Tele-a-thon

[mgaut051]

I had a little time to play in my shop today, so I cleaned up some pieces I had lying around. Mistake. GASSSSSSSS.

Ok - so this is likely wishful thinking on my part. Over the next 12-24 months, I hope to accomplish the following:
4 builds - one each for my father, my brother, my brother in law and myself.

I have all the lumber, no time, almost no parts, and a limited budget (say no more than 2000$ total - and that will need to be stretched out over 2 years even).

I have decided to limit myself to those 4 builds and not start anything else (other than finish the bass I started a decade ago - http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=11755.0 )

The proposed builds:

1. For my father: an archtop cocobolo on maple or mahogany. Charlie Christian pickup from Lollar with vintage style mount. Archtop bridge. Tailpiece. Ebony on Curly Maple LP neck or something. MAYBE a graphtech ghost system - if I can convince myself I can make it compatible with the CC. MAYBE a Gretsch style pickguard.

2. For my brother: a Walnut hardtail or bigsby soloist or tele - not clear yet. He told me he wanted a soloist style guitar out of Canadian woods. I've never played a guitar with a floyd, so I don't even know where I would start to install one. But a Bigsby I can understand... Maybe just a hardtail even. Dual HB, Gibson style wiring. I'd try to make the HBs.

The top on this one is the actual one I have, I also have enough to make a matching back. It could be walnut on walnut or cherry or something.

3. For my brother in law: solid wenge 3 p90 tele with a SG style bridge. I could also do the raised centre section like on the firebird. I'd love a strat style pup in the middle position without ruining the look... I'd try to make the p90's otherwise.

4. For myself: A reclaimed mahogany esquire with a bridge made out of cocobolo. I'd try to make the pup.

I also still have all the pups to make my BMT copy - I think that is going on standby for now.

Don't expect frequent updates.

 

[Stew]

GO GO GAUTHIER  :redflag:

Wow, number 3 is gonna be HEAVY!

 

[Nando Vallart]

1) YES!!!! but add a bridge pickup, please!

2) No bigsby on the soloist... Install a Floyd, you can find a installation instructions surely and would match better the guitar...

3) YES!!!!

4) YES!!!! But please, don't make that squared side cut...

 

[mgaut051]

1) YES!!!! but add a bridge pickup, please!

2) No bigsby on the soloist... Install a Floyd, you can find a installation instructions surely and would match better the guitar...

3) YES!!!!

4) YES!!!! But please, don't make that squared side cut...

1) what would you propose? I thought maybe rear mounted tele bridge (the b.s. From Lollar for example). Humbucker - to big compared to neck. P90 maybe, but it's not the kind of jazzy blues my dad plays. Mini HB not the sound I'm looking for. Otherwise there's exotics like the Narrowfield by PRS or something. I want to keep the look and sound consistant. A CC HB is another option... So hard to decide I just decided to not put one. Any suggestions?

2) I know! But it's expensive, and I want to do a good job of it... I think I'll have to think about that one. Anyone want to tell me that installing a Floyd is not so hard?

3) heavier than a bass?

4) don't worry - I won't - it's just the jpeg I used to make the mockup.

Thanks for the encouraging words.

I think I'll start with the esquire - it's the one I'm least worried about making mistakes. The problem is that it's obviously going to be easier to make them on an assembly chain type production...

Aaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!.......... (<- cry of utter despair)

 

[Nando Vallart]

Actually, the Floyd it's not so hard to install... But it's a pain-in-the-ass to do setup... It's very alike strat bridges, but the saddles are locked... And to change the strings, you need to block the FR, because it is a floating style and when you down tune it to take the strings, it will get low and put the strings will give you a harder time...

Not really difficult, but boring and annoying in some way (to me, at least)


I'd put the same looking pickup on the bridge, but would ask something hotter...

 

[llmtelecaster]

Sorry but the idea of a bigsby on a soloist almost made me barf. The others are great, though.

 

[line6man]

Anyone want to tell me that installing a Floyd is not so hard?

It's no big deal.
Here was my first attempt at routing for a recessed Floyd (And building a body, for that matter. :blob7

The only thing I did wrong was making the top of the route (Just below the bridge pickup.) about 1/16" oversized. I'm going to do my next body with the edge of the bridge right up against the wall of the recessed cavity.

Doing the studs is just a matter of measuring and drilling, and the trem cavity on the back is the same for most trems. It's just the recess that gets tough. It's really not much different from doing a pickup route, though. What I did was put the bridge in place and trace an outline of it, then align the recess templates over the bridge outline, to make sure they were positioned right.

That's great Cocobolo, btw!  :icon_thumright:
But be careful working with it. As Cagey would say, let us know the new cuss words you come up with after working with it. :blob7:

 

[mgaut051]

Anyone want to tell me that installing a Floyd is not so hard?

It's no big deal.
Here was my first attempt at routing for a recessed Floyd (And building a body, for that matter. :blob7

The only thing I did wrong was making the top of the route (Just below the bridge pickup.) about 1/16" oversized. I'm going to do my next body with the edge of the bridge right up against the wall of the recessed cavity.

