First build-need some help possibly along the way.

[Kbowers6948]

Alright guys, I'm planning to build my big brother a telecaster for a wedding gift. He's been playing since he was about 8 and that was 26 years ago. He's finally settling down with a lady folk, and I wanted to get him something that he'd actually use, instead of getting stashed away in a closet so I decided a guitar would be perfect, for a guitarist.

I've decided on a warmoth chambered Tele body.
With amalfitano pickups. And I'm thinking a titanium stop bar tailpiece and titanium bridge/saddle from Tisonix. And a warmoth neck with rosewood fingerboard. Now my question is will this tailpiece and bridge/saddle be able to work with the warmoth tele body?

Am I missing anything? A buddy of mine and my brothers  is doing research on pots to make sure I get the right ones, and I'm guessing I'll probably go with titanium tuners as well. The buddy will be doing the work as far as putting it together for me (I'm an otr truck driver and don't really have the know how of setting one up,  trying to do this right the first time) thanks in advance guys. Let me know if yall have any words of advice.

 

[dmraco]

Welcome to the forum and what a great thing to do. 

To answer some of your questions right off that bridge will not work.  That tele looks like it is set up for a vintage type tele style.  Lots of choices out there but I will reserve comment because there are others that can make educated recommendations.

What type of neck and profile are you getting?  Important to get the right profile.  Standard thin is close to a lot of fender necks but there are many choices. 

Good luck.

 

[Kbowers6948]

Can you explain why it wouldn't work?

 

[mayfly]

Hi There,

What a great project for you and your brother.  Get it right and it will be in the family forever.

speaking of getting it right, yes that bridge will not work.  It would raise the strings too high off of the body of the guitar causing really tall (like 1/2") string action.  It would not be playable without shimming the neck.  If you really want that bridge, then you'll need to get the neck pocket re-cut at an angle.  There are several options here - a call to warmoth would help you out.  UPDATE:  As a guy with 7 warmoth telecasters, I'd like to steer you in the direction of a more traditional tele bridge.  This one is excellent:

Second thing about getting it right - the shape of the neck (the profile) is very important.  Arguably this is the most important thing.  To figure it out, get your brother's favourite guitar and measure the heck out of the neck.  We're talking about width at the nut, and thickness all the way up.  Use callipers if you have them.  Then check out the shape.  Is it kind of a V?  is it more round like a C?  Finally, ask your brother why this neck is the best - and he might give you clues like "I really like the shape, but you know it could be a little wider..."  This is all important to take into account to get the neck right.

Finally - tuners.  Get whatever material you like, but get locking ones.  Your brother will love you for it.

There will be more once it's time to put it together, but that will at least get you started.

 

[sixstringsamurai]

Hi There,

What a great project for you and your brother.  Get it right and it will be in the family forever.

speaking of getting it right, yes that bridge will not work.  It would raise the strings too high off of the body of the guitar causing really tall (like 1/2") string action.  It would not be playable without shimming the neck.  If you really want that bridge, then you'll need to get the neck pocket re-cut at an angle.  There are several options here - a call to warmoth would help you out.  UPDATE:  As a guy with 7 warmoth telecasters, I'd like to steer you in the direction of a more traditional tele bridge.  This one is excellent:

Second thing about getting it right - the shape of the neck (the profile) is very important.  Arguably this is the most important thing.  To figure it out, get your brother's favourite guitar and measure the heck out of the neck.  We're talking about width at the nut, and thickness all the way up.  Use callipers if you have them.  Then check out the shape.  Is it kind of a V?  is it more round like a C?  Finally, ask your brother why this neck is the best - and he might give you clues like "I really like the shape, but you know it could be a little wider..."  This is all important to take into account to get the neck right.

Finally - tuners.  Get whatever material you like, but get locking ones.  Your brother will love you for it.

There will be more once it's time to put it together, but that will at least get you started.

^^^All of this.^^^

I have been working on Guitars for the last 30 years.
The best most simply presented, non attitude laced advice I have found online is here.
None of these folks, myself included, will ever intentionally steer you wrong or brush off design ideas out of spite.

If you wanted to build a Seymour Duncan style "Tele-Gib" I would suggest something from the Virtual builder, that way you can get the neck pocket angled correctly for the hardware you want to use.

if your gonna fish the showcase, and go classic tele, I to would recommend the three saddle Bardon bridge.

 

[Hbom]

If you absolutely have to have a Stop bar and TOM you could look into the Carved Top Tele. They are designed to be made into Les Paul type guitars.
http://www.warmoth.com/Pages/ClassicShowcase.aspx?Body=2&Shape=2&Type=2&Ct=180&Path=Telecaster,CarvedTop&ctrlRout=183&orientation=28&bClass=195

 

[rgand]

Cool project. You'll make something he'll value for the rest of his life. Welcome to the forum. The guidance you'll get here is the best available. Looking forward to following your build.

