NTD...

[MrBump]

Guess what I've been doing..?











The neck and body are from Axes R Us, and are suprisingly good!  Heavy ash body, 1950's style in butterscotch, all maple neck and fingerboard, nice satin finish to it - perfect, tight fit.  The neck is a very chunky "vintage 'C'", and with medium jumbo frets this suits me very nicely...  Cut and fitted the bone nut myself, which I'm very pleased with!

Bridge is Joe Barden - was looking at Callaham and Glendale, but they're really pricey, and I'm a real tightwad.  The Joe Barden is great, compensated saddles, and the extra screws at the front of the unit.

Tuners are Gotoh vintage with their Height Adjustable Post mechanism - theses are great locking tuners!  Still getting faint ghost harmonics on the high E string, and I'm toying with fitting a string retainer.  Will live with it for a bit and see.

And the pickups are EMGs. 

Only joking!!!

Blackguard Flat 50's, as recommended by Mr Mills.  Wonderful tone - really gritty, loads of bite.  I wired in a 4 was selector, and the 2 pups in series is awesome!!!  In fact, all 4 positions are amazing.  Really sharp in the bridge, bright, twangy and clangy, stratty in the parallel position, and a VERY stratty neck sound!   

Got loads of help from this board, as usual, with a special shout out to AndyR, Fernando, PhillyQ and Wez.

Going to spend some time getting used to it, the will record some clips - promise not to play "Whole Lotta Love"...

 :D

Mark.

[Philly Q]

Nice work, Mark!  :D

How long did it take you to put it together?  I wish I could pull my finger out and speed up a bit, all my projects take me months!

[AndyR]

That's a good looking geetar there :D

You're allowed to play "Bring it on home" :lol:

[FernandoDuarte]

:D

[MrBump]

Did it in about 3 phases - first was a rough assembly when I got the neck, body and bits.

Then a few weeks later the bridge and tuners arrived, so I assembled that and got it playable.

Then picked up the PUPs this morning and finished it off!

 :D

[Johnny Mac]

Looks good Mark!  :D I remember you telling us about this at the pub last week.

[WezV]

looks nice!!


whats next? ;)

[d1dsj]

Good stuff.... I love the classic Tele look.

[MrBump]

looks nice!!


whats next? ;)

...

...

...

... I'm hankering after a COMPLETE self build...

Currently thinking about a neck through Tele-ish hybrid thingy, possibly with a Warpig and Pig 90...  Possibly with a trem...  You know, something subtle...

 

[_tom_]

Very nice, my favourite colour scheme on a tele I think :)

In the 2nd pic it looks like your son is throwing up a load of polystyrene :lol:

[ailean]

That looks like fun. Good work that man.

[Elliot]

I like it - we all await clips: Good Times, Bad Times is permitted tele Zepplin

[MrBump]

Very nice, my favourite colour scheme on a tele I think :)

In the 2nd pic it looks like your son is throwing up a load of polystyrene :lol:

Yeah, the body and neck came well packed...  Took ages to clear that mess up...

Incidentally, the wiring diagram that I got with these was brilliant - the ones that I got with my Nailbombs and Mules were, quite frankly, rubbish (sorry Tim - not exactly rubbish, but very basic, particularly for an idiot like me...), but the one that came with these was brilliant.  Tim actually sent me a second, one with the 4 way wiring. 

Big improvement.

Mark.

[dave_mc]

sweet! very nice work.

i need a tele... couple of questions, if you don't mind my asking...

- how difficult was it? what all did you have to do yourself, and what was already done?

- how much? (i'd probably never get round to it, but if it were cheap and/or easy enough, i might consider it...)

what kind of quality is it? MIM Fender? MIJ/CIJ? USA reissue?

[MrBump]

sweet! very nice work.

i need a tele... couple of questions, if you don't mind my asking...

- how difficult was it? what all did you have to do yourself, and what was already done?

- how much? (i'd probably never get round to it, but if it were cheap and/or easy enough, i might consider it...)

what kind of quality is it? MIM Fender? MIJ/CIJ? USA reissue?

Well, I've been after a more "Fender-ish" guitar for ages - I love my Yam SG with Mules and Charvel with Nailbombs - but I do miss the single coil sound.

So I went to Tin Pan Ally and tried some Telecasters that were in a reasonable price bracket, no more than £700 I think.  And none of them impressed me, I think that the nicest one was a MIM 60s reissue.

I thought about Warmoth, but the exchange rate is really nasty at the moment.  Then I looked around at necks and bodies that I could source in the UK, and bought the neck and body from Axes R Us.  Got the pair for £200, which I think is pretty good value.  It was a bit of a gamble, but I'd have no hesitation in getting a Strat neck and body from them.

Managed to get the bridge and tuners for about £100, PUPs were £125.  Then all the little bits and bobs brought the whole thing in at just under £500, which I think is a bargain given the hardware that's gone into it.

None of it was difficult, just assembly.  Making the nut was the only thing that I'd class as requiring a little skill, but it's fine if you take your time and go steady.

Do it.  You know you want to!!!

Mark.