Another masterpiece (Tele-Strat)

[Bill in SC]

Well folks, patience is NOT one of my best virtues, though I am getting better at it overall. Anyhow, when all these parts came together for this current build, I could not restrain myself from final assembly! Yes Gregg, that means I WON'T be sending the neck back for fret evaluation!!!!!!!!!!  I always wanted a guitar with Gibson PAF humbuckers, but Epiphone was as close as I got to the real deal. So... I decided to assemble a hollow thinline Tele with a set of Gibson '57 Classics. Turns out that it was indeed a great decision. The clarity of the Gibsons in conjunction with the Warmoth superior wood quality and construction produced quite a tone machine. Without going into a whole lot of detail, the tone would be best described as very well rounded. The Gibsons, though testing out in the normal 8 ohms range, will certainly crank when driven, yet retain the Gibson clarity at any volume. I'm seriously thinking about pulling the Rio Grande 'Big bottom' humbuckers from my other Tele and going with another set of Gibsons in it too. Now to the particulars:

Warmoth hollow Tele alder body, black Korina top, 'tummy and forearm contours, routed for a Strat neck
Warmoth Strat neck, padouk with jet black ebony board with 6105 stainless frets, corian nut,  Black Planet Waves tuners
Gibson '57 Classic PAF pickups
Vintage Strat bridge, chrome
CTS 500 pots, Fender three way switch

Intonation is spot on, performed by Peterson strobe tuner
Action is low with NO buzz anywhere
KUDOS to Ken Rivers of Riverglo productions for his wiring and intonating skills. The guitar sounds a whole lot different when HE plays it too!! 

Bill in SC
Strap locks

 

[m4rk0]

That looks fantastic! love the korina top!
still wondering why you went for an alder body with korina top, rather than an all korina body..

 

[jackthehack]

Wunderbar!  Think that body was in the Showcase like that, wasn't it? No idea why they'd put that flame Korina top on an alder body, but you do see some weird combos in the Showcase....

 

[Soloshchenko]

Well its meant to be a strat hybrid isn't it so hes going to get a more strat like tone from an alder body than all korina. Tis an odd combo but I love it and no wood is better than the other anyway just different.

 

[Ted]

Wow to me that is just screaming out for a small white pickguard - just to set it off... like this

http://www.warmoth.com/pickguards/pickguards.cfm?fuseaction=pickguards_tele_hybrid

Whats the hole in the control plate for Bill - coil split switch?

Great axe nevertheless!

 

[simple]

It's too bad that you can't hear anyone's speaking voice accent here because Bill's is really cool. He has to be a South Carolina native.  :icon_thumright:

Cool guitar Bill!  I can almost "hear" that thing. Just a great looking build.

 

[Bill in SC]

LOL! I didn't "choose" the body off the showcase, nor did I intend for a Tele-Strat build. I just happened to have this great neck that I took off the Clapton Blackie body I have for sale on the trade section here... I accidentally surfed up on this body on eBay for $167. Too nice to pass up at that price under the circumstances.    It was destined to happen!
BB in SC

 

[jackthehack]

My bad, now I remember it was on eBay rather than Showcase.... Hard to keep track....

 

[Bill in SC]

Yes it is hard to keep track with so many folks having so many fine builds going on. BTW the extra hole in the control plate was just that, an extra hole. I guess someone had some different configuration with it. It was FREE, and that's important.. I am going to plug it with something or the other..
BB in SC

 

[Alfang]

Hey Bill, looks awesome, echo everything everyone said yada yada yada.

I Have been looking for a good strobe tuner for setting intonation, I have considered a peterson tuner, do you like yours? And what model do you have?

What I want is a good acurate tuner that can ignore those phantom frequencies and gimmie the jist of where things are at,  I think a strobe tuner would be perfect for rejecting all those floating misc. signals. 

Please tell me the peterson tuner will work well for guitar setup, as I am starting to get a flood of business tweaking peoples guitars, assembling warmoth builds for people, and I haven't even advertised.

If I start charging money I might quit my day job :guitarplayer2:

Thanks

 

[-CB-]

Just stunningly straightforward and elegant.  Great job.

 

[Nando Vallart]

Awesome dude! just awesome!  :icon_biggrin:

 

[Bill in SC]

I appreciate all the positive replies, folks! BTW, this particular body resonates much nicer when unplugged than my mahogany thinline. I guess the 'hollow' body may be better unplugged than a chambered thinline. Another plus is that with this particular conglomeration of parts, it can also sound very "telelike", I guess due to the alder body as pointed out already. Strange getting "that" sound with the Gibson PAFs. I haven't plugged it into my tube amp yet. I normally play through a Peavey Classic 50 4/10, but it is over where we practice. Here at home I play through a Trace Elliot TA-60CR acoustic amp. Very clear sound. Can hardly wait to play it through the tubes!  Eventually hope to own a nice Fender Tube amp. That will round out my stable quiet nicely.
Alfang: I don't know the model of Ken's Peterson strobe tuner. It wasn't too expensive though, and it works easily enough.
Thanks again, folks!
BB in SC