'72 Tele Deluxe with whammy...

[stratamania]

Nice neck, but regardless of truss rod or neck profile, headstock size etc. Warmoth or other maker they all contribute to tone. tonal preferences are subjective.

 

[fiat_cc]

Yeah, I must admit I'm not much looking forward to removing the finish from the frets.  I am considering just sending it to a luthier to do the final assembly, setup etc including tidying up the fret work...  Besides the finish on the frets though, it is a really nice neck.  Looks better in the flesh than in the photos.  Very happy with it.  I now just need to get the body and bolt it all together...!

 

[fiat_cc]

So, it's only been 16 months, but I've finally ordered the body, pick guard etc.  Gloss black, with black/white/black 3 ply guard and trem cover/back plate.  I'm really looking forward to getting this project finished!

 

[fiat_cc]

Body, scratch plate, trem cover, knobs, strap locks etc all arrived. I'm currently working as a touring audio engineer, so I've had a friend drop all the parts in to a local luthier. It is being assembled with 1Meg CTS pots and Atom Sprague caps to the vintage '72 Deluxe wiring schematic. I'll be back in town in September so will get to pick up the finished product then. Photos will also be posted at that point...

 

[fiat_cc]

So, it's finally assembled!
It's a gorgeous guitar.  I'm incredibly pleased with it.  It's everything I hoped it would be, and even through a little Vox practice amp in the hotel, the Lollars are amazing pickups!

Excuse the crappy hotel room phone camera pics, but it's the best I can do right now.

 

[Logrinn]

Very nice. I like it a lot. Congratulations to a beautiful guitar. :icon_thumright:

 

[Cagey]

That came out nice!

Why are you building a guitar in a hotel room?

 

[Verne Bunsen]

That's a fine fiddle, I've had a very similar build floating around in my head for years. Well done and congratulations!

 

[fiat_cc]

Thanks for the kind words!
I've wanted a proper Tele Deluxe for ages. I have a Japanese lawsuit copy from the early 80's which I've loved, but the pickups were lacking a little, it's a Gibson scale length, and I wanted a trem. Originals with a trem are rare and expensive. This way I could pay for it slowly and get exactly what I wanted, including the flamed neck.

Cagey, I tour as an audio engineer, so I got a luthier to assemble it while I was touring, and collected it last time I was in town. I live a long way out of town so was staying in the company provided accom, hence hotel room pics.  :icon_thumright:

 

[Cagey]

My sympathies. I used to travel extensively for work, so I'm familiar with the situation.

 

[rgand]

All black with maple. Clean. Classy. Really beautiful. Congrats.

 

[stratamania]

Very nice. Good to see it completed.

 

[BigSteve22]

Very clean look. Congrats.

:icon_thumright:

 

[fiat_cc]

I've gotta say, I love playing this guitar. The neck feels gorgeous! Nice and chunky, but not quite into baseball bat territory. The frets are great too, and whilst it's taking some getting used to, the 10"-16" compound radius is great for bending notes up the neck. I'm not a great player by any stretch but my lead playing sounds much cleaner on this than my old guitar (with very worn frets). It also has way more sustain than my old guitar. My old Japanese Tele Deluxe copy was a hardtail and this has a Callaham trem. Not sure if that would help or hinder sustain...? I am enjoying having a whammy for Stray Cats-y rockabilly type stuff, but I surprised myself while playing some more hard rock type stuff I've never even attempted before  :icon_biggrin:

The best part though are the Lollar Regal pickups!!! So versatile! Bell like cleans, warm bluesy overdrive into gritty rock tones... I don't really do super high gain sounds, but they pickups are so articulate I'm sure they'd do that well too. I love the clarity that every individual string has when chording, even overdriven. I also have tone controls that actually work and are nice and linear and gradual.

Anyway...
I want to build myself a Marsh Blackface Vibrolux Reverb clone soon, but after that, a Jazzmaster or '72 Tele Thinline might be on the cards (or maybe a Gecko 5 bass)...