Taipan / Pinemart - Taipan Model

[Taipan]

While Darling was in Phil Jacoby's hands he lined the control plate with Aluminum:



Mounted the 304 Stainless Steel Half Bridge and Budz Triple Threat Brass Saddles:



Installed the tuners - I went with Sperzel Sound Locks for this build. I really like the looks of the open backs:

[Taipan]

Then he set the neck in place by lining up the "E" strings:





And Drilled the neck out for inserts:



Once the neck was mounted it was off to give her a good PLEK'n with Elvis keeping an eye on everything :

[e-merlin]

Hey! That's not a Tele!

But that's fine with me. Looks great, and probably has the soul of a Tele with that neck and pickup. Count me in as one of the guys who likes a little variety on the board. It would be pretty boring here if it was all Blackguards all the time...

[twangcaster1]

That's gonna be a wild build. Cool stuff. You'd better post some good pictures when you're done.

[Taipan]

Once the frets were done Phil Dropped in the Brass String Ferrel Block :



Then installed the Custom Wound Bill Lawrence Pickup and wired up the .09 thick 304 Stainless Steel Control Plate and add a pair of 304 Stainless Steel Knobs:



I enlarged the previous picture to show the great Job Tony Dudsik at Pickguardian did on the pickguard . Although by enlarging it the picture is grainy you can see well it looks at at .09 thick it flows right with the Control Plate.

[andy__woods]

that looks amazing. who cares if its not a Tele, it's a Taipan!

[Taipan]

Phil ran it though it initial paces with his trusty Princeton Reverb. Here she is waiting for Phil to get his cable:



The Graphic work for the Headstock decal was done by Kristin Bellehumeur who owns Silver's Place. She did a super job and would highly recommend her to any one looking for graphics work. With the tight deadline I had a hard time finding someone to print the Headstock decal waterslide for me. A very special friend who did not want to be mentioned came though for me in the end - Thank you both ! I really like the way it turned out.



After spankin her to make sure that all is well, Phil wrapper her up and she is on her way to the NAMM Show in Nashville.
Bill will be doing a custom wiring jog on her later today using one of his Q-filters and a special cap combination.



If any TDPRI 'ers will be at the NAMM show, please stop in and feel free to run her through the paces !
She will be at the Bill Lawrence booth as well as spending some time at the Sperzel Booth.

[Arlo]

Ohhh man! I cant wait to tickle her feathers! Lookin sweet!!

I will be meeting her soon and it would be great for people to come in and say hello to us all.

Next year you better be there Vince. Talk to you later bro.

[Southern ILL]

Vince...Totally impress with this build...give me time and I will build a P-90 version....Too much happening right now and low fundage....But I am looking forward to your products.

[boris bubbanov]

Originally Posted by Taipan

I know 0le Fuzzy won't understand, but I really like the looks of this guitar.

Very compelling, very well thought out design.

[Taipan]

Originally Posted by e-merlin

Hey! That's not a Tele!
But that's fine with me. Looks great, and probably has the soul of a Tele with that neck and pickup. Count me in as one of the guys who likes a little variety on the board. It would be pretty boring here if it was all Blackguards all the time...

andy__woods - that looks amazing. who cares if its not a Tele, it's a Taipan!

boris bubbanov- I know 0le Fuzzy won't understand, but I really like the looks of this guitar.
Very compelling, very well thought out design.

Thank you - Yes it has been a risk marrying the two distinctive styles together here on this forum. It does however have the heart and soul of a Tele and I am am very pleased at the way she turned out.
I know that a lot of the builders here on this forum are one man shows to which I applaud them and are envious of their talents, but I could not have done it without the help of some very good friends.
I can only hope that some of you have enjoyed watching her come together as much as I have.

[po-boy]

great looking guitar !

looks like a classy platform to show off your hardware at namm - congrats !



- i'm not a complete idiot ... some parts are missing -

[beach bob]

Not sure if I've posted to this thread yet, but that there is one straight up, hard core, triple-X, no holds barred, nitrous injected, high octane rock and roll machine!

No worries from here if it's Tele enough for this place; it looks about 70% tele to me when it comes to critical parts / style points... the non tele stuff is just that round body, the guard, and the gibby-ish sunburst ... I'd love to hear some clips of that thing. Best of luck at NAMM with it! I got Arlo envy

[Sargeslide]

MAn what a great job you did! I am so envious! Would love to spank that plank!

Sarge

[Arlo]

Well, Vince looks like that guitar of your is a smash hit! Everyone wanted to play yours and the Dalmore. So congrats bro it did make it's way into some serious players hands today.

Pics soon.

[stephent2]

Yup, let me second that emotion,... I really enjoyed the taipan tele jr., it has a wonderful fit and finish. the hardware really stands out. Brings the quality of the whole guitar to a higher level.

In your hands it feels like a tele. I liked, very cool Vince!

[Taipan]

Well "Darling" made it home safely last Thursday. I just could not believe my eyes when I popped open the case. She took my breath away. The choice of materials for the hardware, the straight grain pine body, Thin coat nitro, the new Bill Lawrence M09 pickup not only made for some gorgeous eye candy, but her sound fabulous as well. She sounds wonderful and is so resonate she tickles my belly when I play her. The the way she has been set up, she plays effortlessly.
My Brother in-law played her during his show last Saturday night and she looked great on stage. It was freaky though as when you had your back to her - waiting for the bartender to get you a beer you were hearing Tele all the way but when you turned around to look at him playing your mind was going "wait a minute I am hearing Tele...but not seeing Tele.

I wanted to thank all of those that have helped me put her together. Without them this would not have been possible. Since Darling had such a great showing at Summer NAMM she has been invited back to the next Winter NAMM show and she was asked to bring some of her friends. It is going to be interesting to see what I can cook up but I know this Dream team is going to be heavily involved.

Popping the case:

Back shots:
That Tobacco Brown looks great
on the back of the body and going
up the back of the neck

[Taipan]

Shot of the Sperzel open back "Sound Lock" Tuners with the Tobacco Brown:

Sperzel "Sound Lock" Tuners from the front with Gibby Black on the face of the headstock and vintage string tree:

Right side :

Left Side :

[Taipan]

Shots of the Control Plate and Pickguard - Perfect match:

I have been prototyping knobs looking for the perfect knurl size. One the is sharp enough to stand up to pinky swirls and sweaty fingers and is still ascetically pleasing. I think I am close with these:

[Taipan]

Shots showing Bill's new "Micro Coil "pickup and those great Budz Saddles :

[guitarbuilder]

Cool guitar Vince! Did you put an arch on that metal jack plate?
Marty

[Southern ILL]

Vince-I absolutely love this guitar....Great job....and thanks for sharing.

[boris bubbanov]

[quote=Taipan;1313669]


Right side :

That jack bezel sure looks curved to me.

Next time, we need a flat spot on the body edge, right?


BTW, to my eye, this has stopped looking like a Gibson a long time ago. Long time ago.

[stephent2]

Again, too cool Vince. Loved the guitar, can't wait until I get my Taipan jr body. I'm going w/ two p-90s and Vince's hardware.

[Taipan]

Originally Posted by guitarbuilder

Cool guitar Vince! Did you put an arch on that metal jack plate?

Originally Posted by boris b