Designing a Tele - your thoughts please!

[Steve St.Laurent]

I'm designing my next guitar and would like input.  I don't have much experience with Tele's at all.  I'd like it to be sort of an evil twin to my strat as far as looks go - using black hardware instead of chrome.  I want to go with 2 humbuckers on it.  I like the sound this guy gets out of his: http://www.youtube.com/user/stevestla?feature=mhee#p/f/9/-FyhbUzYzn4 - but I don't like the chrome pickups (and the Seth Lover's are only available in chrome and gold).  I'm thinking about going with Seymour Duncan SH-1 '59 humbuckers in a 4 conductor version so I can split the coils (with a push/pull on the tone).  I don't like the traditional location for tele controls or the control plate so I'm planning on setting the controls up like Fenders' FMT HH tele (which uses a Gibson style toggle).  Here's what I'm looking at:

Swamp Ash chambered body - w/tummy and forearm cuts & rear route
Tobacco burst finish

Maple Neck/Rosewood fingerboard board & satin tint finish
Abalone dots
SS6105 frets
Black Tusq XL nut

I'm rest my pinky on the body when I play and scratch up my pickguards pretty good because I keep my nails on that hand a bit long for fingerstyle so I want a pickguard on it but want to show off the wood as much as possible.  I came up with the pickguard design myself.

Here's a photoshop mockup I did:

and here's my strat for comparison:

Comments would be greatly appreciate since as I said I'm not very familiar with Tele's.

 

[swarfrat]

You're on the right track with that bridge and tummy cut. Fix the upper bout and headstock and you're golden! :evil4:

 

[Tipperman]

Give it a Floyd! I vote a CBS strat neck, strat neck pocket of course. Two Bare Knuckle Mules and either the callaham hardtail in chrome or a Floyd Rose. That's my personal preference, of course....

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

It'll definitely be a hardtail - that's part of the point of this one.  Here's a pic with a more standard tele pickguard - not sure which I prefer:

 

[Tipperman]

Definitely go with the callaham Hardtail, it's my favorite. Most comfortable one in my opinion. Go with the custom pickguard.

 

[TroubledTreble]

You can always pull the cover off the Seth Lover model. It's a cream/black bobbin combo underneath. I believe there is a 4 conductor model available, or at least there may have been ot one time.. ?
Also don't forget that clear pickguards available for maximum wood show and protection to boot.

 

[Jusatele]

Can I offer my opinion ( lots of members are going to disagree with me)

the Tele was Leo's first design to go to market, it was a decent design but flawed and Raw
the Strat was the result of Leo doing extreme remake to get it right

Now, follow me

the thing so many of us love about the Tele is that Raw, tear at your soul tone it produces, and its balance, and we love it's plank like no apology feel. and the way you can squeeze a note forever.

I call it NASTY ATTITUDE . My 62 had it for days and my current Tele has mojo just dripping off of it.

How ever you design it, you need to make it a guitar that is raw, OK my current one has forearm and tummy cut, but we do not make these things works of art, they are no nonsense tone mobiles. Begging to be abused. (apologies go out to Mayfly's beautiful hand painted Tele) and the things amaze you because as mean and nasty as they can be, a Tele will make you fall in love when she backs off and sings like an angel. Teles are works of art in basics, but they are priceless in soul stealing tone. They become a part of your fingers like no other guitar.

that is what makes a Tele a Tele

 

[iamdavidmorris]

Can I offer my opinion ( lots of members are going to disagree with me)

the Tele was Leo's first design to go to market, it was a decent design but flawed and Raw
the Strat was the result of Leo doing extreme remake to get it right

Now, follow me

the thing so many of us love about the Tele is that Raw, tear at your soul tone it produces, and its balance, and we love it's plank like no apology feel. and the way you can squeeze a note forever.

I call it NASTY ATTITUDE . My 62 had it for days and my current Tele has mojo just dripping off of it.

How ever you design it, you need to make it a guitar that is raw, OK my current one has forearm and tummy cut, but we do not make these things works of art, they are no nonsense tone mobiles. Begging to be abused. (apologies go out to Mayfly's beautiful hand painted Tele) and the things amaze you because as mean and nasty as they can be, a Tele will make you fall in love when she backs off and sings like an angel. Teles are works of art in basics, but they are priceless in soul stealing tone. They become a part of your fingers like no other guitar.

that is what makes a Tele a Tele

This makes me want to build a Tele...using only parts I can source at Home Depot!  :headbang1:

 

[Jusatele]

Can I offer my opinion ( lots of members are going to disagree with me)

the Tele was Leo's first design to go to market, it was a decent design but flawed and Raw
the Strat was the result of Leo doing extreme remake to get it right

Now, follow me

the thing so many of us love about the Tele is that Raw, tear at your soul tone it produces, and its balance, and we love it's plank like no apology feel. and the way you can squeeze a note forever.

I call it NASTY ATTITUDE . My 62 had it for days and my current Tele has mojo just dripping off of it.

How ever you design it, you need to make it a guitar that is raw, OK my current one has forearm and tummy cut, but we do not make these things works of art, they are no nonsense tone mobiles. Begging to be abused. (apologies go out to Mayfly's beautiful hand painted Tele) and the things amaze you because as mean and nasty as they can be, a Tele will make you fall in love when she backs off and sings like an angel. Teles are works of art in basics, but they are priceless in soul stealing tone. They become a part of your fingers like no other guitar.

that is what makes a Tele a Tele

This makes me want to build a Tele...using only parts I can source at Home Depot!   :headbang1:

then do it

 

[peter.k]

That half size pickguard is sensational :glasses9:

I have a chambered Swamp Ash 7/8 body in Mary Kay white on the way. Rear route, so I was thinking no pickguard or a cutdown one.

