martrix Posted December 1, 2006 Report Share Posted December 1, 2006 Being a total newbie to guitar building but being a competent Cabinet Maker, I would like some suggestions as to why or why not to go ahead with this. Thinking of getting a cheap squire from here Venue Music in Australia and pulling all the hardware off. Thickness sand and probably add a veneer too both sides (or a nice Quilt cap?) and add some binding and refinish.. Would this be the cheapest route to getting a nice custom Tele? Look forward to your responses, cheers martrix... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted December 1, 2006 Report Share Posted December 1, 2006 Last Affinity I saw was incredibly poorly constructed. I mean, it's the low end of the Squier line, which is already a low-end line. Both the Johnson and Stagg teles I eventually bought were better builds than the Affinities I saw, and every bit as good as the other Squiers. Otherwise, your idea is fine. Except, if you're already experienced with wood-working, then you ought to consider making the guitar yourself --building the body is the easy part (especially if you use the Affinity to make your templates). I started off by modding the Johnson I bought, but I'd never worked with wood before. You could buy the Squier and harvest it for parts, or better yet, just buy the parts --you can pick up a better quality neck for example. Regardless, once you start (and technically you've already started), you'll no longer be able to stop. By this next year, no doubt you'll already be building your first neck... No, no, don't try to resist. It's too late. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martrix Posted December 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2006 Well that is another option I guess, harvesting it for the parts and using the whole thing for a template. In that case there is an even cheaper one believe it or not here. Not too sure what the difference is? When you say poor build quality, can you give me examples for the clueless? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted December 1, 2006 Report Share Posted December 1, 2006 Well that is another option I guess, harvesting it for the parts and using the whole thing for a template. In that case there is an even cheaper one believe it or not here. Not too sure what the difference is? When you say poor build quality, can you give me examples for the clueless? Ah, you just have to hold it to know...the ones I look at had barbed wire sticking out of the sides of the fretboard...the neck wasn't straight in the pocket (and the pocket was too wide for the neck), the neck had a hump in it, etc. etc. Hell, even the Fender MIM neck I bought a while back is a POS--it's too narrow, the heel was shaped at a slant, truss rod barely turns, and worse, the neck is way too flimsy to be stable, ends up with tons of dead spots.... You'd be better off going to the local pawn shop or whereever and buying a used guitar --that way you can make sure the neck at least is what you want (you don't need to buy a tele you know --you can easily reshape a strat headstock into a tele headstock, or anything else). The main thing is, you don't end up saving much money trying to modify a cheap guitar, or even harvesting it for parts -- you can't use most of the critical parts from these guitars (tuners, nut, bridge, pickups) because they just won't cut it for a project you'll be spending many hours of your life on. A cheap guitar is a great place to get started if your budget is limited, or if you're not quite sure that you're going to want to pursue the hobby. As long as you know that down the line, you're going to want to put good parts on there anyway. Don't get fixated on Squier, just because they're a Fender brand. There are tons of other brands out there, equally as good/poor as the Squier, which cost even less...have a look on ebay, for example. I personally got into this hobby in part because some of the guitars I want don't exist elsewhere, but mostly because it's just a lot of fun...you have to realize that you don't save much building your own. Maybe in 10 years or so where I have the skills to build true quality..if that day ever arrives, I'll have spent so much money learning, that high-end custom guitar I make will have cost me many thousands of dollars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desopolis Posted December 1, 2006 Report Share Posted December 1, 2006 wow.. my squire strat is the best thing under 1000 ive ever played. Ive played the $400 MIM strats and at first I was on the anti-squire bandwagon and aspired for a high end fender or PRS. then I played them... now after buying some new hardware and electronics(witch I've worked out the "too even" issues) its one of my favorite guitars. and often, when at the shop where I take leasons people comment on not only the sound, but how I keep care of it.