Replaced evertything on a teledeluxe until it became a new guitar

[Rick]

Scream’n Deal All Wenge 59 1/ ¾ neck – stainless 6105 frets Tusq Nut                $273.00
Scream’n Deal Body – Alder Black/red/yellow sunburst PT5565               $280.00
Hipshot Grip-Lock  open back Stag’d black tuners with UMP                  $55.95
Hipshot keystone Tuner buttons                         $20.00
War’h TeleDeluxe Pickguard gloss black/red/black                             $30.00
Pickguard Screws 2 Dozen, Black                           $6.00
MJ1 Mono Jack, By Switchcraft                           $3.00
GSF1C Guitar String Ferrule, Chrome                             $5.04
NP1C Neck Plate, Chrome (now on nephews guitar)           $5.00
CTS500 500K Pot 2, By CTS                         $10.00
PP500 2 Push Push Pot 500k with DPDT Switch (On-On)         $24.00
Neck Screw, Set of 4, Chrome                           $2.60
SJP1B Square Side Jack Plate, Black           $6.50
11103-21-B Duncan Distortion Trembucker (TB-6) (Black)           $79.00
11102-01-B Jazz - Neck (SH-2n) (Black)           $79.00
SLP1B LP Toggle Switch, Straight, Black                   $11.50
Strat® Flat Mount Bridge, Humbucker 2 1/8 Spacing, Chrome           $40.00
Gotoh S199C bridge Saddles 10.8                   $34.99
Neck Plate Pad, Black                             $2.00
Dunlop Straplocks                              $8.00
Case (which nephew has)                           $69.99
Misc.                             $25.00

Total 1070.57

Weighs 8LBS 5OZ

This guitar started off as a Chris Shifflet arctic white teledeluxe as pictured, which I bought at a guitar center blow-out sale.  Then over a four year period I slowly replaced things, starting with the neck and tuners, then the body.  When I learned that the original Fender pickguard wouldn’t match the War’h body (I found out when I went to install the pickup assembly into the War’h body), I said to hell with it, got the War’h pickguard and replaced the  electronics.  The only things original are the neck plate, neck plate screws, knobs and the case.  My nephew inherited the rest of the original and he has a “new” guitar.

First, this guitar sounds awesome, and begs to be played loud!  It has two push/push knobs to split the humbuckers, so I can get 8 different sounds out of it.  The distortion is my favorite seymour duncan humbucker and mates well with the clarity of the jazz. And it’s easy to play, the Wenge neck is a slick joy. 

The push pulls do a coil split.

More importantly, it looks awesome.  Over time, my sweat has darkened the wenge, and the body’s burst pattern, professionally applied by War’h shows off the beauty marks in the Alder.

All in all, remarkable that if you are careful, you can make the equivalent of  a $2200 plus guitar for just over $1000.


The final set-up and soldering was done by Kokotele Guitars in Albany, NY.  If you need a good luthier in the Capitol District, Eric is your guy.

This process also brought up that thought experiment, at what point does a guitar become another guitar when you start replacing things.  I believe it’s a continuum between two points.  The first point is when you replace the very first thing, even a knob.  No matter how subtle, it does change something.  And then the final point is the electronics, in particular the pots and pickups.  They are like the brain and nerves of the guitar.  Putting another brain into a body makes it something else.

So on that happy note of brain transplants I hope you enjoy the pictures!

 

[Sovereign_13]

That particular thought experiment is generally referred to as the "Ship of Theseus", and it asks whether a ship that has been so extensively repaired as it aged that none of the original remains can still be considered the same ship.  It's sometimes also called "Grandfather's axe", wherein the axe is said to have had both head and handle replaced.

But none of that has anything to do with the excellent guitar pictured here.  Congrats.  :icon_thumright:

 

[ghotiphry]

Nice "new" guitar, man.  The question I have is, can you put the "old" guitar back together again?

 

[Rick]

The only hick-up (well other than the fender pickguard not fitting) was that the warmoth teledeluxe pick guard is cut for a normal humbucker, not a trembucker.  My solution was to gently sand the plastic to make room.  It worked, and honestly you can't notice.

 

[rgand]

Beautiful job. Face it, it's a new build.  :icon_thumright:

 

[Rick]

Yep ... it's a new build (that took 4 years!).  I'll tell ya', I'm never going to buy another off the shelf solid / chambered electric guitar.  After this experience, they'll all be Warmoths.

 

[Cagey]

Very nice! You get spoiled in a hurry using premium parts you can essentially write the specs for.