My first attempt

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up-fiddler

up-fiddler

Taming the World--for now
....at building a Tele from parts. I ordered the body, unfinished vintage neck, vintage pups, Fishman power brigde, and necessary hardware. She's wired in stereo and is a tonal monster. Total time spent was about 35 hours. (But I'm pretty particular.) I enjoyed this project even though it wasn't exactly done on the cheap. ($800) I am definately going to do another one. Suggestions? Pics at http://www.inthechipsproduction.com/TelePics.html

(Sorry for the link. Couldn't upload the images.)
 
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If it sounds as good as it looks it should be sweet!
Nice job.

Pier
 
Very nice indeed. I put together a kit a few years back and it was a lot of fun, plus I learned a great deal about guitar set-up, enjoyed it so much I put together a 5 string bass kit.

Great job!
 
Sounds like you have the perfect Tele for you, so the price seems quite reasonable. That Tele looks really fine-I built a few kit Teles as well and never even thought about the Power bridge as an option to make it even more versatile-I just may add one to one of mine!!!
 
That looks really cool...i plan on kinda doing something similar..by taking a tele body on a cheaper(samick) gutiar..and getting a fender bridge/new pickups for it and stuff..but i love the black on white..so nice.
 
Very nice finish indeed. What's with the cryptic characters on the pickguard?
 
OK so I have to admit.....

.....I ordered the body finished in epoxy and bound in black since the ivory coloered Tele is a bit too stark for me. Then I threw out the white pickguard and replaced with a b/w/b. The cryptics :D are my signature engraved through the first black layer exposing the white underneath. The neck was sanded, frets leveled and rounded, 2 coats tung oil, 5 coats paste wax. The power bridge doesn't fit the vintage body style and I had to rerout the cavities. I went with black cover plates and buttons to enhance the binding. The neck didn't fit well either (different manufacturers). Fortunately the neck was oversized and I was able to use a gouge and fit the body to the neck. I tend to be a bit anal in whatever I do though. I spent a few hours when a belt sander at the base of the neck would have taken care of the problem in 10 minutes. I do like the perfect fit though..... You are correct sir when you say that I got the Tele I wanted. That was the only goal I started with. (Otherwise I would have just bought a guitar.) I wasn't careful about what anything cost or how much time it would take to get what I wanted. She's a pretty girl and I am planning on Tele sex again tonight.:eek: Thanks to all for the kind words.;)

Oh yeah. Five coats of wax on the body finish also. Then finished/buffed with a shoe brush.
 
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VERY nice work. The only change I would have made would be a 3 barrel brass saddle, but to each their own! Does it sound like a Tele?
 
Flamin Lip said:
VERY nice work. The only change I would have made would be a 3 barrel brass saddle, but to each their own! Does it sound like a Tele?
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You're right. I would have liked the brass saddle but then I would have had to forego the piezo powerbridge.

It sounds like a very old Tele when the additional three way is set for both the Tele pups. It sounds like a thin country guitar with the powerbridge only. It sounds like a monster when all three are cooking. The only drawback is the powerbridge has no separate volume control on the guitar. I may rewire the Tele tone pot to act as a volume pot for the powerbridge. I am going to play it for a month before I take it apart again. Then I will have a better feel for what I may want to change. I went into this underinformed and did a great deal of research (some of it here) before I started. It was a fun project which seems to have ended well.
 
Super Nice! Does the fishman string through the body? Have you thought of using a concentric pot for the volume?
 
JCH said:
Super Nice! Does the fishman string through the body? Have you thought of using a concentric pot for the volume?
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Yes, it is a string through body bridge. Concentric pot???:confused:

OK I googled this That looks like a likely candidate. Then I could keep the tone pot. Thanks!!
 
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Concentric= stacked knobs. I think the Fender Nashville Power Tele has that. Gotta have a tone knob!!!!!!
 
up-fiddler said:
Yes, it is a string through body bridge. Concentric pot???:confused:

OK I googled this That looks like a likely candidate. Then I could keep the tone pot. Thanks!!
Click to expand...

That concentric pot looks great, but I bet you will need to rout the control cavity a little deeper to make room for it....isn't the contol panel on backward also? Is that to avoid hitting the 3 way switch by accident or just to give easy access to the tone knob?
A 4 way switch is a great addition to a Tele as well, and the wiring diagram below will allow the 2 combined pickups together on the 2nd and 3rd positions and the bridge and neck pickups on 1 and 4. I find that combination works much better that the standard wiring for a 4 way!:)
 

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Yes, I flipped it around for that very purpose. (And had to rewire since everything was in there nice and neat and just the right length. I also like to roll the volume knob with my pinky and put it forward to help with that. Thanks for the four way diagram. I have printed it (If that's OK.) and am studying it over coffee this morning.
 
up-fiddler said:
Yes, I flipped it around for that very purpose. (And had to rewire since everything was in there nice and neat and just the right length. I also like to roll the volume knob with my pinky and put it forward to help with that. Thanks for the four way diagram. I have printed it (If that's OK.) and am studying it over coffee this morning.
Click to expand...

No problem, use it. I found that schematic on the Tele Tech section of the Tele Discussion forum, there is an amazing amount of info and knowledgable people on that site. Check it out, heres a link-
http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-tech/
 
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