Walnut Thinline, Rosewood neck

C

callaway

Guest
Hey everyone, meet Loretta! I placed my custom order the day after Christmas and it nearly took the full 8 weeks quoted to ship. It came on Monday and I finally got it finished today.

I'll summarize the highlights:
  • Walnut Thinline body with standard Tele control route
  • '59 roundback Rosewood neck w/MOP
  • Callaham vintage enhanced bridge (I am returning the Gotoh standard bridge I ordered with it. The vintage style looks much better.)
  • Seymour Duncan '59 neck pickup
  • Joe Barden "Danny Gatton T-Bridge" pickup

Sounds and plays fantastic. The middle switch position is amazing---it's got everything you want from a warm humbucker sound plus everything you want from a bright, twangy single coil. It's the first guitar I have that stays clear and defined with drive/distortion in the neck+bridge combo position. I've been too happy playing to do any sustain tests yet, but I have a feeling it's there. High up the neck gets very chimey. Oh, pinch harmonics jump out but are not harsh at all.

And now the To-Do List:
  • Maybe add my chrome Warmoth decal on headstock, but I'm still undecided on that.
  • Add push-pull pot to split the neck humbucker. I might play with splitting the Barden for the heck of it (supposed to sound horribly nasty), but I'm in no rush.
  • Roll the edges of the fingerboard and bevel the fret ends slightly.
  • Swap the 250k volume pot for a 500k or 1M. I love the rich, warm tone the neck has now (not muddy at all), but I want to be able to take it brighter as well. I plan on putting a 750k resistor in parallel with the Barden bridge to keep it happy.
 
Holy Crap! that is fantastic!
whatever finish that is, it looks great on the walnut!
 
Marko said:
Holy Crap! that is fantastic!
whatever finish that is, it looks great on the walnut!

Just Warmoth's clear gloss. The neck is unfinished, of course. I really like the "plainer" walnut used on the back. It really is golden, almost like a slightly darker amber over mahogany color. Very caramel. It's a little darker than the back pic shows due to the camera flash, but the character is the same.
 
I've got a crush on Loretta......VERY nice one, congrats. We've got sisters now. If you're thinking of messing with wiring, check out the 'five tone tele mod'. I'm doing it to my upcoming project, no review yet.
 
That shot of the back looks INcredible. Great texture in that wood grain. Not sure how I feel about that there pickguard, but I could hang with Loretta for a while...
 
Although I was tempted to go pearloid, I wanted to keep the pickguard simple. It's actually just the parchment color pickguard. It's not quite as white as it looks, but I know what you're saying. I figured it was safe choice and I could always get another one for $25... except, I doubt I'll ever get another one. When I lined up the pickguard to drill the holes, I had my neck screwed in not all the way tight because I figured I was taking it off again anyway. I thought it was tight enough to be in place though, but apparently it shifted forward about 1/16" when I marked the pickguard holes. After drilling, I went to put it all back together and realized the pickguard overhung the neck pocket. To make this short, I had to modify the pickguard... thank goodness for the fretboard overhang to hide my rough edges!
 
You know what... I'm thinking vintage pearl pickguard would have been the way to go. Well... maybe sometime in the future when I feel like modifying another pickguard!
 
Wow, man.  I love Walnut more everytime I see it used! That is one gorgeous Thinline!
 
guitlouie said:
Wow, man.  I love Walnut more everytime I see it used! That is one gorgeous Thinline!

After ordering mine, I saw quite a few people posting walnut guitars with oil and matte finishes. I was starting to second-guess my choice to have them spray gloss. All it took was me opening the box to see that I was more than happy with gloss. It seems that as long as it's a quality, properly-applied finish, you can't go wrong with walnut.
 
What is the weight of your body?
Can you compare the sound with an alder/maple Tele? Where are the differences?
 
Incredible looking instrument.  Isn't that a regular chambered Tele with an added F hole (instead of a Thinline)?  Either way, you really have something to be proud of with this one.

I just finished my Walnut Tele build too.  I'll try to post pictures here in a new thread this evening.  My tech has just put the finishing touches on it, and I need to go pick it up.
 
Caisa said:
What is the weight of your body?
Can you compare the sound with an alder/maple Tele? Where are the differences?

The body was pretty light... definitely under 4 pounds.

I've played only a few alder-bodies Teles (mostly the G&L's that my local shop carries), so I don't know how fair you can take this comparison, but mine definitely has more depth. I'd say the high end is also a little fuller, but still very bright. That's unplugged for comparison, since the pickups can have a huge impact.

I might go in there and do a side-by-side with a G&L Bluesboy semi-hollow, which has a Duncan Seth Lover in the neck. So that's about as close to my guitar as they could get to compare with for an amplified sound.
 
kellysmall said:
Incredible looking instrument.  Isn't that a regular chambered Tele with an added F hole (instead of a Thinline)?  Either way, you really have something to be proud of with this one.

I just finished my Walnut Tele build too.  I'll try to post pictures here in a new thread this evening.  My tech has just put the finishing touches on it, and I need to go pick it up.

Nope, it's a Thinline with standard Tele control route and the hybrid pickguard. I ordered it custom the day after Christmas. I'd really like to have seen some Thinlines with the standard Tele control route in the showcase, but no matter. I really hate having to take the entire pickguard off of my Strat just to play with the electronics, so I really wanted the Tele control plate. I also just think it looks way cooler.
 
I totally agree.  Nice job!

I got my new walnut Tele back from my tech this afternoon.  He talked me out of the pickguard I wanted to put on it, but I may still put it on one day.  I took a standard Thinline pickguard and cut out the area where a standard Tele control plate would fall.  I think it would've turned out nice (and original looking).  This is what it would've looked like (see attached; if I did it right):
 
Back
Top