TDPRI $100 Telecaster Challenge -- Are you in?

The ultimate Esquire: no neck pickup, and no neck. It'll save money on machine heads, too.

 

Paul, define "pre-made body". Do I have to cut the body or can someone else do it for me? After all, they are all pre-made when you think about it...Not trying to be a smartass, just asking...

 

Hmmm,this could be interesting

 

So,I managed to get a tele standard bridge pickup off evilbay for 99 cents
Can I use that price or do I have to put a realistic price on it?
Just curious

 

sound like a crime has to be committed in order to build a guitar for $100, no less a tele, you would have to go to the junk yard or dumps every day looking for parts, but then again my diesel truck gets about 4 miles per dollar and the nearest dump is over 12 miles away or $3 each way, so one week at the dump is going to cost me $42 in travel expenses, that leaves not much for buying parts, even if i built a guitar out of fallen branches and a chunk of firewood i'm sure it still needs to look like a tele to qualify for this nonsense, sounds like a promo for stealing from others

 

How are you going to determine who will get the guitar? Do you have to enter or sign up or is it going to be random of all current members?

 

Don't forget that reasonable EDEN shipping cost.

 

It sez that up there, don't it ??

 

What a cool idea! I´m not entering but for the ones that do GOOD LUCK!
Can wait to see the results!

 

Hmmm...on my last build, I totaled up the following:

Control plate and associated parts: $42.50
Bridge, neck plate, ferrules, jack components: $34


I already had the control plate in my parts box, but a new one costs about $15. The pots cost me $14, the three-way switch was $12, and the bridge cost me $8. The cap cost $1.50. I already had the ferrules, but some new ones I just bought cost $6. I also had a neck plate in my box, but that would have cost $8 for a plain one. The electrosocket jack plate was about $9, and the output jack itself would have cost $3, but I used one I had.

Grand total: $76.50, give or take a few bucks, without pickups. No pickguard or screws included either. Or neck. Now I guess one could scrounge around for a better price on some of these components, but it's going to be awfully tough, even with the cheapest pickups, to build something for $100. And if you can do it, you've then done all that work in order to build a tele with the cheapest components you can find? Seems a bit weird to me.

Well, I won't be attempting it for another reason: the timing is awful...it's just too cold for those of us without dedicated, heated shops in the northeast and elsewhere. I guess this challenge would get a lot more takers in the spring, summer, or even fall months in the USA.

 

Well, because of the timing, I can't be involved in this. Seems to me that wood costs should be a factor. While the rules have been set for this contest, I suggest wood costs be included in any future contests. If you're going to have a $100 guitar contest, it seems you should include all components including the wood. This would show just how resourceful contestants can be. Also it wouldn't give an advantage to someone who purchased a StewMac swamp ash body blank for $96.88.

Include the wood costs and you'll really have a challenge.

 

Don't know if they actually sell them but they do list them.

......

 

The only reason I decided to use swamp ash was because I have it here and it cost me nothing.It was given to me from a guy that just had it sitting in his garage and he was going to try to build a guitar.That and the fact I have used up all my scrap on my other builds