I was saddened today to hear of the death of Earl Scruggs, banjo innovator, at age 88. He was a great inspiration to me and countless others who enjoy the dulcet tones of the 5 string banjo.
I am posting some pictures of a 1952 Fender Telecaster. I have the wonderful book called The Blackguard by Nacho Baños and after reading it, I have really become intrigued with the Telecaster. It is the longest running production electric guitar. What I think is the most fascinating is Leo Fender got it completely right at the very start. The guitar is an incredible example of genius simplicity. It’s also one of the most versatile guitars every made. You see it in the hands of rockers, jazz dudes, heavy metal, country and polka bands.
In Nacho’s book, he takes the guitars apart and photographs the minutia of them. I have done that here, inspired by Nacho. I hope you enjoy the wonderful pictures taken by my lovely wife, Julie Kerr.
Here’s a shot of the original case the guitar came with. It’s unofficially known as the “thermometer” case because of its shape. In mid 1953, Fender switched to the “poodle” case, which looks very similar to this one, but one side is flat.
I have played acoustic instruments most of my life and love the finesse that goes into making a musical wooden box out of a log. I used to think that a Fender Telecaster was just a breadboard with a couple of electronic pickups thrown in and a baseball bat sawn in half that was screwed to the body for the neck. I was RIGHT! And what a glorious breadboard it is.
I have fallen in love with the Tele, the guitar, not the British T.V. My first electric guitar was a bad copy of a bad copy of a Gibson Les Paul guitar that I got when I was 13. One day when I was 14 my dad was listening to the swap shop on CHQT radio in Edmonton, Alberta and heard there was a Fender guitar for sale. He said ” I’ve heard of Fender guitars and I think they are good. Let’s go look at it.” When we got to the house, and older man brought out the guitar and this was in the case-
Back in November I went to Seattle to attend The Fretboard Journal‘s 5th Anniversary Celebration. Â If you have not read this magazine, it is one of the most beautiful music related publications out there. Amazing photos and fantastic stories. Â The early issues have become collectible, as they are now out of print!
The celebration happened over 3 days and included concerts by Bill Frisell, Danny Barnes and my friends Canote Brothers – Greg and Jere.  The final evening’s concert was famed guitar maker and player Wayne Henderson together with Orville Johnson.
The afternoon of the show, there was a lunchtime party at…
