I've Been Bitten...Looking For Opinions

[SilverHamer]

Well well well...it's been about 21 months since I finished my Tele project, and it's very hard to believe that it's been that long ago. A few days ago I received one of those "Check out what's new in my ebay store" messages from a guy I had dealt with on my last project...the first thing I spotted in his message was this Tele body...and I fell in love with it. I had originally planned to build a Strat for my next project but when I saw this body I just went Ga-Ga. It's SOLID ASH with a QUILTED MAPLE TOP in a three-color sunburst...be careful that you don't drool on yourself now...HAHA.

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh267/HamerTime_2008/TeleQuilt/TQ_Body640.jpg


And to answer your question...YES!!! It is on it's way to MY HOUSE!!! It's a Mighty Mite body...and if you didn't know it, Mighty Might is licensed by Fender to make replacement parts for them...it was listed on ebay for $184.99 "Buy It Now" (this is cheap, I've seen them for over $275) but there was a "Make Offer" button just below the "Buy It Now" button...the guy wasn't too flexible but we managed to haggle the price down so that the $184.99 included the shipping costs. I should say that Tess haggled him down...:D She LOVES ME!!! And of course I LOVE HER TOO!!!

This body is sooo freakin nice, and it is routed so that a pickguard will not be necessary....YEA!!!! Who in their right mind would want to cover up a beautiful quilted maple top like this with a piece of plastic???

So now the question...I am looking at necks now and I'm a little undecided as to which neck I want to use on it. There are two that I am undecided over but I will not divulge which two until I've had some feedback here. There are actually 4 choices...

1. Rosewood and Maple
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh267/HamerTime_2008/TeleQuilt/TQ02.jpg

2. Tinted Maple
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh267/HamerTime_2008/TeleQuilt/TQ03.jpg

3. Standard Maple (I used this on the last one)
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh267/HamerTime_2008/TeleQuilt/TQ04.jpg

4. Birdseye Maple (I've lusted after this one, but I'm not so sure that it looks as good as the others with the colors)
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh267/HamerTime_2008/TeleQuilt/TQ05.jpg


So...YOUR mission (should you choose to accept it) is to pick the combination that YOU like and post your answer here on this thread. This goes for ANYBODY who reads this thread...forum members, guests, whatever. I am looking for some feedback on this so I can make a decision soon and order a neck. :D Thank you in advance for your participation.

I have about decided that I am going to use Bill Lawrence pickups, but I'm going to hold back on making the final decision on that until after I've spoken to Bill or his wife, Becky because I have some questions only they can answer for me. I am soooo fricken stoked over this...that body looks like a big piece of hard candy that you could eat!!!

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh267/HamerTime_2008/TeleQuilt/TQ_Animation.gif

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh267/HamerTime_2008/TeleQuilt/TeleQuilt.jpg

[Jack In The Green]

I'd say Tinted or Birdseye.

[MarkE]

First off...congrats on the body. She's a real beaut!!! Second off...congrats on Tess....she's a real keeper! ya gotta love her!

man, its a tough call on the neck. Normally I'd jump right in with "birdseye". Its hard to say without seeing it in person. Birdseye might overdo it a bit.

With the color of the body I think I'd have to go with tinted. It depends on the shade of the tint. Regular maple would be real nice too if it had a nice clear finish on it. Shit, the rosewood looks good too and gives the axe an interesting look.

I know Im not much help here, and I can certainly see your dilema. If forced to make a decision I think I would go tinted and cross my fingers. Regular maple would be my second choice. its really a toss up. It will be awesome either way.

I suppose you could call the neck folks for recommendations. Tell them you are undecided. perhaps they will let you send one back if you dont like the look. You cant really tell until you have it in your hands.

Please keep us posted on the progress and give Tess a group hug from all of us :)

[babayaga]

Nuff said really... the patterning follows through from the body, (which is delectable BTW...). I'm with Mark on the group hug thing for Tess... and I thought Sandra was supportive! :-)

[MDDRUMZ]

See, now I was thinking Rosewood. It ties nicely with the dark outer edge of the body.

