Telecaster guitar project

jimistone

jimistone

long standing member
Well, after some input from some of y'all and some serious thought on the matter I have scrapped my plans to painstakingly duplicate a 1959 strat right down to the aged hardware and yellowed finish.
It was going to cost me a bundle anyway and I would have...yet another strat.
I still have the jones to do a project but I've decided to do a Tele. (which I don't already have)
I'm going to create something I've wanted every since I was a kid in the 60's watching Buck Owens and Don Rich in "the Buck Owens Show"...

A metal flake gold telecaster!!

I probably will use a traditional 3 ply white pickguard though....since im not a big fan of bling :D

I'm going to base it on a '66 Tele and I'll probably create a thread on it when I start to document a step by step
I already have an alder body on the way!
 
That's the joy and beauty of 'building' a 'Fender'. You just cannot get some parts and build a Les Paul. But you build any Fender you want, with the craziest custom features. I've done it many times, and always feel like doing one more when I see/hear a story like yours.
My only 'advice', and it's purely personal preference and very subjective; stay away from Mexican type necks that have a truss rod adjustment at the top near the nut. That walnut plug with a hole in the center always looks cheap to me, and just screams 'MIM'. I like AllParts necks. They look right, and you can get binding :thumbs up: to get a classy look. Don't get a cheap look. :spank:
 
ranjam said:
That's the joy and beauty of 'building' a 'Fender'. You just cannot get some parts and build a Les Paul. But you build any Fender you want, with the craziest custom features. I've done it many times, and always feel like doing one more when I see/hear a story like yours.
My only 'advice', and it's purely personal preference and very subjective; stay away from Mexican type necks that have a truss rod adjustment at the top near the nut. That walnut plug with a hole in the center always looks cheap to me, and just screams 'MIM'. I like AllParts necks. They look right, and you can get binding :thumbs up: to get a classy look. Don't get a cheap look. :spank:
Click to expand...
Yeah. The guy I got the body from has a partner who does custom necks. They work off the same templates and the necks fit the neck pockets like a glove. I'm going to get a custom neck made by him. Like I said in the first post on basing this build on a '66 Tele. The '66 Tele has the truss adjustment at the heel of the neck. I'm not going to painstakingly duplicate every single detail of a '66 Tele right down to the wiring. Neck date stamp, and pots....but on the outside it's going to look correct which means no truss adjustment above the nut.
 
Greg_L said:
A Jag or Mustang body would be cool. Teles are so bleh.
Click to expand...
A Tele is an easy build...especially electronically speaking. I'm on sure footing when doing strats or teles. A jag would be hard it seems with so many switches and all.
That being said...

I love jags!

A metal flake emerald green with mint green guard or metal flake purple with black guard jag would be too cool.
Do you have a jag or mustang?
If you do and you like the final result of my Tele project. I'll "flake" it for you for free.
 
jimistone said:
A Tele is an easy build...especially electronically speaking. I'm on sure footing when doing strats or teles. A jag would be hard it seems with so many switches and all.
That being said...

I love jags!

A metal flake emerald green with mint green guard or metal flake purple with black guard jag would be too cool.
Do you have a jag or mustang?
If you do and you like the final result of my Tele project. I'll "flake" it for you for free.
Click to expand...

No I don't have one. I do really like Jags, but never felt the desire to get one.

Besides, I already got a flaked out surf machine! :D

 
Greg_L said:
No I don't have one. I do really like Jags, but never felt the desire to get one.

Besides, I already got a flaked out surf machine! :D

Click to expand...
That's a cool guitfiddle Gerg!
I forgot you already had a flaked out axe.

I enjoy building guitars...well more like assembling guitars really because most of the wood work is already done...but my very favorite part is the finishing. I love spraying the color, building the clear, leveling the finish, and buffing that sucker into a mirror shine.
 
jimistone said:
That's a cool guitfiddle Gerg!
I forgot you already had a flaked out axe.

I enjoy building guitars...well more like assembling guitars really because most of the wood work is already done...but my very favorite part is the finishing. I love spraying the color, building the clear, leveling the finish, and buffing that sucker into a mirror shine.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm glad you clarified the difference between building and assembling. Not that it matters, but that's really sort of a pet peeve of mine. I don't really consider bolting a guitar together "building" a guitar. That's assembling. Guitar "builders" are the guys that literally start from raw hunks of wood and end up with a playable guitar. I'd really love to build a guitar, but I don't have the equipment or know-how. Painting is a whole 'nother skill entirely. I look forward to seeing it.
 
Very cool guitar Greg! I've always wanted to find an inexpensive beater like that and convert it to a left handed guitar. I don't know the details of my dream, but it would mostly entail moving the knobs to the opposite side. I have always thought that that body type would look really good flipped (kinda like firebirds).

I also want to do the same with tele. I think I could get a right-handed body that wasn't fully routed and make the control cavity on the opposite side (the righty's top and my bottom). I choose the tele because the is a little more symmetry vs. a strat. And the upper fret registry would not be too difficult to get to.

Would love to see the results when your finished!
 
I have a red metalflake Xavier thinline tele .... so a gold one's gonna look cool .... go for it!

