Tristan____C
TDPRI Member
A long post on my tele journey. Questions and build photos to follow.
Aim / Background
I’ve spent the last few years designing and building my own valve amps (guitar, then also hifi) seeking ‘the perfect living room amp’. Partner friendly, not too loud, and capable of doing a passable attempt at the clean to mean thing with a twist of the guitar volume knob. So, ideally, just guitar -> cable -> amp to cover cleanish to med/high-ish gain. Or adding a clean boost to go a bit higher gain. This covers me for my usual ‘playing along with youtube’ activity.
During this journey I realised the benefit of a twin humbucker / 4 control guitar. I can go from sparkly clean (coil split neck selected, volume rolled down, tone rolled back) to high gain (bridge selected, on full vol, tone somewhere in the middle) with the flick of the selector. I do this on my SG-style guitar. Doing the same with my Strat (’96 US Std) would take a bit of knob adjustment, and isn’t quite as easy.
My Strat has sentimental value (1st decent guitar, I look after it etc). My SG is great, but I can’t play the neck as easily / as well as I can the Strat. Perhaps something to do with neck radius or scale length.
And I have a 7-month-old boy so my at-home set-up will need to change…
So… I set upon getting a guitar that could live in the living room and could take a beating. “Cattle, not a pet.” A twin humbucker blend of a Fender and an SG. Basically a Tele Deluxe.
Change of Approach
I looked at the available options (Fender, Squire, Harley Benton etc). Stock models came close, but never quite 100% there. And, given I haven’t looked at guitar prices for 8 or so years, or bought a new guitar for 20-odd years, I couldn’t believe the cost of the US Std equivalent of today! Nor could I believe the cost / quality of the Harley Bentons etc. Besides, I don’t think a new guitar would suit - I’d be too protective of it.
I couldn’t find a used guitar that was sufficiently ‘used’ to overcome this protectiveness.
So I looked at assembling my own - where I started reading other sections of this forum I had hitherto skipped. This lead to a few weeks of researching / trawling eBay / planning etc. costing things out and assessing how much “DIY” I was able / willing to do. (Finished vs raw, pilot holes drilled vs blank etc)
However, upon reflection, I thought “what’s the point of adding another twin humbucker guitar to my collection. Wouldn’t it be better to add another ‘sound’ to the set?”
The Tele bridge sound, the Tele utility, but with the individual controls.
Relic?
I’m fully aware that if I assembled a partscaster I’d do it as best I could, I’d protect it, I’d treat it as a loved pet. Which isn’t the point of this guitar. That’s when I considered the idea, which I’d always considered naff, of a relic’d guitar body. One that already has some bumps and scrapes. So that I’m not the one to make the 1st dent in the finish.
This seemed a good approach. A beat-up body with decent electronics, a decent neck and tuners. What could go wrong?
Controls / Pickups
Combining an off-the-shelf body with my wished-for controls and aesthetic was going to be difficult. Until I spotted a relic’d body on eBay from a UK seller with a neck humbucker rout. Bingo.
Standard bridge, standard control plate, no scratchplate. Single coil at the bridge, humbucker at the neck.
Now, could I do the individual controls for each pick-up? Yes, stacked concentric pots.
Could I go further and coil split the humbucker? Or even coil tap the bridge? Could I do both without adding 2 toggle switches? Yes. The Free-way switch.
All boxes ticked!
So I went for a Seymour Duncan STL2T - a hot tele - pickup for the bridge. This means I can tap it and get two levels of output and two sounds. In theory.
The neck selection was more difficult. The SD SH1N (the 59) was the obvious choice. But finding one at reasonable cost was nigh-on impossible. So, trying to spend a bit more locally, I went with a Monty’s PAF. They are highly regarded, and also come in aged nickel.
Other Part Selection
As the jigsaw was coming together I spotted a neck from a UK seller - 22 fret roasted maple, satin finish, 9.5” radius. Basically something close to my Strat neck. I hope.
For the rest, I sourced relic’d parts from a range of places online. Going for as cheap as I can whilst maintaining quality.
The only non-relic’d bits are the strap buttons, tuner bushings, the control plate and knobs. The metal parts will need some thought (bashing + acid / etcher). The bridge pick-up has the annoying SD logo…
I'll update my journey in this thread as best I can.
