A Very Special Guitar

Gunrunner

Blues and Bird Dogs
This will be a tad long, but I think you’ll enjoy the read.

I have a friend whom I’ve never met in person (much like my friends here whom I’ve never met). We first made acquaintance about 30 years ago where we both participated in an upland hunting bulletin board. While I was active on several similar boards for many years, I finally grew tired of the occasional nasty bickering and just stopped participating. Perhaps 15 years ago I became active on Facebook, and thus reconnected with my friend Andy. Andy is a Harvard professor and skilled in many, many more areas than academia. He carves the most beautiful house signs, has raced in the America’s Cup, has fished all over the world, still plays hockey at the age of 60... and builds guitars as a hobby. Perhaps 4 years ago Andy posted pictures of his latest masterpiece, including a closeup of headstock decals that said “Custom Built for John Doe”, “Custom Built for Joe Bloke”... you get the idea. I responded to his post complimenting him on his beautiful creation, and jokingly added that when I zoomed in on his picture of the decals I couldn’t find “Custom Built for Mike Krol”. To my astonishment he came back and said “OK Mike, you’re on my list. I only have a few rules you’re required to abide by:
1. I make all the decisions on what I’ll be building; I decide on the body, the neck, the color and how it is configured.
2. My guitars are built on my own schedule when I have the available time; you cannot bug me on your guitar, it will be completed whenever that may be, it will likely be more than a year.
3. All of the guitars I build are gifts for dear friends like yourself; I will accept no compensation whatsoever for your guitar.”
To say I was flabbergasted by this reply is a vast understatement; of course I thanked him profusely, and added that I had one rule of my own: when the guitar is completed I will drive to your home to pick it up so that we could finally meet face to face, to which Andy agreed. My guitar was completed last December within days of when my Mom passed away; knowing the difficult time I was going through, Andy shipped it to me. We have promised to meet this Summer, and hopefully by then this Corona virus nightmare will be behind us; Andy’s wife is an ER nurse at a hospital in Boston and I cannot imagine the worry in his family at this time.

Here is what Andy posted in FB when my guitar was completed:
The Merely K Telecaster


In 1956 Fender built a translucent white Stratocaster and put it in the hands of Mary Kaye - a popular musician and Vegas staple leading the Mary Kaye Trio. In true Fender style, they took the guitar back, but not until they had taken a bunch of marketing photos. The Stratocaster had not been made in that finish to date and with its gold hardware and limited production, it was quickly dubbed the "Mary Kaye" Strat and is generally thought of as the first Fender Custom Shop guitar. These days, Mary Kaye Strats are rare and valuable and treasured by lucky players and collectors.


I built this guitar for an old pal, Mike Krol, and it was a long time in being realized as I had envisioned it. It takes me forever to build a guitar in my spare hours and they generally hang around long enough that they end up naming themselves (prospective owners get no say) but when I started this guitar, it was already named as I wanted it to honor Mike's beautiful, graceful and all around superb wife, Merely. In fact, that neck plate was engraved almost before anything else really took shape. Like me, Mike outkicked his coverage when he married his wife and it is a joy to hear him speak of her so sweetly after all the years of marriage they have shared.


Telecasters, at least to me, are not feminine guitars. They are sort of raw, plain and workmanlike. You can't hide behind a Tele if you don't have the chops - the guitar's two mismatched single coils and single volume and tone circuit will give away any bobble or misstep. So the challenge here was how to make a Telecaster evoke the lovely Merely. The translucent "vanilla" is clearly a nod to the Mary Kaye, and the pearl tuners, pickguard and knobs seemed classic and elegant like a single strand of pearls with a cashmere sweater or black dress. I also broke my longstanding rule to never contour a Telecaster - mostly because it just seemed to suit the guitar.

.


In the end, and even though there are a ton of amateur "homemade" mistakes, this guitar was built with a lot of love and it is a celebration of two people I admire very much. Knowing Mike, I don't think he'll mind that I named his guitar after his wife and I hope Merely understands why, in the end, it had to be the "Merely K" Telecaster...


For the nerds: Single piece ash body, translucent white paint and catalyzed clear, Custom, heavy stainless six saddle tele bridge with a Rio Grande Muy Grande bridge pickup with custom creme flatwork pushing 8.5k (humbucker territory) with a TV Jones Filtertron humbucker in the neck at 4.5K (Mike is a humbucker guy). Blues and rock in the back - everything else up front...but the middle is special❤️

Pots are CTS stacked minis, allowing me to wire the neck pickup to a 500k pot through an .022 cap and the single coil bridge to 250k with an .047 cap. Three way Oak Grigsby switch and Switcraft jack. Neck is flamed maple, 9.5 radius fingerboard with a shape that approximates a Fender modern oval. Medium jumbo frets, Locking, staggered Hipshot tuners.

Here are pics:
427BB142-9CF3-4A07-B281-73AEDC121FD1.jpeg D9595040-753F-4771-AF64-F33DDC2C7CDF.jpeg 3F4DCA38-76A5-4C12-BC97-B9F80D861743.jpeg 74B45CD1-E859-4816-AC60-8553639E68DE.jpeg 92ABE035-1F02-4D2B-B4C4-E194A80A650C.jpeg
 

Gunrunner

Blues and Bird Dogs
I wanted to add that the guitar is truly amazing, unlike anything in my collection which includes some pretty nice Gibsons and PRS’s. The tonal capabilities are endless, it is like holding three or four different guitars in your hand at once. It has quickly become a family heirloom that will be passed on to my son, and ultimately my grandson.
 

JestMe

Student Of The Blues
It is indeed a beauty of a guitar and a beauty of a story, deserving of a song.

I wish I had friends like that or... even able to be a friend like that!
 

steve o

Student Of The Blues
What an awesome story, a beautiful guitar and an incredibly talented, generous and caring friend. Enjoy the heck out of your beautiful guitar/gift in good health for many decades!!!:)
 

CaptainMoto

Blues Voyager
On a scale of 1 - 10 that's a 14
:thumbup:
Just when I thought there was no hope for humanity, you give me this story. :)

Thanks for sharing.
Enjoy and cherish the gift.
 

OG_Blues

Guitar Geezer
Wow!!!
Did I say WOW?!!!
Really - no kidding - WOW!
What a great story and great guitar!
And also a magnificent person and friend.
 
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