POLL: Which ONE build is the WINNER in your book

The judges are going to do their own polling and pick ONE winner.

Your votes here will have NO bearing on the judging. So, you get one vote. Make it count.

What time do the chads start piling up? :)

(Starting time?)

After viewing these threads over the weekend (my weekend started on Friday-forced early by the economy:sad:) all I can say is-WOW!!!! As in, unreal WOW. I wish I had the talent and space to do something like this (not to mention a lot of the tools, too!). Funny part is, my girlfriend has been peeking over my shoulder looking at these threads occaisonnally in absolute amazement (and once in awhile horror-as in "Don't tell me you want to build one of these @#$%@#$% things yourself!). To everybody who got it done, my hat is off to you!!!

I don't envy the judges on this task, but I do have my own favorites... and until we have a "people's choice" poll put up, I'll just speak my peace... so without further ado...

#3) CAD caster-beautiful binding and carving work, and extremely creative

#2) Tidycatster-not as well finished as some other contestants, but extremely creative problem-solving, and wonderful use of materials at-hand (or in this case, by the litter box).

And my own #1 choice- the Scattesquire!!! Best and most creative use of materials and tools at hand, excellent finishing, and quite possibly the lowest out-of-pocket costs. And of all the guitars in the challenge, the one I'd most like to own (hey scat! maybe I;ll talk to you about building one for me!)

Edit this to add: I see we have a poll now, and I'll just stick this in the poll thread.

Franc Robert

Tossup for me between the lubercaster, tidycatser, and the palletcaster.
The lumbercaster gets points for the video, the original construction and overall awesome style.
The tidycatser shows great skill, but the rather unfinished look with the obviously homebrewed pickguard has little charm for me. Also not a fan of snakeheadstock.
The palletcaster looks liek a custom guitar, the cool copper style and overall traditional-but not and quality of construction is great.

So I voted lumbercaster. In all honesty if I won the contest the guitar I'd most love to receive would be the palletcaster.

the Palletcaster is pretty hot

I voted for scatter because I enjoy his threads. Plus there are always hot women with big boobies. By the way Scatter, still going to get you to make me a leather strap. Just kind of lost track for a bit.

BRAVO!! My hat's off to all the contestants, way to go all around!

Youse guys are an inspiration.

mud

Very inspiring threads, great builds and very, very hard to pick a winner!
I can't make up my mind....

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/open-g/Guitars/TeleChallenge.jpg

I vote for Martyb1 or Scatterlee

Martino's ratrod-o-caster is a cool one I have to say.

Hey you missed Martino's guitar in your group.
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w227/martino-g/100TELE/1a_final-46.jpg

What ya talkin about? :oops: whistle..... :lol:

I didn't look at the builds as they were progressing, and I wish I would have now. So I didn't get the oppurtunity to go through and comment on all of them before they were shut down. I want to say that everyone did a fantastic job, and there was so much creativity here. I know most of us had to compromise a lot on our finished product to meet the deadline. It makes me wonder what would happen if we had a competition with a two month build time and a 300$ budget would produce.

It's one thing to look at the finished pics, but with most of these builds, you really need to look at the build threads to see HOW they were done. Some impressive problem solving in there - and a lot of "what the heck is he thinking now" moments for me as the build stories unfolded. I'm glad I'm not judging these things - congrats to all who met the challenge.

Everyone did great and there are some really fine instruments. I wish I could have a few of them. It's a really hard decision to pick just one.

As far as the end product is concerned I think I have to go with Maricopa's LumberCaster. I just love the overall design. Simple and a bit Retro.

But as far as the journey getting there I have to go with Scatter Lee's Scattesquire. He came up with some really cool jigs and methods to do things that shows you don't need a fully equipped shop to build a guitar.

go gators

My favorite build is, by far, the Scattesquire, awesome ingenuity, and has me thinking "I could do that." My favorite finished geetar is the CADocaster. It looks like one of those heavy pieces of wood furniture from the 70's. The kind that looks like it belongs on a ship. I like that furniture.

Just ONE!!! Man.... I didn't sign up for self inflicted torture....:shock:

Uhhhhh.... Decisions, Decisions......

