ShortScale.org

Sorry if you keep reading this all over the place, but this is the official thread now. I've decided to definitely go ahead and assemble my own.

So, I just ordered the body from ebay along with a flat sided, 50s style gloss black guard. Gonna take about 10 days for that, and I'll need to white stain / tru oil once I get it.

In the mean time, I'm ordering the rest of the parts from axerus for ease mainly but they seem pretty decent. They're sitting in the cart right now but need to know about a few bits they don't have in stock at the moment, so need to find out about waiting time. Body will take about 10 days so I've got time to play with. Also want to put a few more bits on the ebayz, to pay for it.

Whatever I'm not satisfied with quality wise I'll upgrade later as and when. It could take forever otherwise.

Pickups I'll be getting elsewhere. I'm thinking a Dimarzio Super Distortion single coil sized bucker in the bridge (they don't do cool rails for Tele, meh) and Texas special Neck pickup. Can you mount a strat style pickup in a tele bridge ?

Also, still wondering whether I should go for maple or Rosewood, but I'm leaning towards maple. Especially as I'm going for the 50's kinda theme.

cheers
O

EDIT: Here's my break down of costs, as much for my own interests as yours... as and when I've paid for the item. My budget is about £400-450.

All including shipping costs.

Telemaster bodie = £99.99
Pickguard = £15.00

Total so far = £ 114.99

othomas2 wrote:Can you mount a strat style pickup in a tele bridge ?

Not so sure as the Tele bridge pup has that third central screw.

Good form though Owen, look forward to seeing the build

Fran wrote:

othomas2 wrote:Can you mount a strat style pickup in a tele bridge ?

Not so sure as the Tele bridge pup has that third central screw.

Good form though Owen, look forward to seeing the build

you could mount a strat screw to a tele bridge, it fits, but you would have to either drill holes in the bridge (I actually don't think that would work, I think the gap may be slightly too big) or mount the pickup to the guitar with some foam, like a jazzmaster/jaguar pickup. that would probably be your best option.

I would also go w/ a maple neck on a telemaster purely on cosmetics alone. Plus, don't you own like 7 guitars w/ rosewood boards?

kinda... This is my family.

I also have an Ibanez Les Paul, which resides at my parents house, and a second bass here in London which belongs to my brother. Trying to flog !!



I've always preferred maple, by touch and feel... kinda wondering how it may react with a hot-ish bucker in the bridge.

I want a tight, versatile, & defined sound that can do it all. I don't want uncontrollable and finickity, which the fenix kinda of is. Bit of a one trick pony and hard to tame, plus I don't want to mod this guitar.

Plug in and play sorta vibe. Les Pauly in the bridge, straty in the neck with the feel of my favourite Fender. Kinda like a KC Telemaster If it were ever to exist. No nonsense.

Also, thanks Fran !!

othomas2 wrote:I'm thinking a Dimarzio Super Distortion single coil sized bucker in the bridge (they don't do cool rails for Tele, meh) and Texas special Neck pickup. Can you mount a strat style pickup in a tele bridge?

owen -

if you're after a cool rails, GFS makes the Lil' Puncher XL in a Cool Vintage - 6.5k output for the tele, and that may be what you're looking for. i thought dragonfire made one too, but i can't find it anywhere. surely you can find a GFS type rail from somewhere in the UK?

otherwise, there's the DiMarzio Super Distorion T, which i'm sure you knew about.

rails + texas special = 'mazin combi

Thanks Hotrod, Yeah I'm going to try the Super Distortion - T !!

What I like about the cool rails is the nicely balanced EQ, it aint muddy.... not too bassy or mid heavy.

Despite the super dist being almost the polar opposite of this, there's a nice sharp - tightness there, and I'd like little more poke from the output for my cleans to break up a little easier. This is by far my favourite thing about the KC Jag.

othomas2 wrote: I've always preferred maple, by touch and feel... kinda wondering how it may react with a hot-ish bucker in the bridge.

I want a tight, versatile, & defined sound that can do it all.

I had a JB in the bridge of a maple boarded strat and it was definately tight sounding..... very crisp, snappy and bright.... there was no dark PAF tones thou...... but it was my favorite guitar to break out RATM on

Yeah I can imagine the JB opening up a little with maple, still a little mid heavy for me I think.

Here's the Dimarzio SD-T in a tele with rosewood:

[youtube][/youtube]

Sounds hopeful

othomas2 wrote:Yeah I can imagine the JB opening up a little with maple, still a little mid heavy for me I think.

oh yeah...I totally agree the JB is not what ur looking for....it was just my example of: HB+Marplez= bright, tight and snappy

That's it then. Maple it is !!

thanks matey.

for the record, the standard tele control plate I got from axesrus didn't fit the 7ender/Allparts Tele Pickguard on my partscaster. It was slightly bigger. I kinda ruined the first pickguard to make the guitar playable and later changed the control plate for a 7ender-sized one.

The pickups I have in my Tele are the Artec 'Fat Slug' in the neck and the 'High Tower' in the bridge.
Both are available from Axes-R-Us
Ignore the claims that the 'High Tower' a humbucker, I'm not convinced, it is coil tappable and has proper pole piece magnets (I haven't tried the coil tap though).
I think it's the best sounding pickup on anything I have played, ever.
The neck pickup is good, but not good enough to get moist over.

