The Luthier Community

I'm getting more serious about getting myself another Tele and, of course, want to build some, too. I know Brian and Eben offered plans and templates to get me going (which I'll definitely hit y'all up for! Thanks!), but I'm thinking about just buying one for now. It's crazy, you can buy a MIM Telecaster for much less than the parts to build a "partscaster", then use that to build templates from. I doubt I'd go the "partscaster" rout anyway, and would definitely go from scratch, but even that can get more expensive than just buying an MIM. Every MIM Fender I've ever played was a pretty durn solid, good guitar. Furthermore, I've always been of the school that the amp is twice as important as the guitar when dealing with electrics, so I'm thinking about conserving my money to put on a good amp. Screw a couple of decent pickups on a 2X4 and play it through a good tube amp will give you good tone. Hey, that's a thought!

Guess one thing I'm thinking about is time. I'm kinda impatient for a Tele right now. What's a reasonable time frame to turn one around? I'm wanting to start getting my Tele chops back down for a CD project I'm thinking about doing this year. So what do y'all think?

Building from scratch, You're gonna have 80 hours into it, for my mind.

Doing a custom parts build, much less than that - I'd look at Warmoth if you haven't, or AllParts; You can get bodies and necks for pretty darn cheap...

The MIM Tele's are for my mind very good indeed - I like you have never seen a crappy one - That said, replacing ALL the electronics is quick and easy - And I mean ALL - Wire, pots, switches, pickups, etc - That and tuners is where they skimp the most...

One thing you might look for is a Japanese Squire Tele - Sometimes you can still find those cheap and they are amazing head to tail - I'd snap one up and replace nothing if I found one for the right price!

E

Time to visit the local pawn shops and used music stores.

the
Padma

Yep, I'm leaning heavily toward just buying an MIM for now. You can pick 'em up pretty cheap used. The older MIJ's have gone way up in value, it seems, and folks seem to know it. My main axe for a while was a Mexican made Nashville Deluxe I bought new - first thing I did was swap the tuners, shield it, wire in a StewMac Megaswitch, change to a three brass saddle setup, and swap the bridge and neck pups for a DiMarzio Twang King and a Rio Grande Tallboy. Man, she was a sweet machine when I was done, but like a fool one day I let her go. Still brings a tear to my eye sometimes....

I've heard good stuff on the Japanese Squires, but don't think I'd buy one without being able to play it first. I'd feel reasonably confident buying a MIM off the internet, I think. They tend to be pretty consistent.

I dunno on the pawn shop thing, Padma, but I may look around. Once upon a time, I loved to visit the pawn shops but, anymore, it seems they all want to sell used junk at a new price - at least around here. I've seen things listed for MORE than what I could buy new for!

Dude;

My go-to electric is a Tex Mex Strat - And I have never heard or played anything sweeter, even for much more bucks -
You're on track, you won't go wrong, and they are a ball to modify!
Ever shielded a single coil axe?
If not, bring it by my shop and we'll do it and run a thread on same -
You'll be amazed what a difference just that makes!
Anything else you wanna do, pots, switched, pickups, wire, etc, I got it all and we'll get it juuuuust right for ya Brother!
In fact, I know I got some Texas Specials sittin' around here somewhere...



E

UPDATE!!

OK, so I didn't quite get a Tele, per se, but close! I just picked up a new blonde Peavey Generaion Triple/Single EX Tele style. These are currently being closed out by Peavey and I found an Ebay deal on one. Check it out:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0301110167

This dealer is closing them out for $149 with free shipping. I worked an Ebay deal with them that amounted to $129 - 10% (Ebay coupon) + $24 shipping. That's a total of $140.10 delivered to my door! Since I'm an incurable hotrodder anyhow, I figure a cheaper guitar makes more sense for me right now. I could buy a new '52 Reissue and I'd still probably be ripping the pups out within 6 months....Anyway, I still plan on starting to build electrics in my near future. But no way could I build one for what I picked this one up for!

I also picked up the new Line 6 POD Studio UX2 from Musician's Friend so I can begin recording right away using the amp models:

http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/pr ... ID=1571798

That oughta pretty well have me going for now. I'll have a new amp by the time she's ready to start gigging with me.

Required luthier content:

Yep, Eben, I have done a "po' boy" shielding job with heavy duty aluminum foil that had pretty good results. I pretty well gutted my old Nashville - new pups, switch, saddles, tuners - and did the shiedling job. I might have to come visit you and see how the pro's do it, though.

I have internet access again!!! However, I missed the majority of this conversation... Thought I'd throw my two cents in anyway.

I used to work at a music store and sold a lot of Mexican Fenders (so many that Fender gave me one for free). I've seen a few crappy ones (they get pulled and sent back, it doesn't always happen with the Squiers and such because they're not interesting enough for most experienced players to pick up and realize there's a problem with them before they're sold), but only a few. Problem is, I've never seen one I was terribly impressed with. The Japanese Fenders are pretty impressive. I have a Japanese Jaguar HH and I play it more than anything. It's hard to beat a Fender neck in my opinion. With the help of the guys here, it should be really easy to make a tele-esque guitar with good results.

My best turnaround time for a solid body electric was two days, but it was a pretty grueling two days. I really don't suggest it. I started at 9 in the morning on the second day and didn't stop to eat or even sit down until 2 AM the following morning (at which point I sat down and couldn't get back up).

Jason.

westex93 wrote: Since I'm an incurable hotrodder anyhow, I figure a cheaper guitar makes more sense for me right now. I could buy a new '52 Reissue and I'd still probably be ripping the pups out within 6 months....Anyway, I still plan on starting to build electrics in my near future. But no way could I build one for what I picked this one up for!

Hey, don't know how I missed this, but very cool! I share the affliction, which is why I have a Tex-Mex Strat, (Albeit highly modded) as my go to 'lectric - The quality is actually very good, and you can't beat the bang for the buck. Since a lot of electric players opt to build component axes, I don't think there's any stigma whatsoever - IN fact finding and tweaking what you did strikes me as most fun for the buck too!

Make sure you show us what you do when you do it!

E