NGD (Telemaster)

[Andrew W]

cool.

what was the cost in the end?
did you get better pots etc in there and everything? once i move house i might get into this.

Rough estimate:

Guitar plus shipping: £185
New neck : £100
New tuners: £20
Pickup : £65
Various electrics (CTS pots etc.) £20
New bridge: £20
Sheet of bakelite: £20
Screws and sundries : £10

Total = £420 and I reckon I'll get about £40-50 back from selling unused parts of the original guitar so about £380.  The original electrics are your standard far eastern type and are fine but I wanted to do it from scratch.  The same applies to the bridge - the original is fine I just fancied the lighter Fender version.  The biggest expense is the neck and as I don't like rosewood necks much this was always going to get replaced. The original neck is quite chunky but if the frets had been given a good polish I think it would really suit some people.  The original tuners were also fine, I just wanted period Kluson types.  So if you aren't so picky about visuals and all maple necks you could get a guitar of almost as good quality for about £260-290 or so.

[Dmoney]

You've got me inspired.

I think i'd keep the bridge, like you say. as long as i can get decent tuners it'll be cool. I like the look you have going on with yours. I'm actually into dark necks, ebony, rosewood. But i'm feeling the maple vibe on this one.

I much prefer humbuckers to single coils though. so i might have to do like i said in my other post. maybe stray from BKP! ouch!

I'm gonna have to get involved with this. (unless a squire supersonic pops up for sale! haha)

[Andrew W]

If you wanted a humbucker you could get the bridge pickup hole routed out a bit more and get a humbucker sized Tele replacement bridge. Last time I looked, AxesRUs had some inexpensive ones. That way you get your pick of the humbuckers.

[badgermark]

If you wanted a humbucker you could get the bridge pickup hole routed out a bit more and get a humbucker sized Tele replacement bridge. Last time I looked, AxesRUs had some inexpensive ones. That way you get your pick of the humbuckers.

Ahem a bit like Excalibur?

[Andrew W]

If you wanted a humbucker you could get the bridge pickup hole routed out a bit more and get a humbucker sized Tele replacement bridge. Last time I looked, AxesRUs had some inexpensive ones. That way you get your pick of the humbuckers.

Ahem a bit like Excalibur?

Exactly like Excalibur. An offset Excalibur. :)

[badgermark]

gWem has an offset Excalibur in the same colour scheme, only with a black VHII in the bridge. He never routed the humbucker hole out with a hand drill though...

[Andrew W]

gWem has an offset Excalibur in the same colour scheme, only with a black VHII in the bridge. He never routed the humbucker hole out with a hand drill though...

Ah, I didn't know that gWem already had such a thing. Perhaps it's the longing to do some redneck routing that's driving him on this new project and he just hasn't realised his destiny yet?  ;)

[FernandoDuarte]

Awesome guitar!!!! :D

[Spiteface]

It's taken me some time to finish off this build as I had underestimated how tough and brittle Bakelite is and as I have no power tools it took a while to cut and sand the pickguard.  Today I finally finished it so this is the finished Telemaster/Jazzsquire guitar:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4032/4219346152_c9f4c9b8d0_b.jpg

It's not a great picture, I'll do some better ones shortly.  But I wanted to say thanks to Ratrod for pointing me in the direction of the Guitar Fetish instruments and to Wez for helpful advice during the build and to everyone else who's been encouraging along the way.  I really like this guitar a lot - it's versatile, sustains for days, seems very "alive" acoustically and thanks to the Black Guard Flat 50s kicks like a mule too.  This is exactly what I wanted and I couldn't really be any happier.  Thanks all.

That thing looks amazing.

A while back I saw a Fender custom shop telemaster thing, and thought it was one of the coolest things I'd seen.  I'm surprised Fender hasn't tried to do a "production" version.  It'd actually be pretty cool to see a Squier version of it (like how every so often they put out something odd like the '51).  I'd buy one.

Seeing this thread is tempting me to get one of those guitars from Guitarfetish and do something similar.  But not until I'm back in work (only a couple of weeks away) and have a bit more money behind me.  The "butterscotch" one looks cool to me.  I'll stick with my Classic Vibe tele for now though,

[_tom_]

Looks awesome, perfect colour scheme for any Fender!

[Andrew W]

Awesome guitar!!!! :D

Thanks Fernando.

That thing looks amazing.

A while back I saw a Fender custom shop telemaster thing, and thought it was one of the coolest things I'd seen.  I'm surprised Fender hasn't tried to do a "production" version.  It'd actually be pretty cool to see a Squier version of it (like how every so often they put out something odd like the '51).  I'd buy one.

Seeing this thread is tempting me to get one of those guitars from Guitarfetish and do something similar.  But not until I'm back in work (only a couple of weeks away) and have a bit more money behind me.  The "butterscotch" one looks cool to me.  I'll stick with my Classic Vibe tele for now though,

Thanks for the kind comments.  The Custom Shop guitar was completely my inspiration for this; I claim no originality whatsoever.  There were some things I didn't like about their instrument though, not least the $6000 price-tag.  For me the Strat headstock looks better with the offset body shape and I didn't want a relic.  I'm not opposed to relics per se but I really thought the Custom Shop instrument was excessively done. The final thing I wanted different to theirs was a real Esquire style guitar, no hidden pickups.  So, although mine's an unashamed rip-off, I do think I made a few tweaks to make it my own.

Looks awesome, perfect colour scheme for any Fender!

Thought you'd appreciate the black and maple. ;)