Nick’s Telecaster build thread.

[Nick]

It’s been a long time since I “built� a guitar, I found this body advertised on marketplace for $90 and for some reason it was calling out to me. Wasn’t as local as I normally deal, but said if it didn’t sell by the weekend I would pick it up.

Tonebomb pine body, made in Canada, top loader
Finished in blonde nitro
Bridge was included, compensated brass saddles
Pickguard included, BWB humbucker/“fat Tele�

Not listed in the ad but the seller also included a control plate, neck plate with screws and a headstock decal (1uping Paul1k with fake serial number, custom shop logo and all haha).

I realized I had some electronics already from MKT3000, 250k pots out of his old Bronco, and a 3 way switch.
I originally was planning to use the fat Tele guard with an old Harmony lp bucker, but I decided to use this old wbw pickguard that came from my first Tele (a Squier Standard British racing green Tele I had put a mint pickguard on and sold to Dillon).
I picked up the knobs and screw in electrosocket on the cheap from Love of Fuzz in Troy NY
Shad was parting out some teles and I got a 62 AVRI bridge pickup coming in from him.
Will likely be taking Freddy up on his offer of an Affinity pickup for the neck.

I ordered a roasted maple and rosewood neck from an independent builder on eBay, hoping the quality is good but his feedback seemed to indicate he does good work. I liked the neck since it’s built vintage style with a slab fretboard and truss rod at the heel. It’s also already a nice shade of tinted maple and shouldn’t need finishing. Also the 8mm holes for kluson style tuners. Which are the last thing I need for this build. Here's a link to the neck I ordered, although I'm sure I won't get the exact one from the pics

http://www.ebay.com/itm/313602041042

Here’s how it sits now, next to my Cyclone II for complimentary effect. There is still some orange peel and some minor imperfections that can be sanded/polished out. I’ve started to sand the back and sides already with 600 grit, taking it slow but it’s looking better already.


Long winded post, will try to post more pics as I go and less talk. Very excited!

[plopswagon]

Looks amazing, Nick!

[dots]

Great find, dude. Can't wait to see the progress!

[benecol]

Meant to say on Saturday (before my Paypal panic, now sorted) - low-wind Filtertrons (I just had a regular humbucker sized one) go amazingly in tele necks, and pair great with tele bridge pickups. Also, didn't clock that it was a toploader - I love a toploading tele.

[Nick]

Meant to say on Saturday (before my Paypal panic, now sorted) - low-wind Filtertrons (I just had a regular humbucker sized one) go amazingly in tele necks, and pair great with tele bridge pickups. Also, didn't clock that it was a toploader - I love a toploading tele.

glad to hear the PayPal issue is sorted, lots of scams out there so having a real issue is an extra measure of scary.

I definitely thought about a filtertron in the neck (also considered a hi-lo tron)- I have some TV Jones Classics in my Ovation and it does seem like a good match for a Tele sound. For now I want to stick with the stock config so I have a baseline of what I like/don’t like about Teles when it comes to mods since I don’t have much experience with them in general.

[Thom]

This looks very tasty.

[izodiak]

Hi5 really nice !

[Mike]

I was dead set on the black guard but that photo has changed my mind - looks fab

[dots]

agreed, this is going to be a class-A project.

[Thomas]

Reading this thread is doing absolutely nothing to help with my standard Tele desire. The guard looks great on that colour too.

[Nick]

Neck should arrive tomorrow but I’m feeling a little upset about it, I’m normally wise to this sort of thing but I came across this AliExpress listing and I’m 99% positive this is where my eBay neck came from, about $100 more to my door after tax and shipping.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002780626259.html

Granted, it’s out of stock on AliExpress and would likely have taken over a month to get here.....but still, feel deceived, even after I realized the “Warmoth bone nut� in the listing is the equivalent of “Gibson strings�....especially since Warmoth doesn’t even offer bone nuts I knew that was fake, yeesh.

[plopswagon]

Ouch, I hope the neck situation isn’t too much a downer.

This is making me want to put a white guard on my Tele.

[Nick]

Ouch, I hope the neck situation isn’t too much a downer.

it was a bit of an impulse....when I first saw the listing there were 2 available, checked later that night and it was down to “LAST ONE� so I jumped on it.

