For over a year now, I’ve been buying guitar parts on E-bay to build a replica of a ‘72 Fender Telecaster Deluxe. I’ve always liked this guitar, so I when I saw a gold body available, I figured now was the time. Usually, I’ve only seen this guitar in brown, natural, black, & sunburst, and since I already have some acoustics, and one other electric in those colors, I was attracted to the gold. I also have a thing for gold Les Paul’s, but not the pocketbook for one. A few weeks ago I decided it was time to finish this project and order the last piece I needed, the neck.

I’ve only seen this guitar with solid maple necks, and I wanted a rosewood for the look and the warmth, but since Fender doesn’t make them that way, I custom ordered a neck from Warmoth.com and they take all the details, stuff I normally don’t even think about. Well, I thought I had everything right, except I discovered that the pre-drilled holes for the tuners were a 16th of an inch too small. Two options; return & purchase smaller tuners or make the holes bigger. Since I didn’t feel comfortable taking a drill or file to my new beauty just yet, I figured I would seek some expert advice. So I called my friend Jeremy who’s dad builds Mauel guitars, and then Larry down at Encore music, and he said he had a tool I could borrow and just ream the holes out a bit bigger.

So I went down to the store that’s been around for over 20 years, and Larry was kind of busy so he told me to just go ahead and and use the workbench near the back of the store to do what I needed to do. I told my wife I would probably be gone an hour, well 2.5 hours later I left the store with a nearly finished guitar. What’s funny was that while I was behind the bench, I must have talked to half a dozen people who assumed I worked there. Asking me where to go for lessons, if they could borrow a chord, what I was doing, why does that Tele have a Strat neck, and if they could use the restroom.

Now, I’ve never really had the desire to work in a music store, but after pretending to do so for part of the day, I kind of had fun. Turns out if you know a little bit about what your doing, and you do it in the right spot, people might give you more respect or authority than you really deserve. Kind of makes me think about my real jobs, and to not think more highly of myself just because people think I know what I’m doing. Just a little lesson in humility for today.