Four decades of Teles from parts.....and growing.

[Unwound G]

My first attempt to assemble a guitar from parts was during the late 70s when I noticed a small ad in Guitar Player magazine of a cartoon turtle playing a guitar.  I bought my first Boogie Body Strat and neck which led to more builds over three decades of fun, skill acquisition, profit and purpose.  I will be posting only Teles that I have built/assembled and hopefully it will be an archive thread of more Teles as I uncover old pictures or new builds as they come to hand.

Here is the first Tele I assembled using a Schecter body (from Rudy's NYC) and a Charvel neck (from GC) in the early 1980.

 

[stubhead]

Heavy brass everythings! I love it... and the number of 50's and 60's Fenders that got "improved" that way is astonishing. Hmmm. I wonder where THEY all went.... :icon_scratch:

 

[m4rk0]

I am starting to get GAS for "Vintage" parts guitars... especially the once with lots of brass..
I saw a really cool all birdseye maple boogie body on ebay the other day.. I think I should buy it

 

[Unwound G]

Next up a Warmoth Alder Tele and Rosewood fretboard neck which I made for a musician who worked on cruise ships.  Twenty odd years later the owner brought it back to me for a refret and pickup change.  I took the opportunity to snap a picture of it to show how well it stood up over time at sea.  Cannot complain on quality Warmoth parts.

 

[Unwound G]

I received a promo fax (no email then) from Warmoth that they are starting to do paint work and have just installed a UV booth for curing paint.  I have always wanted a Mary Kaye Tele with a Strat neck pickup so I wrote back if they can meet what I want.  Here is the assembled guitar :

Over the years, the paint actually flaked off which perhaps UV curing is not that good after all.  I am glad Warmoth's paint shop has improved by leaps and bounds to now.

 

[Unwound G]

I am starting to get GAS for "Vintage" parts guitars... especially the once with lots of brass..
I saw a really cool all birdseye maple boogie body on ebay the other day.. I think I should buy it

Make sure it is from the 70s or 80s where Lynn Ellsworth was still in partnership with Jim Warmoth.

 

[Unwound G]

Received another fax from Warmoth telling me that they have a nice stash of figured Walnut in stock and wondered if I wish to have a body made from that.  I think it was the time when Warmoth were just moving towards offering figured and exotic woods apart from the usual Alder, Ash and Maple choice.  I asked for a hollow Tele body which was also a recent offering at the time and decided to have a set of P90s in them.  The neck is Brazilian Rosewood before the ban.  BTW, I had to pay extra for the P90 routs as it was not offered then  :laughing7:

The completed guitar was sold to a jazz fusion player wanting to sound like Larry Carlton who at the time was playing his Valley Arts 24.75" scale Tele made from Warmoth parts by Mike McGuire.

 

[Unwound G]

This is a scratch built Tele with a Warmoth neck.  I was commissioned to build a "Dead Beatles" guitar for a Fab Four Tribute concert in memory of George Harrison, who just passed away at the time and for John Lennon as well.  The idea was a guitar like George's famous Rosewood Tele and electronics like John's Madison Garden Les Paul Jr.

The guitar was auctioned off at the end of the concert for a worthy cause.

 

[Unwound G]

and recent Tele builds of which some are sold and some I kept.

There are a few more but I have lost track as to who owns them now.  I may be able to recover some old pictures and post them with perhaps some future Tele builds.

Cheers for visiting this post.

 

[m4rk0]

that is a great collection of Teles!!!!!

[Make sure it is from the 70s or 80s where Lynn Ellsworth was still in partnership with Jim Warmoth.

I think so, but it is no longer for  sale

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Boogie-Bodies-Warmoth-Schecter-DREAM-MACHINE-/110724124356?pt=Guitar&hash=item19c7ac0ec4#ht_10167wt_1185

 

[bagman67]

HUBBA HUBBA

 

[kboman]

I really like the cruise-Tele and the Cabronita in the lower left corner in the group shot. Very nice.

 

[Unwound G]

Found an old photo over the weekend.  This Tele was not intended as pictured :

I was asked to build and assemble a Charvel style shred Strat with a reversed Strat 24.75" neck with 24 fret.  Subsequently, the build never materialized and I was left with a neck already prepared for a locking nut.  I think it was around the time when the blitz was telling everyone that "Shred Is Dead".  I had a hollow Ash Tele body lying around at the time without any bridge or pickup preparation so I decided to complete the guitar with a hardtail bridge/tailpiece.  I chose Schaller's stud tailpiece with fine tunes to complement the locking nut.  When completed, it was an instant hit and I managed to sell it without any problems.

 

[Unwound G]

An old picture of another variation of a Tele built around the time of MTV's Unplugged phase.  Every club band had an acoustic set then so naturally there was a demand by electric players for an acoustic that stays close to their electric specs.  I had no idea how to do it so with the help of Jamie Chivers, a former Warmoth employee, he guided me step by step for this build which turned out perfect in terms of string height and intonation.  The tone was not too bad either through the house sound system.

 

[riverbluff]

Some great looking builds.

 

[Unwound G]

A forum member messaged to inform me that Jamie Chivers passed away in 2009 at age 53.  I am greatly saddened by this.  He taught me a great deal about guitar making and fine tuning to make a guitar play better.  R.I.P. Jamie.

 

 

[tfarny]

Sorry to hear that Unw.

I have a question - why do you favor those huge Schaller bridges? No one else seems to use them. I can see their mass being kinda useful but wouldn't a more basic bridge and a string through accomplish that same objective?

 

[Alfang]

Wow, am so impressed, love this thread. I have added you to my personal heros list on this board , which I just now started
My List so Far: Tonar
                        UnwoundG
                        Troubled Treble
                        Max

Theres more, but I'm tired and can't think

 

[Unwound G]

Thanks everyone for your positive comments.

tfarny, it was the early 90's and Floyd Rose was ruling the domain with heavy bulky bridges so perception was somewhat different then. We were also being led by the media that heavy bridges have better sustain and tone especially for guitars with humbuckers or P90s.  The saddles of these bridges are also narrower so string spacings for humbucker polepieces are more precise.  If I am building these guitars today, I would prefer to use Tele cut-off bridges.

Alfang, you are too kind.  I noticed we have been members since this forum started so we have known each other for 4 years.  So you online soon.

 

[Alfang]

Yeh, my days may be numbered, or minutes, I just raged on some other member on another thread, I might get the boot, but I stand by what I said, it needed to be said