Blue Korina Thinline

[TjerkG]

Hi All,

First post, first guitar build. Last week my Warmoth package finally arrived. Very excited, so I thought I'd share the joy.

The idea is a Tele-Gretschy hybrid, hoping its a good marriage. I wil be adding a bigsby style tremolo (actually a Duesenberg), hope it works out with the ashtray bridge (it should). 

I know its a shame to cover up some nice black korina, but I wanted a trans blue guitar, so why not put some nice wood underneath?

Specs:

Body:
Tele Thinline
Black Korina on Black Korina
Top Rout
TV Jones routing
Contoured heel
Pearloid binding
Top Finish: Trans blue
Back Finish: Clear
Omitted inner bridge chamber

Neck:
Style: Telecaster®
Vintage Modern Construction
Scale: 25-1/2 in.
Shaft Wood: Roasted Maple
Fingerboard Wood: Ebony (Black)
Orientation: Left Handed
Nut Width: 1-11/16"
Back Shape: SRV
Radius: 10-16" compound
Fret Size: SS6150 (Stainless)
Tuner Ream: Schaller (25/64" 11/32")
Inlays: Pearloid Nightswan
GraphTech Black TUSQ XL - Standard Nut

I've already done some work on it last weekend, but first the out-of-the-box pics:

 

[NicosRebel]

The trans blue / Korina combo are not often see ; but this is beautiful !!!

 

[Cagey]

I agree. That really came out nice.

 

[TBurst Std]

What are the plans regarding notching the Tele bridge? Unique handle for the Doozy vibrato.

 

[adked]

Wow, that's really nice.  That's gonna be a sweet guitar.

 

[Surf n Music]

Can't wait to see it all together with that bridge! Looking great.

 

[stratamania]

I dig the transparent blue also. Should look good when its done.

 

[Day-mun]

What are the plans regarding notching the Tele bridge?

-My concerns exactly. In the rare case that I'm right, unless the neck has a booster-seat in the pocket, the saddles get extra-long height adjustment screws, and the whole string path is raised up off the body, it's looking like the strings aren't gonna clear that back angle of of the bridge plate.  :dontknow:

-Other than this little detail (-which I'm sure will be remedied splendidly if a solution is required at all), this thing is gonna be one super-sexy south-paw rockabilly jam machine!  :cool01:

 

[bagman67]

That there is one dead-sexy guitar body.  Great choices.

 

[TjerkG]

Thanks! Yeah, really happy with the finish, they did a tremendous job. As for the bridge-tremolo situation: the bridge needs notches for the strings to reach the saddles at an angle. In fact, that's what I've been doing the last few days. I've resisted the tempation to pick up a dremel used files to ...slowly.. file the notches. Also a tip for anyone doing this: file a small screw slot in the screw running through the saddles (see pic), so you can adjust saddle position (the screwhead in the back of the plate can't be reached anymore with the trem in place.

I've also sanded down the neck nice and smooth (up to 2000, thanks for that tip), super smooth now.

Getting the pickups to fit was a bit challenging, the pickup cavity seems just a tad too narrow. Now I'm guessing this should be a tight fit, but they simply didn't go in. Not sure if this is Warmoth or TV Jones (the pickups seem to curve outward just slightly near the bottom), but I had to sand the edges of the cavity to make it fit (the pickups are T-Armonds, can't wait to actually hear them!).

 

[dmraco]

umm...WOW!!!  The side view on that thing alone is worth the price of admission!  Looks like coffee and creamer just starting to mix together.  I love koruna and you have a FINE example of it.

 

[TBurst Std]

PS: You will really like that Doozy vibrato. I have one setup with a TOM on my Starplayer TV. Works a bit better than a well setup bigsby. Works a ton better than the average Bigsby. Much easier to string up than any standard Bigsby.

 

[TjerkG]

Yeah the side view caught me by surprise as well, beautiful piece of wood. Really glad I opted for the clear back (which isn't a standard option with trans blue for some reason).

The Doozy trem is very nice, I have it on my Starplayer special as well . Much cheaper that a Bigsby (at least here), works at least as well or better. The handle on it is actually a Gretsch Chet Atkins arm that I 'lefty-fied' (with some brute force).

 

[Wolf Follower]

That looks fantastic. Can't wait to see it with all the chrome on it!

WF

 

[BigSteve22]

Great color, great grain! It's gonna be nice.......

 

[Howard]

Very pretteh! I`d learn to play lefty to play that!  :toothy12:

 

[TjerkG]

Today was wiring day; four-way switch wiring, treble bypass and burnt fingers. It's nice being a lefty: you have to reverse the wiring diagrams as well (some of it). Bridge and control plate are on. Anyway, it produces 'sound'!

I couldn't handle the jack input (output?) cup being straight on a curved surface, so I recessed it a bit. Luckily I did more good than bad (some of my perfectionistic tendencies end up in a complete mess-up).

Now it looks nice and shiny with the chrome (still to add the trem, for more shiny goodness).

 

[bagman67]

Very, very nice.  I just realized - you sourced a tele bridge with a TV Jones pickup aperture.  How'd you swing that?

 

[TjerkG]

They simply sell them at TV Jones, but I wasn't sure whether the having Warmoth rout for a am. st. tele bridge and a TV jones cavity would work (the TV Jones rout has to be exactly in the right place relative to the bridge plate). So I had it sent over to Warmoth for fitting. Works!

 

[Cagey]

Interesting.  I wouldn't have thought that they'd sell enough of something like that to justify having a die set made to stamp them out. Must be more popular than I've given them credit for.

Out of curiosity, I compared the dimensions of that cutout with the dimensions of a Bill Lawrence L500XL and an L609, and they're close enough for rock 'n' roll. Gonna have to keep that in mind, as the BL package is different enough from standard humbuckers that most solutions won't work with them easily.

They'll provide matching rings, but until now I've never seen anything else that would work quite as well. Also, if you want to mount them under a pickguard, nobody cuts those holes.