Not that you care but I'ma going against the tide on the truss rod thing. A truss rod is a functional thing and it's much less functional when you have to remove the neck to adjust it. What is a simple tweak with an adjuster at the nut becomes a time consuming trial and error when the adjuster's down at the heel and you have to loosen the strings and remove the neck.
 
Lt. Bob said:
I have a red metalflake Xavier thinline tele .... so a gold one's gonna look cool .... go for it!

Not that you care but I'ma going against the tide on the truss rod thing. A truss rod is a functional thing and it's much less functional when you have to remove the neck to adjust it. What is a simple tweak with an adjuster at the nut becomes a time consuming trial and error when the adjuster's down at the heel and you have to loosen the strings and remove the neck.
Click to expand...

My Hallmark is like that, except it's a set neck, so I'd have to pull the neck pickup out. Hopefully I never have to adjust the neck. Lol.
 
Greg_L said:
Mine aint no inexpensive beater. Lol.
Click to expand...

It looks like a Mosrite. A funny interview I read with Semie Moseley was that the design was literally a Strat flipped upside down and traced onto a piece of wood. Of course the neck headstock was his own design. But still..........

My 'beef' is the original guitars that were designed and sold as 'student' models for a tight budget are now getting as much or more that the flagship models of some 'big' guitar companies. :eek:
Think about this; a Les Paul Junior was supposed to be a bottom-of-the-barrel student model back the 1950's. Back then a regular Les Paul was $265, and a Junior was $132.50 or so. That Junior has no carved top, no binding, no maple top....... now try and buy one today for less than a new Tele! :mad:
I can't find a Mosrite catalog from the 50's or 60's, but apparently Semie was a horrible businessman, so they were likely cheap and he lost money. But today they're over $2K for a Ventures model. :cursing:
 
Lt. Bob said:
I have a red metalflake Xavier thinline tele .... so a gold one's gonna look cool .... go for it!

Not that you care but I'ma going against the tide on the truss rod thing. A truss rod is a functional thing and it's much less functional when you have to remove the neck to adjust it. What is a simple tweak with an adjuster at the nut becomes a time consuming trial and error when the adjuster's down at the heel and you have to loosen the strings and remove the neck.
Click to expand...
I started to get an SX Tele myself.... Great reviews and dirt cheap.

As far as the truss adjustment location. It's mainly a cosmetic thing. You're right it's easier to adjust at the nut but it's an eye sore IMO. Mine is going to adjust at the heel.

I have never taken the neck off to adjust the truss. I take off the pick guard ... String it back up and adjust everything. Once it's adjusted...it's adjusted.
I've had my 66 strat since 1976 and I've adjusted the truss only 3 times. Once when I first got it. Again years layer when I switched to the heavier 11 gauge set of strings. And one final time when I went back to 10's.
When I get the bridge set on this Tele I'm going to string it up and adjust the truss, the intonation and the action.
Don't need the pickguard for that
 
ranjam said:
It looks like a Mosrite. A funny interview I read with Semie Moseley was that the design was literally a Strat flipped upside down and traced onto a piece of wood. Of course the neck headstock was his own design. But still..........

My 'beef' is the original guitars that were designed and sold as 'student' models for a tight budget are now getting as much or more that the flagship models of some 'big' guitar companies. :eek:
Think about this; a Les Paul Junior was supposed to be a bottom-of-the-barrel student model back the 1950's. Back then a regular Les Paul was $265, and a Junior was $132.50 or so. That Junior has no carved top, no binding, no maple top....... now try and buy one today for less than a new Tele! :mad:
I can't find a Mosrite catalog from the 50's or 60's, but apparently Semie was a horrible businessman, so they were likely cheap and he lost money. But today they're over $2K for a Ventures model. :cursing:
Click to expand...

Yup, the Mosrite Ventures II was a bare bones basic "student" model that is now super rare and quite valuable. I've heard that about the Mosrite body being a flipped Strat, but look at one, it's clearly not true. It might be based on that design idea, but it's definitely it's own thing. Mosrites are fucking sexy. Mine is not a Mosrite. It's a modern Mosrite clone from a company called Hallmark which was started by the guys that actually worked for Semi Mosely and designed and built his guitars. My Hallmark's style and dimensions are pretty much dead nuts accurate to a real Mosrite Ventures model, but with some changed features like neck width (Mosrites had notoriously skinny necks and string spacing) and mine has a set neck while most Mosrites were bolt-on. By my estimation and layman research, the Hallmark is the closest thing you can get to a real Mosrite. The Hallmark's body shape, pickguard, headstock, zero fret, roller bridge, tremolo, etc are all just like the Mosrites.
 
jimistone said:
I started to get an SX Tele myself.... Great reviews and dirt cheap.
Click to expand...
mine was a blem (that I've never found ) and I got it for $140! It was gonna be my beach guitar but I liked it so much it was my main gigging axe for about a year.

So you're going with gold metalflake ..... big or small flakes?
It's s serious decision .... I had an old Mosrite bass I did in red/silver and blue metalflake .... I used small flakes for that and greg's looks like a medium size ..... I'm kinda partial to large flakes because of all the light they scatter but they can be hard to get a smooth finish over.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top