A tele build question

[Danuda]

Ok, I have finally decided on my guitar build and I have a few questions.
At the moment this is what I am looking at doing.
Tele body rear route
Warmoth pro Tele neck with 1 5/8 nut width, maple neck, rosewood fretboard
Fixed vintage fender bridge
Here are my questions:
Can I get away with no string tree if I do staggered tuners?  I have read some things online that say you can.  Also, can you get those from warmoth or do I have to order them from somewhere else?
Does anyone have any experience with the thinner 1 5/8 neck?  My hands are not very big and I thought it would be nice.  The guitar I play right now is a standard width and it seems fine, but I have never played something thinner so what do I know.
How much adjustment do the necks need?  Is it just truss rod or do I need to do fret leveling?  Do the pre-cut nuts need adjustment as well?
Also when you finish the neck do you leave the rosewood natural or does it need to be finished like the back?

 

[mayfly]

Ok, I have finally decided on my guitar build and I have a few questions.
At the moment this is what I am looking at doing.
Tele body rear route
Warmoth pro Tele neck with 1 5/8 nut width, maple neck, rosewood fretboard
Fixed vintage fender bridge
Here are my questions:
Can I get away with no string tree if I do staggered tuners?  I have read some things online that say you can.  Also, can you get those from warmoth or do I have to order them from somewhere else?
Does anyone have any experience with the thinner 1 5/8 neck?  My hands are not very big and I thought it would be nice.  The guitar I play right now is a standard width and it seems fine, but I have never played something thinner so what do I know.
How much adjustment do the necks need?  Is it just truss rod or do I need to do fret leveling?  Do the pre-cut nuts need adjustment as well?
Also when you finish the neck do you leave the rosewood natural or does it need to be finished like the back?

Answers:

1 - I've run staggered tuners w/o string trees (sperzel if you are interested) and they work, but I did get some strange ass overtones on the b-string.  Have since added a roller tree and all is well.  If you want sperzel, you need to find a retailer who has them.  Don't think that W offers staggered tuners of any brand now that I think of it....
2 - dunno - that's between you and your hand.
3 - They will need adjustment.  All of mine did - and I'm up to, er, 6 W necks now.  The 12 string neck required the most work with many many twists on the rod to get it flat.
4 - don't finish the rosewood.  Don't do it!  You'll pay - pay dearly my friend...  :evil4:

 

[tfarny]

If you're not confident about the narrower nut, you really should get to a guitar store and play something with a narrow nut. A '52 RI tele should have one, I believe the cheaper squires have it as well. You can look up specs on Fender.com and then head to the store. I personally cannot handle the narrow width but for some it's perfect.

 

[Danuda]

That is a good idea.  Pretty much most vintage fender have the thinner nut correct?  I don't really trust my local guitar center to know...
Also Mayfly, you said the necks needed adjustment.  Are you just refering to the truss rod setup or did you need to level the frets and adjust the nut?

 

[mayfly]

That is a good idea.  Pretty much most vintage fender have the thinner nut correct?  I don't really trust my local guitar center to know...
Also Mayfly, you said the necks needed adjustment.  Are you just refering to the truss rod setup or did you need to level the frets and adjust the nut?

I adjusted the rod and performed a setup on the nut.  Did not do a fret leveling on any of my necks.  Actually have not touched the frets at all.

BTW you will need the feeler gauges and the special files for your nut setup.

 

[Danuda]

Is there anywhere specific you recommend getting the files and feeler guages?  It is nice to know that I don't have to level the frets.  That seems a little scary to me.

 

[JaySwear]

i bought nut files from warmoth and was really impressed with them. you get quite a few! and they worked great

 

[mayfly]

I got my files from stu-mac.  The feeler gauge from Canadian Tire  :icon_thumright: