OffsetGuitars.com

I bought a 1998 Toronado off eBay a little while back without ever playing one simply because I think they look pretty cool. I got a good deal on a white/tort one, but since I already have 2 other white/tort guitars (AVRI Jazzmaster and 1966 Burns Marvin) I decided it needed a new look.

My father owns a guitar refinishing company (http://www.spectrumguitarfinishes.co.uk, which I know at least one forum member has used ) so we got to work on changing the look.

Since we were refinishing it, we whipped out a volume and tone knob since having two individual controls for each pickup felt really cumbersome on stage (I'm not really a Gibson guy). So now it is master volume and master tone.

I know this guitar also came in orange in the early years, but instead of flat orange, we came up with a custom color for it called Habanero Pearl, a pearlescent orange.

Didn't think the tort would go with that so I got a white pickguard for it to round out the look and also got some pickup covers for the SD's it came with.

Before and after:






It's a great sounding and playing little guitar!

Any Toronado love on the board?

My good friend has a black one. It's a cool guitar. He's done a few pickup swaps in it. He seems to like hot pickups for some reason. I like mine more vintage. I like how it plays. It's not bad...I like my necks a little thicker like my 50's style necks on my Les Pauls......

Ok... THAT looks much better

I'd have plugged the old pot holes with some switches for splitting and such, but now I wouldn't want to mar the finish... Looks just about perfect.

The Toronado I had is one of the few guitars I've sold that I really miss.

A good number of guitars have passed in and out of my hands over the years but I'll never sell my Toronado. I bought it in Frankfurt in 1998 or 1999. I've rewired it for a master vol/master tone with the other 2 knobs being dial-a-coil-tap controls. Still has the original Atomic humbuckers in it. I don't use a trem, even on guitars that have it, and I much prefer the feel of a string through body to TOMs and other similar hard tails. I'd tried a Strat, Les Paul, Tele, even an Explorer, but around then, I never saw any JMs or Jags anywhere. The very first time I picked up my Toronado, it just felt like it fit me. I didn't figure out that it was because of the offset waist for quite some time. I went to an ATM and pulled out the daily max and put it down on that Toronado. The next day, I was there when the shop opened with the rest of the cash. 15 years later and I still think it might be the best guitar related purchase I have ever made. I almost bought one of the American Special versions with the P-90s but I figured I'd wait until I found one in red because I wasn't a fan of the yellow. I've still never seen one in person although one of these days I may try and track one down (either color). If Fender ever decides to reissue a Toronado, I'd probably be waiting for them as soon as they became available, especially if it was a Deluxe style version.

I love the refin. It looks close enough to the shade of orange that it looks like one of the original colors until you get right up on it.

I love the refin. It looks close enough to the shade of orange that it looks like one of the original colors until you get right up on it.

Thanks! Yea I liked the overall look if the original orange ones, but when I saw this pearlescent finish I couldn't resist. It looks awesome in the sunlight. Since the finish is a little more 'busy' than the flat orange I decided to go with the plain white pickguard instead of the white pearloid ones the originals have. I think that would have been a bit much.

nice, clean work !

I was unimpressed until I scrolled to the third pic..

Beautiful! I am certain that the photography makes the guitar.

That's an awesome transformation. Gorgeous colour. Here's a surf green one I made a while ago:



Controls are master volume/treble roll-off/bass roll-off.

Looks gorgeous! So is that finish achieved by pearl added to clear over solid orange base?

breezy wrote:That's an awesome transformation. Gorgeous colour. Here's a surf green one I made a while ago:

Thanks! Yours looks great in Surf Green!

antisymmetric wrote:Looks gorgeous! So is that finish achieved by pearl added to clear over solid orange base?

Thank you! No, the pearl particles are in with the orange in this finish (like LPB for example), then that was clearcoated in polyester which was then flatted and polished.

breezy wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 01, 2013 9:44 pm

That's an awesome transformation. Gorgeous colour. Here's a surf green one I made a while ago:



Controls are master volume/treble roll-off/bass roll-off.

Yo Breezy! This guitar is amazing! Did you shape this guitar or is it just a refin? Thanks and super cool