Hello, I'm new here and excited to get to a new build. I've always wanted to build a guitar with a Tele body, even though I am not a huge fan of Teles. I just love the body shape, but I don't really like playing single coils. I like beefier sounding guitars for the style of music I play. Something about a neck humbucker puts goosebumps on my neck. I have been playing an LP studio for a few years (found a busted up one for cheap at a shop years ago and fixed it up). There's things that I love about it, and things that I don't love about it. So, with this build, I'm attempting to remedy some of the issues I have with the LP, but also try some new things out.
What I love about the LP: dat neck humbucker is *chef's kiss*. The Gibson neck scale length. The 4 control knobs.
What I don't love about the LP: it's heavy and I'm almost 50. I'm starting to feel that weight after a few hours of playing. I don't love the humbucker at the bridge, it's too nasally and hot for my taste. The body is pretty beat up, which I don't usually mind, but it's not aesthetically pleasing. There's some other things that are more superficial that can be easily fixed, like the crappy tuners that can't keep the strings in tune (especially the G). The body shape makes it really awkward to practice with it in my lap.
I was looking at the Deluxe and Custom builds, since they have the Gibson-style controls. I do like wide-range humbuckers, but I really wanted to continue using a traditional HB in the neck. I also really love the look of the Tele bridge, though since I wasn't going for a traditional Tele guitar, I had find one that was thick, and not flimsy like a traditional ashtray-style. I also really like P90s on the bridge. I thought maybe I'd go with the Deluxe build with a humbucker sized P90 and a Hipshot hardtail bridge. I found that Fralin makes a P90 in a single-coil format for the tele, the Steel Pole 43.
For the neck, I knew I was going to go with a Gibson-scale conversion. I was going to do roasted maple at first, but after watching a bunch of videos on the Warmoth channel, I fell in love with the yellow and red tones with canary wood, which also has the benefit of not needing to be finished. I just wanted to try something different, but not be all wood aesthetic, trying to settle on a modern-looking Tele built for rock n' roll. So, I went with a canary wood shaft and fretboard (with black dots).
For the body wood, I settled with tried and true alder. I finally settled with Olympic White, only because I finally had a vision of what this guitar would look like and I had the idea of using a splash of vibrant colors on the knobs. I opted for the tummy cut and forearm contour, because why not. I think that'll look really nice with canary. (Second runner up was Sonic Blue.)
This brings me to the bridge. I originally wanted to go with the Van Dyke Harms bridge, that chunky, beautiful steel bridge. But, I don't think stainless steel and nickel go well together, and I wasn't going to budge on the nickel. I checked out other chunky bridges (I really hate the look of Fender six-saddle bridges) and was hoping for something with brass saddles, but eventually settled with a Babicz FCH Z-style bridge. I was trying to avoid logos, thin metal, and the ashtray-style raised edges, I really wanted something flat, and it had to be nickel plated. With the Tele Custom build, it was limited to the vintage Tele saddles. The Babicz hits all the boxes except for the logo, but the Z style isn't as obnoxious as the OG bridge, so I budged a little with that.
I went with Hipshot modern-style staggered tuners. Black pickguard, to keep things simple of course. All nickel hardware, which kind of made sourcing hardware difficult, but not impossible.
Here's an idea of what it'll look like. The canary fretboard is a unique choice that I added to the order, so what is shown here will be the actual fretboard. I ended up finding colored knobs that are plastic, but shaped like a standard metal dome-top.
I'm very early in the process, my order has been in processing for about two weeks now. I've ordered all the parts I need, except for the pickups, though I know the exact pickups I'm going to get. I was trying to decide if I wanted to do the electronics myself or have Fralin do it. I have decided to give the electronics a try, since this isn't my first and won't be my last build.
What I love about the LP: dat neck humbucker is *chef's kiss*. The Gibson neck scale length. The 4 control knobs.
What I don't love about the LP: it's heavy and I'm almost 50. I'm starting to feel that weight after a few hours of playing. I don't love the humbucker at the bridge, it's too nasally and hot for my taste. The body is pretty beat up, which I don't usually mind, but it's not aesthetically pleasing. There's some other things that are more superficial that can be easily fixed, like the crappy tuners that can't keep the strings in tune (especially the G). The body shape makes it really awkward to practice with it in my lap.
I was looking at the Deluxe and Custom builds, since they have the Gibson-style controls. I do like wide-range humbuckers, but I really wanted to continue using a traditional HB in the neck. I also really love the look of the Tele bridge, though since I wasn't going for a traditional Tele guitar, I had find one that was thick, and not flimsy like a traditional ashtray-style. I also really like P90s on the bridge. I thought maybe I'd go with the Deluxe build with a humbucker sized P90 and a Hipshot hardtail bridge. I found that Fralin makes a P90 in a single-coil format for the tele, the Steel Pole 43.
For the neck, I knew I was going to go with a Gibson-scale conversion. I was going to do roasted maple at first, but after watching a bunch of videos on the Warmoth channel, I fell in love with the yellow and red tones with canary wood, which also has the benefit of not needing to be finished. I just wanted to try something different, but not be all wood aesthetic, trying to settle on a modern-looking Tele built for rock n' roll. So, I went with a canary wood shaft and fretboard (with black dots).
For the body wood, I settled with tried and true alder. I finally settled with Olympic White, only because I finally had a vision of what this guitar would look like and I had the idea of using a splash of vibrant colors on the knobs. I opted for the tummy cut and forearm contour, because why not. I think that'll look really nice with canary. (Second runner up was Sonic Blue.)
This brings me to the bridge. I originally wanted to go with the Van Dyke Harms bridge, that chunky, beautiful steel bridge. But, I don't think stainless steel and nickel go well together, and I wasn't going to budge on the nickel. I checked out other chunky bridges (I really hate the look of Fender six-saddle bridges) and was hoping for something with brass saddles, but eventually settled with a Babicz FCH Z-style bridge. I was trying to avoid logos, thin metal, and the ashtray-style raised edges, I really wanted something flat, and it had to be nickel plated. With the Tele Custom build, it was limited to the vintage Tele saddles. The Babicz hits all the boxes except for the logo, but the Z style isn't as obnoxious as the OG bridge, so I budged a little with that.
I went with Hipshot modern-style staggered tuners. Black pickguard, to keep things simple of course. All nickel hardware, which kind of made sourcing hardware difficult, but not impossible.
Here's an idea of what it'll look like. The canary fretboard is a unique choice that I added to the order, so what is shown here will be the actual fretboard. I ended up finding colored knobs that are plastic, but shaped like a standard metal dome-top.
I'm very early in the process, my order has been in processing for about two weeks now. I've ordered all the parts I need, except for the pickups, though I know the exact pickups I'm going to get. I was trying to decide if I wanted to do the electronics myself or have Fralin do it. I have decided to give the electronics a try, since this isn't my first and won't be my last build.
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