new tele project nearly done...

XSSIVE

XSSIVE

OCDologist
i posted a pic of this tele in the show your guitars thread (which was the day it came in the mail) along with some of my ideas for the future mods to it (sorry Jolly i had to add the guard and i'm lovin' it!!)....anyway it's taking shape now, it's not 100% done yet...still need a set of locking tuners for faster string changes, a graphite nut and i'm thinking about having it pinstriped (hot rod style) also...as for pickups it has a hot rails in the bridge like i put in most of my teles and strats and for the neck i wanted to try something new so i went with a mini humbucker...in it now is the sm1 vintage mini and it sounds great i also ordered an sm2 custom mini just in case i didn't like the vintage...but man the vintage sounds great. it's amazingly clean and fat but not at all muddy, i'm lovin' it so far...anyway here is a before and some after pics even though it's not 100% complete yet...

before...
guitar4.jpg


after...
guitar11.jpg


guitar11a.jpg


guitar11b.jpg


guitar11c.jpg


i'm also thinking about changing the neck to a warmoth flame maple (heavy flame) with purple heart skunk stripe and ebony fretboard (no inlays) with a black headstock then having Cris Mirabella do some custom hot rod theme inlay work on it but i'm not sure on that yet...

-Mike
 
Re: new tele project nearly done...

wow looks pretty sweet. what kind of pots are you using? How do the hotrails and the minibucker sound together in the mid position?
 
Re: new tele project nearly done...

thanks guys!

poopsmith921: it was an american HS as seen in the first pic that came with no pickguard...they came in pewter, chrome blue and candy red if i'm not mistaken. it's my first american made fender and i love it...i don't see how much better it is than my MIM tele but i still love having that 22nd fret hehe. as for the pots it has a 500K volume and 250k tone, that's the combo i use in all my strats and teles with single coil size hums and it seems to work well for me. as for the mid position...gotta be honest, i didn't even try it yet lol i just finished the guitar about 1hr or so ago...plus i play mostly metal and punk and still to this day have never found a use for middle position in my music. i play 90% on the bridge and 10% neck for the most part. i'll try out the middle later and see how it sounds.

-Mike
 
Re: new tele project nearly done...

Is that the one thats is not done yet if it is thats pretty Cool.

And did u build it from scratch or was it like a kit thing?
 
Re: new tele project nearly done...

Somewhere ... Butnut has a tear of happiness in his eye
 
Re: new tele project nearly done...

metallicajs1...thanks for the compliment...no it wasn't a kit it started as an off the shelf fender and i just modified it a bit with some new pickups new, added a pickguard and the piston knobs....for now.

TheProphet...yeah i think butnut will like it...i gotta go post it over on the tele modders board as i told the guys there i would.

skh...thanks, i love them i got a set for my other tele too...something about teles and piston knobs just works well!!

-Mike
 
Re: new tele project nearly done...

the mini hum is a great idea in the neck ... I wanna try the sm3 some day

good job!
 
Re: new tele project nearly done...

Curly...i love this mini hum, i can't say it enough. first off it looks real cool in a tele, seems to be the perfect "fit" for the guitar IMO. and the sound is great too, i'm real happy i decided to go with a mini hum instead of the usual full size hum. trust me try out one of the mini hums in a guitar if you can....very clear sound even through a real high gain amp and sounds great clean also...not too bassy and "woofy" as some say...chrods don't become mud even with high gain where most pickups in the neck will get too muddy and bassy. plus it sounds killer for some finger tapping too hehehe. i bet seymour never thought a metal head like me would stick the vintage mini hum in a tele and blast it through a high gain amp and rave about the sound. :)

-Mike
 
Re: new tele project nearly done...

Mike,
my friend Pete down in FLA uses a Firebird pickup in his vintage tele, and that's where I got the idea of trying a mini hum from ... and I trust his judgement, 'cause he's a darn good player :)

maybe I'll just ask Lew for an SM-3 order :)
 
Re: new tele project nearly done...

I still hate you mike. And your taste in guitars and modding is impeccable. I still wish I had the cash lying around to go to it. Hey, could you send me photos of all your guitars, each one is pretty cool in it's own right.

And, how'd you cut out the pickguard so neatly, and did you have to route out underneath to make room for the mini-bucker?
 
Last edited:
Re: new tele project nearly done...

Alvin Lee Fan said:
Where do you get the piston knobs? I gotta have some :D
Click to expand...

ButNut had a friend who was making them, but I haven't "seen" Brian around here for a long time... Maybe look him up on the Tele-modder's board?

Chip
 
Re: new tele project nearly done...

Curly...if you try the sm3 let me know how it sounds b/c in my tele now is an sm1 i'm lovin' and i have an sm2 in the mail on the way to me in case i want to give this tele a bit more bite...but this sm1 is sounding great so far.

Xeromus...thanks :) i posted all my guitars in the post your guitars thread, there is a pic of each of them (some have changed a slight bit since them (pickups and knobs on a few but nothing major) as for the pickguard, i didn't cut that...i'm good with cutting tools and have a steady hand but the guard i ordered from warmoth with the mini hum cutout. and no routing was needed since the guitar started off (like the firt pic) with the full size hum in the neck...all i had to do was drill pickguard holes in a brand new guitar (yikes!!) haha...the mini hum fits right in the hole where the full size hum was with no problem and with room to spare.

alvin...i got the knobs from an amazing metal artist IMO Mark who goes by the name my65pan on the telemodders forum...he makes tons of cool knob styles...if you can think it up he can prob. do it. check that forum and send him an e-mail he can make you a set...amazing quality work and a real nice guy to deal with!!

-Mike
 
Re: new tele project nearly done...

that's gotta be one of the sweetest teles i have EVER SEEN...seriously...that thing ROCKS!!! :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: wOw!!!
 
Re: new tele project nearly done...

Man that Tele is absolutely rippin!!

I love the whole "after" look. The piston knobs are too cool.
 
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