Cheap Thrills Tele

The guitar below is a result of such an adventure.

1: Yes, I play this "Bari-Tele" guitar below in my signature extensively.
2: quality of the hardware/body has not been an issue.  I did dowel/re-drill the neck mounting holes in the body, but that was it.

Been playing this guitar quite a bit for 7 years now.
 
I think this is truly a worthy project. I really support the idea of taking something like that body and working to make a workable, performing guitar out of it. Give it your best shot and see where you end up. It would be great if it turns out to be a player for you, albeit a bit the wicked stepchild of guitars. I still have a Yamaha strat copy I bought secondhand for $79 when I began playing again a few years ago and have had a proper set up on it. I still like the way it sounds and would play it live although my parts casters are my favorites and are way more quality as this was one of the Yamaha's that began life as part of a starter kit with a little amp etc. I gotta say, Tony's baritone tele in his signature pic continues to totally knock me out as an awesome, personalized instrument.
 
Gentlemen,

A box arrived from Guitar Fetish today.  It has all the bits in it!

First thing that I noticed is that the bridge pickup had loose windings. 

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But the worse was yet to come!  Turns out that it does not fit in the hole in the body (!) 

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Well that's a bit of a disappointment.  :)

More to come...

P.S. anyone got a tele route template?  :doh:
 

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I've got the templates, but it would probably be easier at this point to get them from StewMac. They've got 'em for just under $6/ea here.
 
It was pretty funny.  The hole is only vaguely tele pickup shaped and certainly won't fit anything else.  I'm sure that everyone who buys this body will run into this little problem.  :)
 
Their XGP-series bodies are dimensionally correct, but with everything else it's a crap shoot. it's like they're working from a blurry picture instead of plans or a physical part when they program the CNC.
 
 
That's the upside to them - they're remarkably inexpensive. For the $50 to $80 range they come in, they're a helluva deal. But, you need to understand at the outset that you may have to do some woodworking. If you have the tools/skills/knowledge of guitar mechanics, it's usually fairly trivial things you need to do. What they're really doing is saving you the cost and shop space of a large bandsaw and a paint booth. You'll still need a drill press, router, and other tools to make things right.
 
Cagey said:
That's the upside to them - they're remarkably inexpensive. For the $50 to $80 range they come in, they're a helluva deal. But, you need to understand at the outset that you may have to do some woodworking. If you have the tools/skills/knowledge of guitar mechanics, it's usually fairly trivial things you need to do. What they're really doing is saving you the cost and shop space of a large bandsaw and a paint booth. You'll still need a drill press, router, and other tools to make things right.
Click to expand...

You forgot some blood, sweat and tears too!!   

I agree.  I have turned two of the SLICK guitars (both b stock) into killer sub $250 guitars.    I have also build one of the abalone XGP teles for about $500 for a friend.  Very nice.  You will always find a high fret or two but they play nice.  I happen to LOVE the slick Jr P90.  I have a love hate relationship with the pickups.  I find some super low in output and not much color at all.  Others sound fantastic for the price.







 
I figure the blood, sweat and tears requirement goes without saying :laughing7:

Looks like you've had some good results!

The first body I bought from them was from their "value" line, a finished Strat body that looked great out of the box. But, once I started working on it the abberations started to show up. Figured what the hell, it was cheap. Can't complain too much. Put a lotta work into it and ended up giving it away because it still just wasn't right and I couldn't bring myself to throw it away. Then the guy I gave it to threw it away :laughing7:  Had a Tele body that met a similar fate for similar reasons. But, a couple of the XGP bodies have come out quite nicely. The wood is pieced together like it's cut out from reclaimed gym flooring, and the finishes aren't exactly top-notch, but they're dimensionally correct and overall I think they're well worth the money. I have yet to see one of their necks. I'm ultra-picky about necks, so I haven't even been tempted to try one.
 
Looking at more of the bits now.  Had a look at the jack plate (a football plate!  No electrosocket for this baby!) that came with "a Free Jack!!".  Well, the free jack (top) is total crap.  :)

Following my rule of "if I already have it, I can use it" I substituted a switchcraft jack (bottom) from the amp days.  The GF jack is now in the garbage can  :)

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poor materials and poor geometry.  That and the fact that the ring shorts directly to the ground  :)
 
Mayfly said:
Gentlemen,

A box arrived from Guitar Fetish today.  It has all the bits in it!

First thing that I noticed is that the bridge pickup had loose windings. 

index.php


But the worse was yet to come!  Turns out that it does not fit in the hole in the body (!) 

index.php


Well that's a bit of a disappointment.  :)

More to come...

P.S. anyone got a tele route template?  :doh:
Click to expand...

Are the pickup windings themselves loose, or the small string wrap around that is loose?
 
Hmm.  Excellent point - I was assuming it was the winding.  Let me have a closer look once I'm off work.
 
Folks,

Turns out that the router template is back ordered.  Spending my time instead mounting little bits (jack plate, strap buttons, etc).

I also checked it out with all the chrome bits installed.  It seems pretty damn chrome-y doesn't it!

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Pretty damn chromey indeed! If you don't wanna wait for a router template, you could go Van Halen on it.  :laughing7:
 
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