Tondeleo: Doc has several electric guitars, as do most of his friends. Most of these Americans, as is stereotypical of Americans, do not leave their instruments the way they came from the factory. They all seem to want to personalise their instruments, with different parts, to get that special tone or increased playability or reliability.
As you've seen on the guitars that I have posted about so far, Doc, like a lot of rural musicians has an eclectic group of odd, cheap instruments that have been adapted and modified to meet the preferences of the owner. He has two home made electric guitars that I am trying to get him to tell me more about. But he wants to build up to them, for later. Actually, he used to be embarrassed by them, because they were home made, but recently, a visit from a musician from Wyoming who saw them and raved about them got him to rethink them.
As for factory built guitars, Doc favours the Fender Telecaster for its sound and tone. He has at least two Telecasters that are about 40 years old.
One of them seems relatively original. He calls it "Tele Number One. " It is very well used and has an awesome sound, at least to me. Doc says that the pickups were modified several years back, and that is what makes this guitar have that sound that many guitarists search for and never find. He will not tell me what was done, other than it was not just some cheap wiring trick. He had the pick ups wound differently by an "electronics dude" and he is not going to tell me just what was done, because I would "tell everybody."
I don't think that most people would care what was done, and whatever it was, I am sure that there are thousands of "Tele" owners who have had the same mods done. Also, after knowing him for so long, I think it is because maybe HE doesn't know exactly what was done, and doesn't want to admit it. Rural Americans can be very secretive towards outsiders and I am fortunate that Doc and Marilyn trust me so far. I think they are amused by me, actually.
To be quite honest, I do not know much about guitars, and am hoping to learn more. Apparently some of these old guitars are worth a few quid. For example, this Tele, Doc does not use for busking anymore, because it is old, and he doesn't want it to get rained on anymore, and also because someone may want to steal it. He plays it at home and in some of the inside venues that he and Marilyn get. He also has stopped loaning it out, except to Big Dave. He says Big Dave is like a brother to him, and can borrow anything he wants.
To me, a tele is rather plain and primitive looking, but to those who love them, they are beautiful. Doc thinks they are beautiful - "prettier than a yellow dog." He says they are beautiful because they are simple and are very tough guitars, and have a good tone. They definitely can sound twangy, and have what he and his friends call "the Nashville sound," whatever that is. Doc says that the mods done to his pickups have given it a "dirtier" but more mellow sound for blues, while also being able to be twangy as a buck toothed squirrel.
He played some country style music using both pickups, with the 
switch set to the middle. Then he did some Creedence Clearwater style music (that's my description, not his) using the bridge pickup, and it was very twangy. Last he switched up to the neck pickup and played some blues licks,and it sounded like a totally different guitar. More of a Rory Gallagher or Buddy Guy sound. It was very bluesy and gritty sounding. Doc said that it was the "hot rodding" that gives it such a variation of tones.
The next post will be about Tele Number Two, a very much modded Telecaster.To me, it looks more modern, or more like what I would call a rocker's guitar.