 

[stratamania]

This link will provide a selection of in stock Tele bodies, suitable for a tuneomatic bridge and tailpiece.

http://www.warmoth.com/Pages/ClassicShowcase.aspx?Body=2&Shape=2&Path=Telecaster&bridgeRout=168

Or if ordering from scratch you need to select TOM/STP angled pocket.

Do you know what sort of guitar (s) your brother plays now. That could factor into the neck profile and scale length selection. This can make a big difference to some players.

You could always ask some sort of innocent questions such as that your curious if he finds different neck shapes and widths important when he was playing. You could always say you bumped into some one who was talking about that sort of stuff.

If you can find out some info and add it to the thread we can try and provide some pointers.

 

[Kbowers6948]

Found the right one different part number,  still gonna have to get it cut for a lefty. His go to girl is a Tele he bought back in about 2000 or so when he graduated. And he's got a Gibson LP as his other gig guitar. He prefers his tele though.

 

[Kbowers6948]

Since I'm going to have to get a left handed one made would they cut it for tele  pickups and tele controls for me?

 

[Cagey]

Since I'm going to have to get a left handed one made would they cut it for tele  pickups and tele controls for me? 

Yes. And at no charge. A lotta lefties shop at Warmoth for that reason. It's tough to find left-handed guitars to begin with, let alone custom ones.

I'm curious what you're going to do for the bride. Usually, wedding gifts are "homesteading" type things that both will appreciate. A custom guitar for the groom strikes me as a little one-sided. She may feel more than a little left out.

 

[Kbowers6948]

Well I am the best man, and the brother, I'm supposed to be one sided. Gonna build him this guitar and keep the get away car running just in case. No reason to make any rash decisions you know.  :laughing7:

 

[mayfly]

Found the right one different part number,  still gonna have to get it cut for a lefty. His go to girl is a Tele he bought back in about 2000 or so when he graduated. And he's got a Gibson LP as his other gig guitar. He prefers his tele though.

Another comment regarding the TOM bridge:  If you stick with it and the tele pickups you'll have to find some clever (i.e. non-standard) way of attaching the pickups so that they are at the right height for the strings.  If you are really stuck on the TOM bridge you might want to go with hum bucking pickups because the height will end up being correct for the application.  'course it won't sound much like a tele if you do that...

Based on everything I still think you should use a traditional tele bridge on the guitar.

 

[mayfly]

Since I'm going to have to get a left handed one made would they cut it for tele  pickups and tele controls for me?

Yep, Warmoth would route and finish the body (almost) any way that you'd like.

 

[dmraco]

Found the right one different part number,  still gonna have to get it cut for a lefty. His go to girl is a Tele he bought back in about 2000 or so when he graduated. And he's got a Gibson LP as his other gig guitar. He prefers his tele though.

That will work.  My bad.  I assumed you had already pulled the trigger on the 1st body you posted.

 

[Kbowers6948]

No harm done Dmarco, now the million dollar question is, how do I make the single coils work with the TOM/ stop bar setup.  Somebody said I'd have to set single coils up differently to make it work? Do they need to be higher or lower or? What's the difference in height or what not between humbuckers and single coils?

Because if that'd work then this would be prefect.

UPDATE: How bout something like this?  Maybe if I could find one a little better looking but would this work to get it set at the right height/angle and whatever other problems there might be?

 

[dmraco]

You can either purchase single coil rings or mount the solid to the body with spacers.  either method allows you to play with height.

take a look here.  Just design the PU configuration you are looking for with a back route and pick up the ringshttp://www.guitarfetish.com/Telecaster-neck-pickup-Black-Metal-Trim-Ring_p_1526.html

 

[Kbowers6948]

And that'd work for both pickups?

 

[mayfly]

And that'd work for both pickups?

No, that would only work for the neck pickup.  The bridge telecaster pickup is a completely different and much larger shape.  It would also not solve your height problems.  To be honest, I'm not sure how you'd go about fixing that without it looking ugly.  Anyone out there done that?

Another issue with the bridge pickup is that it will not fit in a standard humbucker cavity.  You'll have to get creative with wood working to make it fit in a standard hum bucker hole.  Finally, the plate you found looks ok, but the pickup is still going to be 1/2" too low.  I honestly don't know of a good solution for that issue.

 

[Fat Pete]

Why are you set on the TOM/stop bridge? If your brother likes Teles, the pickup and bridge combination is quite a big part of the character of the instrument.