Chambered Tele - Honeyburst - Just Arrived

bigfatpaul

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Ordered in mid January 2021, just arrived yesterday April 2, 2021. A bit of a wait, but still very happy with everything (thank you Warmoth!).

Body is chambered Tele, alder body with flame maple top, with all the contours. Honeyburst top and back. I would've loved a bit more flame on the top, but I didn't pick any special selection and I'm certainly not unhappy with it.

Neck is roasted maple, vintage modern, with Schaller holes (though I'm putting Sperzels in there). I burnished the back for only about 30 minutes (using 600, then 800, then 1000, then 1500, then 2000) and it's already insanely smooth. Really, really nice.

Going to throw on a Gotoh bridge and Seymour Duncan's (Stacked Strats in Neck and Middle, JB in Bridge that I'm toggling to Series/Split/Parallel). Very excited.

Thank you Warmoth! Happy I finally took the plunge here. This definitely won't be my last build.
 

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Very Nice. That should work out great in the long run................ :icon_thumright:
 
Welcome to the forum.

Always liked Honeyburst and it shows a lot of promise... :icon_thumright:
 
Alright, another Angeleno!

That’s looking great. Love how the grain radiates around the controls. Super cool.
 
Finished the build yesterday.  Pics attached. Super happy with how things turned out. Specs:

Roasted maple neck (burnished for about 30 mins, now the glassiest neck I own) with Sperzel tuners (dropped right into the Schaller holes from Warmoth). Chambered Tele (alder with flame maple top) in honeyburst. Seymour Duncan pickups - Classic Stack Strat in Neck and Middle, JB Trembucker in bridge, with toggle for Series/Split/Parallel (found out I really love the parallel setting and now want to mod other humbuckers I have....). Treble bleed on volume. 5 way switching.

Only possible wrinkle has been the Gotoh 510 tremolo. I really like it - better than standard Strat trem - but I'm having trouble figuring out how to best set the 2 point post height. I'd like it as low as possible, but I get fret buzz issues if I don't raise it a bit more than I'd like. I think I set the neck in fully, but perhaps there's a small issue there. Other minor discovery is that the trem arm gets in the way with volume and toggles more on the Tele body than on a Strat, but what can you do?

This definitely won't be my last Warmoth build. Tempted to do WGD in Koa next... Thanks Warmoth!
 

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Small edit/note: this build has made me question the benefit of shielding. On another project I did, I shielded the entire pickguard and cavities with copper tape, ensured continuity, etc. and it was a bit of a pain. On this one, I only did the pickguard. And damned if I can't hear any difference or benefit on the "better" shielded guitar. Granted, we're talking humbuckers here (mostly), but even with them split, the noise floor is about the same. I'm glad I didn't spend the time trying to paint out all the Tele cavities...
 
I'm with you - I don't shield the cavities.  But, on a telecaster putting a ground plane under the pickguard can remove static discharge that you might get when playing.  So I do recommend that.
 
rick2 said:
Does the ground plane need to be grounded?

Yup - otherwise the static buildup would have nowhere to discharge - except into your pickup lead wires :).  On telecasters I do this by overlapping the shielding with the control plate where it fits into the pickguard.
 
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