Ron Kirn

Lot of skill and ingenuity exhibited in all these builds! Congrats to everybody!

Pretty difficult to pick a winner. Have to say, though, that my favorite final product is Martino's.

Jim

Great job guys!!!! Very inspiring. I have spent the last month drooling over your tools ingenuity and ability (and scatts paintings). One day I'll have enough guts and tools to enter.

ALAMO.- Thanks for getting them all together in one pic.

What am I gonna do now while I drink the mornin' coffee?

We need another competition soon. Maybe the $25 pedal challenge or the $200 amp challenge. C'mon gimme some more MacGuyveresque eye candy.

Scatter set the bar way high early on with the Scattesquire - for cryin' out loud he made his own truss rod!

Martyb1's professionalism and skill is amazing - just whips out a three color burst like that!

Big Mike's palletcaster with the copper is totally Tele-cool.

Maricopa's blue dano is a nice retro piece and sounds great!

Irishmail's wacky black goop/sparkle pickguard/short-scale creation was totally fun to watch - you just had no idea what was happening there most of the time and it turned out cool!

Martino's dragon graphics, rusted hardware, extreme paint job really came on strong in the end!

Colt's farm animals and angle iron/dayglow creation was fun to watch as well once he got going.

And last, but no way least, we have guitarbuilder's amazing combo Tele/Lap Steel. Set the standard for found materials and creativity - I had no idea such instruments existed!

I don't think I'm a contender, but I learned alot, had a great time, and I think came up with some good stuff. What a great competition and ride this was. But, my vote, like so many others, in the final tally has to go to Scatt. Great build, cool jigs, lots of ingenuity, nice finish work, and a fun story all the way through.

Oh, one last bit of shameless self-promo - Paul was nice enough to post my video on the end of my thread after YouTube took an hour and a half to "process" it and the thread had closed. Check it out! There's nothing like some Ash and a maple neck to get you some twang!

I can't say which one is best. I look at some of them for a few pages and I am slack jawed.

Disgusting!

I am depressed now, I'll go lay down. :sad:

:wink:

First, I have to say "Great Job!" to all the builders.
Just being able to complete a challenge like this is amazing in itself.

Its so tough to pick one...

...but my vote goes to Mark-00255's Ketchup Caster.

His video may be what finally swayed my vote.
I really dig the Ketchup Caster's simple overall design.
It sounded great too. Where can I find that pickup for $10? haha.
...and how about that bridge? Very cool.

Scatter Lee, I really enjoyed your build. Awesome work.

The contest has been both very informative as well as entertaining for me.
I look forward to more contests in the future.

I voted, but I feel bad about it because they are all so cool! This contest has had me on the internet (and the edge of my seat) more this month than in the previous year. I love it. I can't beleive it's almost over. I'm going to have to make a guitar now!

I love all of these guitars. I'm not going to say which one I voted for because they all deserve to win in one way or another.

There isn't one that I wouldn't be thrilled to own.

Cheers, fellers, you guys are amazing! A round for the house!

http://roostcountry.org/22_beer_glass.jpg

There were some close contenders but the lumbercaster is my favorite. Great job everyone!

This challenge has been extraordinary for this modest first-time builder. My career has been in high-tech, but I've always believed that low-tech solutions will ultimately rule.

The judges are bound by the following:
1) originality
2) ingenuity
3) appearance
4) build thread/photos

Mark's Ketchup-Caster is my number one vote, because he (like I) used a lot of hand-held power tools, utilizing the more powerful resources of others' shops only when necessary. If all of these challenge-builds were in a shop, and priced at $100 each, his is absolutely my choice.

Second, based primarily on his exceptional recovery from the 'binding' oo-boo, is Marty.

I'm delighted to see that, so far, nobody has ranked the Spa-Caster at the top of their list. I played it for three hours at rehearsal this afternoon, and am already wondering how I'd feel if an underdog like me crossed the line first. I know my photos aren't great and my blog-text rambled a lot. Hell, I built and lived in a Santa Cruz treehouse in the early 70's - I'm personally still a work in progress.

