Well, TECHNICALLY it's a Telecaster... (vintage purists need not enter)

[OzziePete]

OR this guy -- the auction description says the jewel is as shown, but the knob barrel is black, not gold:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Q-Parts-Purple-Abalone-mini-dome-black-knobs-set-4-/310308129209?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item483fce49b9#ht_1599wt_1139

I can vouch for the quality of Q-Parts knobs, I have 4 Ringos on the Carved Top Tele I own. Nice, heavy casting, good quality. :icon_thumright:

 

[Ace Flibble]

it's an interesting little les paul you've got hiding in tele clothing.

That's the idea! I've had a lot of Les Pauls but I've never been able to get on with the dodgy fret access and it's hard to find ones that are a reasonable weight. I've had twelve of the buggers, from Epiphones to Gibson Custom Shops to vintage Gibsons to everything in between and may copies, and I've only kept one of those. Even that is more for sentimental value. On the other hand I love the general feel of my two Warmoth Teles but the controls do rather piss me off and I've come to realise that I'm just not comfortable with flat top guitars and I really don't find any bridge more comfortable than tune-o-matics.

Carved Tele with a conversion neck and LP control layout? Perfect mix.

 

[SustainerPlayer]

I'm in the UK so no such purchases for me

You do know that Allparts has a UK website?  :icon_scratch:

Linky

 

[nexrex]

I like it as well  :icon_thumright: I'm usually a purist, but then I also own a carved top flame maple warmoth tele with a tigers eye finish.

 

[NonsenseTele]

Cool!

 

[richship]

That came out great!  :icon_thumright:

About the action/neck angle, it sounds like it could be fixed with a little shimming. Since it would be to make it angled back a bit more, it shouldn't show. I'd be interested what angle they made the pocket (might be on the invoice). I remember on my call, remarks on angling the pocket for the carved top, and then adding a bit more for the bridge type.

 

[Ace Flibble]

Mm. In the end I have knocked off the .3mm or so off the action. Like I said originally, I'm used to and like fairly high action so I wasn't fussed at first, but after a few days this definitely did need to come down just that little bit. Started off being about 2.5/2.6mm, now it's at 2.2mm and perfect. Neck did need a very slight shim for this - tip for Warmoth, if you do any more carved Teles with tune-o bridges, your current neck pocket angle isn't enough!

Took 'er out for her first proper live test drive last night, went down surprisingly well and held up beautifully. White pearl is definitely my new favourite finish, looks great under any and all lights.

Now I face a new problem: resisting making another one. I did think about perhaps doing an LP Custom style one, with gold hardware and an all-rosewood neck... my bank balance (and the missus) is going to hate me...

 

[AutoBat]

with gold hardware

please don't

 

[Ace Flibble]

Nowt wrong with gold hardware so long as you buy some good parts. The bridges GraphTech make don't seem to fade, at least I've had a couple for three years now and they're not showing any signs of wear. And I've had some gold Planet Waves tuners sitting around for a while now, might as well use them up.

I'm thinking white pearl finish, black binding, black plastic hardware, gold metal hardware, couple of gold-coverd Phat Cats and a rosewood neck with an angled Strat headstock (Warmoth, hurry up and make angled Tele headstocks!). Either way, I think the carved Teles are going to be marching in force soon enough.

 

[elgravos]

Excellent, I'm a fan.

Telepauls are the way of the future!

 

[blueruins]

Nice...This is what it looks like when doves cry :glasses9:

 

[Ace Flibble]

I happened to be practising that very song on this guitar just yesterday morning :icon_thumright:

 

[DocNrock]

I like it!  Very unique vision and execution!  :icon_thumright:

 

[stubhead]

Yeah, the shimming is nothing to be afraid of. I have serious doubts about the whole "neck -pocket-tighter-than-a-.." well, you know - tight. On every guitar I've ever made/seen/bought/heard about, the screws are what hold the neck on. If they didn't, you wouldn't need them... :icon_scratch: Another thing to consider re: action height - except for the ones that Schecter makes for themselves, every tunematic I've heard of is designed to be used with a straight 12" radius. Warmoth's compound radius ends up being 18.something, closer to 19" at the bridge. So you need to file the inner saddles a bit to get the lowest action. It's not hard, hundreds have been done - but you need to be really careful, as in any setup issue. It's a couple of dozen micro-adjustments that make for the macro*, you know.

*(I know, I should patent this stuff...) :hello2:

 

[KainThornn]

Leo Paul?  Les-o-caster?  Groovy guitar, regardless of name  :icon_thumright:

 

[DangerousR6]

I'm not a purist at all so I say phuk 'em and feed 'em fish heads, that's cool...Anything but the ordinary, that's why I Floyded my tele's to make the purists cringe... :headbang1:

 

[DocNrock]

I'm not a purist at all so I say phuk 'em and feed 'em fish heads, that's cool...Anything but the ordinary, that's why I Floyded my tele's to make the purists cringe... :headbang1:

:icon_thumright:

 

[Ace Flibble]

Funny that this thread got brought back up, as today I redid this guitar a little bit. Swapped the alnico 5 magnet in the PAF Pro for an alnico 2 and also flipped it so the middle position is out of phase. Shimmed the neck just a little. I'm waiting for a Graph Tech piezo bridge to arrive, that's going to go in along with a mini switch. With my next order now in (an equally non-traditional, purple Jazzmaster), this Tele is going to become my special effect guitar, hence the change to a piezo system with acoustic-ish preamp and an ultra-thick neck tone.