now - its great for practising leads.
