THE Telecaster

[Crusader]

9 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

You don't countersink them?

What? that's even more work!

[Crusader]

I know a guy who has a Tele and its where I got all my Tele specs from. I didn't notice if the ferrules were flush or not. Its some kind of anniversary model (60 iirc) After a quick google they were non-flush during the CBS era

So some Tele's do and some Tele's don't. I was thinking if I got them to be flush I could get them to line up more accurately, but I have too many things to do!

[Crusader]

Well I got it all together now but I had a ton of hassles

I routed the neck pickup well too deep, and it was too far forward. I thought Tele neck pickups were right on 3/4 of the scale

The wiring channel went too far, into the area where I need to put the pickup screw

The wider neck goes over the pick guard so the neck has to come off to get the pick guard off to adjust the neck pickup

I had to router the end of the neck so it clears the pickguard and I went too far and made a little nick in the neck

I installed a switch that turned out to be faulty, fortunately I had another one

Now the story in pictures.......

 

Some of the parts that went into it. The genuine Fender Volume and Tone pots came supplied with 22uf caps (Oh why?) So I rummaged through my parts and found just one

 

So here it is all finished, but to add insult to injury I snapped the string tree screw. So thats a little a little job for later

[Crusader]

Got some string trees and I even got me a nice new case!

 

[ShatnersBassoon]

Lovely work. Manages to have ‘mojo’, without having that excessively beaten up look that some people go for. Personally, I’m a fan of clean mojo

[Crusader]

20 hours ago, ShatnersBassoon said:

Lovely work. Manages to have ‘mojo’, without having that excessively beaten up look that some people go for. Personally, I’m a fan of clean mojo

Thanks, yes I've been coming round to that frame of mind rather than beating myself up for the little mistakes here and there. In any case there are some things I've done right like the string action. There is no excessive buzz anywhere except the 21st fret on the three middle string when set really low

[Andyjr1515]

Nice job.  How does it sound?

[avengers63]

Now you have to make a video using it to play this......

 

 

[Crusader]

On 10/21/2023 at 2:00 AM, Andyjr1515 said:

Nice job.  How does it sound?

I think it sounds pretty darn good. The body wood is Oregon (Douglas Fir) which is over 100 years old and it has a sparkly chime to it. That's what I think but I'm keen to compare it with other Teles. The two guys I know that influenced me to make it are both named "John" LOL and of course both have Tele's. One is a regular guy who has just one guitar and the other is a professional musician who back in the day was invited to join INXS

 

 

On 10/21/2023 at 2:02 AM, avengers63 said:

Now you have to make a video using it to play this......

 

 

Man I can't play as nervous as that!

[Crusader]

I've just been comparing The Tele with My Strat...and then my Fender Stratocaster (all on bridge pickup)

The sparkly chime that the Tele has, I first noticed it when I used a piece of that Oregon as a centre block in a semi-accoustic I made. I did this before I put the back on. I played it with centreblock in, and then with it out. That's what made me want to make a whole guitar out of it. Its kind of like it has a touch of overdrive, hmmm I will have to check the ohms

The experiments revealed the Tele has a warmer tone than My Strat, and then the Fender Strat has a warmer tone than that. They all sound great and I had to remind myself that the Fender has a stock Strat bridge pickup whereas the other two have Tele bridge pickups. My conclusion was the Fender sounded the best!