*EDIT* I'm pretty sure those are the same as; this bridge pickup from GFS and this neck neckup too

I'll be keeping a close eye on this thread as some of the info will be well handy for me Tele project (that's currently going so slow it might be going backwards!!).

I'll take some process pics along the way, not that I will doing much other that painting / assembling, but should be a lot fun too.

kypdurron wrote:for the record, the standard tele control plate I got from axesrus didn't fit the 7ender/Allparts Tele Pickguard on my partscaster. It was slightly bigger. I kinda ruined the first pickguard to make the guitar playable and later changed the control plate for a 7ender-sized one.

Cheers for the heads up, despite the warning I'll probably still fall into the same trap as you.

AddamInsane wrote:The pickups I have in my Tele are the Artec 'Fat Slug' in the neck and the 'High Tower' in the bridge.
Both are available from Axes-R-Us
Ignore the claims that the 'High Tower' a humbucker, I'm not convinced, it is coil tappable and has proper pole piece magnets (I haven't tried the coil tap though).
I think it's the best sounding pickup on anything I have played, ever.
The neck pickup is good, but not good enough to get moist over.

*EDIT* I'm pretty sure those are the same as; this bridge pickup from GFS and this neck neckup too

Thanks Adam, I may just consider that... seems very appealing !! Also even just to keep the price down a little too !!

Addam, looked into those pickups a little further and I think I'm going to opt for them... I also like the sound of the artec too given its straty qualities also.

How do they pair up volume wise ? Is the bridge overpowering ?

Actually, the neck pickup is quite powerful, it has them big P-bass magnets and I think it's overwound.
I had them in my old Tele* with the neck pickup set pretty low to get a decent balance.


*I built myself a new Tele using those pickups, with a new body and neck. And being a bellend I tried and failed to wire it up Baja-style (twice).
It's the 4 way switch that's fucking me up, the wiring diagrams I can find have a different kind of switch to mine.
I need to pull my finger out and get it sorted...
I hade it from seriously heavy Ash and seems to ring forever... really brings out my inner 'spinal tap' (listen to the sustain...)

Thanks, I just decided to go for the 'Heavy Heart' neck pickup... was 'out of stock' yesterday but back in today.

I did however go for the High Tower on your recommendation.

I would have liked to have gone for the 'Wilkinson' machineheads and higher quality Tele control assembly.... but I don't want to wait a month. I can always upgrade if need be. Everything else is pretty much top choice.

So other than the list below, I just need to finish the thing.

1 x Hybrid Series - Telecaster - Early 50s- 9.5 C profile one piece maple neck with Medium Jumbo frets NTMV57 TGL 9.5 C MJ at GBP93.00 = GBP93.00
1 x CHROME NECK BACK PLATE WITH 4 42mm CHROME SCREWS HN001 CR at GBP4.50 = GBP4.50
1 x AM Standard Style Strap Pins - Chrome + 25mm Screws HE003 CR + White Strap Pin Felts PF20 at GBP3.40 = GBP3.40
1 x Chrome Telecaster Assembly B18 CR + Mono + Screws + Black VINTAGE Tele Tip at GBP15.50 = GBP15.50
1 x Axesrus Kluson style with split posts, 6 in line Machine head set in Nickel J55-NI(SP) 8.6MM BUSHES TJ1 at GBP17.25 = GBP17.25
1 x CHROME WILKINSON TELE BRIDGE WITH COMPENSATED SADDLES WTB CR at GBP19.00 = GBP19.00
1 x 1 x Single of Axesrus ŒHeavy Heart‚ Telecaster NECK Pickup in Chrome G121V CR at GBP22 = GBP22.00
1 x 20 OFF CHROME PICKGUARD SCREWS KW1 at GBP2.80 = GBP2.80
1 x CHROME TELE ELECTRO SOCKET (WITH MONO/SCREWS) HJ010 CR at GBP8.00 = GBP8.00
1 x 6 x CHROME TELE HARDTAIL STRING FERRULES (KNARLED EDGE) HS017CR at GBP4.50 = GBP4.50
1 x CHROME TELE STRING TREE WITH SCREW KW1 at GBP2.80 = GBP2.80
1 x 15.5K TELE DOUBLE STACK BRIDGE PICKUP KWG121D WITH (long) SCREWS & SPRINGS at GBP28.00 = GBP28.00

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Amounts Paid:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Total Paid: GBP192.75
Includes Shipping Costs of: GBP0.00

+

Body + Guard £ 114.99 + £ 6.70 extra next day

EDIT: + Dimarzio S.D. for Tele £73.00

Some needed tools / materials = est. £20.00

= £407.44

Not too bad....

Bet I've forgotten something though.

othomas2 wrote:Bet I've forgotten something though.

Decal?

Yes, indeed !!! There's a guy on offset doing some custom decals, so I'll ask him.

What shall I get ?

7ender

7ender Telemaster

O7homas Telemaster

7homas Telemaster

7elemaster

Jazzele

othomas2 wrote:Yes, indeed !!! There's a guy on offset doing some custom decals, so I'll ask him.

What shall I get ?

Jazzele

Anything other than Jazzele. Sounds way too much like Vajazzle. Lank. Bokebokebokeboke.