Transparent Turquoise Thinline Tele

[GG1]

Hello all,

I received my first Warmoth neck and body yesterday, and got right to work assembling it.

I should say thanks to everyone here, I haven't posted much but I have been reading the forum for a while, and reading/learning from the folks here made me a lot more comfortable making my first order.

I've been doing maintenance on my own guitars for a while, but this is my first complete partscaster assembly.

Here are the specs from Warmoth:

Body:
Model: Hollow Thinline
Orientation: Right handed
F-Holes: 1
Scale: 25-1/2"
Wood: Flame Maple on Swamp Ash
Rout: Standard Tele® Top Rout
Pickup Rout: Tele® (Neck), None (Middle), Tele® (Bridge)
Controls: None
Bridge: Tele® Bridge
Jack Rout: 7/8" (22mm) Side Jack Hole
Neck Pocket: Tele® Shape
Mounting Holes: Standard 4 Bolt
Binding: Natural Masked Accent
Top Finish: Transparent Turquoise
Back Finish: Transparent Turquoise
Finish Type: Gloss Finish

Neck:
Style: Telecaster®
Construction: Vintage/Modern Construction
Orientation: Right Handed
Neck Wood: Roasted Maple
Fingerboard Wood: Roasted Maple
Nut Width: 1-11/16"
Back Shape: Standard thin
Fret Size: SS6105 (Stainless)
Tuner Ream: Planet Waves(13/32")
Radius: 10-16" Compound
Scale: 25-1/2"
Fret #: 22
Mounting Holes: Standard 4 Bolt
Pre-Cut Installed String Nut: GraphTech White TUSQ XL - Standard Nut
Inlays: Black Face Dots
Side Dots: Black Side Dots
Finish: No Finish

Other Specs:

Bridge: Gotoh "In tune" - I like this bridge because it has the cutaway on the sides above the pickup. The sides of the bridge always annoy me on the traditional tele bridge plates.
Tuners: Hipshot Open-Gear locking (satin chrome)
Electronics: Lace Sensor T150 set - I went with a 4-way wiring kit, which lets you run both pickups in series as well.

Build Log:
I received the parts yesterday, and I was thinking about making a "out-of-the box" thread but decided to just go ahead and assemble everything since all my parts had already arrived. The body is really beautiful in-person. In photos it is more blue, but in-person it definitely looks more teal in color, which is exactly what I was hoping for.

I debated between the transparent turquoise and the turquoise dye for a while. It was extremely hard to find a photo of the transparent turquoise color on a figured maple top. The only photo I could really find was the one from the Warmoth finishes PDF, but it was still hard to tell how it would look in-person.

There were plenty of photos with turquoise dye on flamed maple, so I almost went with that. I liked the look of the turquoise dye, but in many photos it had more of a "burst" of blue or black around the edges. It looked cool, but I really wanted a uniform color across the whole top.

In the end I ended up rolling the dice and going with transparent turquoise, and I couldn't be happier with the color.

I was also a little worried about ordering the flame top, since there weren't any thinline flame tops in the unique-choice section when I ordered. I guess the thinline top is a little thicker at 1/4in. instead of 1/8in. So even though there were unique choice lam tops for the standard tele, there weren't any for the thinline.

I wasn't expecting to get such a nice top on this, I had already tempered my expectations since I assumed a thicker top meant it would be a little lower-grade flame, but again I was very pleasantly surprised. The top is excellent, and there is definitely a nice chatoyance in the flame.

My only semi-concern with the body was the paint around the edges of the f-hole. In some cases, it seems like there are spots where the color didn't totally cover the wood? It is for sure not just polishing compound, it seems like there is color missing. Hopefully the clear coat is still intact enough there and it's just missing color coat. I tried to check but I really don't want to pick/scrape at it too much lest the color on the front of the guitar start flaking off.

Has anyone experienced that before? If I end up getting a fret level from my local luthier I plan on having them check that out too...

