In the last one, I got my Dream Neck and have been waiting for the bone for the nut to arrive. Since then - two things:
Since I got the neck, I needed to get serious about money. I have to stay “cash neutral” based on protracted negotiations with my wife, so I had to sell something to fund the project. I planned to sell a guitar but a quick check in eBay leads me to realize that this economy is not a good time - duh. Unfortunately, one of my favorite authors, David Foster Wallace, lost his battle with mental illness and killed himself recently. I had a signed first edition of his first work, a brilliant book entitled The Broom of the System, and a quick call to a Madison Avenue rare book dealer confirmed I could get a huge return on my investment. Sold - project funded and my wife got a bit more to work with on top of that. I hope you found peace, Dave.
I have always planned to try the new neck on my old Tele body to hear how the neck would sound on the ash body. But like any geek, I have been checking out eBay to see what is there. That’s when I stumbled across a piece of Unobtainium* - a 3 lb. Korina body. Korina is a legendary guitar wood - an African mahogany used for the 50’s Flying V’s and Explorers made by Gibson, it is valued for it’s tone which is warm like mahogany but brighter, closer to ash. But it is mediume-to-heavy - a body typically weighs around 5 pounds; they, like newer mahogany, are often chambered to reduce weight. So a 1-piece 3 lb. Korina body is just, well…whoa. Change in plans - forget trying the neck on the ash body; get that body.
I really like mahogany - my Les Paul Custom has a 1-piece light mahogany body (it weighs about 8 lbs which is very light for a Les Paul). Not to mention my vintage Les Paul Special. And this would be my one shot at this, so I decided to go for it. I was on a plane right when the auction ended, so I had to front-load my bid. I put it in, then right before the plane took off, added $10. Right when I landed, there was 10 minutes left so I monitored. I had the lead until about 30 seconds left - somebody sniped with a last, best shot - noone could get another bid in after that. And it was about $10 too little - my added amount was just enough to get me the win. I overpaid a bit, but I can live with it.
So the body is on it’s way, the neck is getting the nut installed and I have to order all the hardware and get the decal made…lots to do; maybe I can pull it together over the holidays…
*Unobtainium = the Macguffin of geekery - just like a Maguffin is a plot device that matters to the characters to set them in motion but doesn’t really matter to the movie itself, Unobtainium is the thing that geeks lust for and spurs them into action, but its real value to the project is unclear (“but this is a limited edition Director’s Cut of the movie!!!”:rolleyes:). I believe that having a quality, resonant body material is central to a great guitar. I also believe that some factors can increase the chances that a given body will be good - but that’s it; there are no hard and fast rules and guitars that break all the “rules” can still sound great. So overpaying a bit for a 3 lb Korina body is a bit of a fantasy - but geeks can dream, and I still hope and am willing to bet that it will sound killer!
WordMan
I have been following your guitar build, and I’m lovin’ it. In fact, it got me to get out my old acoustic that I hadn’t played in probably 25-30 years (Yamaha FG-110) and restring it. Now I’ve been trying to relearn everything about music theory that I’ve forgotten. Surprisingly, my fingers have a better memory than my brain, unfortunately, there is no getting around building calluses on your finger tips.
I always wanted an electric guitar when I was a kid, and taking lessons, but never had one. Maybe now that I’m the grownup I’ll take the plunge. I guess I’ll have to figure out what to get next.
I plan to use a straight-up Tele bridge pickup - it is special only in that it is a Duncan Jerry Donahue signature pickup, based on his original vintage Tele (he is a respected Tele player I don’t know much about). The point is that it will be built with attention to detail and wound to be on the higher side of a low-output pickup. I much prefer lower-output pickups where the amp does the work. And a Tele bridge pickup - well, what can you say? They do it all - I love how I can roll off the Tone to about 4, the Volume just a hair and end up with a thick, ballsy tone I would match with a humbucker - but it remains touch-dynamic and responsive to very light-to-very aggressive attack…and of course with the Tone on fully you can get more of the classic Tele bite and twang…interesting to hear how it sounds with the Korina body…
Now - the neck pickup, well - I had planned on getting a humbucker-sized P-90 - I prefer a P-90 sound, but would have the rout for a 'bucker since it is the more “standard” size and I could swap around later if I want. But Seymour Duncan just came out with a “P-Rail” pickup - unlike a standard humbucker that comes with a coil split (so you can flick a switch and get Fender-like single coil tones from one of the humbucker’s two coils) - this is a “lopsided” humbucker, where one coil is a P-90 soapbar and the other is a thinner Fender-style single coil - so you can get two-coil humbucker-type tones, a P-90 tone, and a thinner single-coil tone. I like the fact that it appears to be focused on the P-90 tone, which is central to my needs, but offers a bit more versatility if I need it. A description is here:
**Shark **- glad you are enjoying; definitely get playing again. Making music is a sanity-maintainer for me!
Oh, I know - and I have heard a few cuts and they are insane Tele players (actually I am pretty sure they play G&L’s - or some have had endorsement deals with them in the past), but I am not a huge fan and am not getting it because it is *his *or anything - I just ended up with one in my current Tele and love the tone.
Is a clip by Chris Rice - he is a very well respected builder who does Fender-style guitars. And because he does 1-off custom builds, they are often built with Unobtainium.
I was searching for Korina Tele when the auction was going and came across this demo - he was showing off a Korina body, maple neck, Brazilian rosewood fingerbard - all just like my stuff! But it appears he kept a Fender-scale neck and has a different pickup configuration. Also, the Korina has a “smuggler’s rout” under the pickguard to lighten the body (a-ha! my unobtainium is better than his!). Overall, it sounds great - it was great to hear that when I was in the throes of deciding whether to go after that body on eBay - so this demo was an enabler!
