my main squeeze

This is my first REAL guitar. It is my main electric guitar that is on all my CDs. It's a 1961 Fender Custom Esquire neck and a '61 re-issue tele body done sometime in the 80's. I bought it in 1988, used , back home in Dallas at Charley's Guitar Shop. The headstock had already been cracked from the 6th to the 1st string dead-center in the tuner holes. So the top part of the guitar had been snapped-off like a lego block. Every 5 or 6 years I have to have it reset. I had Rene Martinez (SRV's tech) put bass frets on it like Stevie and they have been on it ever since. It was gently used and had all of the paint on it and the full compliment of the double binding (my favorite!) - but over the years and a few radical gigs with lighter fluid, I burned the top right forearm part of the binding off and then spent a week sanding it and re coating it polyurethane. Now it's more comfortable than ever and I don't have a line running across my forearm anymore. Other tweaks: I put on black chrome knobs - stock ESP Guitar knobs they put on all their metal guitars. This required me to sand down the diameter of the pot posts by hand to get the new knobs to fit. I also put on the Danny Gatton Brass bridge [they slant] and this guitar plays absolutely intune. I have to remind myself not to compensate for it when I playing. I switched out the proper mint-green 3 ply pickguard (which I still have) for the black 'mother of toillet-seat' 3 ply guard. For some reason, it just looks better. I use 10-46 guage nickel wound strings.