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Post by Matt H. on Aug 28, 2006 12:09:00 GMT -7
I have three strats -absolutely love one of them -(the hardtail). The other 2 are nice, but I think it's time to throw them on ebay and get a tele. The hardtail strat I have is made up of Warmoth parts - mostly, so I think that I want to go the same route with making the tele. I know there are more tele players on this board than you can shake a stick at, so I am ready to hear any advice before I dig in. I guess I want to know if any of you have preferences for types of body wood and neck wood. Does it make that much of a diference in the sound?
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Post by rcrecelius on Aug 28, 2006 12:46:25 GMT -7
I built a tele partscaster last year and it is hands down the best guitar Ive ever owned/played. My prescription would be as follows... www.guitarmill.com for the body...swamp ash preferably under 4 lbs...let em finish it for you in nitro if youre going for a vintage look/feel(of course Im sure Warmoth would be a good un too) www.allparts.com for the TMNF-FAT neck(or Warmoth) www.callahamguitars.com for the hardware www.amalfitanopickups.com for the pickups...the tele plus set is amazing.
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Post by bks on Aug 28, 2006 16:59:02 GMT -7
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Post by Matt H. on Aug 30, 2006 12:42:23 GMT -7
Thanks for the links.
Matt H
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Post by Matt H. on Sept 7, 2006 10:44:10 GMT -7
Just bought the body. It's an ash body with a flame maple top - with a beautiful tobacco sunburst finish.
On my lunch today I went to the my local Daddy's Junky Music store to see if they had any tele's. I wanted to see which neck I liked. I loved the neck on the 60th Diamond Anniversary tele. It had a modern C shape maple neck w/ a rosewood fingerboard and medium jumbo frets. It seemed to play well and the guitar had a nice twang to it. I just don't know what the radius of the tele neck is.
Any recommendations for the neck radius. I'm definitely getting a warmoth pro neck, I just don't know which radius yet.
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Post by rcrecelius on Sept 7, 2006 12:02:34 GMT -7
I think mine is 9 1/2 rad but if youre going with Warmoth I hear they make a nice compound radius...that means the neck gets flatter as you get higher up the neck to prevent fretting out while bending in the high registers but chording is still comfortable down on the lower frets.
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Post by billyguitar on Sept 7, 2006 12:24:55 GMT -7
At least 9-1/2" if you bend much. Scott Lentz prefers 9-1/2". He says if set up right you can do all thending you want with none or little fret out. He says he can prove that you don't have to push a string as far to get to the pitch you want on a 9-1/2" compared to a flatter radius. I'll have to take his word for it but the man does know guitars.
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Post by Matt H. on Sept 8, 2006 11:14:16 GMT -7
The Warmoth compound radius neck is really nice - I've got one already on my hardtail strat. I think the radius starts at 10" and goes to 16". Think that's enough? - it's close to 9 1/2 ---- Or maybe I'll just get a 9 1/2" radius - decisions, decisions................
Just ordered Voodoo TE- 60's pickups from Peter Florance
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Post by guitarboy02451 on Sept 8, 2006 12:12:32 GMT -7
I liked those voodoo pickups. I'd like to get them for my strat.
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dave
New Member
Posts: 7
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Post by dave on Sept 13, 2006 16:16:39 GMT -7
I LOVE the Warmoth compound radius neck on my Stratothingy, I picked up one off ebay with jumbo frets and, unusually, a 24 3/4 scale. I love the high frets and flattish fingerboard for bending, and the action can be set low with still plenty of meat to push the strings. The Gibson scale length makes the action slightly softer as well. I am a bit suspicious of the Gotoh truss rod adjuster that Warmoth use, which acts from the side of the heel. It works fine and is very convenient, but needs tweaking every few months as if it slips loose. Anyone else had this problem?
For the record I used Fralin Vintage Hots and Callaham hardware. Cant go wrong with these!
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Post by Matt H. on Sept 13, 2006 17:33:16 GMT -7
dave
I'm not positive, but I think the truss rod adjust on the side of the Warmoth pro neck is only a fine adjust. I think you have to take the neck off in order to make a full adjustment.
Matt H.
