Author Topic: DIY Fender copy (Read 5894 times)

Henk · « **on:** December 06, 2007, 02:42:09 PM »

After some discussion about Fender copies here:

http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10482&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

I thought it might be usefull to put my (and hopefully others will contribute their own experiences) experiences in making my Tele here in a thread. Pics first:

As you can see i made a Tele copy, the body and neck are from Allparts, but came from the 'B-choise' bucket, so i bought them for very little money. The neck is a 5! piece maple/walnut(has an imperfection in the wood, but didnt mind since it was 5piece anyway) and the body is maple with two kind of woods, probably an experiment, very nice wood though as you can see. The body had the string-trough holes drilled on the wrong place, so it only cost 10% of the ususal price.

Most other stuff i bought for very little also, exept for the electronics, which are all USA fender(vintage tele bridge) exept for the neck HB which is a gibson PAF from the early 80's.

I did have a plan for this guitar, i wanted a slide guitar, i set it up with the strings on the bridge plate so there would be alot of string in the sound, or at least for the bridge pickup.

Asembly is really straightforeward, get all the parts, let the neck be placed by a pro and read alot about doing the rest yourself. Placing a neck does require much more tricks then one might think by the way......

I did the wiring with two volumes and no tone knobs, that way i can blend the two pickups together which is ABSOLUTELY smashing in this pickup combo because you can peak the high mids from the vintage tele pickup to cut trough the neck PAF, really nice to play.

Since i dont in need of a slide guitar anymore im going to place another (Wilkinson type i think) bridge in there and redrill string-trough holes. Probably will take some time but ill let you know when its done.

Thanks for your interest, ill be glad to answer any questions.

Kindest regards, Henk

WezV · « **Reply #1 on:** December 06, 2007, 02:49:37 PM »

looks nice!!! - the wood on the front and back is wenge. i have been saying wenge as in henge for far too long - it should be pronounced when-gay.

i really like the look of the wenge and flamed maple in the gut cut

Henk · « **Reply #2 on:** December 06, 2007, 03:04:02 PM »

Thanks, my curiousity kind of 'made' me make it because i wanted to find out how it would sound since all are somehat similar kind of tonewood combinations. At first i though the maple 'loudness' would be dampened by the other woods but its more like they complement eachother like maple/ebony does. A good match for a tele with pretty dark sounding pickups i think.

PS. Sorry for the confusion, its a 7 piece neck, i knew it was alot but forgot about the number :?

WezV · « **Reply #3 on:** December 06, 2007, 03:07:50 PM »

wenge is a great tonewood but a little heavy for full bodies without serious chambering. also a bugger to work with because its very splintery and has huge pores that make it difficult to finish. I really like it in necks though (once they are finished anyway), either solid wenge or used as stringers for extra stability/strength

dave_mc · « **Reply #4 on:** December 06, 2007, 03:10:23 PM »

Quote from: WezV

looks nice!!! - the wood on the front and back is wenge. i have been saying wenge as in henge for far too long - it should be pronounced when-gay.

i really like the look of the wenge and flamed maple in the gut cut

why are heterosexual people not allowed to say "wenge"? that's discrimination, i tells ya!

seriously, though, that's a very nice tele. :)

Roobubba · « **Reply #5 on:** December 06, 2007, 04:49:06 PM »

Kudos for putting it together! I certainly wouldn't have either the patience or the skill to do something like that.

But this has to be said:

Tele + wenge = SO TRUE :)

WezV · « **Reply #6 on:** December 06, 2007, 05:00:13 PM »

this is my favorite tele i have made

body is korina with a maple top. Neck is a NOS tokai one - apparently from the 70's. Nice light reactive burst finish that goes from being able to see only the mereist glimmer of flame through the black in normal lighting to really quite sepcial when the light hits it. It has a contoured heel and gut cut to make it a bit comfier than a normal tele

these pics show the burst in diferent light quite well

sadly the customer wanted some SD pickups he had putting in

Henk · « **Reply #7 on:** December 06, 2007, 05:27:32 PM »

Quote from: WezV

also a bugger to work with because its very splintery and has huge pores that make it difficult to finish.

Very true, i refinished the top because it had air bubbles in the cracks which looks absolutely dreadfull. I simply took a small roller and pushed in the nitro after wiping most of the original nitro off with a cloth dampened with thinner. Before the final coat i sanded it roughly. Still you can see the structure of the wood but its OK like this IMO.

PS. Dont tell me you really fell for the 'proper pronounciation' joke....... :lol:

Henk · « **Reply #8 on:** December 06, 2007, 06:12:37 PM »

Quote from: WezV

this is my favorite tele i have made

Thats really stunning, would be alot better without the tokai neck and better pickups, but hey.... customer should be king right?

Actually a repair guy i know simply refuses to make stuff if he thinks it wont live up to his standards, seems pretty hard to me to get a good balance between 'the customer is king' and 'the boss is always right'.

If you would live in reasonable proximity of where i live you would definately get my work.

WezV · « **Reply #9 on:** December 06, 2007, 06:29:51 PM »

nah - its definately pronounced when-gay - i just autometically say it the other way out of habit.

Not as bad as my friend who insisted her husband has an 'ib-an-ay' guitar, whilst i am aware that may be closer to the original spanish its just not what the guitars are called!!!

The tokai neck is great quality actually, he just wanted a plain black body to go with it but i thew in a few extra features since he was a repeat customer... plus it means he has to explain what it is and where it came from because no one will think its just a tokai 8)

maverickf1jockey · « **Reply #10 on:** December 06, 2007, 08:38:07 PM »

Quote from: dave_mc

Quote from: WezV
looks nice!!! - the wood on the front and back is wenge. i have been saying wenge as in henge for far too long - it should be pronounced when-gay.

i really like the look of the wenge and flamed maple in the gut cut

why are heterosexual people not allowed to say "wenge"? that's discrimination, i tells ya!

seriously, though, that's a very nice tele. :)

I was saying when-guh. :oops:

badgermark · « **Reply #11 on:** December 06, 2007, 09:42:53 PM »

What's the wiring for the two volumes? I never use my tone controls and would much prefer to have a mellow neck tone and a roaring bridge for my tele.

Will · « **Reply #12 on:** December 06, 2007, 09:45:22 PM »

I don't like the idea of master tone and vol, seems boring and like you have 3 preset sounds with no fun blending.
Wez, that tele looks beautiful, the top hat style knobs make it look quite classy

WezV · « **Reply #13 on:** December 07, 2007, 07:42:18 AM »

Quote from: badgermark

What's the wiring for the two volumes? I never use my tone controls and would much prefer to have a mellow neck tone and a roaring bridge for my tele.

dual volumes is easy. Instead of wiring the pickups to the switch wire them to the volumes first - then to the switch - then to the output

Henk · « **Reply #14 on:** December 07, 2007, 08:00:48 AM »

Yep, like Wez said pretty straight forward, check out the tech section too for vintage and modern wiring of the volume pots. I have mine modern wired but if you feel you need more highs try the vintage wiring.

I also use the 'mix' option with the bridge pup open and the slide the neck volume back to where the lows kindoff swell under the mids, the humbucker lows have more sustain and ill bet youll be happy with such a feature too....