+1 for the pickguard!!

I think the head stock is not tuff enough for the body. The more angled strat headstock would look great. IMHO

 

[DustyCat]

Can I offer my opinion ( lots of members are going to disagree with me)

the Tele was Leo's first design to go to market, it was a decent design but flawed and Raw
the Strat was the result of Leo doing extreme remake to get it right

Now, follow me

the thing so many of us love about the Tele is that Raw, tear at your soul tone it produces, and its balance, and we love it's plank like no apology feel. and the way you can squeeze a note forever.

I call it NASTY ATTITUDE . My 62 had it for days and my current Tele has mojo just dripping off of it.

How ever you design it, you need to make it a guitar that is raw, OK my current one has forearm and tummy cut, but we do not make these things works of art, they are no nonsense tone mobiles. Begging to be abused. (apologies go out to Mayfly's beautiful hand painted Tele) and the things amaze you because as mean and nasty as they can be, a Tele will make you fall in love when she backs off and sings like an angel. Teles are works of art in basics, but they are priceless in soul stealing tone. They become a part of your fingers like no other guitar.

that is what makes a Tele a Tele

Methinks this cat has had pleeeeeenty "Tele Time" and is ready for some "ice cream Time!"   :laughing11: :laughing3::toothy10:

 

[peter.k]

Another thought....if it's to be a twin to the strat, how about a strat headstock and a pickguard which follows the bass side bouts of the guitar, like the strat does. ie from the neck the pickguard goes up towards the top of the guitar and cuts back sharply to follow the same contour as the bass side of the guitar. I hope this makes sense.............

 

[Jusatele]

Another thought....if it's to be a twin to the strat, how about a strat headstock and a pickguard which follows the bass side bouts of the guitar, like the strat does. ie from the neck the pickguard goes up towards the top of the guitar and cuts back sharply to follow the same contour as the bass side of the guitar. I hope this makes sense.............

if you want a TWIN so bad, make another Strat

 

[tfarny]

I like your mockup, except for the lack of tele pickups, tele bridge, tele controls, and tele pickguard. Other than that it's a great tele!

I personally think that the one thing you've got to have in a tele is a tele bridge and bridge pickup - without that it's a solid body two-bucker hardtail parts guitar with a telecaster shape. The keys to the tele are its simplicity and the bridge pickup tone, neither of which you have in your design.
I know I've just mortally offended everyone on this whole board, sorry....

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Then you'll really not like this one:

The tele headstock really wasn't doing it for me either but I couldn't quite place what it was.  I don't like the idea of a full strat headstock either - so I put the Warhead headstock on there.  I think I like it - I had to photoshop the vintage tint on there because I couldn't find any Warhead necks in the neck builder.

tfarny - did you listen to the video I put up in the first post?  I think it has a tele sound when he has the coils split - but like I said I don't have that much experience with Tele's so maybe I'm all wet.

When I said twin - I didn't mean identical twin, more like a matched set - with a twist.

 

[stubhead]

To my ear, a Bill Lawrence L500XL in the bridge with series/parallel/single coil will get as close to a Tele sound as you can get from a humbucker. The Hipshot hardtail or several other Gotohs are fine bridges, too. I used a big strat headstock on my #1, because of various things - Steve Morse's original Frankentele, the Telecaster Custom... I like weight in a neck, others don't. If you want to keep a traditional tele control plate, one really good and often used option is to turn it around, so that the knobs are closer to the neck end. You can also buy a blank control plate so that you can drill out what you want - the original blade switch takes up a lot of real estate, with a blank you can fit more knobs on. I've had several traditional teles, but now I only have two oddballs:

The swamp ash one is actually weirder than the aluminum one, what with the scalloped fretboard and rocket science wiring.

 

[Jusatele]

The control plate, you forgot the control plate

 

[tfarny]

Then you'll really not like this one:

The tele headstock really wasn't doing it for me either but I couldn't quite place what it was.  I don't like the idea of a full strat headstock either - so I put the Warhead headstock on there.  I think I like it - I had to photoshop the vintage tint on there because I couldn't find any Warhead necks in the neck builder.

tfarny - did you listen to the video I put up in the first post?  I think it has a tele sound when he has the coils split - but like I said I don't have that much experience with Tele's so maybe I'm all wet.

When I said twin - I didn't mean identical twin, more like a matched set - with a twist.

I'm sure it would make a great guitar, just not a great "telecaster" - but don't please me, please yourself. It looks great. It just doesnt look like a telecaster at all. BTW I have a "tele" with a neck bucker, contours, mahog body, and rosewood / ebony 24.75" neck with a warmoth headstock. I'm not a purist - but it does have a tele bridge and bridge pup.

 

[Cagey]

I like it. The Vintage Tele headstock, pickups, bridges, tuners and controls leave a lot to be desired. That's why Leo came out with the Stratocaster. But, if one appreciates the Tele body shape, then it can certainly be built to look good and behave itself. Electric guitar mechanicals and electricals have advanced quite a way since that guitar was originally designed.