First tele build

[pabellas]

Hi all,
I am looking to build my first guitar and need some advice. I am an experienced carpenter and machinist so I am good with wood, metal and precision, but lack the guitar knowledge.

Second I am building the guitar for my girlfriend who is a serious player. She has about 8 or 9 guitars but her go-to guitar is a vintage Jerry Donahue strat. When she does blues or country though she often laments that she would like a tele, so hence my quest to learn to build one (I love to build things).

So after lurking here for a couple of months I decided my goals are lighter weight, warmer sound (but with a little versatility), kind of traditional. After talking with her band mates and looking at what she likes about her favorite strat here is my current plan:

Swamp Ash carved top (hollow) cherry burst with gold hardware (no pickguard)
-Gotoh Standard Tele 6 saddle bridge
-Tele bridge pickup
-Humbucker neck pickup (for versatility?)
Birdseye maple (solid) neck
-Gd6150 frets, Sperzel locking tuners, corian nut

2 Question:
-Am I out of line on this setup?
-I need recommendations on manufacturer of pickups (lollar, duncan, etc.) for that warmer bluesy kind of sound.

Thanks.
-Pete-

 

[Cagey]

Your plan sounds very good to me.

As for pickups, there's no way to tell what's "best". There are literally hundreds of commercial and private manufacturers of the things and no matter what anybody says it won't apply. It's very much a crap shoot. The guitar's construction, the playing style, the pickup's design, the player's ear, on and on all have a say in what sounds good/bad/indifferent. Bitchiest part of all is that it's a major component of the sound, so your choice is crucial to the end result.

It's tough to go wrong with the majors like Seymour Duncan or DiMarzio, but finer palates who can afford the premium prices may prefer something a little more esoteric from one of the "boutique" builders. If you're not a brand name whore and are willing to take a small chance, a lot of people are finding out that the offerings from GFS are surprisingly good. They're high-quality parts at very reasonable prices, so if it turns out you don't like them you can almost afford to toss 'em.

I don't have a lot of love for the traditional "Tele" sound, so I can't recommend anything along those lines. But, if you have the the body cut for Strat pickups, or perhaps a combination of humbucker bridge and single coil neck pickups, the varieties are endless. On the plus side, it's tough to get a "bad" pickup these days, so don't agonize too much.

 

[Cagey]

Incidentally, if you intend for this to be a Christmas present, you better haul ass. Unless you buy something out of The Showcase, you may not get it in time. Christmas is only 8 weeks away, and parts that need finishing can easily take that long to get.

 

[Corey P.]

I agree that everything sounds great, and it's a killer gesture.  I'd definitely go single coil for the bridge pickup, since that's the pickup fans of the distinctive Tele sound favor (some also swear by barrel saddles, I don't have any first-hand experience to steer you one way or the other).  If you did go the humbucker route for the neck it may be cool to have the versatility of coil tapping to work in some single coil sounds.  Like Cagey said, there's no "right" choice for pickups - I'm personally intrigued by the Bare Knuckle Piledriver Tele set, but I've heard excellent things about Ken from Roadhouse's offerings as well.

 

[Mor Paul]

I like recommending Ken at Roadhouse Pickups (TroubledTreble on this board). He'll make them exactly like you want.

But, this time, I have another suggestion as well.
http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/electric/telecaster/medium-output/jerry_donahue_t/
They Seymour Duncan Jerry Donahue pickup. It's based on a vintage tele pickup, which is a favorite for country and blues.
I haven't tried it, but I've heard lots of great things.

 

[Nightclub Dwight]

If she already has 8 or 9 guitars, most likely one of them is already equipped with humbucker pickups.  If so, I'd go with the traditional single coil tele pickups for both the bridge and neck.  Telecasters aren't for everyone, but they are certainly one of the most distinctive and classic guitars out there.  I say go for the full-on tele experience and leave the humbuckers for a different guitar.

Just my two cents.  Either way it sounds like you have a nice plan there, I'm sure she'll love it no matter what you decide.