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dave
New Member
Posts: 7
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Post by dave on Sept 18, 2006 1:02:40 GMT -7
dave I'm not positive, but I think the truss rod adjust on the side of the Warmoth pro neck is only a fine adjust. I think you have to take the neck off in order to make a full adjustment. Matt H. Yeah, its only a fine adjust that is needed, but every spring and atumn it seems! Its always the same way though so I suspect it slips slighly.
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Post by Matt H. on Sept 27, 2006 8:11:25 GMT -7
Update:
I have everything in my hands to finish the tele but the neck. I wont have it for about a month and a half. I ended up getting a Warmoth compound radius. 1 5/8 nut, standard thin contour, satin finish flame maple w/ rosewood fingerboard, stainless 6105 frets and abalone dots.
Oh well, enjoying my Ghia w/ hardtail strat for the meantime - and it never gets old.
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Post by Curt on Sept 27, 2006 16:45:07 GMT -7
Your gonna dig those VooDoo's, if not send me a PM 'cause I like them alot.
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Post by Matt H. on Sept 27, 2006 17:53:56 GMT -7
tele62
I'm pretty sure I'll like them. I have some in a hardail strat and I can't put that guitar down it sounds so nice.
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Post by Hohn on Sept 28, 2006 13:14:01 GMT -7
At least 9-1/2" if you bend much. Scott Lentz prefers 9-1/2". He says if set up right you can do all thending you want with none or little fret out. He says he can prove that you don't have to push a string as far to get to the pitch you want on a 9-1/2" compared to a flatter radius. I'll have to take his word for it but the man does know guitars. It's true-- rounder radius means you don't bend as far. Imagine looking down a neck from the bridge end at a neck with infinite radius-- i.e. it's perfectly flat. Now, the string cannot be in the same plane as the fretboard surface, because it would not resonate-- fret clearance would be zero. (in reality, it would be negative, since the frets stick above the fingerboard, the strings would have to be lower than the frets to be in the same plane as the fb surface, which is impossible). So, the string is actually offset away from this perfectly flat fingerboard, and when you fret a note, the string and the fingerboard would meet in an exxtremely narrow "A" shape (or upside down vee if that helps). Keep in mind that this is a perfectly flat fingerboard. Now let's pause to interject that we change pitch on a bend by increasing tension on the string, and the way we do this is my stretching the string to a length greater than the scale length. How FAR we stretch it determines the pitch change. On the perfectly flat fingerboard, we can stretch the string only in that plane. But with a curved fingerboard, the string moves AWAY from the bridge (in the sense of lower and higher string action) at the same time that it's being stretched to the side. So you're sort of getting a two-for-one with the radiused board-- stretching in two planes instead of one. Since we are stretching in two directions at once, we don't have to stretch as far in the direction that's perfectly paralled to the "flat" fingerboard, and thus we can see that Lentz's postulate that a smaller radius means you don't have to bend as far is quite true. That said, the difference would have to be *extremely* small-- you'd have a hard time measuring it. Definitely more of a feel thing than a number thing. JLH
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Post by billyguitar on Sept 28, 2006 13:50:29 GMT -7
Thank you Mr. Science! (kidding!) It's a very good explanation. Mostly theoretical in application. I hope to find out in the next month or so with my own Lentz! To me the biggest problem with building your own guitar is not knowing if it will have dead spots that come from different pieces of wood having different resonance points.
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Post by Matt H. on Sept 29, 2006 16:12:01 GMT -7
hohn
Good Explanation! Karma for that
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Post by Matt H. on Oct 17, 2006 18:21:18 GMT -7
I just got word that the neck is on the way from Warmoth! That is the last piece of the puzzle.
The mat-o-caster will be finished within a week or two.
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Post by bukowski on Oct 21, 2006 11:59:17 GMT -7
I just got word that the neck is on the way from Warmoth! That is the last piece of the puzzle. The mat-o-caster will be finished within a week or two. make sure to post pics when finished good luck
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Post by Matt H. on Oct 21, 2006 18:44:21 GMT -7
bukowski
Thanks! I'll be sure to post some pics as well as some clips.
Matt
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Post by Matt H. on Oct 30, 2006 5:19:29 GMT -7
I really am a very very bad solderer. I was trying to solder the connections in the tele to be on thursday and realized that I am the worst. I brought the guitar to a local luthier so he could do it. I didn't want to have a great looking and playing tele that sounds like crap. Snap, Crackle and Pop is for cereal only! I'll get it back this friday. I can't wait!
