Your Perfect Partscaster

Here is one I put together...everything about it is perfect in my opinion...Check out this thread I started...feel free to comment on my thread, it will help bump it back to the top

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/other-t-types-partscasters/432219-first-partscaster-assembly.html

I hand picked every part without worrying about cost to try and emulate an early Broadcaster.

 

User variantboy posted a blue bigsby equiped thinline partscaster in this thread http://www.tdpri.com/forum/telecaster-discussion-forum/455426-putting-bigsby-tele.html and it just seemed perfect to me. Here are some things I would specify:

Neck: Birdseye maple 1 piece, abalone dot inlays, compound radius 10-16", 22 frets. Gloss front, satin back, NO tint. Medium jumbo fretwire. Not too sure on the nut.

Tuners: The ones that you poke the string in at the top (can't remember the name!). They're just so much easier to work with and don't leave any sharp ends to potentially shred the inside of your case/gig bag.

Body: Ash, '69 thinline configuration, probably the same colour as the one linked above and lightly reliced. Belly contour, but NO arm contour. Also the high fret access cutaway on the heel that some USA/CS Fenders have.

Pickups: Bareknuckle piledrivers to match my USA standard, higher output than usual, but if you want classic tele tone it's right there when the volume is rolled off slightly. 4 way mod, the true bypass tone knob thing, treble bleed. Alternatively I would have a Filtertron in the neck and some other single coil in the bridge, a la Squier Cabronita Bigsby model.

Hardware: Brass compensated saddles, a modern style bridge that doesn't get in the way. I believe the Hipshot make bridges and saddles that would suit my needs. I would also get the Bigsby trem since I have never had one, though I have read that b5 is better than b16. Schaller strap locks.

Other stuff: tophat switch, domed barrels, parchment 3 ply pickguard.

I think that's it!

 

1 3/4" nut. Why Fender can't do that is a mystery to me.

 

semi hollow 3 piece Swamp Ash body with Flame maple top Strat body with a transparent Amber finish.
21 fret Birdseye Maple Telecaster Neck equipped chrome machine heads and pearl tuning buttons.
White Pearl Tele Thinline Pickguard with 2 chrome dome top pots and a 3 way switch with black top hat switch.
A Custom Lace Sensor Burgundy Telecaster bridge pickup and a Lace sensor Emerald for the neck.
That failing, a Fender Lace Blue Telecaster bridge pickup and a Lace Sensor Silver in the neck.
I will one day build this guitar and it will be awesome.

 

Chambered, no f-hole. Belly and arm contour. Fender "coral" (or maybe sonic blue. I'll just get one of each). Creme/black/creme PG.

Tint satin neck. 9.5" radius. Graphite nut, locking tuners. A nice set of Lollar Special Ts and a Bigsby. Mastery bridge, just because they look awesome. All under 7lbs.

Classic looks, modern appointments.

 

My take on a put-together-Tele is very much like this one.

 

Mohogany body Maple top, thinline, 1 F hole standart tele control plate, cream binding on the top Maple on maple tele neck boatneck shape. Lightly dyed top burst style. Bill Lawrence noisless L202TN and L298TL or Bill's microcoils PU's.
gerat what if thread................Cheers Ron

 

This is my absolute favorite Tele partscaster. "Korina Bloodwood, my Voodoo Priestess." Korina body capped with Bloodwood, Bloodwood neck, Rosewood fretboard with a Canary skunkstripe, Seymour Duncan Antiquities.

 

Here is my Partscaster
- alder body (two-piece, very light, Ynwgwie Malsteen Artist model, Sonic Blue)
- Eric Johnson neck
- Sheptone pickups
- Wilkinson bridge
- vintage style mint green pickguard

This is a real player and sounds great. It is around 7.5 pounds and cost about $1200 by the time all was said and done. I am not a Malmsteen fan but I really wanted a light body and I found this one in a local guitar store. The neck was not cheap (around $600, and they can go for more).

 

That's the starting point for me, too. I've never owned a Fender and that's why.

I like to use nice-looking body wood, oil finished to highlight the grain. For me, one of the nice things about partcasters is that money can be "no object", because you can spread the cost over time. You might spend $1200 by the time you're finished, but you don't have to spend it all at once.

I'm partial to reverse controls.

