08-16-2016, 04:23 PM
|
#1 | Registered User
Joined: Apr 2016 Location: Valrico, Florida Posts: 14
| Building a telecaster style guitar WASSUP EVERYBODY!!!!! So I am a aspiring guitar builder and I will soon be putting together my first Telecaster style guitar. I was just wondering if anybody could give me some advice. Any and all tips would be EXTREMELY appreciated!! Thanks!! |
| |
08-16-2016, 08:19 PM
|
#2 | Superfly.
Joined: May 2002 Location: Northern California Posts: 37,130
| Hey there! That's quite a project, and really pretty far outside my abilities, but I think this applies to just about anything. My advice: Use good quality materials. When you skimp, it will show. Good luck!
__________________ Hey, look! Art finally got rid of that broken link in his signature! |
| |
08-16-2016, 11:30 PM
|
#3 | Tired of being attacked
Joined: Jun 2001 Location: Beaverton, Or Posts: 39,296
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Zacri WASSUP EVERYBODY!!!!! So I am a aspiring guitar builder and I will soon be putting together my first Telecaster style guitar. I was just wondering if anybody could give me some advice. Any and all tips would be EXTREMELY appreciated!! Thanks!!  | What would you like to know? I have built maybe 20-30 of them.
First tip: Use quality parts and wood. You will spend less overall and have a nicer guitar.
Second tip: What are you shooting for? Have a distinct goal in mind before starting.
I would love to help in any way you need.
Warning: Building teles is highly addictive. Its like crack with less health risks.
__________________ For this I will be judged.
My Life. |
| |
08-17-2016, 08:04 PM
|
#4 | Registered User
Joined: Apr 2016 Location: Valrico, Florida Posts: 14
| Thanks for the tips!!! I really appreciate it!!! Do u have any tips for building a pine tele
? |
| |
08-18-2016, 01:06 AM
|
#5 | Tired of being attacked
Joined: Jun 2001 Location: Beaverton, Or Posts: 39,296
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Zacri Thanks for the tips!!! I really appreciate it!!! Do u have any tips for building a pine tele
? | Pine body and Maple neck? I have had one. It sounded nice. I would suggest going for a somewhat rustic finish as Pine dents if you look at it cross-eyed. Traditional tele pickups sound great in it, as do filtertrons.
__________________ For this I will be judged.
My Life. |
| |
08-18-2016, 06:13 PM
|
#6 | Registered User
Joined: Apr 2016 Location: Valrico, Florida Posts: 14
| what about humbuckers in a pine tele? |
| |
08-19-2016, 02:21 AM
|
#7 | Tired of being attacked
Joined: Jun 2001 Location: Beaverton, Or Posts: 39,296
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Zacri what about humbuckers in a pine tele? | I like humbuckers. Why pine if I may ask? If you go humbuckers I might recommend bright like filtertrons, Pine is a fairly fragile wood and not my first choice unless you are going for something real specific. (Also, it sounds a lot like Alder)
__________________ For this I will be judged.
My Life. |
| |
08-19-2016, 06:12 PM
|
#8 | Registered User
Joined: Apr 2016 Location: Valrico, Florida Posts: 14
| THANKS FOR THE TIP!!!!
I chose pine because I like the sound of it and its the cheapest wood I could afford. Plus this is my first complete guitar build I have done. |
| |
09-26-2016, 05:41 PM
|
#9 | charis humin kai eirene
Joined: Sep 2016 Location: Yokohama, Japan Posts: 240
| Pine with Character Hey Zacri,
Pine teles are very cool! But as been said, don't skimp too much. As has been said, pine is usually the white SPF (Spruce/Pine/Fir) and while it's easy to work with, it won't make much of a guitar.
Ron Kirn makes his Barnbuster guitars from dismantled old (100+ years) barns, definitely a better material than a 2 X 4. But even an old 2 X 4 from a remodeled home is probably a much better piece of lumber than something from Home Depot, and could often be had for free! My buddy in Tokyo took his old workbench and glued-up a fantastic tele. I learned planing and honing technique on that bench, and to see it as a musical instrument now is a thing of beauty ... Nicks, dents, burns and all.
