Dream Guitar Help / New to the Forum

[iamnickd]

Hey folks!

First post as a member. I've been trolling this site for a while now, perusing the various custom telecasters, parts-caster jobs, and formulating the guitar of my dreams that I've been pining over for some time. I've been a telephile for as long as I've been playing guitar (13+ years now), and have had an unrequited love affair with thinlines since I first played one; a beautiful old original from the 70's that may as well have been priced at a million dollars when I was fifteen or so.

Anyway, down to brass tacks: here's a mock up of the guitar I see when I close my eyes; the guitar I plan to bring to reality this summer:



I'm looking to spend as little as possible, without sacrificing quality. That is, I'm looking for "bang-for-my-buck" sort of options. I've contacted MJT about the body and neck combo because I'm looking for a black nitro finish, which will run me upwards of $700. Anyone have any experience with MJT?

As far as various parts go, the plan is:
— Single pup: Bare Knuckle "Mule"
— Greasebucket tone knob
— Single ply, no neck pup pickguard
— Modified 3-saddle bridge

I really love the feel of the old vintage guitars, and I'm aiming at a "closet-classic" sort of look on a guitar that sits somewhere between Esquire/Cabronita and Thinline (I plan on doing the 'relic' work the old-fashioned' way for the most part—maybe a little initial wear on the neck to break it in though).

I have a Les Paul Studio that I never play because I'm always plucking away at my tele, so I plan to sell it (as well as a lot of other equipment)‚ and use the money towards realizing this guitar.

So, if anyone cares to drop their two-cents and let me know if you have any suggestions, comments, ideas, etc., I'd love to hear what everyone has to say!

Best,
— Nick

[ADinNYC]

Nothing but good things to say about his product and customer service. He made my dream guitar a reality.

[iamnickd]

That is a gorgeous instrument! Thanks for the reassurance ADinNYC! I've shopped around a lot and the quality not only seems over and above the rest, but I emailed them and got a super quick and extremely helpful response. Happy to hear that that's consistently the case!

[alscort93]

Looks nice, I love Black/Black Tele's. The chrome bucker and cut off ashtray is also a nice touch.

Kinda off topic but where does everyone get the Mock Up pics I see on here? Is there a website or program somewhere just for that application? Thanks.

[Greg M]

Here is a whole discussion of the mock-up process: http://www.tdpri.com/forum/telecaste...-your-own.html

[iamnickd]

I also had to photoshop mine a touch for the cut off ashtray, and black pickguard screws (the large pickguard on thinlines make it look a little overly industrial with silver screws, almost like it's covered in rivets). I didn't go as far as trying to vintage tint the neck in photoshop or relic the humbucker, because the cover comes stock like this:

So I plan on buying a nice, lightly used (not personally a fan of super shiny, chrome hardware) ashtray and sawing it off myself. But the virtual guitar builder actually did a great job of making me realize that some things I had in mind just didn't look good, and also didn't really feel right, but the photoshopping was very minimal.

[bajaasdad]

with all this talk of ashtrays it would be funny as hell to make an ashtraycaster

[Baaford]

+1 on MJT - they did an incredible job on mine.

[allen st. john]

Mark is awesome.
Any thoughts about Tele Custom-style binding?

FWIW, I bought the Wilkinson half-bridge for like $15, which is a cheap alternative to cutting a used one yourself.

[alscort93]

Originally Posted by Greg M

Here is a whole discussion of the mock-up process: http://www.tdpri.com/forum/telecaste...-your-own.html

Oh man thanks, that should be quite helpful.

[iamnickd]

Well, the praises seem to keep on coming. I'll definitely be going through MJT. Thanks for the reviews everyone! I don't like going into projects sight-unseen, so hearing the rave reviews is really settling.

Where did you buy the Wilkinson half bridge for $15? Was it on eBay or a local sale? I've only seen it in the ballpark of $50. Also, do all Wilkinson bridges have compensated saddles? I'm looking for classic saddles, rounded or guided.

Ashtraycaster would be interesting. Maybe an experiment with "Ghost" pickups, so it looks like a pupless tele? Sounds fun.

[volowv]

guitar fetish has wilkinson chopped bridges with compensated saddles for $33. you could get a set of classic saddles and replace the compensated saddles. you could probably trade parts with someone on this board.

i like the look of your guitar but since you mentioned ghost pickups... i would stick a pickup in the neck position under the pickguard. scatter lee has a build thread like this on the board right now. get a 5 position super switch so you can wire up as many combinations as you can imagine. the look of the guitar wouldn't change at all but it would be a much more versatile instrument.

[iamnickd]

Oh, I don't think I would get the ghost pickups really. I just think they're an interesting idea. Maybe somewhere down the line. I plan on having the body routed normally for a single-coil neck route, but then covering it with the pickguard so that I have the option of dropping a pickup in there at some point if I want. Always good to have options.

For now I'm looking for a single pickup, and I'm happy with the sound of the pickup as it is solo (played it on a boutique guitar recently, and love all the tones it puts out). Ghosts are a neat idea though.

[SacDAve]

The only suggestion I would have is Moving the control knobs IMO I’ve always thought the layout for Strat controls are more practical especially for pinky grabs on the volume.

[iamnickd]

Great point! But is that even an option with a thinline? It's going to have to be top-routed, and the picture above would suggest that I'd have to find a way to back route as well and reshape the pickguard to accommodate for the positioning of the knobs.

Also, I have very long fingers; reaching knobs is rarely an issue, hah. But I'll definitely take the advice into consideration, thanks!