[72doug2,2S]

Originally Posted by Astroboy

Yep... Squire uses lesser hardware, but like i said, the versions built in the Phillipines (at least as of about 6 months ago) play really well.

If you don't mind some "meh" finish on the bridge, they're a good value.

Now, if you're really getting serious.....
Nashguitars

I recently bought one of the '63 Teles. Holy crap.

Wow, Nash. That is interesting. I wonder if the Road Worn series is trying to cash in on the Nash story???

From the website

Those who dislike the particular cosmetics of my guitars in specific.

Aging guitars is a strange art. There are many considerations that go into how, why and what we do. One very common misconception is that when I take the lacquer off the back of the neck, I am trying to make it look like exactly like a vintage guitar would look. I actually do a much bigger and more of a wholesale removal of the lacquer with the FEEL as the main point. I try and get all lacquer off the back playing surface even though it may not look like some example of a vintage guitar we have seen or played. This is because if I did a more gradual and cosmetically correct aging, the necks just do not feel the way we want them. I agree with anyone who says the backs of the necks do not look like a real vintage guitar. So shoot me. I will go on record right now and say that the cosmetics are very important to me, however, the feel and the sound are my first concerns, so I will sacrifice "period correct" cosmetics to gain something in the feel or sound. Lacquer checking is sacrificed so we can keep the lacquer super thin. The thicker the lacquer the more dramatic lacquer checking is. Since we are going for resonance first and foremost, our paint is very thin and has little gloss. This is on purpose.

This whole concept can now be applied to many other things, such as pole pieces on pickups not looking right. I need to point out that the staggered pickup poles in the 50s were done on guitars with a wound G string and a 7.25 neck radius. If you were to stagger the pole pieces the same way and use with a plain G string and a 10 radius neck, the balance between the strings is WAY off. So those who do not like the look of a non-staggered pole on my guitars, please give it a rest.