TonyFlyingSquirrel
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This thread is dedicated to recording the inspiration and process of my Baritone Telecaster project. While inspired by the Thinline Telecaster that first appeared in the 1999 Fender Custom Shop Calendar, this project actually began as the first component (The neck) was supplied as a gift from my former Employer Ken Warmoth, when I worked at Warmoth Guitar Parts from June 2008 to May 2009.
First, the inspiration/source material for this project: A Fender Custom Shop Thinline Tele covered in Elkskin, adorned with beautiful beadwook, turquoise inlay on the custom made silver plated pickguard and fingerboard, faux F-hole, custom engraving, along with an equally beautiful Elkskin Leather strap and gig-bag.
It's a simple Warmoth Baritone Tele Neck in 28 5/8" scale,Rock Maple shaft, Indian Rosewood Fingerboard, 6100 Fretwire. Currently it has Gotoh SG38 tuners in chrome, such as those available at Warmoth Custom Guitar Parts - Custom bass and guitar bodies, necks, pickups, pickguards and hardware.
Here's a shot of a test fit after about 6 strokes of sanding in the neck pocket side walls with a fine file. I allow for a fairly tight fit without risking cracking or breaking any of the wood on the body. I only did this far for now until I finish the neck in True-Oil down the line once the bone nut is completely installed and slotted to setup height after additional test fits with bridge, buckskin applique's & such. Although the body pictured here is translucent red, I will be covering this body with Deerskin from bucks that I've harvested and fed from over the years, thus adding more personal significance to this project. I purchased this body as a cosmetic blem with some finish flaws knowing what I was going to do ahead of time, so the finish quality was not much of a concern for me.
While the inspiration piece is a Thinline Tele, mine will be based on the more traditional Tele/Broadcaster style. I'll be using lower output pickups in both positions, and modifying the bridge position to house a humbucker that has some PAF/Filtertron charm to it. I'm toying with the idea of leaving the pickguard area of the buckskin cover completely untouched cosmetically, or marking the outline of a traditional Telecaster pickguard and doing a beadwork border on it, creating somewhat of a faux pickguard.
As work progresses, I'll continue to upload pics with notes along the way.
First, the inspiration/source material for this project: A Fender Custom Shop Thinline Tele covered in Elkskin, adorned with beautiful beadwook, turquoise inlay on the custom made silver plated pickguard and fingerboard, faux F-hole, custom engraving, along with an equally beautiful Elkskin Leather strap and gig-bag.
It's a simple Warmoth Baritone Tele Neck in 28 5/8" scale,Rock Maple shaft, Indian Rosewood Fingerboard, 6100 Fretwire. Currently it has Gotoh SG38 tuners in chrome, such as those available at Warmoth Custom Guitar Parts - Custom bass and guitar bodies, necks, pickups, pickguards and hardware.
Here's a shot of a test fit after about 6 strokes of sanding in the neck pocket side walls with a fine file. I allow for a fairly tight fit without risking cracking or breaking any of the wood on the body. I only did this far for now until I finish the neck in True-Oil down the line once the bone nut is completely installed and slotted to setup height after additional test fits with bridge, buckskin applique's & such. Although the body pictured here is translucent red, I will be covering this body with Deerskin from bucks that I've harvested and fed from over the years, thus adding more personal significance to this project. I purchased this body as a cosmetic blem with some finish flaws knowing what I was going to do ahead of time, so the finish quality was not much of a concern for me.
While the inspiration piece is a Thinline Tele, mine will be based on the more traditional Tele/Broadcaster style. I'll be using lower output pickups in both positions, and modifying the bridge position to house a humbucker that has some PAF/Filtertron charm to it. I'm toying with the idea of leaving the pickguard area of the buckskin cover completely untouched cosmetically, or marking the outline of a traditional Telecaster pickguard and doing a beadwork border on it, creating somewhat of a faux pickguard.
As work progresses, I'll continue to upload pics with notes along the way.
OMG - this is one of the coolest guitar concepts I've seen
