Exotic Tele Build

[avengers63]

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a builder in the same sense that y'all are. While I have the desire, I don't have the money to invest in the necessary tools & equipment. Also, while I could experiment and learn, I really don't feel that one semister of wood shop in high school 20 years ago gives me more than a rudimentary knowledge of woodworking. So, all in all, I'm just not a luthier.

But there's still plenty I CAN do. Please note that throuhg out this w-i-p and plea for suggestions, when I use the term "build", I really mean "assemble". I do not consider myself a builder, but that is the common terminology, so I will use it with impunity.

Anyway, I have had it in my head for a while to build a telecaster from exotic woods. I wanted as much wood on the thing as possible, and it couldn't be "normal" wood. I was open to just about anything but the normal figured maple tops over ash, alder, basswood, etc. That's just boring & common. Likewise, I would rather lovingly embrace my ex-wife than have a maple neck & rosewood fretboard. (Insert retching sounds here) Without the opportunity to manufacture it by hand, I'm left with no other options than buying the pieces. Having a limited budget, where did I turn? eBay, of course.

Here's the body I just bought. Maple core, padouk stripes, and mahogany wings. The wings are topped with spalted maple laminated with paduok for a pinstriping effect.

At this stage, I have a question and need an opinion or seven.

When it's time to finish the wood, I'm going for a glass-smooth natural finish. From what I've read, tung oil is pretty easy to use, but I'm not positive it'll get the depth & polish I'm looking for. My real question for the finish is in filling the grain. I know the mahogany will need filling, but will the spalted wings, paduok stripes, and maple core need it?

The opinion I need is about the pickguard. I found a dude that'll make one out of pretty much whatever I want. My issue is that the body is so stunning that I don't want to cover it up, but I really want a pickguard. As we all know, a tele p/g takes up a lot of real estate. I'm feeling like I want to compliment the body & neck, but I don't want it to be too busy & have too many different types of wood on it. As a former art major, I completely understand overwhelming the eye. While I want to compliment the neck, I don't have it yet, so that's basically impossible. A plain maple p/g would compliment the core nicely and wouldn't be busy at all. It would actually peel it all back a bit. If I go with a maple p/g, it couldn't have any figuring because the core doesn't. But maple is so boring...

FWYW: I'm trying to get a paduok or bloodwood neck with a zebrawood f/b. The red tones will blend with the stripes. I don't thing the zebrawood will compete too much with the spalting, considering the same tones and themes are repeated, even though the pattern is not exactly duplicated. I'll have spalted knobs, which will compliment the wings.

For tuners, I want the Steinberger gearless tuners. I'm thinking either black or chrome hardware. Gold is not only more expensive, but with so much brown tone over the piece already, the gold would blend in too much. I'm leaning towards black, but I'm not positive yet.

Anyway, I'd really appreciate any thoughts & opinions y'all have.

[mattharris75]

The padauk is an opened grain wood as well, which would need filling if you want to go that route. But if you want a natural finish that can shine up nicely then go with Tru Oil. It is an oil borne varnish, and if you layer it on fairly thick it shines up nicely. Here is my build thread with some pictures of Tru Oil on the neck: Glossy Tru Oil

Also, it's not neccessary to use grainfiller when using Tru Oil, you can just build up multiple coats until the grain is filled.

Good luck with your project!

Edited November 21, 2007 by mattharris75

[zyonsdream]

You could use clear acrylic for the pickguard if you want to be able to see everything. Your cavity routes are clean so it would look good. You could also laminate your own guard out of the same materials you used to have the pickguard match the top. The shine you get with oil will depend on the smoothness of the wood. If you get down to say 0000 steel wool you should have able to have a nice shiny luster. Try Dr. Ducks for an oil finish. Great stuff!

You might also want to take a look at the tele I am building right now. It has a padauk neck with a bocote board. You'll be using zebra but the color tones will be the same.

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=33233

Edited November 21, 2007 by zyonsdream

[avengers63]

Here's a question. I should probably post this over in the page for electrics, but since it's about this build, here it goes.

I want a Bigsby on this tele. Do I need to have a specific bridge, like the one WD sells here or can I get just this Bigsby vibrato assembly and use it with the standard bridge? There's no way I'm going to get this thing because it needs a neck shim, and I'm not knowledgeable enough to do that. If I can use just the vibrato without getting the bridge as well, it's save me at least $50, maybe more. Plus, that acrylic bridge base just looks bad.

[j. pierce]

I've seen folks use a normal Bigsby, (like your second link) and use it with a traditional style tele bridge (not the modern type with the strat-style saddles like you linked to) - the thing was, the action needed to be raised enough at the saddles (because the bottom of the roller bar is still around a 1/4" off the top of the guitar body, and regardless, you want to clear the back of the tele plate. Because of the raised action, I believe a shim was used anyway.

