Sean, this channel is quickly becoming one of the BEST practical guitar advice channels on KZfaq. You’re pointing out where to find the deals in today’s crowded market and you go way beyond most other channels by showing the practical methods for fixing the inevitable issues. I’m really happy you’re finally getting the attention and recognition your hard work deserves. Congratulations on 30k subs!!!

Bro, I'm a fan, but you done messed up all those other guitar review channels for me. Next to you, they seem to just check the aesthetic and brand name. Laughable when I see them look down the neck of the guitar and start yapping about blemishes, lol. I want to see your channel get to a million subscribers. You've earned that and more.

I seem to recall you once took a torch to a similar bridge and melted it. Great video and man! That was some real nice work from the factory.

The wood is practically irrelevant.. Good hardware, good set up, good pickups.. And Eddie Van Halen's hands to play it, and it will sound outstandingly... GOOD. Greetings from Spain 👍👍🇪🇸🇪🇸

Turned it from a "nice looking" guitar, to a "Nice" guitar. Great job as always Sean!

I love the drill press mod. I was one of the guys complaining guitar bodies won't fit my press. Looks like I'll be modifying mine too. Thanks for the idea!👍😎🎸🎶

Beautiful work Sean! It sounds just like my 50s U neck Mexican Tele. I mean it. I set mine up and it’s a really good player. A Mexican 50s reissue, and it has all the good hardware in it. Beautiful fiesta Red. I still have a hankering for a Seymour Duncan Humbucker in the bridge. That sound knocked me on my hind end. But you hit the mark on this one! It sounds just like a Tele should. You and a buddy could play twin Telecaster attack like the Bakersfield sound. Buck Owens and Don Rich. My Dad was in his club in Bakersfield in 1957 and it beer and Telecaster! That is two of the best sounding Telecasters I ever heard! You made them sound right! Thank you for teaching us. I m almond blind but I even looked mine over good and it is right on.

Really enjoy the channel. Glad I ran across it. Keep it up, brother.

That’s so cool the way you make the ferrel holes. I’ve seen you do it before, of course. It’s just really neat! Are there other ways of grounding a guitar without drilling? Those frets were super green, lol. And I agree, that’s definitely rosewood. Love the parts you’re using. I also thought it’s a Russian brand until you pointed out that it’s probably V as in Alnico V, lol.

Had a squier affinity strat I bought for thirty quid from a second hand shop.the neck played better than the fender I paid daft money for ,I swapped the stock pickups for some ironstone classics and rewired it with cloth wiring and CTS pots orange drop cap and treble bleed kit ,gigged it many times and a lot couldn’t tell it wasn’t a fender .my good friend who’s a fender nut said ,that thing sounds as good as my fender American strat .he now owns a Squier CV strat with the same gear as mine inside it as I fitted them for him ..he didn’t think a Squeir could play and sound as good as his fenders .but he does now ….another good review .all the way from the UK keep it up both of you ❤🇬🇧🇺🇸❤

Sean,I bought a Cozart Stratocaster w/ reverse headstock. I'm not sure what wood this body is made of,but it's the heaviest Strat I've ever played. I own(and have owned) many strats. Only changes I made were I dropped Wilkinson Texas Special clone pickups and new pots. I'll weigh this thing as soon as I get a scale.But it's so damn heavy! I'm betting close to 9-10 lbs! Besides feeling like a cement block hanging around my neck,I love this guitar.Paid $169 for it plus pups,pots etc.And I carved a nut out of a deer antler. It worked great.

Wow im so glad someone is doing videos in layman's terms , great video.

Just like Frankenstein you brought that dead guitar to life. It’s a live ❤

i played guitar in the 80s and built a partscaster, a flying v and a destroyer. i kept the partscaster until 2017 and sold it. this christmas i bought a starter amazon stringo for my granddaughter. watching your channel i was able to get it to stay tuned and set the action and upgraded several parts. it plays so nice now i decided to get myself another guitar and relearn with my granddaughter, i goy myself an ibanez gio and did the same mods to it, and it too is now playable. thanks for what you do it is appreciated.

Mama says I'm Special & Way Smarter Than Notty Pine !!!

