New Tele Day - sort of!

unix-guy said:
As of now, I think this is the pickup choice but still waiting to hear back on emails to both TA and Fralin:

Bridge: Tom Anderson TM-2 humbucker in Tele bridge format
Neck: Fralin Split Coil (output level not yet decided)

Control plate from Fralin with 3-way plus tone pot pull coil tap for bridge, unless they will offer their 4-way to be:

bridge
bridge+neck (series)
bridge+neck (parallel)
neck

Hardware started out with me pinging my buddy who builds a fair number of Teles from parts and looking for a short 4 screw bridge. Ultimately, I landed on Forney and this bridge:

View attachment 142623
View attachment 142624

He also makes a ton of cool knobs, switches, jack plates, switch plates, ferrules, etc.

The hardware theme will be primarily aluminum and brass following the bridge.

Neck plate, strap buttons and tuners will be nickel and the tuner buttons in amber.

I've got 3-4 weeks for all the various pieces to arrive... Anticipation!
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Are these still your choices for the pickups going in this guitar?
 
scottp said:
Are these still your choices for the pickups going in this guitar?
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Yes. I have them already. The Fralin finally arrived yesterday. I opted for the Blues strength as it's optimized for 500k pots so it will match well with the TM3 humbucker in the bridge.

I went with a different wiring harness since I already was getting the aluminum control plate from Forney, and Fralin didn't offer as much flexibility on wiring options.

It's got a 5-way switch the does combinations of neck and bridge in series or parallel in the 2/4 positions.
 
unix-guy said:
I know I need to finish one before moving to the next (or do I? ;)), but I've already got plans for the next one.

This thing really looks great to me:

View attachment 143284
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That's how I ended up with 3 in a short amount of time.
I disliked Teles all my life. I thought they were wimpy. (hard rock 80's back ground)
I identified that the baseball size necks were my #1 turnoff when playing them.
When I built my own, I already new I liked the standard thin neck profile.
I was then over the hump. With advice from Andy Eagle I was off and running.
Now I have 3! And at the end of May 2024, I actually took my first build Tele and completely stripped the finish off it to redo it, neck & body.
I learned a bit about finishing wood, dyes staining and how the wood absorbs the colors.
I really like the polymerized Tung Oil from Sutherland Welles!! I'll be posting some pictures when its all back together in about 1 month.
 
scottp said:
That's how I ended up with 3 in a short amount of time.
I disliked Teles all my life. I thought they were wimpy. (hard rock 80's back ground)
I identified that the baseball size necks were my #1 turnoff when playing them.
When I built my own, I already new I liked the standard thin neck profile.
I was then over the hump. With advice from Andy Eagle I was off and running.
Now I have 3! And at the end of May 2024, I actually took my first build Tele and completely stripped the finish off it to redo it, neck & body.
I learned a bit about finishing wood, dyes staining and how the wood absorbs the colors.
I really like the polymerized Tung Oil from Sutherland Welles!! I'll be posting some pictures when its all back together in about 1 month.
Click to expand...

Very cool. You're the complete opposite of me; the only big thing that attracts me to a tele is getting the thickest neck possible on a production guitar!
 
State of Epicicity said:
Very cool. You're the complete opposite of me; the only big thing that attracts me to a tele is getting the thickest neck possible on a production guitar!
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You'd probably like the Sterling Compass I have. Chonky, but comfortable....
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Joe Bfstplk said:
You'd probably like the Sterling Compass I have.
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I was just searching for a Compass, then I realized it's probably a Cutlass! I love those so much, the ones I've tried at stores. The best neck I ever tried was on a Strat from the 80s that came with a Kahler. The shoulders were so unforgiving. At first I bristled, but then I realized my hands relaxed so much. I have kind of big hands, so it eventually just felt like the most natural and comfortable thing to me. But more importantly...

Joe Bfstplk said:
Chonky, but comfortable....
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That's how she described it.
 
State of Epicicity said:
I was just searching for a Compass, then I realized it's probably a Cutlass! I love those so much, the ones I've tried at stores. The best neck I ever tried was on a Strat from the 80s that came with a Kahler. The shoulders were so unforgiving. At first I bristled, but then I realized my hands relaxed so much. I have kind of big hands, so it eventually just felt like the most natural and comfortable thing to me. But more importantly...
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Compass, Compress, Kubernetes, something or other, er..., Cutlass! Yeah, that's the ticket.... :D

State of Epicicity said:
That's how she described it.
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:D
 
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