It reminds of an old P.O.S. guitar a friend gave me that had ONE string on it. I believe it was a Kent??? How sad I was when I plugged it in and it made no sound. Evidently it had more missing than just 5 strings. But I held onto it well into my teens for bedroom air guitar and almost put it through the drywall of my parents' low upstairs ceiling on one occasion.

Whatever you choose, she'll be a real hottie, LC.

[SilverHamer]

Thanks for all of the input guys. I had an avalanche of responses to a bulletin I posted on myspace about it..."Help Me Choose A Neck"...

I was really torn between using the Rosewood Maple neck, or the Tinted Maple...both of them look damn good on it in these photoshop renderings. The more I looked and compared, the more the Rosewood Maple neck grew on me...and it has been a resounding choice by those who have replied to me on myspace. So it looks as though I'm going with the Rosewood Maple! :D

I have decided to use Bill Lawrence pickups on it. There are a couple of different model options to choose from, and if I can ever think about it during business hours I intend to call out there and talk to him about them. I have read that his Tele neck pickup is the absolute best there is...and he has a pretty good following from some pros with his humbuckers. Joe Perry (Aerosmith) uses Bill's L-500, as did Dimebag Darrell Abbot.

http://www.wildepickups.com/The_Wilde_Collection.php

I am undecided on which model to get, which is why I really want to talk to Bill. There are the standard Tele-style pups with the six individual Alnico magnets...or (scroll down about half way) there are some with twin rails on them...I don't know if those are like mini humbuckers, or what.

Anyways...that's where I'm at for now. I will keep you all posted. :D

LC

[SilverHamer]

***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***UP DATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE* **UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***


I debated starting a new thread for this but decided against it...no sense in being too redundant...LOL. This posting will be for the purpose of showing the parts which I am using in this project. For my first project I wanted to build a Tele that pretty much conformed to the specs of a classic Telecaster, classic tortoise pickguard with standard single coil Telecaster pickups, and classic "Kluson Style" vintage tuners. I mounted the neck pickup to the body instead of on the pickguard, which is one of those classic Tele nuances...lately they mount the neck pickup to the pickguard. I don't know what (if any) effect this has on the tone, but supposedly there is SOME. About the only non-classic thing I did on my first project (if you could call it that) is that I opted for gold machinery (including the neck pickup cover) instead of the standard chrome.

For this project I am not following the "Classic Telecaster" code. The first thing that will set this one apart from the first is that I am forsaking the use of a pickguard. The wood on this body is so lucious, and it has been routed so there are no unsightly cavities to hide, that I am just going to let as much of that beautiful quilt show that I possibly can.

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh267/HamerTime_2008/TeleQuilt/TQ_Body500.jpg

I almost have all of the parts rounded up to begin assembling the new Tele. If I had chosen the correct bridge to begin with, the only part I would be missing at this point would be the neck, which will be delivered next Tuesday (September 30th, 2008). I knew when I ordered the first one that there would be a chance that it wouldn't work...I had no idea there were so many different specs on Tele bridges before I embarked on my first project, but the thing that saved me on that one was that the body had not been drilled for the string-thru-body stringing, so I did it myself. This body HAS been drilled, therefore you must pay closer attention to bridge specs or you will have a mismatch on your hands. I really like the saddles on the bridge I ordered (which is the reason I ordered it) but that style of saddles dictates the placement of the string-thru holes to be closer to the pickup than they are on the bridge with the conventional brass saddles.

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh267/HamerTime_2008/TeleQuilt/Bridge01.jpg
This is the bridge that ordered initially. I cannot tell you how disappointed I was when I lined up the string-thru holes of the bridge with those on the body and discovered that the pickup slot did not line up with the pickup cavity in the body.

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh267/HamerTime_2008/TeleQuilt/Bridge02.jpg
This is the bridge that I am waiting on...it's exactly like the one I used in my previous Tele project. You can readily see the location of the string-thru holes near the rear wall of the bridge plate...they are about 1/4 inch further aft on the plate.