Assembly went pretty smoothly, my least favorite part was installing the string ferrules. I tried the soldering iron trick, which absolutely did not work at all for me. I couldn't tell if the iron was too hot or not hot enough, and pressing in the ferrule with the iron felt like I was heating up the body way too much. After getting one ferrule inserted with the soldering iron method I switched to just hammering them in, which was harrowing but seemed to work without any finish chips or wood cracks. I just used a thick towel to soften the hammer blow to make sure I wasn't denting the finish. Next time I think I'll just find or borrow a drill press so I can do it the right way.

The other thing I should have done was check/test all my parts prior to assembly. My warmoth parts were the last to arrive, so most of the stuff got unboxed for the first time yesterday. The brand new Lace sensor pickups had an issue with the "Lace sensor" lettering on the bridge pickup chipping off which is kind of visible in the bridge close up. The neck pickup is also a little too thick top-to-bottom, and the base of the pickup seemed slightly mis-aligned to the pickup. I had to tape off the neck pickup and carefully file off some of the base plate so that it would fit into the cavity.

I found some cool "hi-fi" knobs that fit on a 1/4in solid shaft pot, so I used those for both pots. I also ordered some teal-colored knobs, which I was thinking of using instead. (There's a picture of one included) Any opinions on those? I can't decide if there would be too much teal-color if I replace the knobs with the colored ones.

Conclusion:
Overall I'm very happy with the build, other than the minor finish issue around the f-hole, which I hope just stays the way it is and doesn't expand to the top of the guitar.


Thanks again to everyone on the forum, I learned a ton about building guitars in the few months I was waiting for these parts to arrive!

To-Do:

• Decide if I need a string tree (tuners are staggered) and install if so
• Install the strap buttons (really should have done this before I put the neck on, it will be awkward to drill the holes now
• Bridge might get replaced with a "chopped"/half bridge I also have. If so I'd need to drill out and mount the bridge pickup directly to the cavity. I was thinking of maybe doing using some threaded inserts for this.
• Install the Warmoth sticker!

Pics below:

Full guitar

Body close-up

Finish issue?

Which knob color should I go with?

Back of guitar

Back of headstock

 

[stratamania]

Looks good so far.

I prefer the more normal colour knobs. The teal knob seems contrived. From the position of the bridge saddles I assume you still need to do a set up. I personally would leave the bridge on you have as a chopped bridge you might see with a humbucker but I like the look as you have it now with a single coil bridge pickup.

 

[jim232777]

Pretty.  I love the color.  I'm a bit torn on the knob color--teal is pretty, but less traditional of course--but flame maple isn't exactly traditional for a Tele-style body, so not critical.  If it were me, I would put everything together with the teal knobs and play it for a while.  Might very well end up sticking with them.

I've got a build going in another thread, and have picked some of the same hardware.  I have the same Gotoh compensated bridge with the cut-down sides.  I really like the accessibility of the bridge on my 2008 Am Std, so this is the closest I could find with compensated brass saddles without *really* dropping a chunk on it.  Also have the same tuners but with slightly different buttons.  I kind of wanted the non-locking version as visibility of the open gear has a really cool vibe, but they were on back-order everywhere.  Be sure to post whether you settle on a string tree!

 

[Rick]

Looks great!

 

[PhilHill]

Very Nice! Me likes............. :headbang: :headbang:

 

[mayfly]

wow.  That is amazing.  Thank you for posting those photos.

Regarding the colour in the f holes, if it's polishing compound it will scrape off with a little pressure from your thumbnail. 

 

[GG1]

Looks good so far.

I prefer the more normal colour knobs. The teal knob seems contrived. From the position of the bridge saddles I assume you still need to do a set up. I personally would leave the bridge on you have as a chopped bridge you might see with a humbucker but I like the look as you have it now with a single coil bridge pickup.

Thanks!

I'm leaning more towards keeping the silver colored knobs for now. I originally bought the teal-knobs for another guitar with a natural finish to try and add some color, but I thought I'd try them on this new build too.

Oddly enough, in the pictures the knob color and body color match more closely than they do in real life. The knobs are actually more of a light blue color, and the body is much more green in person.

