The Great Telecaster Adventure of 2020-21 (Shop Thread)

[edwardofhuncote]

Thought I'd keep the Dream Thread separate, focused on an eventual Alembic Custom, and let this be a place where I can kick ideas around, solicit expert advice, post a few pictures of this little experiment...

I have already got a pretty good idea of where I'm headed with this one:

Alembic TC-AE-1 activator circuit, with a 3-position Q-switch added. This is a basic 2-knob set for Volume/Filter, a blade selector to switch between the neck and bridge pickups, like any other Telecaster, but adding a Q-switch onto the control plate. The pickups are drop-in replacements for their Fender-shaped counterparts.

The body and neck will be mahogany. Yeah, I know... it's been done. I'm going to tweak it a little more. Top and back laminates, maybe so... headstock veneers... yep, could happen. I might even goof around with scale length and sneak a Gibson *24.75" scale onto a Fender design. Because this is an experiment, anything could go right.    *edited for accuracy, with a hat-tip to Bill & Coz

I'm kinda' little-bit geeky about vintage stuff, so there may be some of that element in here. I am just now getting clued-in to the huge world of available hardware that I've never needed before. Really glad to see how modular and interchangeable a lot of it is.

Not much to see yet. Nothing really. What I lack the most right now is flippin' time to piddle in my shop.    I'll put some stuff up here soon though, links to parts or components I like, and gladly take any sage advice from the guitar mechanics I know hang around here.

~Ed of H.

[lbpesq]

Greg:  Gibson uses a 24 3/4” scale.  PRS uses 25”. 


Bill, tgo

[cozmik_cowboy]

Greg:  Gibson uses a 24 3/4” scale.  PRS uses 25”. 


Bill, tgo

Historically, Gibson uses a nominal 24.75"; in practice, over the decades, that has varied between 24.5" & 24.9" (though I believe they have become more locked in to an actual 24.75 in recent years.)

Peter

[edwardofhuncote]

Doh! I had C.F. Martin's 24.9" scale on the brain, from an exchange with Bro. Elwood the other night.   

But, yes, one of the things I have learned is that scale converting necks are commercially available.

[gtrguy]

Sounds like fun! I am messing around with a high end Strat copy myself right now (putting in Van Zandt pickups). The body on it is made of ... mahogany! Gawd knows why. It's heavy as all get out and I really can't say that the wood adds to the tone, though it does sound good.

[edwardofhuncote]

Interestingly, though they only sell alder, or ash pre-cut bodies, the Stew-Mac Telecaster kit is mahogany. I don't need or want most of the hardware and electronics that would come with it, so I probably won't go this way, but I would be assured of at least well-cured wood, and crisp routs, and a decent neck pocket fit with their set. https://www.stewmac.com/kits-and-projects/t-style-electric-guitar-kit.html

Reckon I could sell or swap the stuff I don't use...

I've been underwhelmed and a little creeped-out by a few ebay exchanges. There's always Warmoth, and the Stratosphere. I'm resisting that. Dang, they have some purty guitars, but I really want to do this myself.

Filed away for later, (and special thanks to Joey for the tip... ) this place is a pretty good resource for parts. https://www.guitarpartsresource.com

[lbpesq]

Greg, I’ve purchased several custom bodies unfinished from Warmoth.   I recently completed my second bass.  I got a custom Black Limba (Korina) J Bass shaped body routed for a P Bass split pickup (I used an Alembic, of course!), rear loaded and unfinished for around $275.   I filled the grain, sanded, and finished with about 10-15 coats of Tung Oil.   Warmoth has a custom generator where you can get just about anything you want.   I just tried it for a Mahogany Tele with standard routs and it comes out at $195 unfinished.  For $15 more you can add a tummy cut.  You can also get it chambered to keep the weight down, or even a carved top.   

Bill, tgo

[cozmik_cowboy]

USA Custom Guitars (now part of MJT Custom Aged Guitar Finishes will make you one out of just about anything, with just about any routing & drilling you want, belly & forearm bevels if you want, etc. (or did when they were still USACG; as near as I can tell, they still do).
I have no first-hand experience with them, but have heard good things - and a guy on another forum posted pix of a roasted quarter-sawn maple neck/roasted swamp ash body Tele he'd built with their stuff, and it looked spectacular.

