Tele Build Thread (FINISHED PICS! 1-23)

[gokart mozart]

Can't wait to see this thing completed.

 

[Fret King]

I missed this thread but got caught right up tonight !
Love this stuff & your builds Steve...keep 'em coming

Graeme.

 

[Anonymous]

I think I'd like it little more with a pickguard to give it some a traditional tele look and add contrast , could have went (parchment or black/white/black).

In the end, a Tele just ain't a Tele without the guard. So... this project gets one...

Steve

 

[Anonymous]

I missed this thread but got caught right up tonight !
Love this stuff & your builds Steve...keep 'em coming

Graeme.

Will do!

Steve

 

[gokart mozart]

Classy man, classy!

 

[Ryandistortion]

So hot.

 

[mchn13]

Good call on the pickguard looks a proper Tele now.

 

[gokart mozart]

Didn't see it already mentioned, but what kind of bridge & saddles are those?

 

[Anonymous]

Didn't see it already mentioned, but what kind of bridge & saddles are those?

Callaham - in fact all the hardware and the pickguard came from them. Pickups are lollar Special Ts

Steve

 

[Shawn Lutz]

It looks better with the blackguard to my eyes

 

[Anonymous]

It looks better with the blackguard to my eyes

Agreed!

Steve

 

[Distored]

Oh this good..

 

[Anonymous]

Oh this good..

Thanks man - planning on finishing it this weekend!

Steve

 

[Anonymous]

OK, finished the Tele this weekend. Couldn't be happier with how it came out! I decided on a satin finish on the headstock to match the bare wood on the rest of the neck and I think it came out really nice. Intonated fast and the neck only needed a slight truss rod adjustment to get where I like it. Plays really nice and when I plugged it in to my Kemper set for a lightly dirt set Champ it sounded great - just the right Tele twang...

TronicalTune Plus system thoughts - So, I'm pretty impressed with it so far. One thing for sure is you have to make sure that you push the charging adapter for the battery all the way in and charge the system fully before using it. I thought it was charged at firs, but it was a false reading because I hadn't pushed in the adapter all the way and it wasn't really charged and when I tried to tune the strings, it just kept unwinding the low E completely and doing nothing else. Once it was charged properly, the first thing you do is tune to Standard E. You strum once and the tuners take over. I found it would usually tune four of the strings immediately and then I would have to pluck the other two for it to tune. Another bit of advice - perform the calibration step - once you do the tuning is dead on - very accurate. I tuned to Open G and at first it was making the G string sharp while every other string was right, but running the tuning program again fixed that. I find that sometimes you have to run the tuning program twice to get Open G to work, but when you go back to Standard, it tunes right up. The system is not perfect, but it is faster than trying to switch tunings manually for sure, so it meets my needs for this guitar perfectly. Very cool, IMO!

Here are some final pics. Clips when I get my Mort built GU-12 clone:

Steve

 

[gibson5413]

WOW!!!!!! That looks amazing Steve! Congrats on a really pretty build!

 

[thisguy]

That looks great and I like the pick guard also!

What kind of nitro did you use on the headstock?

 

[Anonymous]

WOW!!!!!! That looks amazing Steve! Congrats on a really pretty build!

Thanks Chad!

Steve

 

[Anonymous]

That looks great and I like the pick guard also!

What kind of nitro did you use on the headstock?

It is the Re-Ranch gloss nitro. Comes in a big rattle can and works great!

I do a couple of light coats before applying the decal. Then after the decal is set, a bunch of coats from dusting to medium. Wait a week, then sand down the decal area with 320 grit so that it is even with the rest of the headstock. Then a bunch more coats of nitro, wait a week and then sand with 800, 1000, 1500, 1800, 2400, 3200 and 3600 to get a nice satin finish. The decal will look completely flat to the headstock.

Steve

 

[Badronald]

Wow, that looks great!

It's got me jonesin' for another Tele!

 

[thisguy]

That looks great and I like the pick guard also!

What kind of nitro did you use on the headstock?

It is the Re-Ranch gloss nitro. Comes in a big rattle can and works great!

I do a couple of light coats before applying the decal. Then after the decal is set, a bunch of coats from dusting to medium. Wait a week, then sand down the decal area with 320 grit so that it is even with the rest of the headstock. Then a bunch more coats of nitro, wait a week and then sand with 800, 1000, 1500, 1800, 2400, 3200 and 3600 to get a nice satin finish. The decal will look completely flat to the headstock.

Steve

Man, you're a wealth of knowledge!