I mentioned in an earlier posting that I had decided to go with Bill Lawrence pickups. This has changed...for a couple of reasons...mainly because it took almost 2 weeks for them to return my phone calls, and I never received any responses to my emails. I'm not upset by this because they are very busy out there developing a new style of single coil pickup, and it's had them very busy. I just got tired of waiting to get a couple of questions answered...one of which is the second reason for not using their pickups. The Bill Lawrence neck pickup is symmetrical in shape, ie, the base of the bobbin is oblong and oval instead of the standard triangular shape. This would present the problem of unwanted visible (exposed) wood in the neck pickup cavity. The route for the neck pickup conforms to the standard triangular shape of a traditional single coil pickup, and since I'm not using a pickguard, this is important to me.

So, here is another unconventional, or non-classic, aspect of this project. The pickups I used on my first project are made by Guitar Fetish...also known as GFS. They were inexpensive, yet they sound so damn good. I did some reading on other GFS pickups and decided to tap into their store room once again by buying these:

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh267/HamerTime_2008/TeleQuilt/LittlePunchers.jpg

The advantage I have on getting these is that I had the opportunity to give them a try...my friend at the local guitar shop has a Tele with a set of these and they sound incredible! These are called "Little Punchers"...they each have twin rails...they are Humbuckers instead of single coil...and they are noiseless. They have just enough traditional Tele "quack" to them that you still get that classic Tele sound, but yet they can also get down with the heavy shit. The neck pup is wound to 7k, but the bridge pickup is going to be the Hot One...it's wound to 13k so it should really scream!

Another non-traditional thing I'm doing is that I'm putting a 4-position pickup switch on it instead of the standard 3 position switch. It's going to be wired standard for the first three positions...ie, Bridge, Both, Neck, but the 4th position is going to be Both out of phase, which gives them almost a classic Gibson Humbucker sound. My friend has his wired this way and it kicks ass! Oh...this is yet one more part that is on order...forgot that I didn't have it yet. It should be here about the time the neck arrives.

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh267/HamerTime_2008/TeleQuilt/ControlPlate.jpg
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh267/HamerTime_2008/TeleQuilt/Knobs.jpg
Control Plate and Knobs

The Control pots are from AllParts here in Houston. I will be using two 250k pots.

I mentioned the tuners...the first project has Wilkinson Vintage Kluson Style tuners...they look very retro with the small oval buttons, small shafts, etc. For this project I am using Wilkinson tuners once again, however, I'm using Wilkinson Mini Roto tuners, which look more like modern Grover tuners as opposed to classic tuners.

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh267/HamerTime_2008/TeleQuilt/Tuners.jpg

The neck was purchased from the same seller as the body...New Metal Shop Music...aka thenewmetalshopmusic on ebay. I really appreciate all of the input I received, not only here on the forum, but also on myspace, in helping me make the difficult decision of which neck to use.

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh267/HamerTime_2008/TeleQuilt/Neck.jpg
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh267/HamerTime_2008/TeleQuilt/TQ02b500.jpg

And below are the extraneous parts that I will be using to complete the project:

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh267/HamerTime_2008/TeleQuilt/JackPlate.jpg
This Jack Plate is chrome, the one I have is gold. I couldn't find an image of it in gold for some reason...LOL.

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh267/HamerTime_2008/TeleQuilt/NeckPlate.jpg
Neck Plate

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh267/HamerTime_2008/TeleQuilt/StrapButtons.jpg
Guitar Strap Buttons

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh267/HamerTime_2008/TeleQuilt/StringFerrules.jpg
String Ferrules for the string-thru holes in the back of the body

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh267/HamerTime_2008/TeleQuilt/StringTrees.jpg
Roller Style String Trees for the headstock

I will probably be back to work before I have the opportunity to put it all together...which means that it will be at least 3 more weeks before I will have a pic of the assembled project. I will be sure to document the progress as she comes together. :D

LC