Name: Steve Kellett
Hometown: Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
Guitar: Made-in-Japsn Japan Telecaster
Here’s the tale of my Fender Made-in-Japan Telecaster: I bought this guitar in 1996 in Hong Kong from the Tom Lee Music Annual Warehouse Clearance Sale. I didn’t hear about the sale until the last day, so by the time I rocked up to the rented factory unit in the depths of Mong Kok, where they were holding the sale, there were only two guitars left: a wrecked, cheap acoustic and a made-in-Japan export model foto flame ’50s Telecaster.
As you can see from Photo 2, the guitar originally had a cherry sunburst finish on the body, but as it dated from ’94 and was one of the first-run foto flames, it had a plain maple V-shaped neck and maple fretboard with vintage-sized frets.
Originally, it had the low-end export electronics: bar-magnet pickups and dime-sized pots. I played it like this for two or three years, and then I got the itch to upgrade the pickups. So, I found a Seymour Duncan Jerry Donahue bridge pickup and a ’52 Fender reissue neck pickup, which I fitted.
Shortly after that, the tone pot disintegrated, so I bought a set of U.S. CTS pots and fitted those. This involved reaming out the holes in the control plate to accommodate the slightly larger pot shafts. To do this, I used a round file and elbow grease. About this time, I also acquired a set of brass bridge saddles to replace the original steel ones. The Telecaster Discussion Page Reissue online guitar forum has a lot to answer for.
Fast forward to about 2010, and the foto flame did what foto flame does: it started to crack. As you can see in Photo 2, it got pretty bad. I tried to address it using superglue, but that just made matters worse.
Photo 2
A couple of months ago, I had just had a local luthier do some repair work on a late ’60s Antoria Soundmaster. When he’d completed that, I asked if he could take the Tele and use veneer to properly achieve the effect that the foto flame had originally achieved. Well, he couldn’t find any decent figured maple veneer locally, but instead we selected some figured movingui and a tobacco sunburst finish base. Photo 1 shows the final result.
While he was at it, he also replaced the neck pickup cover with an open-topped cover exposing the polepieces, and a 4-way switch, giving series and parallel options for the pickup combination. We figured that the original white pickguard wouldn’t look that great with the new finish, so I picked up both black and faux tortoise-shell guards from Musiclily, and after the refinish, we figured that the black guard looked the best. The finished guitar can be seen in Photo 1. What can I say? It is like having a new guitar.
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Linkin Park share a new single (HERE) and video (premiering HERE at 4pm PT/7pm ET), for “The Emptiness Machine,” plus a global livestream performance (happening now HERE and available only for 24 hours), and the launch of 6 upcoming arena shows in Los Angeles, New York, Hamburg, London, Seoul, and Bogota as part of the From Zero World Tour. LP Underground fan club exclusive pre-sales start September 6 and general on-sales September 7. Go to LinkinPark.com for more info.
These surprises herald the arrival of LINKIN PARK’s first album since 2017, FROM ZERO, on November 15.
Tomorrow, Friday September 6th, the band joins long-time friend and Apple Music host Zane Lowe for an in-depth candid conversation about the incredible legacy of Linkin Park, the 7-year long journey to new music and their excitement for the future.
Without expectations, Shinoda, Delson, Farrell, and Hahn quietly began meeting up again in recent years. Rather than “trying to restart the band,” their instinct was to simply spend more time together, and reconnect with the creativity and camaraderie that has been at the core of their friendship since college. During this time, they invited various friends and cohorts to join them in the studio; among the guests, they found a special kinship with Armstong and Brittain. A natural chemistry drew these musicians back into its gravitational pull as they logged more and more hours in the studio. It was the sound of lifelong musicians rediscovering the uncontainable energy of a new beginning once again. Over this season, FROM ZERO was born.
FROM ZERO
FROM ZERO TRACKLIST
- From Zero (Intro)
- The Emptiness Machine
- Cut The Bridge
- Heavy Is The Crown
- Over Each Other
- Casualty
- Overflow
- Two Faced
- Stained
- IGYEIH
- Good Things Go
About the new era, Shinoda stated, “Before LINKIN PARK, our first band name was Xero. This album title refers to both this humble beginning and the journey we’re currently undertaking. Sonically and emotionally, it is about past, present, and future—embracing our signature sound, but new and full of life. It was made with a deep appreciation for our new and longtime bandmates, our friends, our family, and our fans. We are proud of what LINKIN PARK has become over the years, and excited about the journey ahead.”
Right out of the gate, “The Emptiness Machine” channels the DNA of LINKIN PARK, harnessing the band’s explosive energy and retaining the hallmarks of their instantly identifiable and inimitable sound. A chameleonic and catchy anthem, Shinoda’s hypnotic melodies hand off to Armstrong’s blistering chorus, over distorted riffs and head-nodding drums.
Shinoda elaborated, “The more we worked with Emily and Colin, the more we enjoyed their world-class talents, their company, and the things we created. We feel really empowered with this new lineup and the vibrant and energized new music we’ve made together. We’re weaving together the sonic touchpoints we’ve been known for and still exploring new ones.”
FROM ZERO WORLD TOUR 2024
September 11, 2024 | Kia Forum - Los Angeles, CA
September 16, 2024 | Barclays Center - New York, NY
September 22, 2024 | Barclays Arena - Hamburg, Germany
September 24, 2024 | The O2 - London, UK
September 28, 2024 | INSPIRE Arena - Seoul, South Korea
November 11, 2024 | Coliseo Medplus - Bogota, Colombia
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