Will you carve the neck, too? If yes, look at some of the building forums for deals on maple stock. I just got a flamed maple blank from a buddy over in Louisiana for a great price. Just find "fatdaddypreacher" over at the MyLesPaul Luthier's Corner. (You might just find me there, too!  )
Best of luck, and be VERY careful with tools!
cj |
| |
09-26-2016, 06:45 PM
|
#10 | Registered User
Joined: Apr 2016 Location: Valrico, Florida Posts: 14
| THANKS!!!!! I am building the guitar out of a spare piece of pine that we had around the house and I got a maple neck off of amazon. THANKS for the link too I will definitely check it out. That is sooo cool about the work bench!!! I bet it looks FANTASTIC!!!! |
| |
09-26-2016, 08:02 PM
|
#11 | charis humin kai eirene
Joined: Sep 2016 Location: Yokohama, Japan Posts: 240
| Tele Content Zacri,
A Youtube is worth a thousand words!  Mind you, my buddy claims to be a horrible guitarist and mediocre builder ... don't believe anything he says! Workbench Guitar
This is a (my) Ron Kirn Barnbuster. And you might get some ideas from Ron himself Ron Kirn Barnbuster ... and he frequents Strat-Talk under his name.
And my tele build. This is alder, but bought it from a fellow who had stored all the parts necessary for a build but never got around to it ... for 20+ years! His father worked at Fender in Japan before they became Fender Japan. (history note, some old Fenders were MIJ for a while) I got the unfinished top-of-the-line stuff for less than a low-end Squier would set you back today. The amp is a hand-made Tweed Vibro Champ with a few of my own tweaks. Tele + Tweed = WoW!
cj |
| |
10-07-2016, 02:02 PM
|
#12 | Registered User
Joined: Aug 2012 Location: Kansas City, Mo Posts: 102
| My two tele builds came within the last year. The first was my red telecaster: it is a MIM with a maple fret board SD l'il 59 in the bridge and a SD hot for tele on the neck. The bridge plate came from a company named Hantug out of Ankara, Turkey. Every pieced is milled out of a piece of billet bell brass. I took the saddles of to use on my other build and replaced them with a set of Babicz FCH saddles. The control plate is by Rockrabbit and it moves the volume knob back about an inch and angles the switch.
The second is a thinline style. The body is mahogany with a maple top. The neck is maple. The bridge is made by Gotoh and is made of chrome plated brass. The p'ups are SD five two's wired to a 5 way super switch:
Position 1 is bridge
Position 2 is neck/bridge out of phase
Position 3 is neck/bridge parallel
Position 4 is neck/bridge series (like a humbucker)
Position 5 is neck
I also put a set of Sperzel lockers on it.
I messed up a spot on the face of the top so I am going to make a new pickguard to cover it. Good thing it is for me and not someone else.
Both are great fun to play and have personalities of their own...Obviously.
Last edited by R1ridr; 10-12-2016 at 08:50 PM.
|
| |
10-12-2016, 11:46 AM
|
#13 | Hey, I can change this!!!
Joined: Jun 2005 Location: Jordanstown, Northern Ireland Posts: 1,223
| I had a Tokai tele on the bench yesterday doing a little bit of soldering.
absolutely beautiful.
but good grief I hate that bridge! |
| |
10-15-2016, 07:57 AM
|
#14 | Registered User
Joined: May 2008 Posts: 2
| I built one Tele. Or actually, I assembled one Tele. I bought all the parts, and put it all together. Took me two weeks to put it together. Took a year to get the setup where I wanted.  Plays and sounds great. |
| |
07-07-2017, 02:48 PM
|
#15 | Registered User
Joined: Apr 2016 Location: Valrico, Florida Posts: 14
| That guitar looks AWESOME!!! |
| | Thread Tools | | Display Modes | Linear Mode |
Posting Rules
| You may not post new threads You may not post replies You may not post attachments You may not edit your posts HTML code is On | | | All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:24 AM. |