I originally got the idea for doing the chopped bridge from the Tom Anderson T-style guitars, which direct mount the bridge. I think there was a GE Smith telecaster that mounted the pickup like that too? It looks different, but kind of cool. For now I'm going to keep the normal bridge on, since I like how it looks.

 

[GG1]

Pretty.  I love the color.  I'm a bit torn on the knob color--teal is pretty, but less traditional of course--but flame maple isn't exactly traditional for a Tele-style body, so not critical.  If it were me, I would put everything together with the teal knobs and play it for a while.  Might very well end up sticking with them.

I've got a build going in another thread, and have picked some of the same hardware.  I have the same Gotoh compensated bridge with the cut-down sides.  I really like the accessibility of the bridge on my 2008 Am Std, so this is the closest I could find with compensated brass saddles without *really* dropping a chunk on it.  Also have the same tuners but with slightly different buttons.  I kind of wanted the non-locking version as visibility of the open gear has a really cool vibe, but they were on back-order everywhere.  Be sure to post whether you settle on a string tree!

Just looked through your thread, your build looks great! I love that body color.

Yeah, I think this gotoh bridge is a good happy medium between the normal 3-saddle bridge and some of the more expensive ones. I agree with you about the tuners too, wish they made an open-gear one that didn't have the back entirely covered with the knob so you could see the gear more.

Once I figure out what to do with the string tree I'll update. I plan on playing it for a bit, and if there's no issues, then no reason to install it! I kind of like the cleaner look of the headstock without the string tree anyway.

 

[Rick]

Transparent turquoise is a beautiful color.

 

[wildbill]

Very, very nice.  I vote silver knobs especially after your comment that they are not a true color match but it is all about what you like best.

 

[FredStarter]

Looks really, really nice. I also vote for the chrome knobs. I also have a question for you: I am working on my first Strat build and was originally thinking of Alpine White. But, your color looks awesome. When I went online to build my custom body and selected Transparent Turquoise, the color looks MUCH different. Darker for sure. I am going with an Alder body and I imagine that does change things a bit. I was just wondering your thoughts on the color after living with it for a while, and also whether the online color looked that different for you when you built your body on the Warmoth site. Thanks, and enjoy your Thinline.

 

[DangerousR6]

Pretty sweet, I dig the colored knobs, it's different than the norm.... :icon_thumright:

 

[GG1]

Looks really, really nice. I also vote for the chrome knobs. I also have a question for you: I am working on my first Strat build and was originally thinking of Alpine White. But, your color looks awesome. When I went online to build my custom body and selected Transparent Turquoise, the color looks MUCH different. Darker for sure. I am going with an Alder body and I imagine that does change things a bit. I was just wondering your thoughts on the color after living with it for a while, and also whether the online color looked that different for you when you built your body on the Warmoth site. Thanks, and enjoy your Thinline.

Yes, the color on the builder is much darker than what I received. For reference, here's my crappy photoshop mockup that I made while I was waiting for parts to arrive. The body on there comes directly from Warmoth's builder and it is definitely darker than my body in most lighting conditions. The color shown in the builder is more accurate to what it looks like in low/dim light, and the photos in my post were taken in indirect sunlight from a window.

I think the turquoise is just hard to photograph since the color changes so much depending on the light. You may have already seen this, but warmoth has a PDF of body finishes where they show photos of most combinations of color and wood. There's a photo of a transparent turquoise alder-bodied strat in both satin and gloss finish: https://www.warmoth.com/pdf/BodyFinishes.pdf Assuming the lighting is the same for all  of the photos, it looks like the alder will turn out a little darker than the maple/ash on mine.

To answer your question, yes I still love the color. I was really worried about how it would turn out when I ordered, but I think it's a really beautiful color in-person.

 

[SeattleScotty]

That transparent teal looks so great. I have a '97 American Deluxe Strat with a very similar shade finish, but it's a regular ash I think, so it doesn't have the same depth and isn't nearly as cool haha.  :hello2:

I personally like the blue knobs, though I would want to see a  picture with them both on and the overall guitar. I bet it would look pretty cool though. Where did you find those knobs?