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Post by Matt H. on Nov 1, 2006 6:15:19 GMT -7
I had to trash my new voodoo te-60 neck pup. I guess I scraped up against the windings when I carefully( what I thought was carefully) swapped the chrome lipstick cover for a gold one. Bummer! The guy doing the soldering for me happens to have a Fender 52 to install in it's place. Anyone like the Fender 52 for the neck pup? I think it'll be just fine. - If not, I'll swap it out later.
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Post by Matt H. on Nov 10, 2006 18:41:22 GMT -7
All done! The new tele is awesome - really nice neck w/ low action. I'm bummed though. - I have major construction and remodelling going on at home, so my amps are at my good buddy Paul G's house. I have major Z withdrawal. I can't wait to hear the tele 52 neck and Voodoo te-60 bridge pups through the Ghia! I'll post some pics soon -- Paul G, I think I'll have to make a little room for an amp - How are my amps doing anyhow? Do they miss me? I bet they like being in your studio hangin out w/ the other Z's.
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Post by guitarboy02451 on Nov 11, 2006 17:51:35 GMT -7
Amps miss ya... come over tomorrow and we'll have a Z/Tele fest! :-)
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Post by frank4001 on Nov 11, 2006 18:36:13 GMT -7
I've had bad luck with Warmoth. I had one a compund radius neck and never reay liked the feel..plus I figured out ot was a dud when I got Donanld Dunlavey to make me a custom neck and the guitar came alive. I had ordered a an all maple neck befor that that had a hump in the fingerboard and they wouldn't fix it..you wouldn't know till you attached it..They got real nasty too. I attached though so...may bad there but I was hoping at least for some help..now my friend built one and his came out pretty good. I'll never deal with them again though..
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Post by groovergeorge on Nov 11, 2006 18:44:21 GMT -7
I built a tele partscaster last year and it is hands down the best guitar Ive ever owned/played. My prescription would be as follows... www.guitarmill.com for the body...swamp ash preferably under 4 lbs...let em finish it for you in nitro if youre going for a vintage look/feel(of course Im sure Warmoth would be a good un too) www.allparts.com for the TMNF-FAT neck(or Warmoth) www.callahamguitars.com for the hardware www.amalfitanopickups.com for the pickups...the tele plus set is amazing. Ahh Ronny you put a smile on my face with your list of parts to build a parts-o-caster (tele) version. I switched on to the fact a couple of years ago how if I was to have the ideal (if there is such a thing?) tele and strat I would have to build them myself. 1. Swamp ash 1 piece body from allparts ( I was lucky enough to get a good sub-4 pounder with a nice even tight grain). Allparts make really nice bodies but you can never stipulate the weight you want and get what you get. If I had to get something next time I would definately get a body from the guitar mill. To me they are producing the best bodies around for the money right now. If you want that early tele bright spanky tone get a swamp ash body. 2. Allparts necks are great as well. It should be noted that even though they are made in Japan they are spot on. Whether you go for a mid 50's profile with a v neck and a 7/14 radius or you choose a fatter earlier baseball bat round u shape it doesn't matter. I had a bigger neck originally but ended up selling it and going for a smaller v shape. It's worth noting though that the bigger-fatter neck do come with a 9 1/2 radius and jumbo frets. I actually prefer a more traditional 7 1/4 radius. I removed the small frets and stuck some jumbo wire in there and got my buddy to make me a real bone nut from one of the shins off a dead cow on his farm and there you have it. As good as any custom shop fender neck. 3. Callaham hardware is as good as it gets. There is none better on the market. 4. I like Fralin's vintage Broadcaster type pickups, I've heard a lot of good about Amalfitano pickups but never had the chance to try them out. I don't want to get into a pickup argument but I think any really good hand wound pickup is going to work. I'm into more traditional windings and don't like em' overwound too hot. It's all subjective on that one. One last thing that's vitally important. GET IT FINISHED IN A THIN NITRO. Polyurethane absolutely kills the tone of the instrument. I'm sure heaps of people will chime in and say that I'm talking rubbish and it doesn't matter but it does. I have even had a neck and body stripped and re-finished in nitro and it changed the tone dramatically. Polyurethane over a fretboard and body is like putting a rubber blanket over a vintage speaker.
