Planning Out My First Guitar "build"

[bohoo2u]

Well I have been playing guitar for almost 3 years now. I have an epiphone les paul standard (lefty) which I installed some awesome Seymour Duncan pickups (Pearly Gates and 59'). I want another guitar, but I am fed up with paying extra for left handed versions. The only companies that dont charge extra are way out of my range, so I am going to do my first "build". I will be buying all parts and painting/putting everything together.

My plan is to get a Telecaster style Hollowbody guitar. I was looking on Warmoth, but have heard alot about bad experiences, so I think i will go with USA Custom Guitars. They have a tele hollowbody guitar body for $280 (rear rout). Is this a decent price for a swamp ash tele hollowbody?

Heres my idea:

-I want to do a vintage butterscotch transparent finish, like on the Fender 52' Reissue. How hard will this be to paint?

-I already have a dual humbucker guitar, so I am thinking of doing a dual single coil. Will I get alot of hum from this? Do noise-canceling pickups work? Finally, can anyone recommend some reasonably priced tele pickups that will give me a vintage rock/blues tone?

I think thats enough questions for now. If you know of someone that will supply better parts etc for less than please post a link.

Once I get this puppy done successfully, I plan to make my first guitar from scratch, most likely a PRS style double cut.

Thanks in advance and compliments to all the builders on here, you all make stunning guitars.

[Nitefly SA]

bad experiences with warmoth? ive heard only good things, the finish should be fairly easy to do, as for pickups i would just go for seymour duncans.

[bohoo2u]

While researching, alot of people on http://www.tdpri.com/ seemed to have bad experiences with them. Maybe it was just an unlucky bunch, who knows.

[Mattia]

I've never had problems with Warmoth, and I've never heard of people that did, really. I've seen people whining that they don't offer the custom options they'd want them to option, but that's hardly a 'problem'.

Warmoth's got a good rep, and they make a great product. Or they did, back when I got my body/neck. Build 'em m'self these days.

[bohoo2u]

do you guys think the warmoth tele thinline body is high quality? Has anyone used it?

[Nitefly SA]

everything warmoth is high quality

[bohoo2u]

Ok does anyone have recommendations for the finish? The fender 52' reissue uses nitrocellulose laquer. Where could I obtain this, and how hard is it to apply (i plan on renting a sprayer)?

This is my idea for the guitar color...

So basically telecaster thinline (left handed) with standard tele controls (as opposed to the strat style in this picture) and single coil pickups.

[Recursion]

Warmoth may make high quality guitars and necks, but if your not careful when building, you can turn it into a ugly monster(Poor quality Guitar).

I would recommend trying to build the body yourself. Its not that hard.

Try this webpage for finishing>>>

http://home.flash.net/~guitars/

Hope this helps.

[bohoo2u]

Thanks for the link recursion.

Has anyone worked with zebrawood? I went and played a 52' reissue tele today and wasnt too impressed with the tone, but this guy was playing a custom guitar (naturally it was right handed so I couldnt try it...) with a zebrawood top and it sounded amazing. I also loved the grain pattern. How would something like a ash or mahogany body sound with a zebrawood top? I know zebrawood is pretty bright sounding, so maybe the mahogany would be best as the body.

Ok lots of questions, sorry.

Lets say I decide to hollow out the body like on the warmoth guitars. Would I outline the body on the mahogany or whatever, hollow it out with a router, and then glue the top on and shape the body?

Last one...if I get a template from guitarbuilding templates.com I can just flip it over for left handed, right?

Edited December 18, 2005 by bohoo2u