 

[NQbass7]

If you wanted versatility, maybe stick a P-Rail in the neck. That's what I did, and with just the rail on, it's not too different from a typical Tele sound, but you can also get P-90 sounds or a (non-typical) humbucker sound too.

 

[Just Another Smith]

I think versatility is not a priority with the number of guitars she already owns.  I would go with distinctive, and try to get the most classic telesound you can get with single coils.  I'm not going to suggest a specific pick-up since I don't know which would be the best (enlist her bandmates to find out what she wants)

Just a side note, one of the best presents my wife ever got me was a gig bag for my effects pedals and a guitar stand.  I can't imagine how out of my head I would've been if she got me a custom guitar.  Kuddos to you mate.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

A third vote for Ken's Roadhouse Pickups.  I have a couple of sets I want to get, if I ever stop getting involved in projects that take all my money...
Patrick

 

[tfarny]

Great project. I'm a huge fan of exactly the kind of guitar you've got in mind. Your ideas:



Swamp Ash carved top (hollow) cherry burst with gold hardware (no pickguard)  (great but you'll be picking from the showcase to get this on time)
-Gotoh Standard Tele 6 saddle bridge - (it's a fine bridge but if you can spend a bit more, I LOVE the hipshot tele bridge. It's 4 ounces lighter too, which is significant.
-Tele bridge pickup - Duncan Jerry Donahue for sure. Such a great pickup.
-Humbucker neck pickup (for versatility?) - maybe a Seymour Duncan mini humbucker would be a better choice? It's a classic alternative to a tele neck pickup. The Vintage output SD neck pickup sounds great and is reasonably priced. Lollar and others make fantastic products too.
Birdseye maple (solid) neck - great, of course.
-Gd6150 frets, Sperzel locking tuners, corian nut - all fine choices

lYou didn't mention the neck profile, which is pretty important - ask her what guitar of hers has the best neck, and then measure its thickness at the nut and the 12th fret, then compare to warmoth's specs.
For light weight, consider: body under 4 lb., Vintage Modern neck construction (not pro - the extra truss rod adds significant weight and in the wrong place), the previously mentioned Hipshot bridge.

 

[llmtelecaster]

Like somebody already said, it's pretty much a crap shoot. But you've got the right idea by looking at what she already likes.

But for what it's worth, I just built a tele not long ago and found that the vintage ashtray bridge was just too brittle-sounding...too Tele-sounding. I know that totally defeated the purpose, but I just didn't like it. I replaced it with the Babicz tele bridge and it sounds much better to me now.

And as far pickups go. Pickups are kinda like greeting cards. You can waste 2 hours looking at every damn card on the rack or you can just go with the first one you like and stick with it. I bought a set of Fralins for one of my strats and liked them enough to just sorta default to them everytime I build a guitar. Then again I've never been a tone-junkie. To me, the Callaham special-wind Fralin tele pups sound killer. Clear and warm but with plenty of bite when you really dig in.

 

[pabellas]

Thank you all for your input, great things to consider. I am going to meet up with a couple of her band mates at their gig tonight (she is out of town) and I will see if I can nail it down.

I'll let you know where it goes, I am getting excited about starting the build.

-Pete-

 

[Stew]

Two other pickup suggestions:
http://fezzterpickups.webs.com/ I have Fezzters 'Effbuckers' in my tele and they are great ... everything I wanted from traditional tele twang to funk to blues.

http://wildepickups.com/ I have Bill's NoiseFree Singles in my strat which are cool, but also worth looking at the Keystones (more tradtional) and the new MicroCoils (supposed to be super-tweakable).

Both build great pickups at a great price.

 

[pabellas]

Thanks for all the thoughts. I spent some time this last weekend talking with her band mates and I decided to stick more traditional telecaster (based on what she likes and the fact that she has other guitars for for other styles, good point Dwight!). I ordered all my parts (found a nice body in the showcase) and ended up ordering the Vintage T pickups from Lollar. Next post will be in the Just of of the Box group! I am seriously excited.

Thanks again.

-Pete-