A shims not hard - your simply raising the height of the fretboard in comparison to the body, so that raising the bridge (or using a different, taller bridge) doesn't have you end up with a dreadfully high action. If you're building the neck yourself, you can simply leave a thicker heel. If you hadn't done the neck pocket on the body, you could have simply routed the neck pocket shallower. But really, it's just sticking a reasonably thick piece of material (wood, whatever) inbetween the neck and body. Doesn't have to be perfectly sized, as you use the saddle height adjustment to get yourself in there right.

EDIT: just remembered this link:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~msengers/htm/gallery.htm

with a bit of info on Tele's with bigsbys.

[avengers63]

EDIT: just remembered this link:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~msengers/htm/gallery.htm

with a bit of info on Tele's with bigsbys.

Thanks, dude! From what I can gather through the pics, it's entirely possible to do it with a standard tele bridge. The bridge must be modifies with channels cut out of the back lip so the strings can cleat it and pass over the saddles. So, I must now weigh the options: get the crappy looking acrylic bridge assembly, or have un-professional looking notches cut into a standard bridge.

Another benefit of the standard bridge is that it's just screwed in to the body. The other one has a T-O-M bridge which requires bushings to be drilled for. I don't have a drill press, so I'd be doing it by hand.... great potential to screw it up royally.

[heggis]

EDIT: just remembered this link:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~msengers/htm/gallery.htm

with a bit of info on Tele's with bigsbys.

Thanks, dude! From what I can gather through the pics, it's entirely possible to do it with a standard tele bridge. The bridge must be modifies with channels cut out of the back lip so the strings can cleat it and pass over the saddles. So, I must now weigh the options: get the crappy looking acrylic bridge assembly, or have un-professional looking notches cut into a standard bridge.

Another benefit of the standard bridge is that it's just screwed in to the body. The other one has a T-O-M bridge which requires bushings to be drilled for. I don't have a drill press, so I'd be doing it by hand.... great potential to screw it up royally.

You don't need to get a 'crappy looking acrylic bridge', as you can get them in chrome as well. They bridge used in that assembly is not a T-O-M, it is that of a Fender Jazzmaster/Jaguar or a Mustang. The Jag/Jazz ones have threaded saddles, and the Mustang has saddles with a single grove. The problem with the Mustang is that it does not have individual h

ight adjustment for each saddle, and therefore the radius of the fretboard needs

to match the bridge (which is about 8"), or you can replace the bridge with one found at warmoth

http://www.warmoth.com/hardware/bridges/br...ustang_modified

or buy replacement saddles of e-Bay...

Anyway, the more stylish chrome ones can be bought from several e-bay stores, just search for a B-5 bigsby tele assembly and you should get a couple of hits. Some of those sets also come with the Fender "F" instead of the Bigsby logo.

Hope that helps.

Heggis

Edited November 26, 2007 by heggis

[avengers63]

Well, I have ONE problem solved. OK, maybe not the entire aspect, but I'm halfway there. I've centered in on a pickguard shape that'll still allow me to both have one and not cover up a third of the top at the same time.

It's from the thinline tele. Now if I can only center in on what type of wood to have it made of.

Do y'all have the "too many choices" thing going on too?

HEGGIS: I had been searching for Bigbsys on eBay, but every set had the plastic bridge plate. That's what made me ask about it here. One finally showed up this morning with a chrome one. Thanks for the heads-up.

[RAI6]

I don't think you should do it in wood at all.

The look of wood is nice, but when you have too many things going on, it ends up looking like a mess...

[avengers63]

I don't think you should do it in wood at all.

The look of wood is nice, but when you have too many things going on, it ends up looking like a mess...

I'm thinking to do it in maple. That'll match the body core and help tone down the whole thing. The plain maple seems to be a nice neutral base. If that's the direction I go, the grain lines will match the body.

But, if I diverge from my original game plan (everything possible made from wood), what p/g material would you suggest?

[zyonsdream]

translucent Red acrylic sheet would look nice and would really complement the padauk stringers. It would be an excellent alternative to using wood.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...rksid=p3907.m29

Edited November 27, 2007 by zyonsdream

[avengers63]

translucent Red acrylic sheet would look nice and would really complement the padauk stringers. It would be an excellent alternative to using wood.

If that's the case, then why not just make the p/g from padauk?

I do agree that a transparent red would compliment the racing stripes and neck. It would also allow the wood to show through with a red tint. I'll have to think about this one for a bit. I don't want to overdo it with the red tones, but it would look nice. Hmmm...

[zyonsdream]

That’s why I thought that a translucent red would be nice because it would almost be a redish amber once placed on the top. For the money and time involved you could just buy a piece, whip up the pick guard and see what it looks like.

Just putting it on top of the guitar would make the wood underneath it a few shades darker but would still allow the wood grain to show though clearly. It would actually darken the face of the guitar and add an interesting contrast.

Did I mention that I really like that spalt!