Doing the studs is just a matter of measuring and drilling, and the trem cavity on the back is the same for most trems. It's just the recess that gets tough. It's really not much different from doing a pickup route, though. What I did was put the bridge in place and trace an outline of it, then align the recess templates over the bridge outline, to make sure they were positioned right.

That's great Cocobolo, btw!  :icon_thumright:
But be careful working with it. As Cagey would say, let us know the new cuss words you come up with after working with it. :blob7:

Thanks for the tips. Guess I'll try my first. Who risks nothing gains at most 2.25% per year (which you lose in inflation anyways).
Whatever happened to the bubinga walnut tonemonster?

As for the Cocobolo, it's SUPER easy to work with. Card scrapers and Cocobolo FTW. I had some good face protection on, and took a shower afterwards. I just noticed a mild burning over my toes, less than from cutting jalapenos. I got those pieces from router sledding and slip matching this severely warped board:

Managed to salvage 3/4"!

 

[m4rk0]

Nice wood Goat man!!
but please listen to the wise Brazilian!!

2) No bigsby on the soloist... Install a Floyd, you can find a installation instructions surely and would match better the guitar...

 

[line6man]

Whatever happened to the bubinga walnut tonemonster?

I'm almost ready to get started! Lol.
It had to spend some extra time clamped down flat, because the Walnut had started to shift a bit.

 

[DangerousR6]

Whoa!!!!! Nice wood...I know(that's what she said)...

 

[mgaut051]

Whoa!!!!! Nice wood...I know(that's what she said)...

Thanks Doug!
But What about:

Floyd. It's like cowbell. You need more.​

 

[DangerousR6]

Whoa!!!!! Nice wood...I know(that's what she said)...

Thanks Doug!
But What about:

Floyd. It's like cowbell. You need more.​

:headbang1:

 

[mgaut051]

I was thinking... I have a nice cedar body blank - nice and clear. I have some Smith's CPES that I could saturate it with. I also have another piece of cocobolo I could make into a 3 piece carved back. What about a Cocobolo cedar sandwich? That way I could keep the walnut to make the number 2, and the cherry to make the BMT...

 

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

I'm gonna go against the conventional wisdom and say: soloist body, jackson headstock pair of TV jones pickups, and a bigsby.

That would be pretty badass, and totally unexpected.  Everyone thinks "Jackson trem = Floyd!" No one has ever done a soloist body w/ 'trons and a bigsby....

 

[mgaut051]

Thanks IHNPS - I think I've decided to make my brother that hardtail tele first, as pictured and make him a soloist after. Otherwise it would be a tele-solosoloist-a-thon. And although I appreciate your encouragement, I'm going to have to bow to the collective wisdom of the crew on this one and Floyd up on the soloist.

On a side note, RE # 3, I was thinking vintage p90 in the neck, hot p90 in the bridge, but I wanted a strat-sounding quack from the mid pickup in p90 form. Surprisingly hard to find! I came up with 3 options:

Magnatron soapbar mount: 150$

Zhangbucker Rod 90: 100$

Fralin alnico polepiece p90: 90$

Anyone have any experience or wisdom?

 

[mgaut051]

Not bad for 6$ worth of pallet wood!
:glasses9:

See the original form here:
http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=16866.0

 

[Johnfv]

...I wanted a strat-sounding quack from the mid pickup in p90 form. Surprisingly hard to find!...

Some cool sounding projects here. FWIW, I have some DiMarzio dual coil P90s that I really like in my Les Paul Special. If you wire them in parallel you get a much more single coil tone, that's how I have my neck pup wired. Still not exactly Strat quack though...

 

[mgaut051]

Had (took) a bit of time to work on the project:

Here's the line up (crappy phone pics - don't expect any better). Small changes made and to be expected.

Guitar 1: Cocobolo on eastern cedar

Guitar 2: Figured walnut on ? peruvian walnut

I'll make my brother 2 guitars. When I have more than 12$ in my bank account, I'll go get some walnut to make his soloist. I'll try and finish the soloist first, but this blank is tele sized...

Guitar 3: Solid wenge - 1 3/4" now - may thin down to 1 1/2 or something - it's a beast.

Guitar 4: Has been changed to a Brent-Mason style Cherry Tele.

Now the plan is to make (on top of the above) 2 palletcasters for my best bud and I - both out of stinky lauan (which I will never work with again).

Palletcaster 1:

Palletcaster 2:

One will have a cocobolo bridge (like an acoustasonic) and knob(s) the other will be wenge (and I'll try to go for matching necks).

So that's that.

Going to make the template and start work on the palletcasters.

Will do everything that's free first - no buying hardware or necks etc.

Also need to work on chests for the girls and a jewelry armoire for my wife... Of course, I have nothing but free time.  :icon_jokercolor:

 

[mgaut051]

I see wenge, padouk, cocobolo and curly maple knobs in my future...

They will even have a set screw (but no insert - yet).

Martin