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Post by Curt on Nov 11, 2006 19:50:26 GMT -7
I built a tele partscaster last year and it is hands down the best guitar Ive ever owned/played. My prescription would be as follows... www.guitarmill.com for the body...swamp ash preferably under 4 lbs...let em finish it for you in nitro if youre going for a vintage look/feel(of course Im sure Warmoth would be a good un too) www.allparts.com for the TMNF-FAT neck(or Warmoth) www.callahamguitars.com for the hardware www.amalfitanopickups.com for the pickups...the tele plus set is amazing. Ahh Ronny you put a smile on my face with your list of parts to build a parts-o-caster (tele) version. I switched on to the fact a couple of years ago how if I was to have the ideal (if there is such a thing?) tele and strat I would have to build them myself. 1. Swamp ash 1 piece body from allparts ( I was lucky enough to get a good sub-4 pounder with a nice even tight grain). Allparts make really nice bodies but you can never stipulate the weight you want and get what you get. If I had to get something next time I would definately get a body from the guitar mill. To me they are producing the best bodies around for the money right now. If you want that early tele bright spanky tone get a swamp ash body. 2. Allparts necks are great as well. It should be noted that even though they are made in Japan they are spot on. Whether you go for a mid 50's profile with a v neck and a 7/14 radius or you choose a fatter earlier baseball bat round u shape it doesn't matter. I had a bigger neck originally but ended up selling it and going for a smaller v shape. It's worth noting though that the bigger-fatter neck do come with a 9 1/2 radius and jumbo frets. I actually prefer a more traditional 7 1/4 radius. I removed the small frets and stuck some jumbo wire in there and got my buddy to make me a real bone nut from one of the shins off a dead cow on his farm and there you have it. As good as any custom shop fender neck. 3. Callaham hardware is as good as it gets. There is none better on the market. 4. I like Fralin's vintage Broadcaster type pickups, I've heard a lot of good about Amalfitano pickups but never had the chance to try them out. I don't want to get into a pickup argument but I think any really good hand wound pickup is going to work. I'm into more traditional windings and don't like em' overwound too hot. It's all subjective on that one. One last thing that's vitally important. GET IT FINISHED IN A THIN NITRO. Polyurethane absolutely kills the tone of the instrument. I'm sure heaps of people will chime in and say that I'm talking rubbish and it doesn't matter but it does. I have even had a neck and body stripped and re-finished in nitro and it changed the tone dramatically. Polyurethane over a fretboard and body is like putting a rubber blanket over a vintage speaker. +1 on the All Parts necks, I'm on my 3rd and they are excellent. I' have two TRO-W's, On Ronnie's suggestion I bought a TRO-Fat unfinished neck, it was a bit Too clubby for me so I broke out the sander and gave it a nice soft V just under 1" like the Fender 10/56 profile ( my fav). I sprayed it in buterscotch Amber Nitro from ReRanch, sanded the back and sealed it with Tung Oil, sweetness ;D It's been sittin' since my move in April but I dug it out and plan to call guitar Mill Monday for a Swap Ash Body, I'm gonna try my hand at Nitro on the Body, mid late '50's Blond, very thin w/no under coat so it'll wear real nice. All the hardware is layed out on the bench, but I may pop for some Lollars instead of the take out Muy's I have. I normally use Amalfitano's, heck I turned Ronnie on to them, but the Lollar Special T bridge is reall cool
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Post by groovergeorge on Nov 12, 2006 2:03:01 GMT -7
Ahh Ronny you put a smile on my face with your list of parts to build a parts-o-caster (tele) version. I switched on to the fact a couple of years ago how if I was to have the ideal (if there is such a thing?) tele and strat I would have to build them myself. 1. Swamp ash 1 piece body from allparts ( I was lucky enough to get a good sub-4 pounder with a nice even tight grain). Allparts make really nice bodies but you can never stipulate the weight you want and get what you get. If I had to get something next time I would definately get a body from the guitar mill. To me they are producing the best bodies around for the money right now. If you want that early tele bright spanky tone get a swamp ash body. 2. Allparts necks are great as well. It should be noted that even though they are made in Japan they are spot on. Whether you go for a mid 50's profile with a v neck and a 7/14 radius or you choose a fatter earlier baseball bat round u shape it doesn't matter. I had a bigger neck originally but ended up selling it and going for a smaller v shape. It's worth noting though that the bigger-fatter neck do come with a 9 1/2 radius and jumbo frets. I actually prefer a more traditional 7 1/4 radius. I removed the small frets and stuck some jumbo wire in there and got my buddy to make me a real bone nut from one of the shins off a dead cow on his farm and there you have it. As good as any custom shop fender neck. 3. Callaham hardware is as good as it gets. There is none better on the market. 