"Boutique" pickups can be very satisfying. I used Don Mare pickups on my first partscaster, and they sound great. I think next time I'll go back to him, and try one of his other models on my next build, whenever I build it. Maybe a strat-type. . . .

 

Not sure about perfect but I sure do miss this one. All I remember is the neck was a Squier Standard.

 

Actually, I'm in the proccess of building my "perfect" tele.
I recently (few months ago) bought my first tele a CVC (been playing for 25 years and I had never before played with a tele-don't ask why) and I was blown away with the playability and the tones I was getting from such a simple (and cheap) guitar. That got me gasing for a quality tele that I would build to my liking.
So, I've already bought all the pieces I wanted and I'm now waiting for some parts to arrive to begin putting the tele together.
Here's a list of things I've bought that are going on this guitar.
Warmoth Tele chambered (no f holes) body, swamp ash on swamp ash (the top swamp ash is flame figured!) in brown to clear burst with scrapped (natural) binding. It has the classic tele pick up routing (2 SCs, control plate) but I'm not going to use a pickguard (the wood is too beautiful to hide it behind a piece of plastic).
2 pieces Flame maple neck, 22 frets, 12" radius, 59 back contour with rosewood dot inlays. I got this neck for cheap from ebay (mammoth guitars was the shop or sth like that).
I initially bought this neck to replace my CVC's one, just to get a neck with 22 frets, so I wasn't going to buy something expensive and when I found the neck with all the options I wanted I just bought it, even though I knew there was a small chip on the headstock (repaired).
The bad news is that when I received the neck, I found out that the tuner hole for the Bass E string was drilled about 4mm further away from where it should be (still in a straight line orientation with the other tuners, but further from where it should be).
Other than that, the neck is fine, (and got a partial refund from the seller, which made the neck cost me just $60 in the end) with nice flame figuring, so I thought I should use it as it is, (at least till I get some more money to buy a new one from warmoth this time), cause I think that plugging that tuner hole and redrilling is going to leave a pretty bad "scar".
Anyway, rest of the hardware/electronics:
Gotoh Art series tele modern bridge (6 saddles, the whole thing is brass) un-plated with matching control panel from the Art series (un-plated as well).
1 Seymour Duncan antiquity 50s tapped bridge pickup (6.4k tapped, 8.9k full output),
1 Dimarzio twang king neck pickup
5-way CLR switch (I'm going to use the 5-way tapped tele schematic from Seymour Duncan)
2 CTS pots 250K, orange drop caps and push-back cloth wrapped wiring.
2 Flat-top knobs (brass) with heavy knurling as well as brass ferulles and a brass neck pickup ring from Armadillo guitars.
Switchcraft jack
Dunlop straplocks (gold)
A set of Gotoh SGS510Z MG-T staggered tuners in Xgold finish.
Tusq XL nut
Custom engraved backplate (gold).
So yeah, for me, that would be the perfect partcaster (tele).
I just have to wait till all the pieces arrive now...

 

body and neck - musikraft/jamerson
harware - gotoh/wilkinson deluxe
pickups - any good

 

Anybody ever build an "esquired" strat? I'm wondering what would happen if you just had a strat body and neck, with a bridge pickup, a whammy bar, V/T controls and nothing else?

 

I'm still collecting the parts for my latest 'perfect' Tele.

AVRI 52 Hot Rod 'inspired' with:

Soft V neck, 9.5" radius, Tru-Oil finish, stainless frets
metallic copper thin nitro finish
deep rib and forearm contours (I know, I know)
BG1400 + Antiquity II Firebird pickups
Bakelite pickguard (maybe the Merle Thinline hybrid shape)
Trimmed down stainless bridge plate - Glendale vintage 'raw deal' probably
Rutters saddles, knobs, jack cup
Armadillo (blackened) brass switch tip
Reversed control plate
Light weight
very light relic: brushed/tumbled hardware, dulled down gloss on the paint

I hope to be working on it this summer...

 

I don't know if there is a "perfect" build. I've built 6 Teles with different specs and 2 Strats. And I still have other ideas on what I want.

 

this one. -

 

I think it's this one right here. 20 gauge hand hammered hollow steel body with 700 "vent" holes, hard maple fat neck, Fender Noiseless at the bridge and neck with a Hot Rail Humbucker in the middle with it's own knob for the perfect blend/fill.