I'm officially joining the club (1st order placed)

[Damon]

This morning my wife caught me oogling a tele body in the showcase again. Conversation went like this:

"Do you like that body?"

"Yeah, it's cool. Fairly rare flamed swamp ash. Never seen it before."

"I don't know what that means, but since your birthday is in a few weeks and I haven't bought you a present yet, why don't you buy it."

"... *blink* ... For real?"

"Yeah. Happy birthday."

:icon_biggrin:

And so within five minutes, this was on the way:

Now to convice her to let me buy the neck for our anniversary in August....

 

[Cagey]

Nice! That is a unique body, and very attractive.

Speaking of bodies, after a gift like that, if I were you, I'd let my wife get into my pants tonight... <grin>

 

[pabloman]

That thing is so sexy. I would like a unique Tele like that with a half tele bridge and direct mounted pups. Good stuff there. ccasion14:

 

[Doughboy]

That's a sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet body. I't screaming for a birdseye maple neck with a dotless rosewood board.

 

[bob7point7]

I'm normally a fan of pickguards on Teles, but you need to build this one with no pickguard. Just a control plate and either direct mounted pickups or a chrome ring around the neck pickup. However you build it, this one is going to be sweet!

 

[Damon]

Nice! That is a unique body, and very attractive.

Speaking of bodies, after a gift like that, if I were you, I'd let my wife get into my pants tonight... <grin>

I like the way you think.

That's a sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet body. I't screaming for a birdseye maple neck with a dotless rosewood board.

I've decided that I'll go with a one-piece maple neck in vintage tint satin with SS frets. Haven't decided on birdseye or flame yet. Leaning towards no inlay, but I generally don't care for that look on maple. But since I don't really want black dots and I don't really see abalone working with this color scheme - and most others, for that matter - I'm not sure what else I'd do.

 

[Damon]

I'm normally a fan of pickguards on Teles, but you need to build this one with no pickguard. Just a control plate and either direct mounted pickups or a chrome ring around the neck pickup. However you build it, this one is going to be sweet!

I'm so torn on this. I really, REALLY don't like teles with a control plate and no pickguard. But I really, REALLY don't want to cover up this top. But then there was this pic from the showcase, and it looks really nice...

Gah, so torn.

 

[Cagey]

I don't know... I've seen some no-inlay maple necks on here that were pretty attractive. I don't care for a maple fingerboard because of the finish, but that's just me. If you use poly, it'll last a lot longer before it looks like a biohazard.

 

[Cagey]

That vintage pearl pickguard looks good on there, and the area it's covering isn't nearly as figured as the rest of the thing. I don't think you'd lose much at all using that part. And, you'd have what you want, which is much more important. It's not like you get to build one of these every month. Better be happy with it, eh? <grin>

 

[llmtelecaster]

The pearl scratchplate actually goes very well with that. Kinda looks like a Fender Deluxe Tele except much better looking.

 

[Damon]

I don't know... I've seen some no-inlay maple necks on here that were pretty attractive. I don't care for a maple fingerboard because of the finish, but that's just me. If you use poly, it'll last a lot longer before it looks like a biohazard.

I had an American Std Strat a decade ago with a one-piece maple satin finished neck. Loved the feel of it. Kick myself regularly for selling that guitar. But didn't have it long enough to wear the finish off of the board, so I don't know how I'd have felt about it when it started looking ratty. I'm generally more a fan of rosewood or ebony boards, but I just can't see this particular build as anything but maple. Actually considered bloodwood on bloodwood, but I'm afraid the red would clash with the cherry. May end up going poly over satin for longevity, but i'm at least a couple of months away from having the cash to order the neck, so I'm sure I'll go back and forth a dozen times, then second-guess myself for a while afterwards.

 

[Damon]

That vintage pearl pickguard looks good on there, and the area it's covering isn't nearly as figured as the rest of the thing. I don't think you'd lose much at all using that part. And, you'd have what you want, which is much more important. It's not like you get to build one of these every month. Better be happy with it, eh? <grin>

The pearl scratchplate actually goes very well with that. Kinda looks like a Fender Deluxe Tele except much better looking.

Yeah, if I had to decide right now, I'd go with that pickguard. But tomorrow I'll want to show as much wood as possible. Ultimately, Cagey is right. The figuring that the PG covers is not as nice as what's below the bridge and I think having the pickguard will make me happier with the overall look. Probably go ahead and buy the PG either way so I can compare the two looks with the real deal and not drill the holes until I'm 99+% sure.

 

[Cagey]

Y'know what you could do is get a canary neck/board. That doesn't require a finish, has a slight vintage look to it to begin with, and sounds/feels very much like maple. For the premium they charge for it, it'll cost about the same or less than a satin-finished maple neck and it'll never get shiny on you. Get some mungo SS frets, and you're good to go.

This is obviously a Strat neck, but just to get an idea since there aren't any Tele necks like this in the Showcase at the moment...

It's $265 with SS wire and a Graphtec nut, in the box, out the door.

DO IT NOW! <grin>

 

[Damon]

Will W do a one-piece canary? It's not an option in the neck builder, but I know that doesn't always mean anything.

 

[Nando Vallart]

Congrats!

 

[Cagey]

Will W do a one-piece canary? It's not an option in the neck builder, but I know that doesn't always mean anything.

I don't know, but you want a Warmoth Pro neck anyway, and those never come as one-piece because the truss rod is buried under the 'board rather than from the back. I found a good example of one and edited it into the post a few back up from here.

 

[leo12.]

Damon got another option on the pickguard. Warmoth do a hybrid tele pickguard looks like the neck end of a thinline p/guard & mates
with the control plate tele wise. That body looks great i like the pearl to but would go the hybrid p/guard. (sorry i don't know how to do the link)
 

 

[Strat Avenger]

'Looks real good.    :glasses9:

 

[OzziePete]

Damon got another option on the pickguard. Warmoth do a hybrid tele pickguard looks like the neck end of a thinline p/guard & mates
with the control plate tele wise. That body looks great i like the pearl to but would go the hybrid p/guard. (sorry i don't know how to do the link)
 

Where's Max when you need him?  :icon_biggrin:

Here's the link to the mentioned hybrid pickguard..
http://www.warmoth.com/Pickguard/TeleHybridPickguard.aspx

Good looking Swamp Ash body, hope the project goes well for you.  :icon_thumright:

 

[Damon]

I was considering that hybrid scratchplate, but I'm not digging the vibe on the guitars wearing that in W's gallery. Probably gonna go with the vintage pearl regular Tele. Until I change my mind again.

Different Tele topic: 4-way switch. Is the series option useful? Anyone have sound clips?