Telemacaster project for cheaps MORE NEW PICS

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:28 pm

Having got a cheap no-name telecaster from my dad for Â£20 I've set about doing some mods for the hell of it. I think some people will want to vomit and I'll cover the aesthetic mods further below but first off i want to get a wiring kit from AxesRUs however it gives choices in pots and capacitors and I do not know my arse from my elbow about them really.

The setup will be a Catswhisker T-Bucker 10K output for the bridge and an as yet undecided neck pickup that matches...possibly a humbucker but don't know yet although possibly a custom one from Allan at catswhisker.

The wiring kits I'm looking at are with 4 toggle here and either the "USA/MEX Telecaster Wiring Kit: Wiring for USA/MEX Telecasters and a great upgrade for Import Teles." or the "USA/MEX Telecaster Wiring Kit: Wiring for USA/MEX Telecasters and a great upgrade for Import Teles, designed for players who preffer the extra control offered by alpha pots opposed to audio taper pots"

Advice on the best pots type/ K (250 or 500K, Split or Solid Shaft) and the best capacitors (0.022, 0.033 or 0.047) would be greatly appreciated. Are there any advantages with the alpha pots over CTS?

The rest:
This is a top loader bridge so I'm limited by the choice of top load 6 saddle bridges and none get a very good opinion across the interweb so I'm ordering a wilkinson compensated bridge for intonation. I strung this up with 11-70 boomers and the intonations gets real funky up the neck with standard barrels and don't really like the idea of bending screws etc..

The body will have scruffy Jeff Beck contours because I wanna (no not a fan boy nor a replica job). I have copied them by blowing up a picture of the contours on his guitar to as near a 1:1 scale on my computer screen as possible then traced them on to sticky back transparent paper. This was then stuck to the guitar for a guideline when it comes to the shaping. I may even do a rough easy access heel too using a modern strat neck plate too and filling and redrilling a heel screwhole.

The guard will be stickered and possibly aged just to see if I can do it. Mainly I'm going to leave it for a couple of weeks in with my pet bearded dragon under the UV light. If it yellows nicely I may do the same with the body

So yah not a trad Tele by any means but more of an experiment.... Pics as follows:

Original condition

Sticker

Contours:

Aging process

More pics next weekend when I do the contours.

oolu · Post by **oolu** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 6:12 am

Man, that looks like a fun project! Any updates?

I had a JagStang once that I attemped to give contours to... it didn't come out exactly as planned and in the end I traded the guitar away for something else. Now I've acquired a Chinese Squier Telecaster and I think I'm going to frankenstein her up, minus the woodwork. Apparently, that's not my forte.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 7:05 am

oolu wrote:Man, that looks like a fun project! Any updates?

I had a JagStang once that I attemped to give contours to... it didn't come out exactly as planned and in the end I traded the guitar away for something else. Now I've acquired a Chinese Squier Telecaster and I think I'm going to frankenstein her up, minus the woodwork. Apparently, that's not my forte.

I got to admit I made a mistake of sorts on the arm curve that I styled out more or less. I I just used two small rasps to remove the majority of the bulk and then a sander to finish off and level. I took it a wee bit low with the rasps so getting it flat with sander made a more extreme contouring than planned. Advice for future is if you is stop with the rasp before you think you need to.

Currently the contours are sand and sealed figuring out whether to spray whole body In clear nitro or refinish.... Pics soon

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 8:44 pm

Okay been steadily making progress with this over the last few weeks...things have changed through various accidents and stuff but it's turned into a full on experiment and the real thing I can't wait to show off is the, I think, unique pickups...but that will have to wait until I get em wired and on video.

Here's whats been happening in laborious photovision:

First off spent ages creating the contours using a rasp, file and lots of sanding. Used sticky back plastic witht he lines drawn on as a guide. I over sanded my lines too much and ended up with the much extended contouring you now see. i dig it. I'm inclined to leave 'as is' with sand sealer and clear coat rather than refinish the whole thing:

The neck pup cavity is enlarged to fit a full size single coil type....

After shellac sanding sealer is applied the body now looks liek this (note the enlarged neck pup hole in the pickguard and the new wilkinson compensated tele bridge:

OMG SUPERCAT IS HERE TO ALLEVIATE YR BOREDOM

Random hole and corner screw hole drilled and filled in body and on neck..

Now I start my McChonaecaenichaeaewossaname process on the neck heel...

Have learnt so much this far in....more soon.

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 8:52 pm

holy shit dude. those contours look so good. don't finish it. leave it just like that.

<3 contoured heel. miss it on the toro.

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:04 pm

That looks awesome.

Noirie. · Post by **Noirie.** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:17 pm

hotrodperlmutter wrote:holy shit dude. those contours look so good. don't finish it. leave it just like that.

+1!!!

Dude you have some wicked skills ;D

gaybear · Post by **gaybear** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 10:20 pm

hotrodperlmutter wrote:holy shit dude. those contours look so good. don't finish it. leave it just like that.

werd!

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:08 am

um no. finish it please.

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:21 am

i usually hate contours on teles, but im not going to lie.
that shit is awsome looking, and i bet it feels good to the touch.

TheBurbz · Post by **TheBurbz** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 7:16 am

Good job on the neck pocket and heel!

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 1:18 pm

Cheers for the encouragment all - I'm erring on the side of not refinishing at this stage and just giveing the whole lot a clear coat or 5. Was looking at doing Nitro but really don't see the point on a cheap poly guitar.

robert(original) wrote:i usually hate contours on teles, but im not going to lie.
that shit is awsome looking, and i bet it feels good to the touch.

You know that is totally true - it's uber slick to play (and that's before the neck contouring). I think this will raise a few sniffs and I I know there have been odd shaped necks before but one idea I decided to implement here was to shape the neck according to my own wee little hand and the general shape it takes at different positions on the neck. It's barely noticable with the eye but essentially there is a more rounded thicker ephasis on the top half of the neck, thinner slope on the bottom half, nearer the nut and this is reversed as as you approach the heel.

This was largely done by noticing how I played in those two areas and then holding sand paper I ran my hands along the neck in the respective playing positions to shape the neck. Yep i know some are going to think this nonsense but it's just an experiment. The result is a Â£20 guitar witht the most natural feeling neck I've ever played in my experience. I think if you have normal or big hands that do not have to fight a neck contour then this feature is a moot point.

In the new year I'm going to begin building guitars from scratch and this project has given me some pretty good ideas on how to do the finishing and some special features: As I keep hinting the pickups should be pretty interesting due to a fairly unique feature....I have them already to go once the body is done and they're wired up so we'll all hear how they sound then.

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 1:24 pm

Bloody hell that looks great so far!

finboy · Post by **finboy** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 1:49 pm

i would just clear it, and dub it the comfort-caster

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 2:27 am

If you were to describe this to me I'd think you were mental but it looks bloody great. Seriously good job. I'd clearcoat it and leave it.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 3:54 am

Black Cat Bone wrote:there is a more rounded thicker ephasis on the top half of the neck, thinner slope on the bottom half, nearer the nut and this is reversed as as you approach the heel.

I have a Fernandes neck that is shaped exactly like that. it is even shaped for that toronado style neck pocket as well.

oolu · Post by **oolu** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 8:49 am

did you fabricate that neck plate, or buy it like that?

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 1:29 pm

oolu wrote:did you fabricate that neck plate, or buy it like that?

Picked it up on ebay from the US for some dollars - not expensive if you get the no-name brand type. Fender do one for a strat model and the jeff Beck sig I believe. if you search "access Neck plate" i think you'll find them okay.

Lots of work done so more updates this weekend

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 10:04 am

Okay here's whats been happening the last couple of weeks.

The control Cavity had to be widened because the routers were retards and the whole thing was off centre and the CTS pots are pretty big. All done with a chisel and file:

After much laying of knobs and switches I decided to be a tard and go with this configuration and i think it's gonna be cramp wiring job. The plate holes needed widening with a conical drill bit along with a new third hole (also you can see I've started building up a shellac finish on the guard...looking splodgey and rough at this stage but...):

Moving onto the neck I decided to make my life more difficult by refinishing the neck - I've really got into shellac on wood and so i stripped the neck which was the usual pain in the arse and then sanded and shellaced - the pics only show up to the stripped and sanding. I will be replacing the nut too and this was removed with a razor and a tap with a hammer and screwdriver.

The string tree holes were filled for redrilling because they were a bit off. You can also see a couple of chips i decided to fix. This was done by hammering cocktail sticks flat, gluing them in and sanding flush with the surrounding wood. The fix on the back of the stock will be covered by the peg and the front will be covered too...as you will see shortly.

I also decided to try and improve the look of the doweled hole in the neck heel, first I tried wood dust mixed with epoxy and then wood glue but after sanding neither really worked and looked a bit dodgy. In the end i used a knife to cut a flat bit of dowel with the grain running along it, dug out some of the existing dowel in the neck and then glued this on top (you can see the first coats of shellac too eblow).

So this is why the chip on the front of the stock will be covered...that's just a roughly cut bit of paper on there to get an idea - the curve needs to be refined. Also..hhmmm MUSTANG KNORBERS?! maybe...:

Here's a pic of current projects:

TheBurbz · Post by **TheBurbz** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 12:17 pm

That Tele pickguard is immense!