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Warning - This Tele-Lovers may find this totally blasfemus!
I have only recently started getting into Telecasters, so I am looking for a little advice on a project I am working on.
I played a pine Tele a few weeks ago, and I liked it so much I decided to make my own. Being the kind of guy I am, I am always looking to try new things though so what I end up with may not be recognizable as a Telecaster by the time I'm done.
The butchering starts here:
forearm contour (I notice that Teles are always missing paint here)
marked for the 'gut' contour
I also have contours marked to reach the upper frets, a thumb contour and I am considering contouring the neck heal and going plateless.
The neck is going to have 21 frets and will be thin and start-like. I'm not a fan of the big, chunky necks, so it will be thinner than any real tele.
I don't think I'm going to use a pickguard, I thought of leaving it pine and staining it with red wine or blueberries, as I've always wanted to try this.
Pickups will be 2 Zebra humbuckers - the bridge position will be selectable for series or paralell and the control configuration will be either:
2 knobs - 1 blend, 1 volume (I'm leaning towards this option)
3 knobs - 1 blend, 2 volumes (this would allow me to go either series/parallel or single coil with the neck pickup)
(there will be no tone control or selector switch, they are replaced by the blender)
The strings will go through the body, but I'm leaning towards a more adjustable heavy cast bridge.
My question is that with all of these changes, I think I'm going to end up with a something like a strat with a tele body. Does anyone have any opinions on what is going too far, and what components must remain to keep the thing more telecaster-ish?
I'm thinking the bridge may be going too far.
Thanks,
Andy
I have only recently started getting into Telecasters, so I am looking for a little advice on a project I am working on.
I played a pine Tele a few weeks ago, and I liked it so much I decided to make my own. Being the kind of guy I am, I am always looking to try new things though so what I end up with may not be recognizable as a Telecaster by the time I'm done.
The butchering starts here:
forearm contour (I notice that Teles are always missing paint here)
marked for the 'gut' contour
I also have contours marked to reach the upper frets, a thumb contour and I am considering contouring the neck heal and going plateless.
The neck is going to have 21 frets and will be thin and start-like. I'm not a fan of the big, chunky necks, so it will be thinner than any real tele.
I don't think I'm going to use a pickguard, I thought of leaving it pine and staining it with red wine or blueberries, as I've always wanted to try this.
Pickups will be 2 Zebra humbuckers - the bridge position will be selectable for series or paralell and the control configuration will be either:
2 knobs - 1 blend, 1 volume (I'm leaning towards this option)
3 knobs - 1 blend, 2 volumes (this would allow me to go either series/parallel or single coil with the neck pickup)
(there will be no tone control or selector switch, they are replaced by the blender)
The strings will go through the body, but I'm leaning towards a more adjustable heavy cast bridge.
My question is that with all of these changes, I think I'm going to end up with a something like a strat with a tele body. Does anyone have any opinions on what is going too far, and what components must remain to keep the thing more telecaster-ish?
I'm thinking the bridge may be going too far.
Thanks,
Andy