Gordita: 3p90ish 7/8ths padouk tele.

[mgaut051]

My desire to be original trumped my desire to make something classic here. A new take on the 3P90: Gordita.

Homemade one-piece 7/8ths Padouk body with a Warmoth Canary neck (25.5").
All SD with a vintage in neck, custom neck in middle and p90 hot in bridge.
Homebrew Ebony tone bar as string ferrule in back.

6 way rotary chosing Neck, Middle, Bridge p90, Neck + Bridge p90 in series, neck + bridge p90 in parallel, Neck + middle + bridge p90 in series; and a push pull volume pot that adds the rail to any of the combinations above for a little added punch.

Finished unfilled with wipe-on-poly.

 

[nexrex]

Wow, I love everything about this. The no grain filler looks great. Nice switching options too.  :icon_thumright:

January GOTM is going to be hard with this type of competition

 

[mgaut051]

Thought January was all about GOTY?

 

[Nicholasdaniel]

I'm loving it  :icon_thumright:


Yet another sexy tele on the boards    :toothy10:

Hows it sound by the way?

 

[mgaut051]

Unplugged it already sounds great (though not very loud) - I was a little surprised because there's no chamber, and the little b*tch is quite heavy (great sustain, obviously).
The neck pickup is a vintage SD P90 - it has bite, and sounds just enough like a tele - bright, but definitely not thin. Adding the rail darkens it up a bit, increases the output, but not a full on HB sound.
The mid is a high output SD custom - it's loud, punchy, dark. I wired it out of phase with the rail, but adding the rail doesn't really make it sound oop. They must be REALLY mismatched. It just makes it a little louder, a little darker.
The bridge I love - PRails Hot - pure DRIVE. Bright, bite, LOUD. It's great. Punch in the rail, and it's a mean HB - (What's the absolute opposite of sterile?) IT'S DIRTY!
Neck and bridge in series is very punchy on the attack, but still reasonably bright. Adding the rail doesn't really improve the sound at all.
Neck and bridge in parallel is bright and loud - great for garage type rock alt. Adding the rail doesn't really improve the sound at all.
All three pickups in series is a monster of attack - it's like the bass drum going off every time you strum a chord. No definition at all! But man, so loud, pure guttural aggression. Adding the rail barely changes anything at all - it's already so violent.
For distortion, neck, bridge as a HB, NB in parallel and NMB in series (the last being pure rage).

I've been encouraged by the iPhone recording - I may try it (even though guitar playing is TERRIBLE) and put sthing up here. Don't know if the 3GS is gonna cut it though...

 

[bagman67]

Hi, Marty -

Sorry to necropost here, but per your suggestion in the GOTM thread, I thought I would give some feedback on your build.

I really like the choice you made in building out of padouk - it's a handsome color and I like the grain.  Your workmanship is first rate.  The pickup choices I can't quibble with, because that's obviously a matter of personal taste.  Visually, I think I'd have gone with black covers - as it is, they're pretty bright-looking against that rich reddish wood, and as such, the marked contrast doesn't work for me.  For comparison, the ebony ferrule-plate in back looks extremely "right."

Separately, and I know this has been discussed on this forum and elsewhere, the glossy finish on the open-grained wood is an unusual choice, and one that I respect as your individual artistic decision.  But to me, a glossy finish looks best when they are unbroken by the pores of the wood the finish lies upon (and, not that it applies here, any other irregularity in the surface). At best, the look is  idiosyncratic, and at worst, it looks like the finisher simply failed to prep the surface correctly.  To give you your due, you skew heavily toward idiosyncratic here, since it's clear that what you made was the result of intention rather than an "oops".

Finally, there is the issue of proportion.  My brain is perhaps too well conditioned to the standard proportions of a telecaster body with a 25.5" scale neck.  Here, the neck seems overlong for gordita's petite body - and that makes the axe seem off balance to me.  Perhaps a short scale neck would appear more proportional to me.  That said, I am a big fan of what works, even if what works differs considerably from what I'm habituated to.  If I were to pick it up and play it and it felt comfortable, I'm sure my doubts about the proportions would fall away like moose antlers in the springtime.

