New Tele Project

[itchyfingers]

I like Tele's, and I like to build parts guitars, so here goes...

A few years back, MISTER NOBODY and I were kicking the tires on an idea to build a Gretsch-inspired Tele, but that somehow morphed into a custom P-bass build. Anyway, my favorite part about chatting about that project was the thought of having a Bigsby-loaded Tele. I'm not much of a whammy guy, but I love the subtle wobble you get from a Bigsby. I have quite a few components lying around from various mods and other projects, so I figured it wouldn't cost me an arm and a leg to attempt to build this one. Really, all I "needed" was a body.

Of key importance here is going to be the weight. Not because I am some geezer on TGP with a weak core, but because I will be adding a few more pounds of hardware with the Bigsby, and I want this guitar to end up being comfy enough to gig, if we ever gig again.

For previous builds, I usually go with MJT or some other manufacturer of finished (and tastefully aged) bodies, but figured I'd take a crack at doing this one myself. I have a few rattle cans of Reranch primer and Lake Placid Blue sitting in the garage from the last time I considered finishing a body, which never came to fruition. Hoping nitrocellulose doesn't spoil and I can get a decent finish out of it. If not, I can throw it down the street, relic the shit out of it or spray it with black Krylon.

So I found a company on Reverb called Woodtech that makes guitar bodies and a host of other CNC related wood products. Managed to get an eastern white pine, three piece pine body, shipped for under a c-note. Not too woried about the multiple pieces, since the finish will be opaque. Ad said most orders average 4.2 lbs, but this one came out to about 3.5 lbs, which is unheard of and should greatly offset the weight of the Bigsby.

[itchyfingers]

So I have this big headstock Strat neck that I was planning to use. As you may have noticed, Strat neck heels are rounded, while Tele neck heels are squared off. Once I got the body in, I sat the neck in the body, but the corner gaps were tripping my OCD trigger big time...



Even after sitting the pickguard on the body, I could still see the gaps, and it just wasn't sitting well. So I had a few options.
1. Fill in the gaps with wood putty. Seems messy and would still peek out under the pickguard
2. I could sand the butt of the neck flat. Seems like it would mess up the intonation to change the overall length of the neck.
3. Suck it up and buy a proper neck.

Option 3, while most expensive, would be the safest bet for ending up with a solid instrument, so I perused Warmoth and a few other online shops for a new Tele style neck. Gotta say, I was super impressed with the selection and ease of ordering, even found a few candidates in the gallery of "in-stock" nearly completed necks. I am a big fan of shit that looks old, but is hiding some modern appointments for improved playability or functionality. Ended up going with a roasted maple, modern construction, 10-16" compound radius, stainless steel frets, black dots.

I think it came out looking slick!

[mortatone]

Pick ups for what are doing

[Marc G]

nice Itchy..... what finish are you going to go with?

[itchyfingers]

Pick ups for what are doing

They are a custom set by a company called Rewind. Pulled them out of the Steinmetzicaster. Some detail from the builder:

"The way I have been doing them is using A3s for all six poles on the neck and the low E and A on the bridge. The D, G, B, and high E on the bridge are A2 for more midrange sustain and a sweet singing treble. Like this, looking down at the guitar top, headstock up.

A3 A3 A3 A3 A3 A3 (neck)

A3 A3 A2 A2 A2 A2 (bridge)

I wind the neck coils of these a bit taller than would be traditional for a typical vintage Tele neck coil.
I also prefer to use covers that are either unplated raw nickel silver or chrome with an open center to expose the poles. This is all to help keep the neck pickup clear and detailed. I often find the typical vintage Tele neck coil geometry, and the brass/chrome covers, to be too dark sounding. If you're not caught up on the vintage solid chrome Tele look for the cover, I'd recommend one of those two cover options. I build the pickups to be noise canceling in the middle position."

[itchyfingers]

nice Itchy..... what finish are you going to go with?

Thanks Marc. Gonna be Lake Placid Blue with a cream pickguard. I also have a can of Reranch "Vintage Amber" that I may use as a final topcoat. I think it will green up the finish a tad, which would be cool. I guess it depends on how much I dig the look after the finay spray of LPB. I have a ton of these CO2 cartridges for cycling, I bought the wrong size and didn't feel like paying to ship them back, so they just sit in a box. Finally going to put them to good use to crack the nitro up a bit, but no plan to go full relic unless I really F the paint up, which is a definite possibility!

[ajaxlepinski]

GO ITCHY GO!!!!


Round string trees here: https://reverb.com/item/33250536-callah ... less-round

[Steinmetzify]

Nice dude can’t wait to see it. Those pickups were awesome, good call on reuse.

[Marc G]

nice Itchy..... what finish are you going to go with?

Thanks Marc. Gonna be Lake Placid Blue with a cream pickguard. I also have a can of Reranch "Vintage Amber" that I may use as a final topcoat. I think it will green up the finish a tad, which would be cool. I guess it depends on how much I dig the look after the finay spray of LPB. I have a ton of these CO2 cartridges for cycling, I bought the wrong size and didn't feel like paying to ship them back, so they just sit in a box. Finally going to put them to good use to crack the nitro up a bit, but no plan to go full relic unless I really F the paint up, which is a definite possibility!

nice..... looking forward to seeing how it comes out!

[Ostinato Rubato]

Nice!

[skybluegary]

Sub'd, looking forward to the finished guitar.

[itchyfingers]

Made a bit of headway, finished priming and sanding the body.



Can't decide whether I should drill the posts for the bridge now or after paint, might be fun to mock it up at this point anyway. Unfortunately, we are getting some remodeling done on the house, so I am not sure when I'll be able to lay the color on. That may make my decicion for me. Anyway, I put a decal on the headstock, you know, important shit, and lost a heartbeat when I was smoothing out the air bubbles and some text wiped right off. Not sure whether to try and remove "TELECASTER" or just leave it to Beaver...

[Steinmetzify]

Nah, you’re gonna relic anyway, right? Leave it as is...

[itchyfingers]

Yeah man, I think you're right. I'm not sure if any of my Fender headstocks has a complete decal...

[Tortuga]

Def watching this one! Go man, go!

[fretless]

Nice ! Hows this going now ?

[itchyfingers]

Everything is on hold since we started doing renovation on our house this summer. My garage looks like a hoarder lives here, and I have nowhere to spray the nitro at the moment. It's ok, I have an Endres build in-process and a Pittman on the way to tide me over.

[fretless]

right on , yeah the Pittman will get you through those tough times