Tele-Ocity Build!

[fdesalvo]

If just like to comment on how mature this forum is. I have been waiting for someone to swing at the low hanging fruit. This thread has wandered in a place is rife with potential double entendres. Must....not.....comment!

 

[vetteman]

Single strokes into the hole are your best bet.  I would caution against back & forth.  It's better to take longer and be precise and neat than to try to do it quickly and have it turn out rough or damaged.

Sage advice indeed Mr. Flying Squirrel!  And thank you Frank!  I hadn't laughed that hard all day.

 

[Twanking45]

Thanks for the advice. I am using a combo of the circular rasp and a dremel bit to open up the sides of the jack cavity enough to allow for the tines that I have to solder to. The rasp was quite a blunt instrument for this kind of work (not literally) so I am using the dremel mostly.

This is really the last obstacle I have to finishing. Speaking of finishing, I think I will put a layer of satin finish on sides of the passageway I am enlarging to keep moisture out. Is that to OCD of me?

By the way, whats with the 3/4 inch hole? How does Warmoth expect anyone to use this size hole if no jack fits in there?  :dontknow:

 

[Cagey]

By the way, whats with the 3/4 inch hole? How does Warmoth expect anyone to use this size hole if no jack fits in there?  :dontknow:

As Jacqes Cousteau was fond of saying while investigating the mysteries of the denizens of the deep...

Nobody knows why they do what they do...​

 

[Twanking45]

FINISHED!!!!

Body: chambered, flat-faced Velocity shape, swamp ash core, unique choice flamed maple top
Neck: Modern Quartersawn Roasted Maple, 720, abalone dots, thin-C shape, Stainless 6150 frets
neck pickup: Lace Light Blue Sensor
Bridge Pickup: Dimarzio Chopper T (tappable with tone push-pull)
Electrics: CTS 500k volume, CTS 250 Push-Pull Tone
Cap: .022 orange drop

 

[Twanking45]

More Pics (can't upload many at a time)...

 

[Twanking45]

Final thoughts...


I feel it may have been an error on my part to order a body with a .720 mod for the neck. The saddles are pretty low already and the action is a tad higher than I would like. Perhaps a shim would make sense.

The jack hole was too small. I did not know it would be unable to fit a simple switchcraft jack so I reamed it out with a dremel bit and a rasp. It was a pain that could have been avoided. This is my first build, so, I guess I will take that knowledge into the next one.

I had considerable trouble installing the Sperzels. I would suggest the stewmac jig for such things, but only if you plan to build more than a couple of guitars. Once on, the tuners were great.

Everything else is working out fine. I created a faraday cage inside with copper tape and it is dead quiet. The Chopper T is a great pickup, but I would suggest getting it tappable because it is definately not traditional tele-type tone and but great with drive. The tapped sound if really quite impressive.

Now I will do a setup and perhaps clean up some of the wires by unsoldering some lugs and throwing a couple of shrink tube bits around them once they are rewired, just to make it nice and neat. This was a lot of fun. Already want to make another one!  ccasion14:

 

[Great Ape]

Beautiful guitar for sure, but the pics are so huge when clicked-on that they're really impossible to view...I know someone on here can tell you how to post 'manageable' pictures, but I'm not the one--
I'm impossibly stupid with ANYTHING even vaguely technical!
The things one learns on the first build will serve you well on every one thereafter...and there WILL be
more--count on it! (...get it? COUNT on it... :toothy12:

 

[Twanking45]

to see the pics best, don't click on the thumbnail, click on the name of the pic directly underneath the thumbnail.

 

[Cagey]

That just downloads them. They're still huge.

There's a very good photo editing/manipulation utility called "GIMP" (GNU Image Manipulation Program) here you can download for free that will let you scale pictures (among about a jillion other things). It's free and it does much of what Photoshop does, so it's a handy thing to have. Versions exist for Linux, OS/X and Windows so you should be covered.

For others who have to deal with unedited images being posted, most browsers will let you zoom in/out by holding the Control key and pressing + or -. It affects the whole page, though, so remember that Control-0 (zero) will return you to normal scale.

 

[Logrinn]

Another image sizing tip is to add "width=1024" or "height=1024" (or any number that's optimum) in the code, like so:

Not

[IMG]imagelink[/IMG]

but

[IMG]imagelink[/IMG] or [IMG]imagelink[/IMG]

and that will take care of the sizing for you.

 

[Twanking45]

So this guitar seems pretty great but the 720 mod did not impress me at all. I am not sure why it is an even an option. It seats the neck too low for my action to be adjustable. The saddles of my tele bridge are all sitting against the tele bridge plate.

In this build I came up against two weirdo Warmoth moves: the jack hole was unusable and the 720 mod makes a shim absolutely necessary. Maybe Warmoth should give more info on these options.

Anyway, everything about this guitar is great. The neck feels so smooth and natural (despite the action), the pickups are indeed special (Lace Light Blue p'ups are an unheralded component), and it is so comfortable and beautiful. This was such a fun project and I am so glad I finally have a guitar that speaks to me.

and now...
Resized pics!  :headbang1:

 

[Logrinn]

It looks absolutely beautiful!
Great job!

 

[Twanking45]

Aesthetically speaking, the inspiration was the Richie Kotzen Telecaster. See below...

 

[Logrinn]

And an excellent source of inspiration it is ...  :icon_thumright:

[youtube]4SoTgZjokLU[/youtube]

 

[fdesalvo]

Motion for rename to: Sexiocity