Thanks, and please know I really like the creativity you displayed in building this guitar, but my personal taste runs somewhat otherwise.

Peace

Bagman

 

[OzziePete]

Hi Marty
Great finished project, congrats!  :blob7:  :blob7:  :blob7:

The switching is interesting, any chances of posting up a schematic on how you worked out the rotary switching?  :icon_scratch:

 

[mgaut051]

Hi Marty
Great finished project, congrats!  :blob7:  :blob7:  :blob7:

The switching is interesting, any chances of posting up a schematic on how you worked out the rotary switching?  :icon_scratch:

Sorry - I've been AFK for quite some time.

Remember that because of the series wiring options, your P90's leads must be sheilded (I used heatshrink).
I you want me to add a tone, I could probably do that easily enough.
The middle-oop-with-rail option on the mid pup is not impressive, I think because the pups are very mismatched.
There may be some minor issues with the diagram - I'm working from memory - I'm pretty sure I'm missing a connection between the ground on my volume pot and my sleeve...
If it aint clear, I can talk you through it - the two octogons are the wafers on the 4P6T.

Hi, Marty -

Sorry to necropost here, but per your suggestion in the GOTM thread, I thought I would give some feedback on your build.

I really like the choice you made in building out of padouk - it's a handsome color and I like the grain.  Your workmanship is first rate.  The pickup choices I can't quibble with, because that's obviously a matter of personal taste.  Visually, I think I'd have gone with black covers - as it is, they're pretty bright-looking against that rich reddish wood, and as such, the marked contrast doesn't work for me.  For comparison, the ebony ferrule-plate in back looks extremely "right."

Separately, and I know this has been discussed on this forum and elsewhere, the glossy finish on the open-grained wood is an unusual choice, and one that I respect as your individual artistic decision.  But to me, a glossy finish looks best when they are unbroken by the pores of the wood the finish lies upon (and, not that it applies here, any other irregularity in the surface). At best, the look is  idiosyncratic, and at worst, it looks like the finisher simply failed to prep the surface correctly.  To give you your due, you skew heavily toward idiosyncratic here, since it's clear that what you made was the result of intention rather than an "oops".

Finally, there is the issue of proportion.  My brain is perhaps too well conditioned to the standard proportions of a telecaster body with a 25.5" scale neck.  Here, the neck seems overlong for gordita's petite body - and that makes the axe seem off balance to me.  Perhaps a short scale neck would appear more proportional to me.  That said, I am a big fan of what works, even if what works differs considerably from what I'm habituated to.  If I were to pick it up and play it and it felt comfortable, I'm sure my doubts about the proportions would fall away like moose antlers in the springtime.

Thanks, and please know I really like the creativity you displayed in building this guitar, but my personal taste runs somewhat otherwise.

Peace

Bagman

I LOVE NECROPOSTING!

So - thanks for the feedback, you're echoing most of the concerns I've had with this build myself. I actually started from cream covers and worked up to padouk for the body wood. I liked the strong contrast - it's meant to be a little rude. The ebony ferrule-bar was a repair, but I'm quite quite quite happy with how it turned out.

I'm having some pretty serious regrets about the glossy finish, but it plays and looks great now, and I'd rather build another than refinish. It mostly came about out of impatience. I liked the open grain LP Jr type thing, and the candy-apple gloss padouk thing. Unfortunately they didn't reconcile well. I don't think I'll refinish - again, I'd rather build another (different). It was my intention to make Gordita rude, but I agree the finish leaves me wanting.

The 7/8ths thing was again part of the concept. On TDPRI someone said it perfectly: 10lbs of Sh*t in a 5lb bag. It feels great standing (8lbs!), and terrible sitting. It's definitely a player, and not a studio guitar.

Thanks again for the great feedback, I appreciate it!

Martin