NGD: 70's Tele Custom (parts build)

[Powdered Toast Man]

This is a project I've had in the works for almost a year now. The last component was the body and it arrived yesterday! I shielded the cavities and got it all assembled. I did a rough setup but I've sent it to my luthier as the nut slots need to be final cut and set up.

Specs:
Body: Guitar Mill
Wood: Alder
Finish: Black nitro lacquer with "Closet Clean" relic
Bridge: Fender with Rutters compensated steel saddles
Neck:
Fender Rarities "Blue Cloud" Tele neck
Wood: Quarter Sawn European Maple
Neck shape: 60's C
Radius: 9.5"
Frets: vintage tall
Tuners: Fender modern locking
Electronics:
Neck pickup: Fender Cunife reissue WRHB
Bridge pickup: Fender '64 Tele bridge pickup
Pots: 1 meg on neck circuit, 250k on bridge

I haven't really had much time with it so far and it still needs final setup, but I can say this: The Fender Cunife WRHB does not sound like any of the aftermarket options out there. I had another Tele Custom before and I ran through three different maker's attempts at the WRHB. None of them nail it.

Yep, it's a black Tele Custom. There's a lot of them around but none had the specs I wanted. This one does!

 

[d1dsj]

That cool as f@&£… looks ace!

 

[GuitarStv]

I'm not a huge fan of teles or of black guitars . . . but that one looks pretty good.

 

[Benjy_26]

That's BOSS!

 

[Liam1963]

Very nice!

 

[Mincer]

Can you describe how the Fender version of the WRHB sounds different than the other ones out there?

 

[Powdered Toast Man]

The WRHBs I have experience with are the previous Fender reissues, Brandonwound, and Seymour Duncan Custom Shop.

The others all sounded different in their own way. The Fender reissue is very woolly in the lows but somehow has brightness in the lighter strings. The Brandonwound was weird. It was clearer than the Fender reissue but was very unbalanced. Low strings (E, A) sounded muffled but then the rest of the pickup was super bright. Also extremely high output. The SDCS WRHB was better than the first two but still just wasn't anything special. It sounded fine, but not great. I struggled to get usable tones out of all three of these pickups. And that was the other thing - it was a real struggle to work to find the right setup for them all - VERY sensitive to pickup height. You could definitely make them all sound bad based on the height alone.

The Cunife WRHB right off the hop sounds more musical. Chime instead of just brightness. The low strings are clear and defined. Has some snap to it. It's still very early and I haven't had the chance to really adjust on it yet. But given how it sounds right out of the box I think it's going to be much less of a struggle to find the sweet spot. It's definitely its own animal and I can't even compare the tone to any conventional SC or HB pickups I've heard. I can see why pickup makers have struggled to create a reasonable facsimile of this pickup for decades.

 

[Securb]

Perfect axe for your gig. I love it.

 

[JamesPaul]

That just looks killer!

 

[Mincer]

I've only played guitars with WRHB installed, so I never had other pickups to compare it to in the same guitar.

 

[Aceman]

Well done!

 

[Powdered Toast Man]

Thank you, gentlemen! It's a bit of a tease because the day after final assembly I dropped it off at the luthier and it'll be there a week or two. The neck is a factory replacement neck from Fender and as such the nut is installed but not fully finalized. It has guide slots only and they need to have the final cut to set the action (as it was never installed on a guitar at the factory). Best I could do is a rough setup but it didn't play all that well due to the nut being unfinished. I'm sure it's going to kick butt when it gets back!

 

[JamesPaul]

Tease or not, it was worth it just to see those pics!

A bit OT but once slotted and setup, that Fender replacement neck should be super smooth to play. I have a Fender '72 Tele Deluxe replacement neck on my Lead II. It is one of my favorites to play because it is effortless.

 

[Powdered Toast Man]

Tease or not, it was worth it just to see those pics!

A bit OT but once slotted and setup, that Fender replacement neck should be super smooth to play. I have a Fender '72 Tele Deluxe replacement neck on my Lead II. It is one of my favorites to play because it is effortless.

I know I paid a lot for this neck as it's meant for one of their higher end "Rarities" series guitars. But it has all the specs I want. I priced out a few builds from the usual suspects like Musikraft but by the time I got all the specific customizations in there it was pretty much the same price. Or close enough that it was easier to buy the actual Fender neck.

 

[JamesPaul]

I know I paid a lot for this neck as it's meant for one of their higher end "Rarities" series guitars. But it has all the specs I want. I priced out a few builds from the usual suspects like Musikraft but by the time I got all the specific customizations in there it was pretty much the same price. Or close enough that it was easier to buy the actual Fender neck.

I managed to catch mine on sale. It's just a standard '72 Tele Deluxe, but truly is one of my favorites. Good QC on it also as all my luthier had to do was slot the nut. It didn't even need fret work.

I think your Rarities neck will exceed expectations. In my experience, getting the specs I want is worth paying for. I agree, it is going to kick butt when it gets back!