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

[edwardofhuncote]

I have been trying to absorb as much as possible about different types of pickups and the evolution thereof. Especially as applied to a Telecaster. I already know what's going in my project (electronically at least), so my experiment has more to do with other factors. What's most fascinating about this video wasn't so much the pickups being showcased, but the guitar with a quick-release system for showing them. Fascinating! Check this out.

[hankster]

Well you can’t really talk Tele without Bill Kirchen.

[gtrguy]

I had an occasion to try out a lot of pickups in a tele I had, as I acquired a big box of guitar parts several years back. In the box were many rare vintage ones too, however I liked a Fender Custom Shop for the neck and a Van Zandt for the bridge the best .

[edwardofhuncote]

Boy there were some heavy threads back in the day, Dave... great read, Thanks!

Well, at long last I finally have some time off coming, and after I get my heart rate back to normal and dial things down to 7, I'll be back in my shop. There are a couple promised jobs for other folks I need to get out the door first, but after that, I'm wide open to get busy on some fun stuff!

I have opted to not use the traditional Fender Telecaster body. It will be a mahogany core with a maple top. It's going to have a control cavity in the back, rather than a top-rout too. I'm going with a mahogany neck, rosewood or ebony board, but still hedging on the scale. That's all I will say for now, because it's all I'm certain of. I'm told, there's a delay in getting a switch (Q-switch I guess?) for the electronics, but I'm going ahead with the build since I know where it will end up. I can always drill that hole last.

My Ol' Man asked me the other day, what headstock I was going to use? I've been thinking about a way to adapt our banjo headstock to a flat paddle 6-inline.

Here's the (backside of) headstock of #27:

[David Houck]

 

[edwardofhuncote]

YES, the Reverb bots strike again!!! Just the thing for my Telecaster build. https://reverb.com/item/37052376-import-pan-alembic-telecaster-pickguard-1980-s-3-ply-white

I'm imagining the awkwardness of that next phone call to Alembic HQ.    Hmmm... maybe not as much. 

*Currently no plans for a pickguard on my build... Pan-Alembic or otherwise.
 

[edwardofhuncote]

Just to update the thread, the carefully packed Box Of Joy from the New Mothership arrived yesterday evening with my Telecaster Activator set. Many, many things have changed since I started toying with this idea, maybe the most fun being that I'm actually working at playing guitar more, now that I have absolutely no reason in the world to, and by golly... starting to hear results. I have sketched and tossed a hundred ideas. I can't possibly build all the ideas I want to... I hardly have time to do this one, but it's about to get moving. Like Mica says, about to make some sawdust. I just haven't warmed the idea of building another Tele-shaped guitar... I have two already. This needs to be something different. But what?   

...and there's another situation developing. [tease mode] 

[edwardofhuncote]

So here's what's been keeping me occupied, or rather, where I'm headed with this project... I wanted to do something kind of original, but also kinda' throwback, and still build something befitting Alembic electronics.

I'd been thinking about revisiting the Peanut. What about a Single-cut Peanut, with a short-scale, and a standard 4-bolt pattern neck pocket? It wasn't easy. I looked at every Peanut in the Showcase, and elsewhere, and as you'd expect, no two are alike. I borrowed the upper half mostly from #72-05, the lower half is a little bit of free-hand that I tried very hard to make fit stylistically. My Pops had suggested that I redesign our banjo headstock to work for an inline-six but it just never made it offa' the drawing board. I pulled out a dusty old folder of some of my original patterns for inspiration, and sketched out a totally new one. Traditional 3+3, still asymmetrical, lots of negative space to play with. I really hope it isn't something I've seen before and forgot about.

I'll be doing a control cavity in the back, the layout is typical Telecaster, but with a 3-position Q-switch and I slanted the pickup selector. No pickguard, but I may have to fashion a brass mounting ring to mount the neck pickup to.

And a hat-tip to Bro. Elwood for pointing me towards this awesome Tele-type bridge. https://www.schroederguitarhardware.com/collections/flat-mount/products/schroeder-tl-bridge

So here's where I am now- (sketches not necessarily to scale, but not far off either)

[hammer]

I love the body shape you have sketched out. Sort of has a Rick Turner guitar vibe to it

[edwardofhuncote]

I love the body shape you have sketched out. Sort of has a Rick Turner guitar vibe to it

Yeah... I stood back and looked at it last night. Well, dammitall... back to the drawing board. I swear it was an accident, but I don't reckon it's totally a coincidence those two patterns resemble each other. I can do something different and still be okay. Just need some more time to scribble. Plenty of eraser left.

[cozmik_cowboy]

I love the body shape you have sketched out. Sort of has a Rick Turner guitar vibe to it

Well, the prototype Peanut (the one with the Les Paul Custom neck) was Rick's first-ever build - which besides being the progenitor of the Peanut was the template for the Turner Type 1 (Style 1?  Model 1?  I forget the exact nomenclature).

Peter

[edwardofhuncote]

Oh, I'm well aware. It'd be funnier if I weren't embarrassed by the slip. Especially here. 

I was telling someone earlier though, I already have another idea, even better, more single-cut-ish. I just got off-duty though, and today just fried my brains. Tomorrow ain't gonna' be much better and it starts in 10-1/2 hours.

[edwardofhuncote]

The next draft is more Single-cut, still plenty Peanut. I'm starting to think though... there isn't much new under the sun. I liked how the new lower half, particularly the horn point, lent itself well to the bass side of the headstock. The more I looked at it, the more it looked like a Skylark pattern. 

I'll have some more time to scratch and scribble this weekend.

[lbpesq]

Looking a little Les Paulish to me.

Bill, tgo

[edwardofhuncote]

Looking a little Les Paulish to me.

Bill, tgo

Yeah, I see it. Kinda' like the slab-body Melody-Maker had. I'm about to give up and just order a Warmoth body and neck. It ain't like I'm loaded up with time anyway. It felt good to be creative for a minute, but I didn't really create anything. I did send a lotta' water down the pipes this week though. Reckon it's better for everybody if I keep running Water Plants and leave guitarmaking to Elves. 


Oh well. Coffee. Then music.