Why You Should Build or Buy a Partscaster

[kLyon]

I do it because a) it's fun, and b) nobody knows how I like a guitar to feel and sound as well as I do.

 

[Full-Tilt-Tele]

"I Second Your Motion"...

 

[Recce]

If I had someone make me a custom he makes do I have a parts caster? Well, actually three they are the Three Musketeers.

 

[BlueGillGreg]

Excellent vid and very cool guitars. That butterscotch had me scrolling back to the pics to ogle.

I probably need to go the Partscaster route, I got a cheap Tele to modify and liked it so much in stock condition that it's still unchanged. Thank you!

 

[brookdalebill]

All of my “bolt neck” guitars are partscasters, except my EJ Strat, and it has changed pickups and switching.

I love’ em.
They do all the heavy lifting at my gigs.

 

[nvilletele]

I only ever built one partscaster, basically assembling parts that I bought on eBay. Main pieces were from a California Series Fat Tele. California Series were made in US and assembled in Mexico. I think they were 1997-98.

the details of my “build” are in this thread:

Finally Complete - My home-assembled California Series Fat Tele

So I finally got my California Series Fat Tele finished . . . I had bought all the pieces a year or two ago on ebay, but missed out on getting the California Series neck, so I grabbed a MIM, but became disenchanted with that one very quickly. I grabbed a Calif Series tele neck on ebay for 228...

www.tdpri.com

 

[dreamsinger]

You couldn't give me a factory Fender. I learned my lesson fast. The first thing to get is that building with an eye toward resale value is a fools errand unless your luthiery skills are mad. I got more from my parts Strat than I had in it and more than the average factory Strat was going for. Turns out I just wasn't a Strat guy. I sold my parts P5 when I thought my hands were too far gone to play. Modern medicine prevailed and I miss that bass something fierce. My Tele partscaster is far and away the best Tele I've ever played and I've turned down offers for it.

 

[Michael M.]

For me partscasters have been a great way to learn what I like and what I don't.
I have built 4 and didn't like my first two (a Jazzmaster with a 12 radius strat neck and a Tele Custom with vintage radius neck). I then took a gamble on a third, a tele with a Gibson scale neck (Warmoth Standard Thin), medium jumbo frets and compound radius, and Cavalier pickups . . . HEAVEN! Love it. So then I built a Strat with MJT body and another Gibson Scale neck - but this time 59 round shape, Custom Shop Fat 50s pickups. LOVE this one too!!!
So I learned that I in fact LOVE Fender style but only if they are Gibson scale. Ha.
I only thing now is what is my ideal neck shape. Hmmm. I think I am leaning towards the 59 shape.
Very happy.

 

[Popov]

I've built custom bikes, but I wouldn't do a car and I've built partcasters with bolt-on bits but I wouldn't do a through-neck .... I collect the parts over time and then I put them together, if I really don't like a part I sell it to partly fund a replacement, but that's rare ..... that's why I love Telecasters, they're the ultimate do-able build ..... all this talk about ending up with a dog is usually because the project wasn't thought through and the process was rushed, decide what you want and like, think about it some more, then built that .... if you haven't changed your mind.

As for resale value, that's a matter for my kid to settle after I've fallen off my perch .... hobbies cost money.

 

[oldunc]

The simplicity of construction of a Telecaster make it a good introductory project if you're interested in guitar making, though it's certainly more educational to make your own parts. Unlike other instruments, there are a plethora of premade templates etc. available, though once again making your own will be more educational, and more fun.

 

[GeorgiaHonk]

I probably need to go the Partscaster route, I got a cheap Tele to modify and liked it so much in stock condition that it's still unchanged.

I’m in this same boat. A good problem to have.

 

[Jay Jernigan]

I've only made (constructed?) a handful of 'em but I got a unique ax every time. With a little work they play well and sound good. I tend to rotate, some more than others, but I generally find something I like with most. Couldn't ever leave a stock one alone, usually anyway, so it's just an extension really.

 

[CowTownPickers]

I build my own because I get it the way I want it. I pick everything in the build. Tele or Strat can cost $800 +++ just to build in parts to buy good parts and wood. I use Stew-Mac nitro paint and stains. Good quality necks and even put aged clay dots in rosewood necks! I use Fender Pure Vintage or BrandonWound pickups usually. Lindy Franklin Blues set for Tele is great but the price is high! The last Tele & Strat I built was with roasted Swamp Ash. The necks feel broken in and it plays and sounds like the vintage guitar it looks like without being "beat up"!

 

[RifleSlinger]

Nice looking body. Can you share where you got that?

It's a Hosco swamp ash 50's style body I got on Ebay. I asked them to pick me a light one.

 

[Grandfunkfan]

I'm building my own tele because I like the look of the Texas tea but I don't like the bridge, and I don't care what anybody says, the noiseless pickups aren't suited to what I want from a tele. If you're worried about noise you should get another hobby, maybe fashion design, not that there's anything wrong with it. If the pro 2 came in black with a rosewood fretboard I would get one and just change the pickups, but they don't.

 

[pblanton]

Me dad was a tinker…

I think that my dad must have known your dad, because he used to always say, "I don't give a tinker's damn".

 

[Beachbum]

I put together partscasters because I don't believe any of the hoodoo voodoo that gets tossed around on guitar forums. I don't believe that some woods sound better than others, that maple, rosewood or ebony finger boards, hardware, bridge metal type and pickguard screws effect tone. I do believe that parts are parts, specs are specs and tone comes from the pickups and amp full stop. So if you can screw together quality parts and have something equal to any given production line Fender for half the price why would you not do that?

 

[wblynch]

I’ll just say it. Every Fender electric guitar (except the rare set neck models) is a parts caster.

 

[jdl57]

My real Tele is a 70th Anniversary Broadcaster, factory built. My partscaster is this:


It's my avatar too.

It is better than my Broadcaster in every way. This is the one that gets played. It's a long origin story, if anyone is curious you can read it here:

I accidentally built a really good guitar. (In praise of Paulownia)

I had no intention of doing this. I didn't need another guitar, but when my wife asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I suggested a StewMac 335 kit. I had never finished, or even built a kit guitar, so I went to Guitar Fetish and bought a cheap body to practice on. Just for grins I bought an...

www.tdpri.com

The short story--Guitar Mill Paulownia body and Strat style thin D maple neck with a roast maple fretboard, Ron Ellis pickups, aged hardware, 5 pounds 4 ounces ready to play. It wasn't cheap. Sounds and plays fantastic.

 

[WKGTRS]

I've done just a few "partscasters". Most have become "partscasters" due to the progression of upgrades/changes along the way. I had one guitar that only had the original pickup switch left. I have never bought bargain basement parts and threw them together. Necks are Warmoth. roasted maple. I can reshape the profile without finishing, just buff it down to 1200 grit, beats any sprayed finish. I tailor parts and electronics to the goal, and often have extra bits and bobs etc. Usually I end up around 1,200 or so but I have a guitar that is beyond anything I can buy from a manufacturer where I would have spent far more for a comparable guitar. I never build one for investment reasons. I probably wouldn't sell them anyways.

Here are the two most recent, I've got another strat that is in process too. Love them both and there alot going on under the hood as well.