Birth of my Blueshawk tele (my first build)

[blueshawk1]

I FINALLY finished it today, my first (and probably last) build.....well, almost finished......at the moment, it's not really a telecaster, but rather an Esquire as the neck pup isn't working. Hopefully, a wire just came loose when I was putting the control plate in instead of something being wrong with the switch.

But with just the bridge pup going, at least I was actually able to play it and I'm happy to say that playability is better than I expected (remember, this is my first time doing this). I expected to have to make a hundred different adjustmments, expected something to not line up, but no, it all came together miraculously. Everything lines up, action is nice and low with no fret buzz, I'm actually impressed (and shocked) with how that turned out. The bridge pup sounds good, hopefully, the neck pup will also. They're nothing special, just a set I got from the GFS clearance page. It sounds good acoustically too, (as well as any electric can), so I apparently at least got a decent body, but that's one point I was pretty sure of.

The picture of the back is cut off, just wanted to show the natural back and my jazzy little neck plate with the engraved girl, but I don't want to show the string-thru ferrules. When I went to do those, I found that the body wouldn't fit in my drill press, so I had to use a hand drill, so oh yeah, you guessed it.....it's not horrible, but it's not good either, so I don't think I want to "show off" that part of it. IF, I ever take it in my head to make another, I will definitely buy a body that already has those holes drilled. Live and learn.

I also learned that those cold heat soldering things suck. I went days not making any progress until I tossed that thing and went to the store and bought a regular soldering iron. That might be the problem with the neck pup, probably that solder point was crap from using the cold heat solderer.

So, while there is a lot to critcize, I'm pleased, so pleased that one of my other guitars is going to get kicked out of their case so this guitar has one (I hadn't already bought a case for it because I totally expected it to turn out to be an unplayable piece of crap).
I know some won't like the way I did the pickguard or the chrome armrest, but I wanted it to be different and I like the way it looks. Even got my own little "Blueshawk" headstock decal on there.

I have to leave for work shortly, but before I go, When you all look at it with a critical eye, remember, it's my first, I know I've seen far better builds by other people here, but for my first, I'm pleased - I can actually play it!

[winny pooh]

Schweet, the grain looks great on that one!

[shades]

Looks fine and dandy to me, ya done well...nothing like the satisfaction that comes from playing an axe that you've built,eh? My five bucks says that you'll build another.

[Southern ILL]

Nice job.

[blueshawk1]

Originally Posted by shades

Looks fine and dandy to me, ya done well...nothing like the satisfaction that comes from playing an axe that you've built,eh? My five bucks says that you'll build another.

Thanks guys for the kind words.

I won't take you up on that bet, because I do have another tele neck here and most of the parts I'd need to build another, all I'd have to get is another body, and I always wanted a white thinline.........
But not right away.

[jwells393]

Good job. Very interesting and unique picguard/control plate combination. Boy it looks like you have a sharp edge there.

[blueshawk1]

Yup, I didn't bother sanding down the edge, leaving it like that, to me, gave it the look like one with binding, sort of......

Anyway, someone on HC wanted a closeup of the headstock which I couldn't get yesterday in the house, so I tried again on the front porch today, and while I was there, snapped another full shot, looks a little different in daylight (well, cloudy daylight anyway);

[gtrwrks]

Where'd you get the armrest? I dig it.

[magicguitar]

Very nice! And I'm curious about the arm rest as well.

[Axtklinge]

Congrats!
It looks great.

Axt

[blueshawk1]

The armrest is a standard banjo part. I just had to cut the bracket off that mounts it to a banjo and drill a couple holes to mount it to the tele.

[e-merlin]

I love that pickguard/control plate look. That's original thinking.

[Edutainment]

Yea I sort of wondered how a Thinline pickguard and Tele control plate would look but I was always to lazy to do it in Kisekae (they should let you move parts pixel by pixel with your arrow keys, it'd be less annoying). That looks great, and I like the arm rest. Very classy.

Also, I like that Jet King in the back. That's a cool axe.

[blueshawk1]

I would have gone with a more traditional setup for a thinline, but the body already had the route for the standard tele controls. I played around with a lot of different ideas before I picked the way I did it.

[JDRNoPro]

Very nice job, Blueshawk - a distinctive thinline. Congrats!

Jim

[ehawley]

Love the Banjo armrest!! First time I seen that used! It looks like it turned out fine to me. It's like fly fishing....first time you catch a trout on a fly you tied yourself it's a great feeling...first notes from a guitar you built yourself...same feeling!
Congrats!
Cheers
ED

[collinsman]

That's an axe you should be proud of - well done.

[blueshawk1]

Thank you!
I'm not sure if I'm more pleased and proud of it or more shocked at how it came out. I think I got lucky. Don't think I ought to do another one and push my luck!

[Buckocaster51]

Very nice.

You did a fine job.

[Dan German]

If Leo had thought of the banjo armrest, it would have saved "relickers" a lot of work!

Nice build, looks great!

[blueshawk1]

Thank you all for kind words on my build.

Yeah, the armrest sure has caught a lot of attention. I don't know who first came up with that idea, I saw one pictured, I believe it was in one our galleries here when I first joined and was looking at all the teles. I liked it and decided I wanted to add one to mine whenever I got around to building it.

[Talmir]

Pretty guitar.

I play banjo once in a while.. And often when i see reliced guitars with the part where the arm rests against the guitar worn and wood showing I have often wondered why guitars didnt have armrests.. i always figured I was too dumb to see how it ruined the guitars acoustic qualities or whatever so I never gave it another thought.. I like seeing one with it.. is it comfy to play with? It looks like it rests against the arm a little higher than normal banjo armrests do.

[blueshawk1]

Originally Posted by Talmir

.. is it comfy to play with? It looks like it rests against the arm a little higher than normal banjo armrests do.

Don't even really notice that it's there when I'm playing it other than it may feel slightly different feeling metal instead of wood.

Here's the one I saw that gave me the idea for the armrest;