202 – 060619 ZT Telecaster – Zachary Handcrafted Guitars | Bass| Pedals | Strings

Inspiration

This guitar was actually inspired by an amp. You can see this amp below in the images section of this page and on its own dedicated page 180519 in the RestoMods section.

The amp is a clone of the vintage Fender Tweed Champ from the late 50s. About 12 years ago I had this amp built for me by the owner of one of a major guitar and amp parts supplier. I told him at the time that I wanted a vintage Tweed Champ but with more high gain. He said he could do it buy adding a high gain mod, which could be switched on and off by a mini-switch on the front panel.

I received the amp and was disappointed to find that it was extremely noisy. At the time I thought that this was a byproduct of the high gain circuit, which he added to the original schematic. I did not like playing it due to the noise and the high gain circuit made it even more intolerable. So I just put it on my shelf in frustration, where it sat for all this time.

At the same time I commissioned this amp I also met a cabinet maker who made me some vintage-correct cabinets. He did a very nice job. I originally wanted the cab to be made of Pine, like the Fender originals but he advised me that if I want to leave the wood uncovered it would be quite unsightly, due to Pine having knobs and voids. He suggested Aspen for the wood. since Aspen is unblemished and using dovetail joints. This was a good idea. The cabinet turned out very nice but it was just raw wood, with no grill cloth, handle or feet installed. It needed to be finished in some way. However, since I was upset about not being able to use the amp, due to the noise, hum and buzz, I just put the amp and cab, the whole project aside, on hold and sort of forgot about it for all those years.

Recently it bothered me to have invested all this money into these items to just have them go to waste so it became my next project. I decided to remedy the situation myself. I looked at the circuit closely, comparing it to the Fender original schematic. I now decided to just make it stock, so the first thing I did was to remove the high gain modification of various resistors on the first tube socket. I put the amp back to completely stock format. However, upon plugging it in, it was just as noisy as it was before. I said WTF ?!?!?!

I knew there was a reason for this, so I went through the schematic again and found the problem, which I wasn't suspecting. The amp builder missed grounding the entire circuit to the chassis. One wire was missing but it was an important one. The amp worked but all the noise was due to its lack of grounding. As soon as I grounded the circuit this Champ became quiet and desirable to play.

I also went through the entire circuit and realized that the workmanship was not as nice as it could be, so I rewired some things to make it more tidy.

Then I decided that while I was working on it I should give it a noninvasive mod and add something to fill the hole where the mini-switch was before. I decided to install a small pot where the original toggle switch was for the high-gain mod. I connected this pot to the negative feedback circuit, which controls the "mildness" to "rawness" of the amp. The original Champ circuit has negative feedback added to tame the amp and make it smoother. With the pot I installed I can dial in this negative feedback incrementally, changing the character of the amp. This also works as a subtle tone control. Less negative feedback gives me a more raw, biting tone with more highs. Full negative feedback gives a more mellow, smooth amp with more warmth. Great for clean jazz type sounds. With my mod using this pot, I can actually dial in more negative feedback than the original Champ design had, making this raw little map quite a smooth operator. More info about this on the dedicated page about this amp.

I did not want to cover the cabinet and make it look so common and expected, but I did not want to oil-finish it either. I wanted something different. But what?
So I had an idea of making an amp, which never was but could have been. Maybe should have been. I had this amazing idea of making it butterscotch blond, just like the first 4 years of the Telecaster production. The quintessential Telecaster color and look.

We can guess that the reason Leo Fender did not want or could not simply spray his amps with color, as he did with the guitars because of the knotty nature of pine.

So I sprayed this cab with genuine Nitrocellulose Lacquer, the real stuff, not the plastic paint that currently Fender and Gibson are making you believe is Nitro Lacquer. Real Lacquer does NOT feel and look like plastic. However, even spraying it with the correct finish would not look right; this cannot look like a new amp. It had to be aged as a relic. This is what I did and aged the whole amp, including the chrome chassis and leather handle.

The next step.
I loved the amp so much in both sound and look, that I knew it needed a friend. What else but a guitar which never was but could have been, should have been.
A possible Fender Broadcaster prototype. I set out to create this guitar in the same style as this Champ clone amp. It had to have the same finish and look. It had to be a set.
I used the ZT body for its superior high fret access and general look, over the original Telecaster body. Otherwise It had to be authentic to the historic vibe of a Fender Telecaster prototype, which never was but could have been. I had to use the look of the Fender prototypes with their rounded fiberboard pickguard and the simple control plate shape, also used on the first Telecaster/Precision Bass.

Then, since I am so into making Charlie Christian pickups, I had to include one on this Tele prototype-inspired guitar, along with the matching hot Tele bridge pickup. I fabricated the pickups from scratch and hand wound them. Talk about unique, custom and hand-made all the way.

It resulted in a very unique and cool guitar. A one of a kind Zachary of-course. Aren't they all?

That is not the end of the story. Look at what followed soon after this amp and this ZT guitar. I decided that there should be a third instrument in the series, which would follow the same theme and historic vibe. Have a look at Zachary 204-170819.