Love the channel. I’ve certainly gotten some ideas for my projects from watching your channel. I don’t get all of the guitar snobbery from people. If the guitar plays good, sounds good, and inspires the player to play it; I see no problem. The CNC machines don’t care where they are. Sure the hardware, electronics might need some love, but many of these Asian companies have really stepped up the quality of the finishing of the bodies and necks…giving us some good bones to build off. I have 29 guitars, 2 were built in North America (Mexico), 1 was assembled in the USA (parts from Asia), all of my others are made in Indonesia, China, or Korea. I’ve rarely had anything so glaring I felt that Asian guitars were garbage. Usually any ills I find are easy to remedy with a little know-how. Not to mention it’s fun to tinker and upgrade!

Excellent, hands on video ... really appreciate the economical, fun, easy builds.

Fantastic love your work, hi from New Zealand

Dang, the factory guy went bananas with the drill on that one. lol. You fixed her up real nice. love the new pickup set, looks killer on there.

Good job. Turning sow's ears into silk purses man! Sounds great.

I'm so there on this one. My sons gave me a Squier Affinity Tele for Christmas a couple of years ago (mondo thanks, fellas!). I've changed out pretty much everything since then - pickups, tuners, controls, bridge saddles, nut, even the pickguard. The only original parts left on this guitar body/neck are the bridge plate and the neck hardware. In that time, it's become my favorite guitar and it's gonna stay with me. Thanks, dude!!!

Another fine Scaracaster is born!! (Feel free to steal that name HAHA!!) Seriously dude, I love your channel and what you do.

Great Job man. Greetings from Switzerland.

looks like this one was put together on a monday or a friday haha!!! you came to the rescue tho n saved the day woooo! love that "natural furniture" look on that body yay yaaa!!

Got mine about a week ago. I fared a little better on the wood with a two piece body and no knots. The only thing I have done so far is swap in some brass compensated bridge saddles and a bone nut. I use toploader bridges on all my Tele style guitars. The pickups sound OK for my style of playing. Not as nice as my Cozart Strat, but few guitars are, even the big names. Just got really lucky with that one. Best $150 I ever spent.

While watching your live podcast WEDNESDAY and waiting for you to get KA-BONGED I loved the looks of the guitar you gave away. I wondered if a clear paint would be ok on it and hope it wouldn't mess up the natural beauty of those woods. In my vision and not really knowing much about woods I just think they would stand out sharper that way! Thanks for your hard work on your videos I really enjoy them!

Great honest review! Love the channel.

Next time you should take a Fender Custom shop guitar and put cheap parts in it and see how it sounds. 😅

30k!!! OOOHHHH GIGGY!!!!! That tele is just tooo sweet!!! Outstanding guitar my dude! 🏴‍☠️🤘🏴‍☠️

My new favorite channel. I have a few big money guitars but, have become an "affordable" mod monster. I love'em and am loving this channel .

Thanks you so much for explaining to a guy like me how to fix guitars. Also, I really enjoy your style - you make me feel not so dumb. I wish I knew a good guitar technicians package I could buy? Do you sell one? I'd prefer buying from you. Again, thank you for taking the time, you and Kathy, to make these videos for us folks. Did you know only 30 - 40% of your regular viewers subscribe to your channel. Let's all subscribe. And, don't scar my guitar!

During the pandemic and lockdown, I built a couple of guitars in my apartment, using parts from the internet. One of them was a Tele with a factory second palownia body from GFS in surf green, and a neck from someone in Calgary for $35. Also some Wilkinson ceramic pickups and bridge. The trolls can beef all they want about Palownia, but that little Tele has the right amount of attitude and power I'd expect from a good Tele. And being a senior with some health issues, the lightness is a big boon. I keep it tuned in double drop D. As I said in the comments for your previous Cozart video, I'd like to see you tackle one of their 12-string electrics, probably one of their semi-hollow Teles. That should prove interesting to modify!

That hardware looked cool. Nice work, you make it look easy.

A Tele is like a belly button... everybody should have one.

OK, you MADE me buy one! I just got my gold telecozart. It's not the quite the same quality as my IYV JZ300 but for 120 bucks it's awesome. The frets could use a little work in the higher registers-just a little fret end work but I never play that high anyway. The neck pickup seems to be installed just a little wonky, I'll fix that when I change the strings.Thank you for the review.

I could easily make a guitar with perfect fret work and set up right out of the box for $140. Now let me just finish making my unobtainium pickups and chopping down my tonewood tree and I'll prove it. 🤣

I'm really enjoying the channel and am happy to see it grow for y'all... lovin' it, Bro.... Like Mr. Guitologist said..."quickly becoming one of the BEST practical guitar advice channels on KZfaq" Happy for you and Cathy, my friend...

