ORIGINALITY BE DAMNED

“This year’s main electric purchase was an interesting mongrel that I found on sale at World Guitars in Stonehouse. Nestled among a host of sparkling new PRS and Tom Anderson instruments, I spotted what looked like an early 70s Tele Custom with a high-gloss natural finish body plus original electronics and hardware. Closer inspection revealed it had a lovely neck, with honey-coloured lacquer and even a little figuring. The body, however, was a Warmoth replacement. You could tell because it was the proper shape for a Tele – original mid-tolate 70s Teles lost their classic outline due to worn-out tooling at Fender. It turned out the guitar was a project of the late Jeff Pumfrett, who ran World Guitars for many years. It sounded great so I bought it for a very reasonable price, and the lightweight body is actually very welcome. Now, with a clear conscience, I’m getting the body refinished in aged nitro by the talented Scott Cameron at Golden Era Aged Guitars. So, who needs 100 per cent originality?”