For those who've never gotten close to building, I will attest that it requires patience and time, not a $20,000 shop full of exotic tools. I'll probably play this axe for a few years, put it on eBay as one of the 9 'challengers' who finished in time, and get enough out of it to buy new tires, a tank of gas, and a few sets of guitar strings.

I hope that the challengers are eligible to enter the drawing to win the 1st-place guitar. I'd be proud to gig with Mark's at any time, any venue. In the event he doesn't win - "Hey Mark, :wink: I'll trade you straight across - whadda ya' say?" Peace, out.

This was a hell of a lot of fun to participate in. I think ScatterLee's thread has it all over the rest of us. He did a great (and entertaining) job of showing his progress and process. I was content with some lame pics taken with my webcam. Other's like Big Mike showed some real inventiveness making traditional-style hardware out of raw materials.
Not that I have ANY need for another guitar :roll: but I'm pretty relieved that mine is scoring so low and hope the official judging goes along a similar track. I really like this cheap little thing and am planning on adding some pinstriping after it loses the contest. :mrgreen:

Besides the neck - I thought the creative bridge work was really inspiring.

I voted for ScatterLee. It just floored me how a guy can make a body, AND a neck, slap some MM airbrush art on a guitar, then move on to another project like it's no biggie. To be sure, ALL the entrants get my respect no matter what. I can't do this kind of stuff, and I've always admired folks who do. Y'all deserve a pat on the back, a bong and a blintz, or at the very least, a pint of your favorite brew. I salute each and every one of you who participated in this. You guys make the guitar we know and love come to life in ways heretofore unimagined. A salute! To those who have the skill, talent, and vision to give us yet ANOTHER incarnation of that which we are so obssesed; The "T"-Style guitar!

as everyone mentioned... all builds are superb!
I have voted for the ketchup-caster 'cause that's the one I like best...

As far as I'm concerned there's only one real winner of the $100 Telecaster Challenge

Big Mike Simpson -- Palletcaster

As it was the only one that was really a Telecaster. The others were variations on the theme.

This was a tough vote!! I agree with a lot of the other comments - all of the builds are very impressive.

Is this going to be an anual thing?

I have to preface this with the fact I'm new to playing guitars...and also new to building them. I can appreciate the tremendous amount of talent that ALL of the entrents posess as well as the creativity they show in every detail from planning to crafting and problem solving.

I have really enjoyed following all of these threads over the past month and have found myself inspired to become more "adventerous" with my own future projects.

With all that on the table, I must concur that it is a daunting task to pick a clear cut winner as EVERY entrant had aspects that "led the field" during the build month...I found my estimations changing several times a week.

At the end if it all I reviewed all the threads again and again, with my unique (and inexperienced ) system....I finally decided that Scatter Lee was my pick.

Great Job to all!

Nope, no way can i choose just one....They're all winners in my book !

Congrats guys, and Thank You for sharing !

Irishmail, don't be too sure there aren't some people out there who would love to take your guitar from you!

First off congrats to all the builders...they are amazing projects. A couple of highlights for me are: the Scattesquier neck and hardware built from scratch is amazing, Marty rescuing a pending disaster was brilliant, the bridge on the Ketchupcaster is fabulous and innovative, and the Palletcaster's copper hardware, my my...and those are just the highlights!!!

Each project has much brilliance in it and again, congrats to each one.

I did not vote.
My deepest respect to all contestants.
If I would pick any fav I fear I would not do justice to all competitors.
They are all winners on merit.

All these threads were amazing, and I changed my mind about my personal favorite probably 5 or 6 times during the course of the last few months. In the end, I had to go with the ketchup-caster with scatt's being an extremely close second. I can't get over the bridge on the ketchup...it's sick, and I'm a sucker for a pretty natural finish.

I think overall, everyone here made it seem simple, and I believe (especially in the face of fender's $ jump) this contest, regardless of winner, will encourage people to get creative and build their own. At least, realize that you don't need to be limited by what's on the shelf at the megamusicmart. Don't think you could ask for anything more.

I have been totally blown away by these build threads and there isn't a single guitar here i wouldn't like to own.

