New Member, Newly Ordered Build

[pwrmac7600]

Decided to join up and memorialize my build. lol

Not new to Warmoth, built 2 back in the early 90's. Ended up selling them both over the years, and recently decided to give it another go.
I found myself really drooling after a Friedman Vintage T with dual humbuckers. BUT, I wasn't willing to pay Friedman prices for it. So I decided to build my own. I specd most of it out to match the Friedman specs, and some of it out to what i know my preferences are.
Everything i need is ordered, just waiting for all of it to be delivered, and as I stated, waiting for the body neck and guard to arrive which looks like it is still far far away. lol I'm thinking mid september. but who knows.

Ordered up all of my parts back on July 10th. Now I am just impatiently awaiting the delivery.
So here's the list of what I am doing.
Body:
Model: Tele Deluxe
Scale: 25-1/2"
Wood: Mahogany
Rout: Top Rout
Bridge: Fender® American Standard Flat Mount
Jack Rout: 7/8" (22mm) Side Jack Hole
Neck Pocket: Tele® Shape
Mounting Holes: Standard 4 Bolt
Contours: Contoured Heel / Tummy Cut
Top Finish: Transparent Red
Back Finish: Transparent Red
Finish Type: Gloss Finish

Neck:
I ended up getting a showcase neck, pretty basic, nothing fancy.
Style: Telecaster®
Construction: Vintage/Modern Construction
Orientation: Right Handed
Neck Wood: Maple
Fingerboard Wood: Indian Rosewood (Dark)
Nut Width: 1-5/8"
Back Shape: Standard thin
Fret Size: 6150
Tuner Ream: Schaller (25/64")
Radius: 10-16" Compound
Scale: 25-1/2"
Fret #: 22
Mounting Holes: Standard 4 Bolt
Pre-Cut Installed String Nut: GraphTech Black TUSQ XL - Standard Nut
Inlays: Cream Face Dots
Side Dots: White Side Dots
Finish: Vint Tint Satin Nitro
black gloss headstock

And of course the Pickguard will be a 3 play black white black cut for Gibson style humbuckers.

I am putting Schaller locking staggered tuners in chrome
CTS 550k pots
Friedman Classic + pickup in the bridge and Classic in the neck.
Electrosocket input jack.

Attached is an image of what I am going for, minus the relic.

 

[NedRyerson]

Dang, that's pretty!

 

[PhilHill]

Welcome to the Forum, and that sounds like it'll be a nice build. Be sure to post pics, we love build logs here.  :icon_thumright:

 

[pwrmac7600]

Well, As of today all of my parts have arrived, with the exception of the body and neck. So once those arrive I am set to start building.

Received my 550K Short shaft CTS pots and orange drop caps.
Friedman Classic and Classic+ pickups
Schaller Staggered locking tuners
Switchcraft short straight 3 way toggle
All wiring
electrosocket input jack
copper shielding tape and sheet of shielding foil for the pickguard
Even ended up ordering some tools from stew mac
Notched straight edge
Guitar tech screwdriver set, just because it has those nifty hardened steel screws for threaded freshly drilled holes
Some t handle wrenches for tightening tuner bushings, jacks, etc....
Screw wax.

As well I have some other higher output pickup options laying around
Set of Shur Aldrich pickups, and a Duncan custom and jazz set, just incase I am not totally happy with the Friedman pickups.

Didn't get brave enough to order tools for leveling and dressing frets. Figure i'll leave that to a tech who knows what they are doing already since I have never done it.

Just waiting the long wait for the body, neck and pickguard to come in and i'm off.
If only I was able to find the perfectly spec'd body and neck in the showcase so it would cut my wait time down. lol
Can ya tell i have no patients? lol

 

[rgand]

I'm looking forward to seeing you get this together. Welcoome to the forum.

 

[pwrmac7600]

:blob7: :blob7: :blob7:
How do you people keep your patience?
I'm an losing my mind waiting for my notification that my order is shipping.

 

[PhilHill]

:blob7: :blob7: :blob7:
How do you people keep your patience?
I'm an losing my mind waiting for my notification that my order is shipping.

