Fresh off the bench

[Chris Pile]

This one is a rebuilder... I have no idea who made the body and neck, but they used a drill motor for every hole. None of them were perpendicular or consistent in any way... But they are now. The finish on the maple neck was fine, I left it alone. The body had been painted with what looked like red house paint (check the back cover on the pickup selector). I stripped it, and stained the 2 piece mahogany body with amber. It looks kind of like koa now. I stained the flame maple top with red, of course. The top radius was all beat up, I got out the router and tried to even it out some. Nope. Switched to a 45 degree bevel, and then softened the hard edges with 220 grit and a foam sanding block. NICE. Used the same chrome body hardware, new Klusons, and a Hot Rodded Set in zebra. Did the satin finish with something new for me - teak oil. Gawd, does that stuff reek when curing! About 4 coats looks pretty good. Got it strung up yesterday and let it sit overnight at tension. Neck is straight, set the action, and the intonation was fun. The stock screws for the saddles needed to be twice as long. I little digging in the parts box and I found a half dozen new screws that were a half inch longer. It's all good now. You like the knobs? Since it's a thinline this thing weighs very little. Plays nice, sounds fantastic. I think one of my clients wants to pop for it. We'll see. I call the Strawberry Tele.

[beaubrummels]

Nice one! Looks like a fun player. Like the configuration, and aesthetics.

[Mincer]

That is a fantastic color.

[GuitarDoc]

I like it. I like the 45 degree body bevel idea (instead of the usual roundover). I think I would have made it even a bit larger, though.

Are the controls master vol and master tone, or vol for each pup and no tone?

[Chris Pile]

1 volume, 1 tone.

[GuitarDoc]

The red amp knobs also give it a unique touch. The more I look at it the more I like it.

[magillver]

How fun was that lower right neck screw!? That looks like it's right on the bevel...

[Chris Pile]

The neck screws are counterbored into the body.

[Chris Pile]

Well, the potential buyer backed out on me. I'll list it soon.
By the way - figured out why I had to change the bridge adjustment screws.... It has 22 frets. Most Tele necks are 21. It's still 25.5" scale length.
Everybody that has played it liked the way it felt, and thought the tones were terrific.

[GuitarDoc]

" - figured out why I had to change the bridge adjustment screws....it has 22 frets "

If the scale length is 25.5", it doesn't matter whether there are 21, 22, or even 24 frets. But, the way that a neck (nothing to do with the fretboard) fits in the neck pocket can have an effect on intonation, because that can slightly change the scale length.

[Chris Pile]

Look... If what you said is true, then a 24 fret Ibanez Jem neck would fit on a stock Tele body with no intonation problems. But it won't work, because THE NECK IS LONGER. Think about it.

[GuitarStv]

I think you're both kinda right.

Pocket size can be different with the same scale length. You can't always swap necks of the same scale length because the pocket may put the neck in the wrong location and it won't actually be a true 25.5 when you screw it in.

But as long as you've got a 25.5" neck and it's positioned correctly it doesn't matter how many frets there are.

[Chris Pile]

He is overlooking the obvious...

[GuitarDoc]

Look... If what you said is true, then a 24 fret Ibanez Jem neck would fit on a stock Tele body with no intonation problems. But it won't work, because THE NECK IS LONGER. Think about it.

That's exactly what I said...the NECK is longer. Has nothing to do with the number of frets on the fretboard.
Is the Ibanez neck (from nut location to end of the neck, not fretboard) the same length as the 21 fret Tele neck? No. Otherwise there would be the length of 3 frets on the fretboard hanging over the end of the neck.

[GuitarDoc]

I think you're both kinda right.

Pocket size can be different with the same scale length. You can't always swap necks of the same scale length because the pocket may put the neck in the wrong location and it won't actually be a true 25.5 when you screw it in.

But as long as you've got a 25.5" neck and it's positioned correctly it doesn't matter how many frets there are.

Exactly.