Scratch Build in Progress

[Telenator]

I hope this sort of thing is allowed seeing as it's not a result of Warmoth products but, is a "Work in Progress" just the same.

I have long wanted a guitar with the killer roar of a Gibson SG, but one that didn't suffer from "neck heavy syndrome." So I used an old friends Gibson L6-S to make some templates and added a few mods of my own.

The L6-S is a thin body, maple guitar from the 70's that looks really cool and plays great but, I'm just not a fan of "the maple solid body sound."

My take on this guitar features solid mahogany construction with a 25 1/2" scale and 22 frets. The original had 24 frets on a 24 3/4" scale.

The fret board is fine Indian Rosewood with a Magascar Ebony peghead veneer.

Can't wait to finish this one up and play it!

Body and neck wood with template.

Gluing down the fret board.

Neck ready for shaping.

Body nearly complete, neck still very rough.

Parts placed together. Neck roughed out.

Peghead roughed out.

 

[Wana_make_a_guitar]

Awesome. What other guitars, apart from the Rickenbacker's have you made?
As a side note, i'm contemplating on making a through neck guitar, but i'll buy the through neck, i'm too wussy to make it myself!

 

[NonsenseTele]

Getting nice!

 

[Telenator]

Here's a carved top Tele body I built about 8 years ago.

This one features a Warmoth Strat neck. maple/ ebony

The body is 1" thick quartersawn mahogany with a 5/8" thick maple top. Not looking forward to carving maple again any time soon! That stuff is HARD!

This next guitar features a Warmoth body and the very first neck I ever built way back in 1981. Still plays great!

 

[Wana_make_a_guitar]

Wow, sweet builds. I juts purchased a guitar and bass building book which features how to build both bolt on and neck through guitars, it's very interesting and inspiring. It has step by step processes on how to build each and many options, but the main neck through build features laminates and is very good looking. 

 

[Telenator]

It's a lot of fun. There's nothing like playing a gig with a guitar you built from scratch. Very gratifying.

 

[blue313]

Awesome!  :icon_biggrin:

I'm wondering if you go as far as winding your own pickups as well. 

 

[Wana_make_a_guitar]

Awesome!  :icon_biggrin:

I'm wondering if you go as far as winding your own pickups as well. 

I want to try that too. But i'd have to research about that because i know absolutely nothing about winding pickups.

 

[DangerousR6]

Very cool, wish I had the tools to build my own from scratch. I got the skillZ, just not the drillZ....( I do have a drill, but it rhymed).... :icon_biggrin:

 

[mayfly]

Yes very cool indeed!  Thank you for sharing your work with us  ccasion14:

 

[guitlouie]

MMMMMMM Carved-top Tele.  If only..........

 

[Telenator]

Well, in fact I do get involved in custom pickups.

I have a Fender MIM '72 Tele Thinline Re-issue and the pickups are pretty dreadful so I got to thinking, (I do that alot), why not just make a new set of bobbins and have them custom wound and then fit them under the Wider Range Humbucker cover.

The result is, (after 8 months of testing), a pickup that accurately reproduces the sound of the original 70's Wide Range Humbucker and sounds so much better than the MIM's it's not funny!

It started out as just a little project for my own guitar but has since blossomed into a small, (very small) business.

I opened up the MIM pickups and discarded the coils. The ones you see here are hand machined and their hand wound for that awesome sound!

The original pickups had "threaded magnets" that you could adjust by turning them. Mine are not adjustable. They are alnico v magnets that I ground round and slotted to look like screws.

So, here we have a pickup that looks identical to the original and sounds like the original, all inside a standard MIM re-issue cover.

 

[Mor Paul]

Are you the Telenator on the Telecaster Discussion something or other forum?
I read that thread a short time ago about the wide range humbuckers. Really cool.

The tele looks awesome. The folks here are fans of carved top teles.

EDIT: Looks like it! Cool. You're prety knowledgeable about your tele pickups!

 

[nathan a]

That L6-S looks really sweet. I am very excited to see it finished. Also, there might be a number of people here interested to hear more about this 'very small' Wide-Range bucker business.

 

[OzziePete]

...... Also, there might be a number of people here interested to hear more about this 'very small' Wide-Range bucker business.

+1.
was very disappointed when I found out the current Fender Wide Range pickups weren't replicas of the originals and sounded different.

 

[Mor Paul]

...... Also, there might be a number of people here interested to hear more about this 'very small' Wide-Range bucker business.

+1.
was very disappointed when I found out the current Fender Wide Range pickups weren't replicas of the originals and sounded different.

Hey, Ozzie (or Pete, whichever your prefer)
Thanks for the heads up on that thread at TDRP or whatever it's called.  :icon_thumright:

 

[peterpoynter]

Jason Lollar of Lollar pickups wrote a great how to book on building pickups. He's arguably one of the best and doesn't mind sharing his knowledge. He even tells you how to build a pickup winder from , I believe, a refrigerator motor.

 

[Telenator]

Right on. Sharing info is what these forums are all about. In a couple of rather lengthy threads on other forums, all the specs and development on my wide range humbucker retro-fit has been disclosed. It started as a small project for my own guitar and then grew into a bunch of people asking if I'd do this mod on their MIM pickups. You have to hear these. We really got the tone right on this. There are a lot of people who wanted to make custom guitars, (like me), using the Re-issue WRHB's but found they don't sound that great. There are sound clips on the TDPRI forum. I'll see if I can post a link here in the pickup section.

 

[-CB-]

Not sure on that pickup sounding original... as the originals didn't have coils like that at all.  In fact, they had half coils, two of 'em, like a Pbass!

 

[Telenator]

Not sure on that pickup sounding original... as the originals didn't have coils like that at all.  In fact, they had half coils, two of 'em, like a Pbass!

Actually, no, the originals had coils just like the ones in my retro-fits. I have 8 months of research and testing into that pickup project and had actual 70's Fender pickups to look at and work from. Then there was all the side by side testing with actual original 70's guitars to tweak the tone and get it just right. The people who owned the original guitars we tested with were all very impressed with the results.

This wasn't just some thing we thought up one day, built the next day, and started making outrageous claims. It's the result of several months work and a sizable cash investment.

I understand that everyone has their opinion on things and I respect that. Perhaps if you had mine and a set of originals side by side, you could make a more accurate comparison.