Peter

[edwardofhuncote]

Oh wow, what a fun rabbit-hole I've fallen into...   

Thanks again Bill and Coz... this definitely gave me some more options to mull over.

Giving some thought now to an alternate body pattern from the more familiar Fender-shaped guitar. I was talkin' to the Ol' Man about it yesterday... his thought, and I concur - if this one is going to have our name on it, maybe do something different with the design. I could actually come closer to my goal by ordering a maple-topped mahogany slab body blank, and have it top-routed for Tele pickups, a back-routed control cavity, and a standard 4-bolt neck pocket. Hmmmm. 

It's going to be crazy-fun mash-up.

[cozmik_cowboy]

I'm liking how you're thinking.

Something that's been bouncing around my brainpan for over a year now after playing a couple of Bill's assemblages is a Modulus Strat neck on a maple-on-mahogany USACG "Wolfpack" (based on an EVH Wolfgang) with Alembic guts.  I also have the shape for a total roll-your-own in there, but lack the woodworking chops to realize it; may have to one day enlist the aid of my guitarist/carpenter son on that one.

Peter

[paulman]

Greg:  Gibson uses a 24 3/4” scale.  PRS uses 25”. 


Bill, tgo

Historically, Gibson uses a nominal 24.75"; in practice, over the decades, that has varied between 24.5" & 24.9" (though I believe they have become more locked in to an actual 24.75 in recent years.)

Peter

I've been reading about 24.594 being exact spec for a vintage gibby, but that's just marketing to some extent I guess.

You would have to put a "Gibson" neck on a Tele body and re measure the bridge placement to make the scale work, right?

Last, I've been building guitars from kits from guitarfetish.com, its the Earl Slick company which I thought was kinda cool. They are cheap Chinese kits and have worked so far.  Cutting nut slots is stressful I have learned.

[bigredbass]

Another source (local here in Nashville) is The Guitar Mill in next-door Murfressboro, TN.  Run by a great guitar player, these guys tend to have more modest pricing, though not the depth of wood choices or options as a Warmoth, etc.  They're next door to a smokehouse, so it's a great combo to stop by, smell sawdust and smoked country ham from next door, and get something to go . . . . at both places !  Great finish work in-house, too.

https://guitarmill.com/guitarmill/

[cozmik_cowboy]

You would have to put a "Gibson" neck on a Tele body and re measure the bridge placement to make the scale work, right?

IIRC, USACG sells necks with the frets placed so you can just screw it to an F body & get a G scale without moving the bridge.

Peter

[edwardofhuncote]

You would have to put a "Gibson" neck on a Tele body and re measure the bridge placement to make the scale work, right?

IIRC, USACG sells necks with the frets placed so you can just screw it to an F body & get a G scale without moving the bridge.

Peter

Yes indeed-y. Warmoth offers these 'scale conversion' necks as well; a bolt-on convert your F to a G. No move da' bridge. Amazing. Not really, just math.   

It isn't a deal-breaker... but I really like the shorter scale between the two. I am not sure how much effect it will have on pickup placement, but I do know on my '67 Guild Starfire bass, the second octave harmonic (where the 24th fret would be if it had one) is directly over the neck pickup pole-pieces. That can't be an accident. So I have to think how the strings oscillate on the slightly shorter scale is going to make a difference in where the pickups might be best set.  I haven't made the jump from 'think about it' into the 'actually do it' phase yet, but there is an option for this. Even a repositioning for 24 frets if you wanted to. Honestly, I'm overwhelmed by the choices. Gotta' be careful and remember what the thing is here.
 
~Gregory (who confesses to having thought about changing an F to a B once... after being judged completely unfairly on... aww, nevermind.  )

[David Houck]

You might find this tool, which shows the relationships of frequency response, scale length, number of frets, number and volume of pickups, and pickup positions, to be of some interest.

http://www.till.com/articles/PickupResponseDemo/

Oh, and you can change pickup aperture as well.

And relatedly, from the archives:  http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=3224