Another very tele non-tele

[helectrix]

Here's a build I am finishing now. Already introduced this guitardesign of mine here a while a go. first reaction was a kind "These are hideous!".... Luckily some of you were more forgiving :)

I've built quite some of these Guttlins, mainly for myself, I use 'm on stage and in studio. Mostly I build thinline models, often with Bigsby in all kinds of vintage colours.

For this one I really wanted to aim at the feel and sound of the big Tele Mother.
A while ago I did some neck reshaping on a Bill Nash tele (I thought the huge neck was just perfect, but the owner found the profile too fat...).
I fell in love with this ultra light tele and promised myself to build one for myself. Since I only build guitars of own design, it became this Guttlin with more or less the same specs as that Nash (except for the body shape, obviously)

specs:

1 piece light swampash
rock hard maple neck, 1 piece and ... no truss rod
lollar pickups

I swore I would never change my headstock shape, but since I normally have a 2 X 3, for this one I had to: telesound demands 6 in a row

some pics











neck is 28 mm thick (more than an inch) here compared to regular neck

[jkingma]

Originally Posted by helectrix

I for one, thinks that looks pretty darn cool.

Oh, and is that a dead baby buffalo laying at the bottom of the stairs in the 3rd picture???

[helectrix]

more pics





mock up






completely unnecessary, still don't know why i wanted to fill this hole, especially since I cut myself in the fingers doing it, and that's not what you want when you're recording ...

[helectrix]

here some of the "regular" guitars I built



dots etc... :





serial nr in control cavity



frets in place

[helectrix]

apart from the pickups (don't have 'm yet), this baby is about ready. Finished body and neck with just two coats ncellulose. no sealer, no grainfiller, nothing, the bare necessities ... :)

I don't do relic, but this one will take care of itself quickly I think

For now I go for toploaded strings. If it don't work for me, i'll drill stringthough holes later.











cheers!

[helectrix]

Originally Posted by jkingma

I for one, thinks that looks pretty darn cool.

Oh, and is that a dead baby buffalo laying at the bottom of the stairs in the 3rd picture???

thx man

Do dead babybuffalo's bark like mad when you're about to take 'm for a walk?

[straightface]

Normally not my thing, but I gotta admit I kinda like it...the guitar, I mean, not the baby buffalo.

[chickenpickin]

A little different but I would play the s??t out of it!! Awesome. I love original stuff.

[Colt W. Knight]

Kudos for the original design.

I've built two necks without truss rods, and both of them came back and bit me in the ass. No more rodless necks for me.

[BigDaddyLH]

I love designs that aren't, um, exactly like a '53 Tele. Love the fat neck!

[bluebilly]

Dig it.

[helectrix]

thx guys,

the design: I'm a big fender/gretsch/harmony/dano/etc... lover but I really tried to come up with something different, when you do that, you find out that virtually everything 's been done already. so was not easy to design something not too extreme but at the same time a bit in touch with history of electric guitar.

Anyways, I know this needs some time to get used to visually :). Main focus when drawing was the above mentioned And a good weight balance.

at Colt: this is an experiment. if it doesn't work, i'm able to insert a rod in the back (neck is very fat, so can be reshaped a bit thinner when inserting a skunk stripe). I'm hoping the fatness of the neck combined with lesser string tension (toploader) might just compensate for rodless neck ... we'll see how it goes :)

[arakele]

While I like the natural finish, that thing screams of a surfy pastel color. Where did you get your SN stamper?

[helectrix]

Originally Posted by arakele

While I like the natural finish, that thing screams of a surfy pastel color. Where did you get your SN stamper?

I've done quite some kinky colours on other builds.

the SN: it's a regular alphabet and numbers stamp set of local tool store

[Blazer]

Hee kijk eens wie we daar hebben!

Leuk om eens iemand anders van Gitaarnet hier tegen te komen!

Anyway, I don't know if I told you this before but your Guttlin guitars remind me a lot of Billy Gibbons' Bolin guitars, like his "La Warpa" (If Bolin didn't make the "La Warpa somebody feel free to correct me)

Gibbons using the "La Warpa" live.

[helectrix]

hi there,

didn't know that "la Warpa". Was that a demo for the billy bo sig?

You're not the first to make the ZZ top association with my guitars. I guess Billy is known for playing "odd" guitars :)

wat is je nick op GN?

[Blazer]

Originally Posted by helectrix

hi there,

didn't know that "la Warpa". Was that a demo for the billy bo sig?

You're not the first to make the ZZ top association with my guitars. I guess Billy is known for playing "odd" guitars :)

wat is je nick op GN?

Wouter J

Wellicht herken je DEZE wel.

[smsuryan]

wow that looks great..that huge neck looks awesome...is it going to have a selector switch?

[helectrix]

ah wouter, natuurlijk :) cheers

at smsuryan: yep, your regular three way switch. was still doubting between a blade or toggle switch, that's why I didn't drill yet. I'll go for standard teleswitch (between the knobs and pickguard. On my other guitars I normally put a toggle on upperhorn. but on a tele I'm used to switch near the knobs.

[Walter Broes]

Originally Posted by Blazer

Billy Gibbons' Bolin guitars, like his "La Warpa" (If Bolin didn't make the "La Warpa somebody feel free to correct me)

That's a Tom Holmes guitar. (inspired by the "tailfin" Gretsch did for Bo Diddley - not the Jupiter thunderbird Gretsch now markets as the "Billy-Bo" - yet another weird creation) Here's one in stock at Lark Street music :