Help me ruin a perfectly good guitar

I have a '97 Peavey Reactor EX. It's a US-made, solid wood Telecaster copy. Nice guitar, a real bargain for an American made guitar, but I'm not totally in love with it as it sits, and I'm feeling the need to mess with it. Nothing really involved, as I don't want to totally ruin it. I don't want to alter the body beyond paint (and maybe small screw holes and/or filling holes), so no routing for 4 soapbars or making into a double cutaway or anything too crazy.

Here's where she is now, more or less:

Maple neck with a rosewood board, pearl pickguard, two blade 'buckers, in a seafoam-y green.

Now, I have a replacement Warmoth neck that's mahogany with a rosewood board, in 24.75" scale, which I originally got for another project, but which I'm tempted to throw on the Peavey just for grins. My biggest complaint about the Peavey is the neck: it's way too 'modern' for my taste, too wide and flat. The Warmoth neck is the fattest profile they offer, which I'm a big fan of. Also has a Strat headstock, which I'm ambivalent about.

So, with that in mind, here's one option:

This will have TBD Tele pickups (I don't love the blades that came stock on the Peavey, and I'd like some serious Tele twang). But, aside form the neck, the pickups and the 'guard would be the only change. Not bad.

(The color is supposed to be the same on both of those guitars, by the way. I was messing around and forgot exactly where I'd set it. In v1.2, though, no finish change.)

Going a step further:

I'd probably go light relic on this one. Age the bridge and control plate/knobs lightly, go "antique" (appliance) white on the pickguard, and here's the fun part - just using rattle cans, shoot a light coat or two of white, then a light coat or two of red, then a light coat or two of black on the body, so as to encourage some fun paint wear over a relatively short amount of time. It would definitely be rougher looking, but that's kind of what I'm going for. This would use the same TBD Tele pickups.

Speaking of pickups - should I pop for Lollars, go for stock Fender take offs, or what? I'm looking for a recognizably Tele twang, and a good meaty, open neck. Vintage-hot would be most welcome, too. I'm also open to swapping pots and caps in search of vintage-y tone. Recommendations welcome, or I'll go bug the nerds over at TDPRI.

Thoughts? WWGRMD?

Oh, if you want to screw around with your own virtual build, I did it on this site: http://www.usacustomguitars.com/virtualguitar.html

I have no idea what i'm doing, but i like this one.

I also don't really know enough to say anything about your ideas other than i like them.

Couldn't make room for 4 humbuckers, eh?

Might have worked if i had eliminated the pickup and stacked them right on top of each other.

I must do more reading. I want to learn to play, and i'd like to build/restore/restomod one...

Still jealous of your paisley strat.

How do you link the picture?

Rat rod. Flat black, brushed aluminum pick guard, lipstick pickups, pin-striping to suit.

I like a burst. Always have, especially for a tele. I'm not sure that this is the one I'd like, but without having the natural wood grain, it isn't bad.

I like a tortoise shell pickguard. Pickups depends on what kind of sound you're going for, I'm not going to make a judgement on that one. Same goes for the neck. I prefer a rosewood fretboard and maple neck.

throw it down from the top of the stairs....women really like it when you smash those things

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5begHSoQ1s

mtn wrote: How do you link the picture?

I did a screengrab and uploaded to my Picasa, but I also wanted to use them for future reference. Might be an easier way to do it.

DILYSI Dave wrote: Rat rod. Flat black, brushed aluminum pick guard, lipstick pickups, pin-striping to suit.

Some pinstriping might very well find its way onto the pickguard of the black one if I go that way - which I'm leaning toward.

I like the 3rd one best, but I'd want an aluminum pick guard and brushed metal tuners.

alex wrote:

DILYSI Dave wrote: Rat rod. Flat black, brushed aluminum pick guard, lipstick pickups, pin-striping to suit.

Some pinstriping might very well find its way onto the pickguard of the black one if I go that way - which I'm leaning toward.

At which point, sell me yours and buy a black one. FWIW, I'm putting a tortoise shell guard on my white p'up'd strat. Not a fan of a strat stock on a tele. My $.02.

I don't have strong feelings on the Strat stock on a Tele. And I got a good deal on this neck somebody had custom built, so I'll go with it. It's ultimately destined for another build, but I have the itch to screw around a little bit with this Peavey.

And if I hate it, it's possible to (carefully) cut a Tele shape out of a Strat stock.

ST_ZX2 wrote: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5begHSoQ1s

Thanks. I'm glad somebody got it.

JoeyM wrote:

ST_ZX2 wrote: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5begHSoQ1s

Thanks. I'm glad somebody got it.

Saw him some years ago (backed by the North Mississippi Allstars). The man can write a song, and put on a show, fer sure.

Unfortunatley I have found that these two statements are contradicting

alex wrote: Now, I have a replacement Warmoth neck that's mahogany with a rosewood board, in 24.75" scale,

alex wrote: I'd like some serious Tele twang.

Gibson scale length guitars just sound different than the long fender scale. I mean sure with the right pickups a shorter scale guitar can sound fenderey....fenderish? but it is never quite convincing.

Remember when Fender turned the Telecaster into an awsome gibson sounding thing? The Telesonic with the DeArmond pickups. The mahogany body helped but the main thing that nailed the old LP Jr special sound was the scale. Fender shortened it to twenty four and three quarters.

Since you have the neck I vote you make a low buck Telesonic clone. GFS Retrotron Surf 90's http://www.guitarfetish.com/GFS-Surf-90-Alnico-II-Rockabilly-Pickups_c_259.html

Thats what I'd do

What is the scale length of the Peavey? Most copies usually keep the Fender 25 1/2" scale. Or is the aforementioned custom neck designed to fit into a 25 1/2" neck pocket and maintain correct intonation?

Colorwise, I have pretty simply opinions about guitars. Black.

procainestart wrote:

JoeyM wrote:

ST_ZX2 wrote: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5begHSoQ1s

Thanks. I'm glad somebody got it.

Saw him some years ago (backed by the North Mississippi Allstars). The man can write a song, and put on a show, fer sure.

+1 to this. If you can see him with Lyle Lovett and/or Guy Clark and/or Joe Ely, do it.

You don't get out until you get some soul

I like simple, so I vote setup number two. Let us know how you like the Warmoth neck, I've been thinking about trying one of those on my tele, I have smallish hands and like the shorter scale length.

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=280766142885&index=0&nav=SEARCH&nid=91773687743

Since you have the strat neck and tele body, make one of these:

So, uh, I don't know a damn thing about guitars, but why are you "building" this one? If I understand it right you want to replace the neck, pick guard, pickups, strings, electronics, and head. So if you're replacing everything but the body anyways, why not just sell this one and buy a different one? Or is this like the 911 guys that buy an SC, strip it to the unibody, replace the quarters, and turn it into a 73 Carrera RS?

In reply to Javelin:

Thats like asking "Why are boobs good?"

Javelin wrote: So, uh, I don't know a damn thing about guitars, but why are you "building" this one? If I understand it right you want to replace the neck, pick guard, pickups, strings, electronics, and head. So if you're replacing *everything* but the body anyways, why not just sell this one and buy a different one? Or is this like the 911 guys that buy an SC, strip it to the unibody, replace the quarters, and turn it into a 73 Carrera RS?

It is often cheaper this way (especially with a Peavey body), and he gets to make it exactly the way he wants it. Often hard to find in a guitar right of the shelf.