A custom build project with a twist. After crafting a Rick Parffit replica guitar for Statoz Quo (a very good Status Quo tribute band. Check out their facebook here) they just had to have the matching Francis Rossi edition.
So there we were faced with daunting task of creating another replica. I say daunting because the standards for these replica instruments are very high. Ask any Status Quo fan and they will tell you that the guitars in that band are a crucial element. To be taken seriously as a tribute band you must have the accurate axe.
So we started from scratch
The body is made from some lovely swamp ash (chosen to give the tele a little more bottom end).
We use a template to cut out the body. Before we do the cavities we have to route the neck pocket. (Francis plays a rare two piece maple neck with no skunkstripe, so we removed the rosewood fretboard from a vintage feel tele neck and reglued a maple one!) so we can align the pickup cavities properly.
Time to route out the cavities.
Ah now it’s looking like a tele.
Then it was time to slap on some green paint and do some “relicing”. (Here you can see the maple fretboard we added).
Francis Rossi, (ultimate guitar handyman) once drilled a hole into his telecaster. This hole has become almost THE trademark feature for a Rossicaster, not to mention drilling that hole went against my instincts as a guitar repairer but I gritted my teeth and got into it!
Here is the finished beast. All the wear has been closely replicated, we have the famous hole, the ashtray bridge had to be severed to make way for the G&L saddlelock bridge, and we fitted three lace sensor single coils. The neck has the (oft overlooked) additional 22nd fret on the edge of the fretboard and the dot markers at the 12th fret are spaced at the correct 5/8″ distance as they did to Francis’ 1963 neck. Like I said, nothing was overlooked.
If you want a custom built instrument then don’t hesitate to call us or come in and see what’s possible.
In the meantime we hope this guitar does some serious “Rockin’ all over the world”
