Yay! Christmas Tele project!

[zebra]

Update:  I bought all of the hardware tonight.  I went almost entirely stainless steel.  Tuners:  Hipshot Closed Locking w/UMP.  Bridge:  Hipshot 6-saddle stainless steel.  All other hardware is stainless steel from Calllaham, except for the control knobs, which are stainless steel from Glendale. 

At the moment, leaning strongly towards a darker fingerboard - narrowed it down to Rosewood or Pau Ferro, on a raw neck, which I've narrowed down to either roasted Maple, Goncalo Alves, Canary, or Afra (any of which I'd probably request a lighter neck wood, darker fingerboard wood, and both with less figuring, as opposed to more figuring).

This is so exciting - I've been wanting to do this for over 15 years!

 

[rgand]

Very cool. I love stainless steel. It looks good and feels great. It'll be nice to hear how the bridge pickup sounds surrounded with that.

I think a darker fingerboard will look really good with it. If you get stainless frets, be sure to polish them before you assemble. I didn't mine and they are a little rough feeling when I stretch some strings. I'll take the neck off to do it at the next string change, along with burnishing the neck some. Cagey explains it nicely in this thread.

 

[zebra]

Neck arrived - Yeah!!!

 

[rgand]

That's a beautiful neck. Congrats.

 

[Cagey]

Indeed. Sharp piece.

I wonder why Warmoth took so long to offer roasted Maple? I don't think I've seen a single piece of it I didn't like.

 

[zebra]

Link to finished build here:

http://unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=26755.msg383616#msg383616