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

[rv_bass]

Looks nice

[lbpesq]

Nothing wrong with going the Warmoth route.  You really can’t beat it unless you have a CNC machine in your garage, especially if you can do the finish yourself.   I received my latest Warmoth body yesterday.  Vintage 50’s Strat in Swamp Ash for my next Alligator.   I ordered it as a custom body about a month ago.  They are fairly quick if you don’t need them to do the finish.  $195!  Such a deal!

Bill, tgo

[cozmik_cowboy]

Nothing wrong with going the Warmoth route.  You really can’t beat it unless you have a CNC machine in your garage....

Bill, tgo

While I do tend to agree with you there, Bill, I can't help but flash to that Fender factory video from 1959, watching them bandsaw Strat bodies free-hand.  Those folks might have not been as steeped in traditional luthiery as Gibson's staff, but no one can tell me
they didn't have mad skillz.

And I think Greg's last sketch is a tad more akin to a Guild Bluesbird/Aristocrat than a LP.  There's something else with the cutaway even closer to Greg's, but I'm drawing a blank right now.

Peter

[adriaan]

There is a resemblance with the St. Blues guitars that are a bit of a mashup of LP and Tele...

[edwardofhuncote]

I've had a whole day to decompress and think, and play, and catch my breath. I'm simply too busy and too tired to be creative. There's no end in sight, so my Pea-nutty plans are going to the backburner. It's been fun. I have a set of electronics from a late-60's Gibson Kalamazoo that may end up in a Honeytone guitar one day. Always said if I got around to it those things would end up being useful.

Back to the original plan though; I'll just put these Alembic activators in one or the other of my Fenders. Yeah, I could have Warmoth do a body and neck, but why - when I already have a couple? Just need to figure out which one to mod. The plain Butterscotch one would be easy, but I kinda' don't wanna' mess with it. The Sunburst HH would be a little tricky, but fun. I also like that tummy-cut body. I don't particularly love the bridge. So I'd swap it out anyway. There would be obstacles. Maybe not big ones. Plastic pickguards and mounting rings hide a multitude of sins.

[edwardofhuncote]

Jack-pot. I have discovered there are adapter rings available to convert the Fender humbucker bridge pickup rout to accept a standard Telecaster bridge pickup. I should be able to swap out the pickguard for the correct cut for the neck pickup too. In  fact, (not that it's hard to source one) but I already have a couple.  So yeah... I think the Telecaster HH is going to get Alembicized. Bridge will get replaced with a Schroeder hardtail mentioned upthread. I'll go ahead and order a new control plate with a slanted switch slot (I like those), and drill for the Q-switch between the Filter and Volume pots. I may upgrade the tuning machines too.

[cozmik_cowboy]

Based on playing Bill's Alembecized Tele, I predict large smiles coming.

Peter

[lbpesq]

Gregory, before you pull the trigger, you might want to check out the Babicz Full Contact bridge.  Personally I believe it to be HUGE improvement over the standard Tele bridge and others based in the Tele concept of each pair of strings sharing a single saddle.  The Babicz allows you to set height and intonation of each string individually.  Add to this that it will literally double the acoustic volume of your guitar - which translates to improved tone and sustain.    Here’s my Alembicized Tele with the Babicz bridge.   It is the more expensive of the Babicz Tele bridges.  Since then, I discovered the Babicz Z Series which, IMHO looks better and doesn’t have the big “Babicz” emblazoned on it.

Bill, tgo

http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=16543.0

[edwardofhuncote]

I was supposed to be going in for another one of those miserable ESI's right between C7-T1 today... had the whole day off. And tomorrow too, so the anesthesia could de-pissitate. (yeah... )

But an ice storm cancelled me... and 23 more unlucky souls.

So I made another pot of coffee and ordered all the hardware and parts needed to finish out Telecaster Two, the sunburst Player Series HH. Other than the Alembic Activators, it's getting gold hardware; half-bridge from Schroeder, a control plate with a custom slanted switch slot, gold Kluson tuning machines and a vintage-style string tree too. This nifty black anodized aluminum adapter that will allow the Alembic pickup in the standard Fender Telecaster singlecoil shape to go in that existing rout is pretty cool too. Then, to top things off right, I went to alembic.com, and ordered a pair of classic witch-hat knobs.

I'm leaning towards a black/white/black pickguard. I'll repurpose the aged pearl one on something else. Just consider this a 'before' shot.

Hopefully by the time I assemble all that, they'll have rescheduled the injection and shot me full of whatever that juice is that makes it possible to feel my hands and thus, play guitar. 

[lbpesq]

The compensation on those saddles scares me.  None of my guitars have string to string differences nearly that drastic once the intonation is set.

Bill, tgo

[edwardofhuncote]

The compensation on those saddles scares me.  None of my guitars have string to string differences nearly that drastic once the intonation is set.

Bill, tgo

Yeah, I dunno Bill. They get pretty good reviews. But they also offer an upgraded set of saddles. I reckon I'll find out in a little bit.

[rv_bass]

Nothing wrong with going the Warmoth route.  You really can’t beat it unless you have a CNC machine in your garage, especially if you can do the finish yourself.   I received my latest Warmoth body yesterday.  Vintage 50’s Strat in Swamp Ash for my next Alligator.   I ordered it as a custom body about a month ago.  They are fairly quick if you don’t need them to do the finish.  $195!  Such a deal!o

Bill, tgo

Bill,
Where did you find the $195 Strat bodies on the Warmoth site?  I can only find in stock $425 to >$500, or custom build >$500.
Thanks, Rob

[edwardofhuncote]

Bill tgo may know some shortcuts that I don't (he is the guitar one, after all...  ) but there is one on this page Rob.


https://www.warmoth.com/Pages/ClassicShowcase.aspx?Body=2&Shape=1&Path=Stratocaster

[rv_bass]

Thanks, Greg!
I won’t derail the thread, I’ll check it out and follow up with Bill on the side.
Rob

[lbpesq]

I use their custom body builder, not the showcase in-stock bodies.  For some reason I am unable to fathom, a showcase in-stock unfinished body in Swamp Ash (if you can find one) is more expensive than a custom ordered one!  Go figure!   Sorry for the derailment, but this may also apply to your Warmoth considerations, Gregory.

Bill, tgo