Author Topic: Tele project completed! (Read 6728 times)

markbrai · « **on:** August 11, 2006, 12:51:32 PM »

Afternoon folks!

I'll just apologise for what is blatently just a show off thread, but im pretty pleased with the Tele I just built and want to show it off!!! So here it is!

A few "highlights":

-Swamp Ash body (USA custom guitars)
- One piece rock maple neck with rosewood skunk stripe (Mighty Mite)
- French Polished finish
- Bareknuckle Country Boy P'ups
- 4-way switch conversion
- erm....apart from that its a normal tele!!

One small problem is i forgot to order a string tree so I haven't actually played it yet, darnit!

If it plays as well as it looks I will be a very happy boy!

some pics:

and one with the rest of the "family"

Twinfan · « **Reply #1 on:** August 11, 2006, 12:55:11 PM »

Looking good! How much did it cost you to build, if you don't mind me asking? I've thought abot putting one together before now but the cost has put me off.

_tom_ · « **Reply #2 on:** August 11, 2006, 01:26:42 PM »

That looks amazing, I'm gonna build up a tele whenever I finish my strat and have enough money. Wont be homebuilt (probably) tho as I dont have the right tools for the job so I'd probably end up pissing it up completely.

markbrai · « **Reply #3 on:** August 11, 2006, 02:09:53 PM »

Cheers for the comments guys!

Twinfan, it probably cost just over £400 in total I reckon. At first i tried to keep the cost down but then thought if im going to do it I might as well do it properly and so slightly better parts.

The main costs are obviously the body and neck and the pickups. In the UK, bodies and necks are stupidly hard to come by i found. I got the neck on eby for about £90 and the body from an online classifieds for £100 which was pretty lucky, i dont think i could ahve got them cheaper anywhere. The pups were £125, but thats one of the parts where cost could be scaled down.

_tom_, I'd say go for it, the only tools you'll need are a drill, a soldering iron and some sandpaper! It was simple but time consuming to build, with the finish obviously taking the most time, its owrth doing a good job though as it can make all the difference.

To both of you id say do it as it was a lot of fun and you can have something that is EXACTLY to your specs which is always a winner!!

_tom_ · « **Reply #4 on:** August 11, 2006, 02:35:47 PM »

Quote from: markbrai

Cheers for the comments guys!

Twinfan, it probably cost just over £400 in total I reckon. At first i tried to keep the cost down but then thought if im going to do it I might as well do it properly and so slightly better parts.

The main costs are obviously the body and neck and the pickups. In the UK, bodies and necks are stupidly hard to come by i found. I got the neck on eby for about £90 and the body from an online classifieds for £100 which was pretty lucky, i dont think i could ahve got them cheaper anywhere. The pups were £125, but thats one of the parts where cost could be scaled down.

_tom_, I'd say go for it, the only tools you'll need are a drill, a soldering iron and some sandpaper! It was simple but time consuming to build, with the finish obviously taking the most time, its owrth doing a good job though as it can make all the difference.

To both of you id say do it as it was a lot of fun and you can have something that is EXACTLY to your specs which is always a winner!!

You routed your body with a drill!? Sounds kinda... inaccurate :P

Bird · « **Reply #5 on:** August 11, 2006, 02:47:03 PM »

Very nice looking guitar. 8) Forgot the string tree..... D'oh! :lol:

_tom_ · « **Reply #6 on:** August 11, 2006, 02:58:03 PM »

That reminds me, when I was playing my strat, I bent a note and one of the string trees came flying off :? Is it bad to play without em then, because I have been?

WezV · « **Reply #7 on:** August 11, 2006, 03:50:35 PM »

the tele looks nice, very clean lines.

You can play without the string trees but there wont be as much downward pressure on the nut so you will possibly have a few strings popping out or some tuning problems. It would certainly play well enough to test it out till you managed to get one!!

As for the tools needed to do this markbrai is right. I am guessing he didnt route the pickups with that selection though. It would have already been done on the body when he got it. The drill is to make the holes for the neck bolts and every other screw on the guitar. I do use a drill press to mostly route my pickups with a forstner bit, but then i use a router to tidy it all up.

£400 all in isnt bad. It would cost me at least £250 (seling for £500-600)to do it from scratch with those materials. With a good setup it should easily kick the ass of any fender!!

Jonesy · « **Reply #8 on:** August 11, 2006, 06:30:07 PM »

Im not a fan of teles...but that looks realy good.....ive almost been converted 8)

38thBeatle · « **Reply #9 on:** August 11, 2006, 06:43:10 PM »

Nice looking guitar- it will sound great- I just know it.

markbrai · « **Reply #10 on:** August 11, 2006, 07:42:02 PM »

_tom_, WesV is right, the body came pre-routed and the drill was jsut for the pickguard, control palte etc holes! If I'd had to route it then...well lets just say it would be a rather light body (i.e. full of air!!!)

Oh, i hadnt realised it wasnt an absolutely neccesity for the string tree, meant i could ahve set it up today! Oh well, it should be here tomorrow so no real problem!

I'll report back once I've had a little test!

Johnny Mac · « **Reply #11 on:** August 12, 2006, 01:32:12 PM »

That's a beautiful guitar Mark! Really fantastic colour in the finish and looks so nice with a white pickguard too! Your others look sweet as well!
Nice bit of gear on the floor too! :D 8)

Let us know how she sings when the string tree gets fitted!

Also I love that floor you have too!!

Ratrod · « **Reply #12 on:** August 12, 2006, 04:47:49 PM »

Sweet! This gets my Tele-GAS going again.

markbrai · « **Reply #13 on:** August 12, 2006, 05:37:38 PM »

Holy Hum Batman!

Although the string tree i ordered annoyingly didnt arrive today as i was expecting, i thought iwould string up anyway and get stuff like the pickup heights etc sorted and then do the intonation etc once the tree is installed.

So plugged into my amp and blimey moses there isnt half some hum!!! I'm not talking just your normal single coil hum, im talkign serious all the time loud as hell hum! My electronics knowledge is pretty limited and as far as i can see I have wired it up exactly so no idea whats wrong with it.

The hum increases when i turn the volume control to around the 8ish mark (or where 8 would be if tele controls had numbers!) and also literally when i touch either the volume or tone pot so im thinking there might be a grounding issue somewhere??? Ive shielded the cavities and i saw somewhere that if a component touches the shielding it can cause a ground loop which makes some hum, could that be it possible?

Other than that I have not got a clue....help!!!!!!

WezV · « **Reply #14 on:** August 12, 2006, 06:57:07 PM »

check the outout jack!! You may have the wires whe wrong way round.