craving a tele...

guitar junkie

guitar junkie

Guitar User.
So after knocking around on an acoustic for almost all of my live shows now for the last 5 years I am thinking about picking up a new guitar...

Problem is of course money being that I lack it.

So my options seem to be to just make due for a while till money changes or I figure something else out.

I have in recent months put together a mandolin from a kit and before that I made a banjo and years ago I had done one of the sucky Saga strat kits... I learned shortly after that Strats really are not my thing.

So I have been digging around and read most all of the $100 tele challenge threads and I think I might be able to do something on the cheap with the tools I have at my use and the money (or lack of it) I should be able to at least get something that will play in tune and not suck too bad for tone...

So I think I will go busking for a few extra bucks soon and see what I can get for some seed money...
 
I built this one last year for $0 outlay, from scrap wood and parts from a defunct copy machine. It has active electronics, bridge and neck inductive pickups, and piezo pickups under the bridge. There are the requisite volume and tone controls, and a four way switch to individual pickups and all three summed.

It was my first scratch build (I'd built a Strat kit a few weeks earlier,) and used a few common power tools - table saw, small router, jigsaw, belt sander, dremel tool, bench drill press, stick welder, soldering iron, and the usual hand tools.

I had some of the stuff lying around - screws, switches, knobs, jack, pots, a FET, 9v battery and guitar strings, a hard drive, and part of a rattle can of polyurethane, but everything else was scrap.

So with some ingenuity and lots of tedious work, you can build a guitar on the cheap - go for it!
 

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... to think you're only 1 year old!

crazydoc said:
I built this one last year for $0 outlay, from scrap wood and parts from a defunct copy machine...
Click to expand...

Looks real nice. :)

Musicians pick up a vibe from instruments, and that one wreaks that it sounds good. Looks like it wouldn't be stupid bright. I'm not big on trebly "new" sounding instruments.

What was from the copy machine?
 
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crazydoc said:
I built this one last year for $0 outlay, from scrap wood and parts from a defunct copy machine. It has active electronics, bridge and neck inductive pickups, and piezo pickups under the bridge. There are the requisite volume and tone controls, and a four way switch to individual pickups and all three summed.

It was my first scratch build (I'd built a Strat kit a few weeks earlier,) and used a few common power tools - table saw, small router, jigsaw, belt sander, dremel tool, bench drill press, stick welder, soldering iron, and the usual hand tools.

I had some of the stuff lying around - screws, switches, knobs, jack, pots, a FET, 9v battery and guitar strings, a hard drive, and part of a rattle can of polyurethane, but everything else was scrap.

So with some ingenuity and lots of tedious work, you can build a guitar on the cheap - go for it!
Click to expand...
Nice work, what's the go with those string trees though?
 
I hope to be putting a body together soon, I gotta do a little busking for a neck and pickups as I don't feel up to making that stuff yet...
 
crazydoc said:
I built this one last year for $0 outlay, from scrap wood and parts from a defunct copy machine. It has active electronics, bridge and neck inductive pickups, and piezo pickups under the bridge. There are the requisite volume and tone controls, and a four way switch to individual pickups and all three summed.

It was my first scratch build (I'd built a Strat kit a few weeks earlier,) and used a few common power tools - table saw, small router, jigsaw, belt sander, dremel tool, bench drill press, stick welder, soldering iron, and the usual hand tools.

I had some of the stuff lying around - screws, switches, knobs, jack, pots, a FET, 9v battery and guitar strings, a hard drive, and part of a rattle can of polyurethane, but everything else was scrap.

So with some ingenuity and lots of tedious work, you can build a guitar on the cheap - go for it!
Click to expand...

dont care if its functional thats great work :)
 
LDS said:
Copy machine parts? Please elucidate.
Click to expand...

Steel plate for bridge, neck plate, control cover, jack plate.
Roller shafts for truss rod, tuners, saddles.
Shaft bushings for strap buttons.
Door magnets, solenoid wire, PC board, roller shaft for pickups.
PC board, wire harness, transistors, caps and resistors for electronics.

I built this for the MIMF $100 telecaster challenge (my challenge was to do it for free.) The thread is off that site, but if anyone's interested I could post an abbreviated thread in the DIY forum here (to avoid hijacking this thread) with pics, showing how it was built.

slowmotion said:
Nice work, what's the go with those string trees though?
Click to expand...
They actually serve a dual purpose - the major one was for fine tuners, as the tuners are just tuning pins made from steel shafts, and I thought I would need fine tuning control. As it turns out, I can tune it OK with just the tuning pins.

dintymoore said:
Looks like it wouldn't be stupid bright.
Click to expand...
Since I'm not an electric guitar player, I really don't know how it stacks up with a real tele. However, I think the piezo pickup would qualify for "stupid bright." :)
 
Right, I'm putting two and two together now.;) I remember that one even though I don't post there these days I lurk a bit.

A close up of the tuners and a description of the pickups would be of interest to the modders here. Nice work crazydoc..





My last Tele builds were these. You all seen them before but thats all I got in the telefolder. I'd like to build a few more son. I loves me some telestyle..

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Here They are naked.:o

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Hats off to all you guys, that's beautiful work. Stuff like that only comes from people with passion who aren't doing it primarily for the money. :)

It's looking at stuff like this that makes me want to stay away from woodwork - I just don't have "it", that mystyerious thing you either have or don't.
 
crazydoc said:
Steel plate for bridge, neck plate, control cover, jack plate.
Roller shafts for truss rod, tuners, saddles.
Shaft bushings for strap buttons.
Door magnets, solenoid wire, PC board, roller shaft for pickups.
PC board, wire harness, transistors, caps and resistors for electronics.

I built this for the MIMF $100 telecaster challenge (my challenge was to do it for free.) The thread is off that site, but if anyone's interested I could post an abbreviated thread in the DIY forum here (to avoid hijacking this thread) with pics, showing how it was built.
Click to expand...
That would be fascinating!

You wound your own pickups? That's really impressive!
 
dintymoore said:
Hats off to all you guys, that's beautiful work. Stuff like that only comes from people with passion who aren't doing it primarily for the money. :)

It's looking at stuff like this that makes me want to stay away from woodwork - I just don't have "it", that mystyerious thing you either have or don't.
Click to expand...

Rubbish. If you have two hands, patience and a brain you can build a guitar.;)

True it takes time to build a stunner but you can certainly build a player.
 
Please do start a thread about this! I would love to see how this one turned into what it is now!

So far I have a set of tuners I can use, I have metal I can make a bridge and neck plate from. I have a full service blacksmith shop ready and waiting just as soon as I get a few more parts in.
 
Mutt

I'm not much on hollowbody teles, but that is a stunning piece of wood. That's much more than a nice guitar, that's pure artwork. I'd have that in a lighted glass case, and just look at it all the time.
 
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