Edit: They make translucent amber acrylic too which would add a yellow tint to the wood beneath it. I personally would go with the red if I chose to go this route but the yellow would add an interesting flavor to it too.

Edited November 27, 2007 by zyonsdream

[avengers63]

Granted - this is a quickie mock-up.

Maybe it'd look better in real life.

I really like the spalt too. It almost looks flamed. Really nice direction on the figuring.

[zyonsdream]

The actual piece would React differently and would get darker looking when placed against the wood. Make it about 3 shades darker and you’ll have a better representation of what it will look like. Sorry, I worked with acrylic sheet stock for several years. I was also thinking of a full pickguard too.

[avengers63]

The body came in yesterday. I had a space set up in the garage for me to work on it. I couldn't get to it until about 9:15PM - I was really antsy all night. Go figure. I popped in one of my home-mix CDs at random and started sanding it down. By sheer luck, Stairway To Heaven was on the CD about halfway through. I couldn't resist the temptation to squat down with the body on my knee and "air guitar" the solo". We're all kids with our toys, right? Anyway, it was at that exact moment when my wife popped in to see how I was doing.

I'm going to be a while living that one down.

But it's all sanded now. Tonight I get to put on the first coat of sanding sealer. I'll post pics as the project moves forward.

[TheIRS]

The body came in yesterday. I had a space set up in the garage for me to work on it. I couldn't get to it until about 9:15PM - I was really antsy all night. Go figure. I popped in one of my home-mix CDs at random and started sanding it down. By sheer luck, Stairway To Heaven was on the CD about halfway through. I couldn't resist the temptation to squat down with the body on my knee and "air guitar" the solo". We're all kids with our toys, right? Anyway, it was at that exact moment when my wife popped in to see how I was doing.

I'm going to be a while living that one down.

But it's all sanded now. Tonight I get to put on the first coat of sanding sealer. I'll post pics as the project moves forward.

Reminds me of when I was repairing one of my guitars and a song I loved came on so I picked up the guitar and started air-guitaring along with it. It seems that the one moment we deviate from what we are doing, someone comes in to see the project or whatever. Anyway, that's a nice looking body, can't wait to see what you do with it.

[avengers63]

I really love my digital camera. I can take as many pictures as I want without spending a penny on film & developing. This thing is geting documented about evert 10 minutes or so. OK, maybe not that much, but technology is still great.

The sanding is all done:

The first coat of sanding sealer is on and drying overnight. It looks more yellow in the picture than it is in person. The lighting in the garage isn't so good. If this is any indication of what it'll look like when it's all done... duuuude! I'm excited.

Unfortunately, after the second coat tonight, I'll be at a standstill until I get the other parts in... like the neck & bridge. Ya gotta drill them holes 'fore the poly goes on.

[avengers63]

I found a dude that'll make a pickguard out of pretty much whatever I want. Also, he'll make a bridge pickup ring out od maple. WOO-HOO!!! Now I can have the bridge I really want, not what happens to be available. In our email communications, he suggested that wenge might be a better option for the p/g over padauk. I did a couple of mock-ups...

and the wenge isn't so good. Of course, your opinions are always welcome.

Well, that settles that. Padauk p/g, maple p/u ring.

[avengers63]

I'm nearly to the point of getting the electronics. I'm still undecided on which to get. The only thing I'm certain of is that I don't want active. I want that classic Tele twang, lots of bite, but not the single coin hum. I don't want twin rails, though. I know... you can't have the best of both worlds. But if I wanted humbuckers, I wouldn't be building a Tele, now would I. I've been thinking about Kinman's Samarium Cobolt pickups, but they're dang expensive. If only the Lace Alumitones were available for teles...

So - does anyone have any suggestions?

[Xanthus]

I love the idea of wood pickguards, and as much as I like the wenge, I see how the padouk and maple would look better in keeping the color scheme of the body. What are you going to make the electronics cover with? I think that would look pretty good maple too.

[ihocky2]

I agree about the padauk for the pickgaurd. I love the look of wenge, but all of the colors are to light and bright for the dark brown would bring. I think the padauk will compliment it nicely.

[avengers63]

It's been a while since anything has happened. Suppliers have been backed up or just plain occupied with Christmas, so nothing new has arrived. I'm still waiting on the neck. I bought one that's maple & padauk that's in the cue to be finished up and sent out. All I've been doing is slowly getting hardware.

Until last night, that is. The dude who's making a few parts for me sent me a pic of the stuff.

DUDE! He only charged me $27 (with shipping) for the PG, pup plate, and control plate. I'll post a pic of the stuff on the body when it comes in.

I'm really anxious to get some equipment next year and start making these things myself. I know that assembly won't compare to making it from the ground up, but we all gotta start somewhere.

[avengers63]

New parts are in. Aren't we all just kids with new toys when we get stuff for our guitars?

I'm going to need to do some minor re-shaping on the p/g. Other than that, I'm thinking it's really gonna look killer.

[willy78]

Nice Tele man!!