(hard to see the stress cracks in the laq on the back) Now im building two guitars of my dreams, and im allready hundreds into each one, and if I were to have someone else do the work they would be $2000 guitars. I may suggest starting with a MIM fender though because ones like the "bullet" series are pure garbage. the affinity's are cool, and mine is a standard I played a SUPER nice ash model fender the last time I was at Guitar center, but if you want to refinish it then a regular model would be fine too. as far as the veneers go, the only thing I have to remind you of it the bevels, teles dont have the standard flat tops. you could plane it down to remove the bevels, and put a thin cap on, but a veneer wont cut it. or you could do a cool thing with the bevels being a different color.. that would be cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted December 1, 2006 Report Share Posted December 1, 2006 Bein there, done that! Changed everything on my Squire just to have a "better" cheap guitar. Use all the hardware. Use the body to make yourself a new one... if you are a cabinet maker it will be very easy for you to copy the Squire body into a nice piece of alder, mahogany or swamp ash if you want the "tele" sound. This will be a much better choice than putting veneer on a "most probably" plywood body tele, and the sound, even with the cheap hardware will be much better! Iwill post pics of my Squire strat later, photobucket is blocked from work. I think that this is the link http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...ic=9130&hl= Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Navarro Posted December 1, 2006 Report Share Posted December 1, 2006 Bein there, done that! Changed everything on my Squire just to have a "better" cheap guitar. Use all the hardware. Use the body to make yourself a new one... if you are a cabinet maker it will be very easy for you to copy the Squire body into a nice piece of alder, mahogany or swamp ash if you want the "tele" sound. This will be a much better choice than putting veneer on a "most probably" plywood body tele, and the sound, even with the cheap hardware will be much better! Iwill post pics of my Squire strat later, photobucket is blocked from work. I think that this is the link http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...ic=9130&hl= Matrix, Im Igree with Maiden, diferent about most people think, wood is the 75 % of the sound of a instrument, my name is Mike Navarro, Im a master luthier with 22 years of experience making custom instruments and owner of Guitar Zone Custom Shop. Theres a lot of articles you going to read in books & the net, but the reality is that a lot of that information is not accurate, in all this years of experience I learned that ! theres no better information then the one you experience by your self, and starting from that point, I learned that the wood is more important that a lot of people including guitar techs think. I don't know how important to you in how you going to sound as a guitar player, I can tell you that the sound of a musician is almost important as habilitys and capacitys as musician. A squire instrument has a horrible wood proyection, of course, if the person does'nt have the music ear, is irrelevant, but, if that is not your case, don't degrade your self that way, if you know how to work with wood, you can get a very high cuality Alder, Ash, Mahogany depends the tone you like and as Maiden said, use you squire tele to make a template, then you can find a very nice quality USA tele neck in ebay for a incredible price. Tele instruments are relative easy to make because doesn't have body's contours, and trust me, it's a lot of dirference in the overall sound when you use fine woods. If you have any technical cuestion of the process to make the body, just write me to my web site Guitarzonepr.com will be a pleasure to help you!! ps in the front page of my web site theres the last Custom Tele I made in Nothern Ash (the one Fender CBS used in the 70s) MIke Navarro Guitarzonepr.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martrix Posted December 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2006 OK, thank you all for the excellent well heeled advice, much appreciated. I think I will go for the cheapest Tele I can find, even if I can find one in the dumpster! My whole life I have been pulling things apart to see how they work, so i think the best way for me to either re-build a Tele or build one from scratch is to pull one apart and go from there. I have to be careful about going too nuts on this, or again I will have a million things on the go and another frigging hobby that I cant stop By the way, I'm a Bass player by preference, but I love playing guitar too, you know muffing around with a 4-track in my bedroom.. When I get a Tele, I will start a thread on the build/re-build and you can have a beer and laugh, cheers from the Apprentice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted December 2, 2006 Report Share Posted December 2, 2006 I have to be careful about going too nuts on this, or again I will have a million things on the go and another frigging hobby that I cant stop It's already too late for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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