Hey Sean! I recently found you on KZfaq and really love your style and ideas. I have been showing them to my students as part of my Practical Arts course. Good thought provoking material with a lot of great tips. They stay fixed on the screen for a positive reason for a change!! Looking to buy a cheap guitar to have them take apart and put back together.

I did this with a Harley Benton (TE-90QM) at $185 brand new. There was a lot less to do than what your Cozart required (good Lord, those screw holes!) but I improved the pups and hardware and this thing is now amazing. Plus, almost all my improvements can be removed and put on another cheap guitar if I ever want to. Great video!

Great stuff. Really enjoy your channel and humor

Nice work Sean! 🎸🎼🎵🎶😔🙏🇺🇸

Sean, this video was so cool, I watched it twice.

12:26 sure enough steady hands with that router

Leo Fender would proudly call you son.

Wow great job on that guitar. And you made it thru without getting knocked out hahahaha

Nice one, I'd take off the Cozart and add a Fender logo only it would read: Finder ; as in finders keepers 🙂

This is my favorite guitar channel since Scott Grove/Groovy Music Lessons

On a telecaster bridge/pickup, since the brass base is attached to the bridge no ground is needed. I thought the same thing, but one check with a meter and you will see that all is grounded.

That's a good looking guitar and after the fixin' and upgrading it sounds good. Whats the stuff you used on the frets???

I like Hot Rodding my guitars... but I think if I want a new "custom" Telecaster style guitar, I personally would buy a body/neck/hardware/pups and have it assembled to my specs... no name on the headstock, just blank... that being said, you did turn that guitar into a fine tuned and looking machine!

Love watching the Love you put into your work!!! Great Video!!!

Congratulations on the channel growth Sean! Great channel brother!

Green as that troll's teeth🤣🤣🤣

Very true brother

I'm making plans to build a Tele on 2024, and I was considering using that same hardware package you used on a Tele much like this one, except with a maple fretboard. This video showed me how those pickups sound, so thanks for that! They sounded nice and punchy.

Man you made that guitar something awesome. Makes me wish I had your knowledge to do one. Keep up the great work, I love your videos.

I bought one myself the gold one, this will a great video for my upgrades.

Here is a little tip for people out there. If you don't have the room or want to spend the extra money on a drill press there is an alternative. They sell this frame that you put your drill into. It has a couple tie downs to hold it in place. There are rails on each side and the part that your drill is sitting in goes up and down. There's a round base at the bottom that you sit on top of what you're working on it and it allows you to stay as straight as possible. It's not very expensive at all. It's also something that you can throw in a toolbox or on the shelf.

Tone snobs and people that overpaid for guitars believe wood's and pickups matter in a guitar...clean tones yea, but add gain and them differences dissappear. To get a better tone change the speaker

Fyi - a lot of times when im plugging a little larger hole, ill use a bamboo chopstick or skewer with the wood glue, instead of toothpicks. And if the hole being filled needs to be strong, i can choose a a little larger diameter chopstick, drill the hole to the exact same size as the chopstick, and absolutely fill the hole and make it as strong as solid wood would be.

Sean, I stumbled onto your channel and loved (subscribed) . Nothing out there educational and entertaining. I took a chance and bought a Cozart snake head. Wanted lightweight 👍. Sounds “tinny”. Going to take your advice

Just finished a first pass on a $70 bass. Was surprised to find only one hole per screw when I replaced the pickguard. Did find an improperly installed pickup lifter spring, though. Easy fix. Now plays great. Next up, will possibly upgrade the electronics. Some great tips here! I miss my old Tele' - may give this a run!

Yep - dime size pots and cheap switches might work and sound ok, but they WILL break over time.

Great vid. I plug holes like that with maple toothpicks. I never thought about just opening up that into a more rectangular hole. Duh!! Also I have one of my tele's with the same bridge/control plate set up. Love the way it looks. Congrats on closing on 30k.... believe me, man, you have EARNED it. You and Cathy (Kathy?) have done so much for this community and it is surely appreciated.

Be nice to see the head stock 1000 grit sanded, to remove that logo. Then wood burn S ~ G (Scarred Guitar) in the head stock. Thats a Nice Scarred Guitar worth having for sure!

If Larry the Cable Guy was a guitar tech

I love this channel. Thanks for the speeches' and the exact representation of guitar quality's

I would never get that lucky .... nice guitar

Just got a cheapo chinese Tele, you really inspired me to give it a shot. It'll probably turn out crap but will be fun to get into and make it mine!

Now that's impressive. That guitar sounds great. Sounds as good as a guitar a thousand dollars more expensive. Another great video Sean.

These guitars are probably built by factory trainees, and they don't meet standards. So, instead of throwing them out they sell them cheap. You get what you pay for. I suspect Glarry guitars are the same.

Sean you should design and CNC your own nickel or brass neck-plate, a real Scarred neck-plate would look just awesome man! If you made a brass one you could add a green/blue patina to the engraved part by painting some thick vineagar and mustard in it and putting the plate in a plastic bag and placing it in a warm place for 3 days and then washing and re-applying, you need to do this about four times, if you add some strong sticky masking tape before engraving you can spray a matt or satin clear coat over the patina also.

Hey, I bought a COZART Tele on yer recommendation, a fancy one w/flame maple top and it's ALL yer fault! Thank You Sean! I am amazed, the damn thing is killer! I'm a gonna thro some work yer way in the future Bro! (a Custom pattern neck) Cuz my meat hooks is BIG an needs some special necks and before I make them on my pattern router I needs a perfect pattern to start with and that where I really want ta hire you!

"Tone wood"....LOL

I put an Alnicov loaded pickguard in my number 1 Strat. It’s been a great upgrade.

Sounds awesome 💎 you gave it Life amazing channel ❤

Started following you recently. Love the content and the sense of humor. Happy Thanksgiving Sean. Keep them videos coming. Thank you guys.

excellent video on the routing bro

That’s decent hardware, pickups,& controls.

Love what you and ur wife is doing

Because there were extra holes for the control plate and the pickguard, Im guessing the original fixing of them was bad and this guitar got pulled from QA and fixed to the body in the correct places. If you dont have a drill press you can by a press that takes a multi-tool quite cheaply!

Excellent video , I'm going to have a go with my cheapo Fazley strat , cheers from the UK

Man that guitar sounded great. I like the metal work on the bridge pup and control plate. Cool look!

Exactly my problem with "affordable" guitars. They are marketed towards beginners, but beginners aren't going to be able to fix them in most cases on their own. Yeah, you may get lucky and get a beauty, or you may get a turd. They are just too inconsistent. More often than not, you'll end up with something closer to a turd imo.

Great video! Love your channel! Cheers to you both

If it sounds and feels good then it’s good, I have both expensive guitars and cheap guitars and one of my go to is a $100 es335 copy neck is awesome on it and sounds great, and I believe if I got my facts correctly that paulownia is a member of the mahogany family

Awesome upgrade!!

No need to drill a hole for the ground wire. Just run it through to the bridge pickup rout and bend it over the edge under the plate 🤘

Young man your videos are great. You make it look so easy. Guess I’m a bubble off , I seem to mess things up. I just mess with guitars for fun. Amazing but you couldn’t be righter ! That guitar is probably better than most fenders . 🎼👍🇺🇸

Great tele upgrade work Jon! 👌👌👌👏👏👏💪💪💪

New subscriber , love that work !

Somec10 year old, new on the job installed the parts!

Another excellent video. Very informative. You're the FogHorn LegHorn of the guitar world. (PS: I love it: take a cheap guitar to a gig or jam, have guys snicker at your about it, then surprise 'em away with good playing and tone on it. Yeah, boys, your expensive guitars won't make up for a lack of practice time. Kind of do a Jack Pearson on them.)

We call those Monday guitars and Friday guitars where I’m from and it’s the luck of the draw on which day ya get lol

you were kind of a ass to me in live chat...but hey i know you have lots of people asking the same questions over and over...im just an old man that recently discovered i can have a quality guitar without spending a fortune...i dont have...so i ask dumb questions...lol thanks for the cool videos..im learning alot...

Sean, must be something in the central FL air. I bought an offset Tele from Cozart and the exact same kit to put in it. I'm just down the street from you, in Tampa!

just wanted you to know! I DO NOT LIKE Fenders at all! but I still watch your videos!

I enjoy watching your videos and the builds! I wish could really see you, but you are a great narrator that it is just like seeing what you are doing.

Do you ever use the staggered tuning keys? I know it would leave holes from the string trees, but I absolutely hate string trees myself.

Sean, you lucky you played it unplugged first, you know you don't want to get Cathy all riled up for not following the rules ! LOL.