Also, he bound the body - I think it looks good on his Tele, but confirms my decision not to - it doesn’t look like a Les Paul Special the way I am getting my Tele to look since Specials are not bound. Oh well - next project can be bound!..
Thumbs up WordMan.
I’m not sure why you aren’t binding the body and peghead. That body style is as easy as it gets.
You could consider doing an overlay veneer with a cutout for “inlay” on the p’head, easily accomplished with minimal tools and skill- the inlay could in fact be infill, simplifying further.
But I agree, the gloss black Gibson/Epi with gold decals are cool too.
Cool! You have always demonstrated great knowledge about wood, so hearing your positive vote is great! And thanks **An Arky **- I have a good feeling so far. This feeling has a lot of G.A.S. “I’m getting a new guitar!” buzz to it - but the building portion is an added dimension - especially placing a bet on a body and other design customizations. It raises the bar a bit higher, you know?
As for your comments on binding - yep, you’re right. But I have gotten more enamored with the concept of a Tele Jr - here’s the photo I linked to in one of the earlier posts:
…where it is a simple-looking guitar like the entry-level Gibsons - hence no body or peghead binding, colored peghead (in my case black, like a Gibson, not body-colored, like a custom-colored Fender - don’t know why they did it that way if they are aping a Gibby look) and a decal, not inlay.
Mine will vary with the black peghead, different pickups, etc. I am likely to keep a standard Tele pickguard shape - I have a tortoiseshell one on my current butterscotch see here that I will transfer to the new guitar - should look good with a Cherry body (and slap a black one on the butterscotch to give it a vintage Blackguard Tele look). I may trim it so it has a modified look, like this which shows off the body finish a bit more - have to see how it turns out.
Minor update - the body arrived. And, well…whoa. It was what I had been hoping for. I took it over to Bill and he agreed that it was pretty amazing. That is cool both because he knows wood and because it means he’ll take extra care on the work!
We fit the neck into the body’s neck pocket and it was nice and snug. The only issue is that the fretboard - which overhangs the end of the neck to accommodate a 22nd fret - is not flush against the body; it is about 1/8" too high. I have to buy a Tele bridge so Bill and I can see if everything lines up to deliver a correct string action/height or if I actually need to consider having the neck pocket routed a bit deeper - not something I would do unless I was 100% sure.
All for now. Oh, except I am probably going to tool up a decal that just says “Tele Special” on it - the more I get into it the more I stick with the “Telecaster as a Les Paul Special” design and just thinking of it as a Tele-Special…
My buddy called me last night and sounded excited about something. He had picked up his Kramer earlier that day and he noticed the volume knob had popped out a little bit. So he pushed it back in, then he pulled it back out. It turns out that it was a switch to make the bridge pickup turn from a humbucker to single coil! He has had this guitar for over ten years and he just now realized this!
So what are you doing with the other, “obtainium” body? Back to Warmoth, or does that become your next, not-a-Tele-imitating-a-Les-Paul project? Do I recall correctly that you’d already painted that one?
What are you planning for the wiring of that new Duncan split-coil model? A small split/no-split switch, a “pop-up” knob, or something special with the pickup selector?
squeegee - not sure which other body you are referring to. With my first project, I bought someone’s failed Tele build and swapped out the body; with this one, I got the neck and got the body. The plan was to try out the new neck on the old body to see how the wood sounded, but stumbling across the Korina changed my plans. I had always intended to return my first Part-o-Tele back to its original form - ah, I bet that was it; yeah, I’ll still have a Fender-scale, typically-ash-bodied, maple necked Tele - good to have one around to go with my hybrid…
The Duncan - well, it’s likely going to be more complicated than I like - at least at the beginning. I like the thought of having the P-90/single/humbucker option, so adding a mini-toggle switch is a must. I have heard that the humbucker sounds good in both Series (hard rock to metal) and Parallel (blues to hard rock) - so will likely install a Tone Control with a Push/Pull switch to have both modes. But my real hope is to decide I only like one - most likely Parallel - and go back in a hard wire it for that. I hate having “stuff” and even the mini-toggle feels a bit much (as witnessed by **gladtobeblazed **- whoa!) - but I have been hearing great things about the different modes and would like to give it a try.
Oh - duh; new update: So the place I assumed Bill would go for the Gibson Heritage Cherry finish in a rattle-can so he could spray it on? They no longer sell it - bummer. Fortunately, this is why I am relying on a pro for this part - he can mix his own - and he has a vintage Gibson EB-0 bass which has just the right look as his guide.
I got the guitar bridge - that way we can check the calibration - how the neck, body and bridge will come together in case any structural adjustments are necessary - before any finishing occurs. I just got a standard Tele replacement bridge off Allparts. There are very high-priced replacement Tele bridges at places like Callaham - 3x what I paid. I have heard very good things about them, but I kinda feel like the neck and body are the things to splurge on, and if the hardware I buy is the stuff that normally comes on a Tele, it’s fine for me. I mean, they cryogenically treat some of these bridges so the metal is more…I dunno, *aligned *or something. That sounds a bit too cork-sniffer for me…
Ah, my mistake. There was so much talk of paint and bindings etc in the threads, that I’d thought you already had the bottom portion and were scheming to, or actually had, painted it.
Yes, very much like a trussart, but with my own design. I haven’t really decided on the design yet, but I have some ideas. I’m gonna relic and etch the rest of the hardware, too. I think it’ll rock…
I’ve never had a guitar with a parellel/series switch. Listening to you talk about it, I may try it on this next one…
