Beater Tele

[PhilHill]

Greetings Folks, Nice Forum.
I'm a Geezer who's been working on guitars since Johnson was President, (That's Lyndon, not Andrew, smart alecks.) and I'm still learning all the time.
Several years ago I found an unfortunate early 2000's MIM made Deluxe Power Strat in a pawnshop in TN. The neck and pickups and controls were in preety good shape, however the body and Fishman bridge had been savaged by some moron at some point. It included an AXL hard/soft case so I negotiated with the broker and ended up buying it for less than $200.
I considered it a deal since the neck alone was worth that much. So I took it home and disassembled it and put the parts aside for future use.
But I digress, (and we all know how painfull that can be) recently I decided I could use a beater guitar that could be used for practice and taking to parties and such without having to worry about dents and scratches and the like. So I ordered up a Warmoth Tele in Ash with standard routings out of stock, broke out my Keda dyes, some sandpaper and Tru Oil and had at it.
Using the Strat neck and controls with some Tex Mex pickups I have and got a Wilkinson compensated three foot Tele ashtray. So far so good.

 

[bagman67]

I for one am a huge fan of low-cost beaters that a little TLC turns into a practical working-person's implement of mass distraction.  Ya done good. 

 

[PhilHill]

Thank You

 

[rgand]

Hey, great job. I also like low-cost working guitars. Looks like it'll take anything you want to dish out.  :icon_thumright:

Welcome to the forum.

 

[PhilHill]

Thanks, I'm still working out the layout. I may take one of the Strat pups and make a Nashville layout, or replace the neck pickup with the DiMarzio humbucker off the Power Strat. Decisions, Decisions...

 

[rgand]

Thanks, I'm still working out the layout. I may take one of the Strat pups and make a Nashville layout, or replace the neck pickup with the DiMarzio humbucker off the Power Strat. Decisions, Decisions...

That Nashville layout would work good.

 

[bagman67]

Nobody ever went to prison for installing a P90 in the neck slot on a Tele.  Just sayin'.

 

[PhilHill]

Nobody ever went to prison for installing a P90 in the neck slot on a Tele.  Just sayin'.

LOL, Quite true. Dagnabbit, now you got me thinkin' again, back to the drawing board....It is just a prototype so far  :laughing7:

 

[Cagey]

Something else to keep in mind with a Tele - you can rout out space under the pickguard at the neck position to accept any pickup you'd like, and simply change 'guards if you decide to do something different. Bridge, not so much, but there are options.

 

[PhilHill]

Something else to keep in mind with a Tele - you can rout out space under the pickguard at the neck position to accept any pickup you'd like, and simply change 'guards if you decide to do something different. Bridge, not so much, but there are options.

That's true enough. I'm thinking of getting another pickguard anyway, just to see what a red tortoiseshell would look like. A bit of a crapshoot though anymore, trying to find a quality one that doesn't cost more than a pickup does.
I just went through the whole price thing getting myself a new fret crowning file, StewMac wants an arm and a kidney and some others are starting to charge similar prices. Or you can get the same cheap one under any of 17 different names from Amazon.

 

[Cagey]

Luthier tools just aren't made in quantities that allow manufacturers to take advantage of economies of scale. Makes 'em pricey. I know I paid a big pile for my crowning file, but on the plus side, it does a wonderful job and actually saves me work. Diamond abrasives are the best, as you'll eventually want/have to do some stainless frets, and something with a concave cutting surface is good, too.

 

[PhilHill]

Luthier tools just aren't made in quantities that allow manufacturers to take advantage of economies of scale. Makes 'em pricey. I know I paid a big pile for my crowning file, but on the plus side, it does a wonderful job and actually saves me work. Diamond abrasives are the best, as you'll eventually want/have to do some stainless frets, and something with a concave cutting surface is good, too.

Yeah I ended up getting a Diamond one. And Stainless frets are why I had to. Had a guy bring me two guitars he had a local shop refret in stainless and wasn't satisfied with their work. With good reason. They were seated fine, but the leveling and crowning left much to be desired. And you could have used the side of the fretboard to saw wood with, the ends were that ragged. Filled two pullout cavities also. It's always fun to fix someone else's sloppy job. But I don't mind as I charged him a healthy sum due to the fact that I had warned him about that shop awhile back, their famous hereabouts for doing shoddy work.

 

[PhilHill]

I have changed my mind. I've done it several times in my life, but this new one seems to come from the Mongolian Steppes I thinks. Suddenly I have an overpowering taste for Yak stew...Anyway, I contributed to my repetitive strain and sanded my butt off. Then tried again with the stains.
I also remembered how much I dislike the strat's 9.5 radius, so I've ordered up a Warmoth tele neck in maple on maple with 10-16 compound and 1-11/16 width and 6150 frets. And a Tusq-XL nut, the whole thing finished in satin nitro.
I will post pics as it goes along toward completion.

 

[Cagey]

If you like the sound of Maple necks, you might want to consider a roasted Maple piece, and once you get it burnish it. No other finish needed, and it'll stay super-stable as well as feel like the mostest bestest neck ever. Oh, and don't forget to put stainless frets on it. It'll spoil you for any other neck. Play like sex on a stick.

 

[PhilHill]

If you like the sound of Maple necks, you might want to consider a roasted Maple piece, and once you get it burnish it. No other finish needed, and it'll stay super-stable as well as feel like the mostest bestest neck ever. Oh, and don't forget to put stainless frets on it. It'll spoil you for any other neck. Play like sex on a stick.

I agree on the roasted with stainless. That will be for the next build, I wanted to keep this one below a certain price point.

 

[Cagey]

Check your costs. Roasted doesn't require a finish, which often makes them pretty approachable vs. something exotic or requiring a finish.

 

[PhilHill]

Check your costs. Roasted doesn't require a finish, which often makes them pretty approachable vs. something exotic or requiring a finish.

That's true I forgot about the finish factor...See, it's this new Mongolian mind again, screwing me all up :dontknow:

 

[Cagey]

You'll love it. Why more manufacturers don't use it more often is a mystery for the ages.

 

[PhilHill]

You'll love it. Why more manufacturers don't use it more often is a mystery for the ages.

Too cheap to spring for a vacuum furnace maybe, who knows. You know the executive mindset.

 

[Cagey]

Yeah, it's tough to say. I don't now what it would cost to get set up to do that or how much real estate it would use, but I do know you can buy the stuff already torrified by the board-foot. Warmoth does theirs that way.