Aim / Background
I’ve spent the last few years designing and building my own valve amps (guitar, then also hifi) seeking ‘the perfect living room amp’. Partner friendly, not too loud, and capable of doing a passable attempt at the clean to mean thing with a twist of the guitar volume knob. So, ideally, just guitar -> cable -> amp to cover cleanish to med/high-ish gain. Or adding a clean boost to go a bit higher gain. This covers me for my usual ‘playing along with youtube’ activity.
During this journey I realised the benefit of a twin humbucker / 4 control guitar. I can go from sparkly clean (coil split neck selected, volume rolled down, tone rolled back) to high gain (bridge selected, on full vol, tone somewhere in the middle) with the flick of the selector. I do this on my SG-style guitar. Doing the same with my Strat (’96 US Std) would take a bit of knob adjustment, and isn’t quite as easy.
My Strat has sentimental value (1st decent guitar, I look after it etc). My SG is great, but I can’t play the neck as easily / as well as I can the Strat. Perhaps something to do with neck radius or scale length.
And I have a 7-month-old boy so my at-home set-up will need to change…
So… I set upon getting a guitar that could live in the living room and could take a beating. “Cattle, not a pet.” A twin humbucker blend of a Fender and an SG. Basically a Tele Deluxe.
Change of Approach
I looked at the available options (Fender, Squire, Harley Benton etc). Stock models came close, but never quite 100% there. And, given I haven’t looked at guitar prices for 8 or so years, or bought a new guitar for 20-odd years, I couldn’t believe the cost of the US Std equivalent of today! Nor could I believe the cost / quality of the Harley Bentons etc. Besides, I don’t think a new guitar would suit - I’d be too protective of it.
I couldn’t find a used guitar that was sufficiently ‘used’ to overcome this protectiveness.
So I looked at assembling my own - where I started reading other sections of this forum I had hitherto skipped. This lead to a few weeks of researching / trawling eBay / planning etc. costing things out and assessing how much “DIY” I was able / willing to do. (Finished vs raw, pilot holes drilled vs blank etc)
However, upon reflection, I thought “what’s the point of adding another twin humbucker guitar to my collection. Wouldn’t it be better to add another ‘sound’ to the set?”
The Tele bridge sound, the Tele utility, but with the individual controls.
Relic?
I’m fully aware that if I assembled a partscaster I’d do it as best I could, I’d protect it, I’d treat it as a loved pet. Which isn’t the point of this guitar. That’s when I considered the idea, which I’d always considered naff, of a relic’d guitar body. One that already has some bumps and scrapes. So that I’m not the one to make the 1st dent in the finish.
This seemed a good approach. A beat-up body with decent electronics, a decent neck and tuners. What could go wrong?
Controls / Pickups
Combining an off-the-shelf body with my wished-for controls and aesthetic was going to be difficult. Until I spotted a relic’d body on eBay from a UK seller with a neck humbucker rout. Bingo.
Standard bridge, standard control plate, no scratchplate. Single coil at the bridge, humbucker at the neck.
Now, could I do the individual controls for each pick-up? Yes, stacked concentric pots.
Could I go further and coil split the humbucker? Or even coil tap the bridge? Could I do both without adding 2 toggle switches? Yes. The Free-way switch.
All boxes ticked!
So I went for a Seymour Duncan STL2T - a hot tele - pickup for the bridge. This means I can tap it and get two levels of output and two sounds. In theory.
The neck selection was more difficult. The SD SH1N (the 59) was the obvious choice. But finding one at reasonable cost was nigh-on impossible. So, trying to spend a bit more locally, I went with a Monty’s PAF. They are highly regarded, and also come in aged nickel.
Other Part Selection
As the jigsaw was coming together I spotted a neck from a UK seller - 22 fret roasted maple, satin finish, 9.5” radius. Basically something close to my Strat neck. I hope.
For the rest, I sourced relic’d parts from a range of places online. Going for as cheap as I can whilst maintaining quality.
The only non-relic’d bits are the strap buttons, tuner bushings, the control plate and knobs. The metal parts will need some thought (bashing + acid / etcher). The bridge pick-up has the annoying SD logo…
I'll update my journey in this thread as best I can.