But .. the CADocaster breaks my heart. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there is a 70s UNIVOX vibe going there and the burst is just so nice. I seriously LOVE that guitar. I am absolutely stunned. It is one of the very nicest instruments i have ever seen. I am going to save the pictures to my hard drive and some day, if i hit the lottery, I will ask someone to make one exactly like it. It is gorgeous! I am in love!

-kp8--

The real winner is the whole $100 challenge!

There is nothing like some basic restrictions and a deadline to get the creative juices flowing. The resultant threads are also far more useful, informative, and entertaining to new builders, than threads about assembling pre-made parts.

Given that I had circumstances allowing it, I would have loved to participate. A re-challenge will probably see me in the fray.

I love different things about each build. In no particular order:

-Scatterlee's thread was the most entertaining in a "what is he up to now?!" kind of way. Especially the casual "OK, I'm going to make a bridge out of this scrap metal", no fear, just get in and do it kind of approach.

-Martino's relic vision

-Marty's western hunter theme, "disaster", re-direction, and recovery.

-Big Mike's Palletcaster. I love the copper.

The Palletcaster is probably the guitar that I would hang out with, and that is the only reason that I am picking it.

In the end, you're all winners! Especially because you started and finished the entire project while I'm still waiting for my hardware to be delivered...

The Tidycatster, because only a contest can bring out something as ambitious and wacky as that.

All of the builders deserve congratulations - I'm impressed with the creativity - ScatterLee's descriptions and jigs, Marty's great recovery and beautiful final product, Martino's multi-layered graphics, Big mike's copper hardware, Marcopia's lovely blue dano-caster, combo lap steel, and I could go on and on...

I'm amazed that you all completed these builds so quickly. (I'm still trying to figure out binding - probably due to some distraction or another :rolleyes:)

But I'd have to pick Mark's - it's the one I'd most like to have - love the bridge, finish, and neck save. (And it took me a long time to narrow it down to just one...) Close though. Glad I'm not one of the judges.

Cheers!

Murray

I'd like to echo the sentiments already expressed here many times - the whole $100 Challenge was without doubt one of the most interesting, fascinating, educational, entertaining and inspirational threads we have EVER had here on the TDPRI.

I hope Paul won't mind me thanking him via this thread for instigating (and hosting) the whole thing, and I would also thank ALL those who took part in the challenge for their hard work, ingenuity, honesty - and for sharing their creations with us as they gradually took shape. Thanks, guys - for giving so much of YOUR time for US to enjoy......:cool:

It seems unfair to have to single any one entrant out as "my winner" (goodness knows, those judges are going to have a REAL hard time picking a winner!), but I just felt that Scatter Lee's thread had ALL the qualities mentioned above - as well as a superb finished guitar, which anyone would be proud to own. As Martyb1's entry neared completion, it started to slowly but surely gain momentum, and almost threatened to catch Scatter Lee's entry - but fell JUST short in the final reckoning.

A FANTASTIC thread! Thanks again to all who took part!....:cool:

Does it for me- I'm a P 90 fan, love the dark burst ( almost reminds me of duane's Hot' Lanta L.P . , the reverse headstock looks unique on a tele !!!

I voted for the Scattesquire.

Scatter Lee's thread was one of the best ever!

I really wish JD's hollowbody had gotten finished in time, it was looking amazing. On the upside for him he knows he gets to keep it now. I love the Martino rat just because of its rusty, ragged look. Of course they all did better than I would have done, my $100 tele is a tele-shaped ukulele, so yea, lol. Great job to everyone.

It was fun watching you all build these ingenious instruments of frugality!

I decided to refrain from voting because to this old rocker you are ALL WINNERS!

Cheers Bros! :cool:

Nick's Neanderthalcaster & Marty's CADocaster are my favourites, but you all did an incredible job and I'd love to play any of them!

ScatterLees for sure... Great craftsmanship, great use of art skills, looks most like a tele to me, nice and clean, not over done.

As far as opinions go... I gotta say the creativity award goes to Big Mike Simpson.
'Outside the box' thinking and creating a functioning guitar from very "raw" materials as Maricopa said. It was his own tele shall we say?
Serious talent in Scatter's Tele, great craftsmanship. Take the two minds and what would you come up with? Just my 'newbie' opinion.....thx. It has been a blast following all this.