A Koa tele

[J.]

Here's my Warmoth tele. Specs:

-koa body, flame koa top
-birdseye maple neck, Warmoth pro 25,5" scale, 1-11/16 graphtech nut, stainless steel frets
-DiMarzio Virtual vintage pickups
-Sperzel locking tuners
-Gotoh bridge, Graphtech saddles
-Planet Waves jack
-Schaller strap locks

Plays very well and is light and resonant. I've got a DiMarzio Super Distortion T waiting for installation for the bridge slot, the guitar sounds very good as it is now, but I'd like to try a bit fatter sound. Yeah it's a tele I know... Neck pick sounds thick, I'd like to get a ballsier rock tone from the bridge as well. We'll see, or hear.

Pics:

 

[J.]

And some more pics... Finished with a wax/oil combo, neck was oiled, Danish oil if I remember correctly.

 

[J.]

More pics... Enjoy! And happy new year 2009 everybody!  :guitarplayer2:

 

[Mor Paul]

That, sir, is incredible! I'm not always a fan of non-traditional teles, but yours is a winner

 

[OzziePete]

This Tele is simply fantastic to look at. Great choice of woods and simple hardware. :hello2: :icon_thumright:

Nonsense Tele will be over the moon with this guitar!!!! :cool01:

 

[DocNrock]

That turned out incredible.  Good call on the Super D-T.  My tele has a Tone Zone -T, and has loads of chunk.

Welcome to the board!

 

[NonsenseTele]

Looks damn nice! congrats!

 

[DangerousR6]

Wow.... That is incredible..... :headbang1:

 

[blue313]

Love the top

 

[Kostas]

The body is unique, I remember it in the showcase.
Did you routed it for this bridge?

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

That is awesome!  Be prepared for the, "Be better if it was a Fender," comments from the bargoing amateur professional musicians.  Just come back with, "Yes, I agree.  Fender would be better if they made these."

 

[riverbluff]

That is one sweet tele.   Love the look of the neck on that body.

Congrats

Bill

 

[DocNrock]

That is awesome!  Be prepared for the, "Be better if it was a Fender," comments from the bargoing amateur professional musicians.  Just come back with, "Yes, I agree.  Fender would be better if they made these."

I like that!

I just noticed that the tele is missing one minor detail...a custom neck plate.  I wonder if anyone knows where those can be obtained?

 

[Vol. Knob]

Very nice.

Sound clips!

Videos! 

How does it sound?  How does it play?

 

[DocNrock]

I had to come back and look at this one again.  This has to be one of my most favorite Warmoths, ever.

 

[J.]

Thanks for the comments, all of you!  :glasses10:

Doc, I went to my local DiMarzio dealer and told them I need more chunk in the bridge, they picked up Super Distortion T and Tone Zone T and told me to choose. After some discussion I decided to go with the Super as they told me it would be a slighty more midrangey than TZ, which is supposed to have more bottom end. I thought SD would fit well with the neck pu.

Kostas, the body was routed for standard tele bridge for the Showcase. I really didn't want to hide any of that wood so I had the luthier (who put the guitar together) cut everything unnecessary off the bridge. It's a Gotoh tele bridge, ordered it from W at the same time as the body. Yeah, I took the parts to a luthier, I'm more a player than a builder.  :icon_smile:  I did oil the neck, though, and if you look it up close it looks a lot crappier that the rest of the guitar..

STDC, I don't mind people saying this or that about my guitars, after all they're mine. If I'm happy, I'm happy. Each to their own, there are lot of guitars (and other stuff) out there I really don't understand at all, but some people do, good for them. Yeah I did check out the neck plates that go around here, they look real good. I just couldn't come up with a design that would not have messed with the beauty of the woods. Maybe later.

Vol. Knob, I did record a little playing a week a go, and am planning to record some more when the pu business is finally set. I have this el cheapo Orange Tiny Terror that sits on top of early 90s Mesa 2x12" cab, together they move some air. So I plugged into an old MXR Distortion+ and from there to the TT, sound was great, but the bridge pu was too ear piercing for my taste. I'll see if I can add a soundclip here somehow...  :icon_scratch: Do I need to upload it somewhere first? I'll check the FAQ..

The weather is pretty cold and dry at the moment, so I'm waiting maybe 4 more weeks for the neck to dry and the frets to stick out, then I'm going to take the geetar out to have a fret job. After that, play play play. I mean, I'm playing it every day anyway, but after the fret job it's finally "done"!

 

[J.]

Ok so I grabbed some of the pointless noodling I recorded about a week a go, here you go. As stated, the amp is Orange Tiny Terror, at 7 watts, volume full up, tone about 12 o'clock, gain around 1 o'clock. Occasionally boosted with MXR Distortion+, volume full up, drive at around 3 o'clock. Recorded with cheap Edirol R09 digital recorder, about 20 centimeters from the cab. The R09 has two omni mics, I picked just the one that was closer to the amp ie stronger signal. The recorder was not really positioned to any particular sweet spot, I just wanted to capture some of the first sounds/feelings of playing the brand new tele.

Playing is just my regular impro style, this time I think I was mostly in "solo mode"...  :guitarplayer2:

 

[J.]

That first clip is mainly about going through the pick ups and stomping the Dist+ on and off. I've got 3 more clips, let's see if I can get them up for you...

 

[J.]

More... The clean sounds are coming also from rolling down the guitar's volume, and just picking a lot lighter. No channel switching as the TT is a single channel amp.

 

[J.]

...And the last one.