The seller does offer returns minus shipping, but I’m going into it with an open mind. If it fits, looks like the photos and doesn’t suck I’ll feel like it was money well spent. And if it sucks Ill be out $35 shipping both ways. Between not actually being in stock on Ali, faster shipping, and more importantly a middle man who should in theory serve as an extra measure of QC if he’s standing behind what he sells, it kinda helps justify the added cost. And sending stuff back to China would be a PITA but sending it back to Utah, whatever.

[dots]

Yeesh is right, Nick. You have a sensible take on it, tho. Hopefully tunes out to be a minor detail in the rearview.

[sunshiner]

As far as I understand aliexpress necks are a lottery. Mines came either warped or got twisted within weeks or had trussrods not working, other people got keepers. If it's really roasted maple, not just tinted finish, and it comes perfectly straight, it might be a good one to keep. As for shipping, even when you order from Aliexpress it often offers you several delivery options near you, which means they normally stock their goods outside China.

It seems to me that living in the US it's better to buy cheap necks from GFS. I don't know how quality their necks are but at least they are a well established company and you'll probably be able to negotiate with them if a neck is completely unusable

[Nick]

As far as I understand aliexpress necks are a lottery. Mines came either warped or got twisted within weeks or had trussrods not working, other people got keepers. If it's really roasted maple, not just tinted finish, and it comes perfectly straight, it might be a good one to keep. As for shipping, even when you order from Aliexpress it often offers you several delivery options near you, which means they normally stock their goods outside China.

It seems to me that living in the US it's better to buy cheap necks from GFS. I don't know how quality their necks are but at least they are a well established company and you'll probably be able to negotiate with them if a neck is completely unusable

I’ve ordered a lot of things through AliExpress over the years. The items that ship from other countries are few and far between. Most of it comes from China, takes 2-3 weeks to arrive in the US, then sits around for another 2-3 weeks at some hub before being delivered. Other items arrive in like 10-14 days and seem to go straight to my door instead of waiting around. I don’t understand it but I’ve only had one item go missing and it was a pair of $1 novelty pixel sunglasses

As far as GFS, I did have a look at their necks, but at the time I was shopping for maple instead of rosewood and they were out of stock of most of what I wanted. The few Tele necks in stock were unfinished pasty 22 fret necks in their cheaper line (the price difference between their good/better/best is negligible).

On the positive, I don’t think this neck is finished at all judging by photos so it should actually be roasted maple if it isn’t some other darker wood. I also liked all the specs of this neck better than the budget offerings from other sources, between the darker maple, slab rosewood, slotted truss rod at the heel...it seemed to fit the vintage vibe better. The one complaint I read in one of the feedbacks had to do with the headstock being cut slightly too thick which affected the tuning keys the buyer had planned to use. This didn’t bother me at the time but I will absolutely use it as an excuse to send it back if I’m otherwise not satisfied with it.

[sunshiner]

Probably most items come directly from China but then there are sellers who offer you several options from where the item can be shipped. With that being said, we share the border with China, but it normally takes weeks, even months for items to get here.

Yeah, most cheap necks are 22 frets and pasty, though I don't mind the latter. The one from your listing looks really nice

[Nick]

So it arrived today...

First impressions are great. It seems I got the exact neck pictured. Headstock thickness is actually fine, woods seem legit (did carefully inspect it to make sure it wasn’t just printed on). Looks straight, fret edges are about on par with standard Squier stuff, could be smoothed out a bit but nothing too hand shreddy. One gripe and it might be a big one, the truss rod does not seem to turn easily...I did get it to loosen/tighten a little, maybe like an 1/8 turn either way. Don’t want to mess with it too much. It seems like it might also just be because of newness/the truss rod route being too snug, but counter clockwise was definitely looser so it probably does actually have a truss rod and isn't just a slotted nut hanging out by itself in the cavity? I hope?

As far as fitment it slid right into the pocket. Not too loose but not a stress crack inducing snug fit either. I kind of love it still, it looks and feels great - it’s like the right amount of chunk I like a Tele neck profile to have and still really light to balance the pine body. The roasted maple or whatever it is feels nice and smooth and won't need a finish, it has that newer Fender satin feel. Trying to be objectively critical with everything but I think it’s a keeper!





Also 62 AVRI pickup from Shad came in. Thanks Shad! Very tempting to find a cheap neck pickup local and put it all together but I know I need to smooth out the orange peel and do some polishing. Patience....

[dots]

Beautiful and a great score, Nick! That is going to be real player when you're finished with it.

[sunshiner]

It looks absolutely gorgeous and more expensive than it is