Been looking for a Tele to bang around on and found this one on FB Marketplace, took it home for $80.  When I first saw it the ad just said Lyon by Washburn Tele, but I noticed that it bore the same headstock as my son's 1990 Washburn mid-level bass.  Comparing both necks, they are of same quality, fit and finish, in fact I would bet they were made in the same factory.  The body unfortunately is plywood but at least is heavier than basswood and has a nice top and back.  Neck pickup is very weak and I'll likely throw a GFS overwound in there, but bridge did a pretty convincing "Communication Breakdown" riff so its not worse than a stock Tele.  Some of the later Lyon guitars were Chinese and had a different, hideous headstock but this seems to be an older, slightly better build quality Lyon example where they may had used Washburn necks.

ETA: intonated easily. When the pickups are on they actually sound like the 50's Tele's, very bright and not too much noise.  Ordered new harness with switch and pots and new capacitor. It has a green .047 so thought I'd try the orange drop .047 when I swap the wiring out.

First time trying to post up sound samples with SoundCloud... Here is directly into the amp with a Fender Twin and tube screamer profile with slight gain on both pedal and amp. I'd forgotten about cable length and passive pickups but the 20' cable, if anything, takes some of the harshness of the bridge pickup away...

https://soundcloud.com/user-871162776/commbrkdwn-tele-sample/s-9AyZH

Regretting not cleaning the tuners out with solvent and re-greasing before putting fresh strings on it as they seem a bit dry, grease prob caked up and they are open on one side. I shot some dry Teflon lube into them to help out until next string change. They are very tight and hold tuning but a little "notchy."

Any recommendations for roller string trees from you Fender guys?

Nice.
Good score.

Some upgrades completed. Fender string trees, replaced the long bridge saddles screws with hex head screws that weren't longer than necessary which cleaned up the look of the bridge. Really trying to reuse any parts that are serviceable and since we're all gun nuts and gear heads here...  I'm ordering Tonerider Hot Vintage pickup set also.  Was going to sand the logo off the headstock but these days there's no shame in having an upgraded FrankenTele. Old knobs aren't deep enough for new pot shafts so in case any of you detail freaks noticed that I'll be getting those replaced too!

$100 score from a CL ad I responded to (for a guitar cabinet). The guy had this sitting on the cab, and asked if I was interested, said he bought it online but he thought it needed a lot of work and he didn't want to invest in it. Could see some it was mostly just a bad setup and probably a bad selector switch. Put a new bone nut in, polished and leveled the frets (had a couple high), and replaced the electronics with a Dragonfire setup (awesome for a budget-caster, btw, really great p/u's), roller bridge. Have less than $150 in it, and it plays awesome now.

Technically a Washburn also

yup, same factory. Quality is actually pretty good overall - only gripe I had was cheap tuners/bridge. Tuners will get replaced soon, and I'm thinking of going to some filtertrons instead of HB's.

Paid a little extra for expedited shipping from the UK for my Tonerider pickups and it seems they've visited every city in England EXCEPT THE ONE THAT FLIES THEM THE #$&@ OUT OF THE UK!  Still got a good deal at 57+shipping.

ETA: TR's are outstanding.  Where the stock PU's really only shined through the amp, the TR's light up my MFX pedal.  I get much more of an authentic tube sound through it using the Fender Twin sim. The bridge is really articulate and hot enough for AC/DC without getting muddy and still twangy.  Neck is perfect for what I wanted and it for, SRV, Hendrix, Gilmour-ish tones. Glad I didn't go with hotter ones.

Worthy of note is that I gained a middle position on my guitar where the good qualities of both pickups are retained. The OEM ones were pretty low output and they didn't compliment each other in the middle position.  Getting a balanced set in a Tele is worth it. The A3's really keep the shrillness moderated and the bridge came with a copper baseplate which probably helps a bit.

Ordered this Wilkinson ashtray with brass comp saddles. Having some resonant vibration in the guitar that I think a $22 bridge swap is worth trying to eliminate and give a much cooler look. The strings on the OEM 6 saddle bridge push up against the springs also. Ordered Fender vintage ferrules so I can convert it to string-thru-body also. Hopefully go over to BIL's and knock out the holes for the bridge this weekend on his drill press.(why f$-# don't I own a drill press???!)

Have heard the suggestion of going to  black PG but like how the stock PG has naturally aged and with the vintage ashtray bridge should have this vibe minus the distressed edges..

Don't discount the plywood body. I used to have a Samick showmaster strat style guitar (rear loaded controls, ect), and it had a plywood body. That thing had gobs of spank and twang.

And congrats!

Sounds great despite an alignment issue with my bridge install. I find myself picking it up more often than my nice HH guitar.  Much more expressive.

Looks sweet to me.

Anyone ever used Guilford Guitars custom exotic woods knobs, plate covers, etc.?
I just discovered them.
The lust for flame maple knobs for my flame maple prs is strong.