Just had to have this..............

[peter.k]

Hi all. I have been a lurker here for a while, haven't posted much but learnt a lot. I am a sucker for the Mary Kaye color scheme and couldn't pass this up from the Warmoth Showcase.........7/8 Tele, rear mount, chambered......this will be my first build. 24 3/4 scale length suits me just fine :glasses9:

I will post real pics when I get the body delivered. Thanks to everyone here at this great site.

Pete

 

[Cagey]

That's gonna work out just fine almost no matter what you do to it. Not everybody likes a Mary Kay finish, but I think they look great. You get the best of both worlds - a color that doesn't clash with anything, and a wood grain to give it life and character.

Have any idea what kind of neck you're going to put on there?

 

[peter.k]

Cagey, at the moment I am thinking maple with side dot markers only. The Warhead headstock looks great, but I want 1 3/4" nut width, which from what I have read is not available. I just noticed the Superwide Warhead neck though...might be too wide. I play alot of fingerstyle and really like some width in the neck. The more I learn here things could change though........

 

[Cagey]

I like that neck, too, although I'd do ebony rather than maple for the fingerboard. Maple has to be finished, and finished fingerboards always feel wierd, at least to me. Plus, they don't wear well. If you play a lot, it won't take any time at before the thing looks like death. The other thing is, a black 'board against a white(ish) body is perfect, especially with stainless steel frets. Don't forget, you gotta have those. It's a law <grin>

The difference between a 1 11/16" wide vs. 1 3/4" is only 1/16" (.0625"), so you're only talking about approximately ten thousandths of inch difference between strings. When it comes to necks, it doesn't take much to notice a difference, but that's pretty small. If you want a Warmoth head on a conversion neck, it might be worth the chance.

I'm also looking forward to an inlay-free neck. The more I see of them, the more sense they make, and they definitely look exceptional.

 

[drewfx]

The 7/8ths have the bridge in the wrong place for conversion necks.

And the Superwide necks are just "normal" necks with the Warhead headstock and expect the "normal" bridge placement as well (i.e. not the 7/8th bridge placement).

So you can either contact them and see if they will custom make you a wide 7/8th neck, or you'll have to make do with 1 11/16".

 

[B3Guy]

needs to be la-cabronated  :icon_thumright:

 

[Alfang]

Theres a section in the showcase that has 7/8 scale necks,  I like the idea of no fretboard markers and an all maple fretboard,

And by the way, that's the kind of woodgrain on that body that Tonar loves to get his hands on and work his magic.  Not a big fan of MaryK, I think a Tonar Burst would look awesome

 

[bigguspickus]

Nice Tele! :icon_thumright: 7/8th the body. All the awesome.

I too prefer the wider necks for fingerstylin'. It wouldn't hurt to call or email Warmoth and ask if they can make you a custom neck for that body with a wide nut.

 

[peter.k]

Thanks for all your comments. Cagey, I get what you are saying about ebony and white. I will take my time with this, there's a lot to learn and I wanna get it right first time......I have stainless frets on my Ibanez Les Paul, yes, the only way to go.......

BTW, I was wondering why a Tele bridge needs ten mounting holes..........until I realised six of them are for those stringy things we need to put on our guitars.......  :icon_biggrin:

 

[Cagey]

Ah, yes. The dreaded stringy things. Bloody things are hell on earth. They'll cause you to develop callouses if you're not careful.

Incidentally, if you've never tried a set of stainless steel strings, you ought to give them a go one time. They not only last forever, they'll add a brightness to your fiddle that it never had before. After 40 years, I finally got a set about a year ago, and was quite pleasantly surprised. I wouldn't put them on everything, but it's a cheap way to breathe new life into an instrument that's less that thrilling at the moment. They're only a couple bucks more than standard strings, so it's no hardship if you decide to toss 'em.

 

[Alfang]

Wow, I buy my strings in bulk, so I can go for years without shopping for strings, I didn't even know they made stainless strings, I gotta try that, I have guitars I don't play often, so the strings just rust sitting there.

 

[Cagey]

Yeah, they're pretty cool. I didn't know about them until about a year ago myself for the same reason, but according to my brother they've been around forever. A lot of bass players use stainless strings, although they might not realize it. But, that's why they can go seemingly forever (relatively speaking) between string changes.

They are bright, though. You'd notice that right off the bat without even listening for it or having anyone tell you. But, it's a pleasant brightness. Not cold, shrill or edgy, just more clear. They also seem to have a stretch limit, although that could be my imagination. It's not a "do not exceed" point; that is, if you can do it it's okay to push them up 3 steps and they won't break. But, you can sorta feel a point where there seems to be increased resistance to stretching any further. But, like I said, that could just be me. I don't play 4-5 hours a day like I used to, plus I'm getting old and bitchy lazy <grin>

The ones I've been playing have been the Ernie Ball "Super Slinkys", .009-.042, which are $4.69/set at Musician's Fiend. It's a cheap experiment. Give 'em a shot. Worst thing that can happen is you change back right away. Still costs less than a six-pack.

 

[peter.k]

Deciding on what to do with this body is going to be harder than I thought. In the last few days I have gone from doing a full Mary Kay job with all the gold bling to this:

http://www.guitar.com.au/guitars/electric/fender/electricguitars/teles/09tele/products_/search9923.html.

I just to have those inlays. Black and white guitar, a classic combination that really brings out the white body and grain. Short tele bridge  :toothy10:........ My guitar would have no control plate. I am torn between pickguard or not. It looks great on the G E Smith tele which has transparent paint, but I don't know if I want to cover the front of mine. Oh the good old days when one went to a shop and just bought whatever was in the store......  :laughing8: