Shell Pink MJT Tele Build
Moderated By: mods
It lives.
So, putting it together took a while, as I've been all hectic this end and there was a lot more assembly this time compared to when I put the baritone together. Who knew how complex the assembly behind a tele jack socket was, for instance? I put the neck on the day I got, and the bridge, then slowly worked my way through the other jobs: string ferrules were a bit of a swine to put in, and I was pretty uptight about postitoning the scratch plate, neck pickup and control panel correctly (none of these had guide holes, and the placement of each hinges on the position of the other two). The final hurdle was doing the electrics: I'm not one of life's great solderers, but somehow I managed not to damage or break anything.
That being said, the first time I plugged it in, the pickup positions were reversed and the middle position didn't work: mad props to Mike for looking over the diagrams I'd used and bugfixing for me. All sorted now, although the neck pickup is far too quiet since I mounted the spacers the wrong way up and I can't adjust it high enough. I'll sort that when I next change the strings.
It plays fantastically: hardly needed any tweaking once I'd raised the saddles a bit and done the intonation: holds its tuning fine too. Neck is massive, deep and wide, but great for me. This does have the alarming side effect of making everything else seem dinky though. Ridiculously light at 6lb6oz, just like I'd specced it, really loud acoustically too. The bridge pickup sounds amazing, as well. Really pleased with this.
Pics below aren't the best since they were taken under striplights in the kitchen while I was soldering - will take natural light ones. In the spring.
So, putting it together took a while, as I've been all hectic this end and there was a lot more assembly this time compared to when I put the baritone together. Who knew how complex the assembly behind a tele jack socket was, for instance? I put the neck on the day I got, and the bridge, then slowly worked my way through the other jobs: string ferrules were a bit of a swine to put in, and I was pretty uptight about postitoning the scratch plate, neck pickup and control panel correctly (none of these had guide holes, and the placement of each hinges on the position of the other two). The final hurdle was doing the electrics: I'm not one of life's great solderers, but somehow I managed not to damage or break anything.
That being said, the first time I plugged it in, the pickup positions were reversed and the middle position didn't work: mad props to Mike for looking over the diagrams I'd used and bugfixing for me. All sorted now, although the neck pickup is far too quiet since I mounted the spacers the wrong way up and I can't adjust it high enough. I'll sort that when I next change the strings.
It plays fantastically: hardly needed any tweaking once I'd raised the saddles a bit and done the intonation: holds its tuning fine too. Neck is massive, deep and wide, but great for me. This does have the alarming side effect of making everything else seem dinky though. Ridiculously light at 6lb6oz, just like I'd specced it, really loud acoustically too. The bridge pickup sounds amazing, as well. Really pleased with this.
Pics below aren't the best since they were taken under striplights in the kitchen while I was soldering - will take natural light ones. In the spring.
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hotrodperlmutter
- crescent fresh
- Posts: 16665
- Joined: Sat Apr 04, 2009 10:29 pm
- Location: Overland Park, KS, USA
The kit (with some upgrades from Musikraft) cost me $900 including shipping - it's a bit cheaper if you go for an Allparts neck. The wiring kit was £16 and the electrosocket was £8, both from Axesrus. The pickups were £90. So all in, about £680. It's worth pointing out that I was lucky with import tax (for the first time in years) and had factored in £80 to get it through Customs. For balance, the other guitar I was looking at was a 52ri with a huge aftermarket neck that's been floating around US eBay for a while now, but that would have meant a heavy guitar in a colour I didn't want, plus it was more expensive. This way round, I got my perfect tele built to specs for a damn sight cheaper than, say, Warmoth would have been, and could spec a light body and a nitro finish.
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taylornutt
- .
- Posts: 4908
- Joined: Thu Sep 17, 2009 5:04 pm
- Location: Dallas, TX
Best looking Shell Pink Tele I have ever seen. Love the uneven shading on the pickguard. It's so cool when you get a guitar the way you want it to be.
J Mascis Jazzmaster | AVRI Jaguar | Tuxedo-stang |Fender Toronado GT |
Squier FSR Sparkle Jaguar | Squier CV Mustang |1971 Fender Bronco| Baja Telecaster |
Squier FSR Sparkle Jaguar | Squier CV Mustang |1971 Fender Bronco| Baja Telecaster |
