The Excessive Telecaster

[john_p_t]

Hi all, new member. Decided to do my first build out of mainly Warmoth parts, so this seems like a good place to keep a diary of it.

Here's the basic spec:

Telecaster body, with strat contours and heel contour. Rear routed, as I've got a lot of electrics to jam into it.

Tele neck, with V-shaped back profile and compound radius. TUSQ XL nut, standard Gotoh tuners.

So far, so normal. The thing that I'm really motivated by is an idea I've got for the pickup switching, based around 3 Duncan P-rails humbuckers, which gives a slightly ludicrous 144 switching options. There's an independent three way switch for each pickup, giving the p-rails options of humbucker, P90 and single coil, plus a "bridge on" control on a push-pull volume pot.

It's going to take me a while to get together, but in the meantime, here's some pictures:

Body and neck straight out of the box:

First draft of wiring diagram (would appreciate feedback on this):

 

[JaySwear]

i love it! i've never gotten to test out a P-rails, but i thought about trying the same thing. i love the color too. cool build!

 

[erogenousjones17]

Sounds interesting. That's a neat colour too. What is it?

 

[john_p_t]

Transparent turquoise on ash. Photo doesn't do it justice, I'll try to take some better pictures as I go along.

 

[Mor Paul]

No complaints about it being excessive here.

 

[john_p_t]

Well, obviously, I'm aware that of those 144 different options, they won't all be wildly unique or anything, In a way, it's a sort of experiment for other simpler builds I may do in the future. The point to me is that I can try out lots of different and unusual combinations, like, how does it sound with a single coil in the neck and a p-90 in the bridge, stuff like that. It's also just a lot of fun to do, and I think will look pretty unique.

But basically, it's the Anti-Esquire.

 

[erogenousjones17]

Somebody get Doug working on an "Anti-Esquire" neck plate.

 

[DangerousR6]

Sweeeeet..... :icon_thumright:

 

[bbl4ck]

Not normally my color, but on this it really works. 
Should be a real looker  :glasses9:
Seems like you could save yourself a few switches by using the Triple Shot rings.  They are really perfect for the P-rails
Keep the pic a rollin'
:rock-on:

 

[john_p_t]

I looked at the triple shot rings, yeah. They're nifty, but I'm not keen on the switching system they use, which has two small switches for each pickup, and you have to remember what different funny combinations mean, like "facing each other for p-90, away from each other for HB" and so on. .

This is the same reason I'm not trying to do it all with push-pull pots too; I want it to have all these different options, but with a completely intuitive user interface that pretty much anyone could pick up and start using straight away. And so you can tell at a glance what sound it's set to without having to translate it in your head.

I think the switches will be fairly unobtrusive. My model for this is something like the Vox Virage. They'll just be three mini-switches close together, probably below the usual control strip.

 

[john_p_t]

Simple jobs first - fitting the ferrules:


Simple paper cover for the finish, in case the ferrules go bouncing away at any point, especially since I'm going to heat them up:

Not enough hands to photograph the soldering iron bit, but I heat up the ferrule on the tip of the soldering iron for about 15 seconds, then transfer it to a screwdriver using tweezers (the things get HOT). Push it in and the finish around the hole melts just enough for it to slide in easily:

Don't do adjacent ones one after the other, as you don't want heat building up in one place and damaging the finish:

Voila: nice and straight, and never coming out, best fit you could hope for:

 

[nexrex]

very nice work their, love the color. I'm interested - don't P-Rails come in a standard neck and bridge set? Do you have one of them them as an SHPR-2 Hot bridge featuring a beefed up coil and a more powerful Alnico 8 ?

Would love to hear some sound clips when your done    :guitarplayer2:

 

[john_p_t]

Yeah, you can get a matched pair of the old type, or you can get the old neck paired with the new hot bridge. There isn't a middle pickup as such.

What I'm going to do is get two of the standard neck ones for neck and middle, and the new hot bridge one for there. It would be nice if there was a dedicated middle, but lots of three pickup configurations have the same output for neck and middle. I'll be able to balance the output difference for middle by having it slightly higher than the neck pickup, as there's not usually much in it between those two positions, volume wise. The difference in tone mainly comes from position along the string length.

Only thing I lose with that set-up is the hum cancellation you get on a strat from positions 2 and 4 (due the the middle pickup being RW-RP), but single coil noise always needs to be solved beyond that anyway, and I'm going to shield the cavities, so not especially bothered about that.

 

[V-P]

Since you're going for excessive, why not change the tone pot for a Stellartone Tonestyler?

http://www.stellartone.com/page.asp?navid=50

I've heard really good things about it, haven't tried it out for myself yet though.

Here's a link to a TGP thread about it. http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=724287

 

[john_p_t]

Yeah, I'm aware of that - painfully so due to that jonnykap dude's relentless shilling on various forums - and I do think it's interesting. My feeling is that it's a bit expensive for what it is, and I reckon I could make something similar myself. Since I enjoy tinkering, that appeals more than buying one. I've been vaguely pondering having a crack at something like that after this build.

 

[NQbass7]

Three P-rails?  Man... I'm wondering how much value the third one adds.  The middle rail and bridge rail will be almost identical, for one.  Maybe there will be some interesting ones that wouldn't have otherwise popped up though... you'll have to let me know what you find.  I'm going to be sticking a P-rail in the neck of my tele (flipped around so the rail is closest to the neck) and see what I can get out of that.

 

[john_p_t]

The middle and bridge are fairly different pickups. I'm using the SPHR1s for the middle and neck and the SPHR2 for the bridge. It's wound a lot hotter and uses a different magnet type.

The middle and neck are the same, but that's actually how strats were originally configured, and lots of pickup sets still conform to that. Lindy Fralin strat sets for example are configured that way.

You're right in that of course not every possible switching option is going to be fantastically useful, but the way I look at is that there's no predicting, really, what the interesting combinations are going to be.

 

[Mor Paul]

The middle and neck are the same, but that's actually how strats were originally configured, and lots of pickup sets still conform to that. Lindy Fralin strat sets for example are configured that way.

Just to be a pain....

I'm pretty sure that strats originally had 3 of the same pickup.

 

[john_p_t]

I think you might be right, way back, yeah. Even the now-common reverse winding of the middle one is a mid-70s thing. Varying the output level for each pickup is just to compensate for differences in volume, which originally was done simply by adjusting pickup height. The differences in the tone of pickups is far more to do with where they are placed on the strong than anything else, really. The key reason to not put a modern bridge pickup in the middle or neck positions is mainly because it would be crazy loud in comparison to others.

 

[tfarny]

Not wanting to pile on the criticism of too-many magnets and options on this guitar, I applaud your extremism sir!
One thing you might consider though - install the switches inside the cavity. Then after a couple of months when you have decided which dozen or so options you might care about having available, come up with a wiring scheme involving a 5-way super switch and a push pull. You think it'll be "wysiwyg" as it is, but cmon that's four switches and two knobs, a lot to take in in the heat of the moment.