zyonsdream

'll start by saying that being able to beat on a Brand new Shiny Fender Telecaster was the trill of a life time. I personally have no love for any Fender newer than 20 years. I find their quality to be sub par and their components to be less than top shelf. However, a buddy of mine asked me to take his 1950's Telecaster reissue and make it look like it was from the 1950's. I started with a poorly (factory) set up blond see through Ash Telecaster that came with the Fender/Bigsby tail piece and bridge. The owner wanted the paint to be abused (but recognizable) and he wanted three humbuckers in it. He primarily plays blues so he wanted this to be a tone machine. The guitar in it's original state had very little tone what so ever. First, I replaced the single ply black pickguard with a three ply B/W/B cut to fit two humbuckers and then retrofit it into the existing holes. I then abused the existing hardware and paint. I removed some on the front and back down to the wood and removed some of the nitro so the owner, when playing it will cause it to age faster but in a natural way. I tried to keep the chipping on the edges and maintain a natural wear pattern with the paint. I took the shine off of every part of the guitar, including the neck. I sanded, dinged, scratched and did everything I could to get a pitted, aged chrome look to the hardware. The pictures really don't show a lot of the dings and chips in the body but it turned out nicely. I replaced those crappy Fender mini pots with full sized switchcraft 500K pots and added a mini switch to control the middle pickup. The 3 way switch functions as usual an you can kick in the middle pickup with the mini. I also used a Sprague Drop orange cap for added tone. The neck and middle pickup are Golden age pickups and the bridge is a 59' from SD. Needless to say the tonal response is huge. With the bridge pickup on only you still get a telecaster sound (with a bit more beef) and with the bridge and middle on you get an awesome blues tone. After that you get into the Les Paul range of tones. I have to say that I'm personally not into relic guitars as I like to see them age over time but this was fun and was a pretty cool learning experience. I'm sure I could improve my process and produce a better (looking) guitar but the major focus was on tonal improvement which was not super easy given the crappy bridge (and the fact it's a Fender) I started with this: This is what I ended with

My jointer took a nasty nail when I was trying to use mahogany that was recovered from an old building. I pulled them all out and thought I had everything. Then "think"...replacing jointer knives suck almost as much as replacing planer knives, not to mention they can cost a ton too.

I vote for multi-scale being the official term for this fret board. However, with the build, that cut in the headstock seems drastic and could cause flexing issues, just my observations but I'd pay some attention to that area before making any cuts. I know it's just a cad picture but like you said, you'll be following your cad measurements.

the lower horn isn't the same, I can see some differences in the two.

It also looks to be at least 6 pieces of maple glued together so you will essentially end up needing to paint them so any figure that it has will be lost. I like to have 1 center line (if any but you’d be hard pressed to get your joint in the center of a body with the width of each board… I’d give back to the table and just refinish it, you never know what could be holding those boards together.

Excellent point!

:D

I always liked the Music man and even sup'd up one of those OLP double necks but they always seemed so small to me and not pointy enough

looks to maple

I always use PVC gasket maker when my truss rods but I glue my CF rods with regular Elmers wood glue. If you don't glue it you risk it vibrating on you and causing issues. PVC would eliminate the vibration.

it reminds me of an Ernie Ball music man

I had a hell of a time trying to find a company to make ceramic magnets when I was looking to have a small run completed for super distortion type pickups. Most places will start at s run of 1000 for a custom cut size. The magnets you are talking about are likely rare earth and it seems the jury is still out on their usability in a pickup. For the cost and frequency that I need them buying them at market prices work.

That top really didn't look cool until you finished it. Once it was done it really popped! I also like he trem...more basses should have wiggly sticks on them!

Thanks guys, I would have used Nickel but I'm doing a relic on a Fender telecster which seems to be a mix off Chrome, Nickel and Aluminum. The tuners seem to be Nickel, bridge and pickup covers are chrome and bigsby style tail piece is aluminum and chrome. I'm sure my customer is okay with me putting my blood, sweat and tears into his modification but not my ummmm....yellow stuff LOL. My house is over 100 years old, I'm positive I have some drain cleaner around here. I'll give it a go on a few test pieces. By the way...I can't tell you how gratifying it was to beat the hell out of a brand new, 900.00 Fender! Experience of a life time!

simple, elegant and functional... I like it!

I'm working on a relic right now and no one sells etching solution anymore (including the very lack luster Radio Shack) Is there anything that will age my chrome and give a rusted look to my screws and tuners quickly?

A hand rubbed finish is fine for a first build. Living in an apartment will not be ideal for using spray finishes. I sprayed all the interior plastics in my bronco in my bed room in an apartment and it...well... it's didn't impress the peeps living in the other apartments. As for the remark about the Ryobi bandsaw, well I used one for my first 5 builds and never had an issue (minus my purple heart build.) Although I have the big Rikon now I still have the Ryobi and still use it for smaller stuff. I like a bandsaw becuase it's a cleaner cut. You don't need a router table to route the profile edges of a guitar. The base plate on the router should be okay to route the body from the top...unless your router requires a table.

I thought about those too> They'd look cool on something space age but they always show it on a firebird headstock and that just looks really messed up to me.

I have one of those huge Triton routers and no table to really sink my teeth into it and it just really doesn't handle free hand routing very well. I'm looking to do the same thing! Great score!

No Neck? Standard shape?? Bolt on?? Easy as cake...and a trip to home depot. 9" Ryobi band saw (if you really wanted to get down and dirty, scrap the band saw and get a jig saw) Ryobi router, Two router bits: Profile bit and shorter bit for cavities Ryobi palm sander. 1 bastard file and 1 half round file Use a 1 piece wood blank that's already been thickness planed and you are ready to build your first, second and 3rd body. ou can upgrade the tool quality by saving in the finish department. Go oil rubbed finish and save the tools required to hardcoat.

I took a shot from a poorly grounded JB player Telecaster and a Fender Bronco amp back in the day. My advice, never do that on a concrete basement floor with no carpet and no socks on. Seriously hurts alot I know!

the neck needs to sit far enough into the pocket that you can fit 4 screws into it, simple as that when it comes to structural integrity. A standard Fender neck Pocket is 3" and I wouldn't personally go less than 2.5". It's not so much structural as the less the neck meets the base of the pocket the less vibration/tonal transfer you have thus in theory, the less tone and sustain you will have.

I hadn't heard that. I never used them before but always thought they looked cool. Spose it's still possible to scavenge them from the internet

The tooth pick idea should work. You could epoxy it in but you'll likely never be able to get it back out again. YOu could also plug it with a wooden dowel and then re-drill the hole.

Well I'm getting more set on the Kahler-Viper as one of my customers has almost committed to the build. I was doing a build for them (redwood Viper) that just didn't turn out the way it should have. Subsequently I have the Kahler bridge in stock already. It's gold but he mentioned a wrap around bridge today which would be interesting. It would be sort of LP Jr like. A wrap around would reintroduce the TVJ's as a viable style option for pickups since te bridge would take up a whole lot less bulk. Any thoughts?