And so it begins, Ebony goodness fresh out of the box................

[BigSteve22]

So, I had been looking at this Tele neck in the showcase for some time. Nice dark coloring with these chocolate streaks running through it. Problem was, I wasn't planning on building a Tele. Well, after weeks of playing around with ideas, I decided that a black-on-black motif, chrome hardware, (with a little DangerousR6 engraving magic), ebony necked Tele, was definitely doable for a reasonable price. So I pulled the trigger on the neck.

A little close up detail of the fretboard coloring.

It's Ebony on Maple, 24.75" scale, Standard Thin profile, 10-16 compound Radius fretboard, SS6230 frets, and drilled for Schaller tuners. It will get a Tusq nut and Hipshot open back locking tuners. (I have plans for a jig to put a slight, even radius on the heel of the fretboard, I'll post pictures and plans when it's built, for any that might be interested.)

As for the rest if the guitar, at this point plans are for a chambered body with contours, standard wiring(?), an engraved control plate, Hipshot Tele bridge, and Bill Lawrence NF series pups. I still need to do a little more research, but thinking of an L-202TN (w/black cover), in the neck and a L-298TL for the bridge. Should look a little like this:

This is my first Tele, any ideas or comments on things I should be considering are greatly appreciated.

 

[Logrinn]

Nice! A lot of cool ideas there. Especially looking forward to seeing the engraved control plate.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

That oughtta be a fine Tele! I've never actually owned Bill Lawrence pickups, but I've never heard a complaint about them. Well, except for occasionally the wait... I heartily recommend the 4-way Tele wiring which adds bridge+neck in series to the traditional three options. Looking forward to seeing her come together!

 

[BigSteve22]

That oughtta be a fine Tele! I've never actually owned Bill Lawrence pickups, but I've never heard a complaint about them. Well, except for occasionally the wait... I heartily recommend the 4-way Tele wiring which adds bridge+neck in series to the traditional three options. Looking forward to seeing her come together!

I've never heard a complaint about those pups either. I fact I've heard they are great, and for the price, I mean $100 for the pair?? I've also heard about the wait, so I need to decide rather quickly.

I'm note real familiar with Tele wiring, but I remember seeing somewhere, (it might have been on Jason Lollar's site somewhere), that Tele pups need to be modified to make the 4-Way switching work because the base plate on the bridge pickup is also the grounding point. Any experience there?

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Generally it's the neck pickup that has to be modified to separate the cover ground from the coil ground and ground it independently. It doesn't look like your neck pickup is covered so that should be a non-issue. Should you end up with a covered neck pickup, most winders will give you a dedicated cover ground for this purpose if you ask for it, maybe a nominal charge. If you don't have the option of having them do it for you, it's a pretty simple mod to make yourself. I've done it a few times and have some pictures from one I did a while back, I'd be happy to provide some guidance if need be. There is a lot of info on this mod online, it's quite common.

 

[BigSteve22]

Thanks Verne. The L-202TN can be had with a black plastic cover, much like a Strat Pup, this is the one I was looking at. I'll look for some 4-way switching schematics.

 

[bagman67]

APPROVED.  Carry on.

 

[Cagey]

For those wondering what the difference is between ground and ground, the problem is the cover always needs to be grounded, whereas when reversing phase (as happens with Tele 4 way switching), then you need to swap the hot/ground of the (neck) pickup coil. If the coil's negative lead is tied to a permanent ground, then you'd drain the signal from the bridge pickup to ground when switched to the out-of-phase position.

As to the wonderfulness of Bill Lawrence's pickups, I'm a huge fan. I've got a set in a Jazzmaster (L500s), and a Strat and Tele both with microcoils. Highly recommended.

 

[mayfly]

For those wondering what the difference is between ground and ground,

I personally like to say "ground" and "earth".  Two quite different signals.  It also helps if you say "earth" and "quite" with a fake English accent.

 

[Cagey]

I can't do a fake British accent. You'd think it would be easy, what with my being a bleach-white native English speaker with crooked teeth and all. But, apparently, you need to be born in England or raised in Hollywood. Must be something in the air.

