Hi all:
I've been checking out the board for a long time now (at least five years or so) and finally registered!
I'm the proud owner of a handful of offsets, including a heavily modified '62 AVRI Thinskin Jazzmaster (currently undergoing a refinish job from Fiesta Red to Burgundy Mist). Quite frankly, it was a bit of a dog out of the box (it was basically NOS; it dates to 2008 but I didn't acquire it until late 2011...probably why it sat around for a couple years), but I've slowly bent it to my will and gotten it exactly where I want it. I was hesitant to refinish it, but despite liking the feel of the thinner nitro it looked like a pretty rough job overall. Plus, I regretted not getting a Burgundy Mist originally.
I'm also the proud owner of a Johnny Marr sig Jaguar that I love deeply. Probably the only guitar I've owned that was spot-on perfect right out of the box and hasn't needn't much in the way of adjustment or setup in the two years I've owned it. The neck is amazing, the sounds are amazing, it looks cool, I love Johnny Marr, so yeah...good purchase there.
Finally, I have a '67 "parts" Bronco that I recently modified with new electronics and a Fralin Steelpole 43 pickup. Interesting story behind this one: I had an all original '67 Bronco that I found in a pawnshop for $75 (this was in 1990 or 1991, just before grunge hit). Well, I hung on to it for a couple of years before passing it to a friend that needed a guitar because he was trying to start a band. During that time, I took the original pickup out for whatever reason and ended up hanging on to it for a long time. Well, one day I was digging around in the old parts drawer and found it. I immediately became all nostalgic and decided I would get myself an old '67 Bronco again so that pickup could have a second life. I found a '67 body and bought a combination of new and undated Bronco hardware through various eBay and Reverb searches and then one day, just as I was about to give up and custom order a neck, a '67 Bronco neck popped up on eBay (I think) and I jumped on it immediately. So the body, pickup, and neck are all '67, but everything else is repro or not dated.
I was feeling a little feisty recently, so I bought a new pickguard, Mustang knobs, pots, wiring and the Fralin, wired it all up and dropped it on to the Bronco (the "original" pickguard is still intact and can be swapped back in in about five minutes). It still sounds like a Bronco, but is little hotter and angrier...I love it!
Anyways, sorry for the novel. Looking forward to hanging out here!