4. I like Fralin's vintage Broadcaster type pickups, I've heard a lot of good about Amalfitano pickups but never had the chance to try them out. I don't want to get into a pickup argument but I think any really good hand wound pickup is going to work. I'm into more traditional windings and don't like em' overwound too hot. It's all subjective on that one. One last thing that's vitally important. GET IT FINISHED IN A THIN NITRO. Polyurethane absolutely kills the tone of the instrument. I'm sure heaps of people will chime in and say that I'm talking rubbish and it doesn't matter but it does. I have even had a neck and body stripped and re-finished in nitro and it changed the tone dramatically. Polyurethane over a fretboard and body is like putting a rubber blanket over a vintage speaker. +1 on the All Parts necks, I'm on my 3rd and they are excellent. I' have two TRO-W's, On Ronnie's suggestion I bought a TRO-Fat unfinished neck, it was a bit Too clubby for me so I broke out the sander and gave it a nice soft V just under 1" like the Fender 10/56 profile ( my fav). I sprayed it in buterscotch Amber Nitro from ReRanch, sanded the back and sealed it with Tung Oil, sweetness ;D It's been sittin' since my move in April but I dug it out and plan to call guitar Mill Monday for a Swap Ash Body, I'm gonna try my hand at Nitro on the Body, mid late '50's Blond, very thin w/no under coat so it'll wear real nice. All the hardware is layed out on the bench, but I may pop for some Lollars instead of the take out Muy's I have. I normally use Amalfitano's, heck I turned Ronnie on to them, but the Lollar Special T bridge is reall cool Give me a couple of days and I will post a pic of mine. It's got a really cool look that you only get from nitro. It's already started checking and it's only about a year old. I've had about 6 teles including two 52' re-issues and the one I made up has to be the best. I played a custom shop relic recently that only matched it for tone and we all know the price of those things. I think I was pretty lucky with the body I got from allparts as it can be a bit of a lucky dip with them. Without sounding like too much of a know all tone expert, I prefer just below 3 1/2 to 4 pound in a tele and around 4 to 4.3 pound in a strat. If you get a swamp ash body that's too light your bottom end can sound a little too poppy if that's the correct term and the top end is non-existent. Alternatively really heavy teles and strats like those that came out in the late 70's that had really heavy bodies made of northern ash not only gave you a sore back weighing in excess of 10 pounds but tended to be a little unbalanced tone wise. My friend had a maui blue early 80's international series tele that was really typical of this. It was a great rock axe and had loads of sustain,not really typical of a tele but unless you sat down with it by the last set your back was screaming in pain. Thanks for the karma........hope I don't sound like a tosser, I am pretty fussy about my tone, hey that's why I play Z's and I feel after spending amny years buying,selling and trading I have got as close to perfect as i am going to get as far as what I want my instruments to sound like. I am a vintage guitar lover, to me there is nothing that can compare to aged woods in those things but that's another argument and school of thought. The price of pre-cbs stuff is out of reach for most weekend warriors like myself now but there is stuff out there now being made by the Guitarmill, Callaham and Fralin etc that will get you as close as your going to get to those classic sounding instruments of the 50's and 60's without having to sell your house to buy. Keep on pickin' groovergeorge
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Post by skydog958 on Nov 14, 2006 22:14:19 GMT -7
After jumping back and forth on the subject over the last 2 years, I've decided to go ahead and finish my much-delayed tele project. I've got an Allparts neck, a luthier made swamp ash body (which I tried to finish in nitro, but failed once I tried using the color ), and a set of Detemple California Sweet Spot pickups. I'm going to send the body off to the guitar mill for finishing and binding (I just love the look of a double bound tele!). Can they do metallic nitro finishes??
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