 

[BigSteve22]

Ground, earth, hard ground, good thing it don't matter here. Just trolling on the Tele forum and found a discussion about 4-way wiring and L-202's. Seems they come with 3 wires, the third being for the shield, so 4-way works wonderfully. Looks like I'm golden, at least I hope so, I also just place the order!  :icon_jokercolor:

 

[rgand]

Damn, that's going to be a beautiful one. The 4-way wiring is cool, too. :icon_thumright:

 

[Verne Bunsen]

For those wondering what the difference is between ground and ground, the problem is the cover always needs to be grounded, whereas when reversing phase (as happens with Tele 4 way switching), then you need to swap the hot/ground of the (neck) pickup coil. If the coil's negative lead is tied to a permanent ground, then you'd drain the signal from the bridge pickup to ground when switched to the out-of-phase position.

Rather than reversing phase by swapping one pickups hot and ground, the 4-way Tele puts the two pickups in series (rather than the usual parallel) by joining the neck pickup ground to the bridge pickup hot. If the cover ground shares the coil ground, then it puts the cover in the signal. Which is quite noisy!

I'll look for some 4-way switching schematics...

I would point you in the direction of Phostenix, keeper of the schematics...

https://sites.google.com/site/phostenixwiringdiagrams/teles/2-pickup-teles#StandardTele4WayNS

I personally like the series option in position 3 rather than 4, I put together a drawing of the switch wiring to put it where ever you like. Which is handy!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hvylj2geti38p89/Tele%204-Way%20Series%20Switch.pdf?dl=0

And while we're talking about wiring a Tele, there's one more thing I'll toss out there for your consideration. I'm a fan of the "50s wiring" in Gibsons, which fixes the darkening of the tone that otherwise occurs when you turn down the volume. I like it better than any "treble bleed" circuit, but everyone has their own opinion on that. The concept isn't limited to Gibson-style wiring configurations, and I wire pretty much everything with it. To apply it to a Tele volume/tone circuit, you just move the wire that feeds the tone pot from the input lug of the volume pot to the output lug, like so (picture courtesy of a TDPRI thread):

Given that it's such a simple mod and is fully reversible, it's worth trying out. If you were asking me.

Sorry, I'll stop now, I get a little excited when Tele stuff comes up  :icon_jokercolor:

 

[mayfly]

Hey Big Steve!  Do you need a 4 way tele switch for this project?  I just happen to have one that I have no use for.

 

[TBurst Std]

If Big Steve doesn't want it, I'd be glad to have it.

 

[BigSteve22]

Vern- Wow, that's a lot of help! Definitely going to try the 4-way with the modified locations: 1-Bridge, 2-Parallel, 3-Series, 4-Neck. Just seems to be a more logical progression. Schematic looks like a winner, and what the hell, maybe try that 50's tone option too. I almost ALWAYS play at low volumes and use a treble bleed to compensate.

Hey Big Steve!  Do you need a 4 way tele switch for this project?  I just happen to have one that I have no use for.

Trevor- Thanks! I'll PM you my information.

 

[stratamania]

Thats going to look nice.  :icon_thumright:

I can do a number of English accents and at least one of them is genuine 

 

[fdesalvo]

APPROVED.  Carry on.

seconded.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Vern- Wow, that's a lot of help! Definitely going to try the 4-way with the modified locations: 1-Bridge, 2-Parallel, 3-Series, 4-Neck. Just seems to be a more logical progression. Schematic looks like a winner, and what the hell, maybe try that 50's tone option too. I almost ALWAYS play at low volumes and use a treble bleed to compensate.

Always happy to talk Tele! Great thing about that volume/tone mod is that it's free, it's super easy, and if it isn't for you then it's completely reversible. Enjoy your build, I'll enjoy watching it!

 

[vetteman]

Looks like a nice combination of parts.  Turns out I am a sucker for black guitars, they just seem to be simpler and classier, as well as opening up all kinds of choices for necks, pickguards, hardware, etc.  See this months GOM losers for details!