Pretty much everything has arrived in the mail so it is time to get started on my telecaster build. I wanted something lighter than what I had and something really comfortable. I love the telecaster shape so I went with that body style. The stratocaster seems to have some nice things about it, but I just can't fall in love with its looks. I wanted to keep the guitar pseudo traditional, but tweak some things to make it just right.
Here are the specs:
Wenge neck with ebony fretboard
Standard thin
SS frets
Compound radius
Telecaster body
Zebra wood top and Makore back
Here they are out of the box. This picture is the most correct of how it actually looks. It was earlier in the day when I had natural light to work with. The later pictures had compact fluorescent lighting since it was 3:00 am which isn't great for pictures.
IMG_1944 by dvstvsdvs, on Flickr
I stayed up until 3:00 am wiring it up and installing all of the components. I probably shouldn’t have. I switched the hot and ground on the jack because of it. Easy fix and we are good to go. Here it is with all of the components.
IMG_1946 by dvstvsdvs, on Flickr
I went with a Wilkinson compensated bridge. I wanted to have a more traditional telecaster after my last one which barely was one, but the intonation of the standard bridge would bug me. I went with GFS vintage modern lil puncher pickups. I needed something hum canceling since one of the places I play suffers from lots of interference and my p90 equipped guitar is stuck in the middle position since switching to the neck or bridge exclusively causes instant ear wrenching squeal.
The one mistake I made was on the back installing the string ferules. I was nice and patient except with one of them I gave it a little tap. I figured it would be fine, nope, not fine. A little piece of finish chipped off. Boooo! My fault though. You can barely see it.
IMG_1947 by dvstvsdvs, on Flickr
I am waiting for my custom neckplate from dangerous. I quick laid the pieces together to get an idea of what it will look like.
Front
IMG_1948 by dvstvsdvs, on Flickr
Back
IMG_1954 by dvstvsdvs, on Flickr
I am glad I went with the black hardware. It looks nice and understated I think. The chrome may have stuck out too much. Plus my other guitar is pretty chromed out so it is a nice change of pace.
Here are the specs:
Wenge neck with ebony fretboard
Standard thin
SS frets
Compound radius
Telecaster body
Zebra wood top and Makore back
Here they are out of the box. This picture is the most correct of how it actually looks. It was earlier in the day when I had natural light to work with. The later pictures had compact fluorescent lighting since it was 3:00 am which isn't great for pictures.
IMG_1944 by dvstvsdvs, on Flickr
I stayed up until 3:00 am wiring it up and installing all of the components. I probably shouldn’t have. I switched the hot and ground on the jack because of it. Easy fix and we are good to go. Here it is with all of the components.
IMG_1946 by dvstvsdvs, on Flickr
I went with a Wilkinson compensated bridge. I wanted to have a more traditional telecaster after my last one which barely was one, but the intonation of the standard bridge would bug me. I went with GFS vintage modern lil puncher pickups. I needed something hum canceling since one of the places I play suffers from lots of interference and my p90 equipped guitar is stuck in the middle position since switching to the neck or bridge exclusively causes instant ear wrenching squeal.
The one mistake I made was on the back installing the string ferules. I was nice and patient except with one of them I gave it a little tap. I figured it would be fine, nope, not fine. A little piece of finish chipped off. Boooo! My fault though. You can barely see it.
IMG_1947 by dvstvsdvs, on Flickr
I am waiting for my custom neckplate from dangerous. I quick laid the pieces together to get an idea of what it will look like.
Front
IMG_1948 by dvstvsdvs, on Flickr
Back
IMG_1954 by dvstvsdvs, on Flickr
I am glad I went with the black hardware. It looks nice and understated I think. The chrome may have stuck out too much. Plus my other guitar is pretty chromed out so it is a nice change of pace.