Oh that's quite simple really, most of us lost our minds a long time ago........... :turtle: :turtle: :turtle:

 

[Dazkeirle]

Sounds cool!

Personally I'd recommend not taking the neck to a tech for levelling (who let's be honesty is probably just a dude in a guitar shop with a some tools and experience) and buy the fret levelling / crowning / polishing tools yourself.

The tools will cost less than getting your neck done once. If you follow the instruction it's impossible to go wrong and the satisfaction you will get when you've got a perfectly level polished set off frets and you know you've done it is great. You'll have the tools for next time, next guitar or to help friends and its actually a pretty fun process.

 

[pwrmac7600]

got an email today that my stuff is shipping!!! Woo Hoo!
Can't wait to get it here and let the build begin!
Pics to follow once my boxes arrive from the other coast.

 

[pwrmac7600]

So I had these delusions that I was going to lay it all the parts with the body and neck and take photos. Then take photos as I went, but I got to anxious and ended up just building 99%.
So.... Here's some photos. Not much left to do. Just finish installing the output Jack and then setup.

 

[rgand]

Trans red on mahogany is a nice combination. Your build is looking great.

 

[Cactus Jack]

Boom! You nailed the Friedman look to perfection. Looks great and congrats on your build.

 

[Jack_H]

Did you have problem with ground wire hole like I did?

 

[pwrmac7600]

Did you have problem with ground wire hole like I did?

No mine was drilled all the way through.

 

[pwrmac7600]

Only really ran into 2 small snags in my build. One of the schaller locking tuners I ordered from schaller is faulty. feels like it's binding up, I can turn it almost half a turn without it doing anything then all of a sudden it jumps almost a whole step. So I emailed schaller to see about getting a replacement.

The other snag was a wired up my entire pickguard, and bench tap tested it everything worked fine. Got everything put together and strung up and no bridge pickup. Turns out during the install the bridge lead snapped off the 3 way switch so i had to take it all back apart to re solder. Must have happened while I was trying to finagle the wires into the channel when installing the pickguard. The connecting on the 3 way sit pretty much right up against the wood in the route.

Also need to get another nut for the 3 way to put under the pickguard as the 3 way sticks way out of the guard, so i want to back it down some so it sits closer to flush.
Other than that everything else is pretty good.
Also needs some minor fret leveling, but I am going to let everything settle in before i do that.

This is my first go round with the Friedman classic and classic+ pickups, they are by far the lowest output pickups I have in any of my guitars at around 8-9k. Not 100% sold on them, but it could be because all of my other guitars have Suhr Aldrich pickups which are around 17.5k. so we'll see how they grow on me. Figure I need at least 1 guitar that's a little lower output.

I am going to clean it up and peel off the plastic today and I will post a final build photo.

Thanks to everyone here who un knowingly helped me out with this build, I ended up picking up alot of little tools and tips from reading posts that made the build go so smooth!

 

[JaySwear2]

The other snag was a wired up my entire pickguard, and bench tap tested it everything worked fine. Got everything put together and strung up and no bridge pickup. Turns out during the install the bridge lead snapped off the 3 way switch so i had to take it all back apart to re solder. Must have happened while I was trying to finagle the wires into the channel when installing the pickguard. The connecting on the 3 way sit pretty much right up against the wood in the route.

Same happened to me when I was wiring my Tele Deluxe! Getting those wires into the tiny channels on the Tele Deluxe took a lot of cursing and prodding with a screw driver! Then, of course, something would come loose so I had to take the pickguard off again  :doh:

Looks great! I really love red or brown over mahogany. Or clear. I think I just love mahogany! And I definitely love a good Telecaster Deluxe

 

[pwrmac7600]

Ok peeled the plastic and word the fingerprints clean!

 

[The Deacon]

I"m loving the red and black!!!

 

[PhilHill]

Looking Gooood!.... :headbang:

 

[Jack_H]

Looks like you have the Fender American Standard Flat Mount bridge.  Before I placed my order I told them I will be using Seymour Duncan humbuckers and asked them about the bridge.  I was recommended Narrow Space Strat, which is probably made for Fender's own wider humbuckers.  So now the strings don't quite line up, especially the outside ones.  :-\