Official Luthiers Forum!

I thought I'd show you guys a few pics of my latest build. It's a neck thru Telecaster that was my entry on the Telecaster forum's annual build challange. This is an idea that I've been hashing about for a few years and finally decided to give it a try.

Specs:
Three layer laminated Ipe neck thru with three layer Birdseye Maple body wings.
Ipe fret board
Ipe control knobs and switch cap (Thanks Filippo for the how to on that)
Birdseye Maple control plate.
Gotoh tuners and bridge.
GFS bridge pickup. 7k ohms with A5 magnets and 43 gauge wire.
Resurected Teisco gold foil neck pickup in a wood cover to match the body.
Fully shielded with copper foil.

The finish is catalyzed urethane. A bit of a learning curve as with any finish. That learning curve is why my long tennon double cut is not complete yet.

Very Cool Steven.

So how does it feel? How does it play? How does it sound? Is it very light?

Give us the deets.

I have to work something out with the pickups. The rebuilding of the gold foil removed some of the raunchiness that is so endearing of the original design. It sounds great though and I would prefer not to change it. The bridge pickup sounds fabulous to and has that typical Tele twang but the two sound very similar and I would like a bit more variation in the sounds available. I've got some other bridge pickups to try and will be getting around to some testing soon.

Here's a short video we made (a requirement of the contest) featuring some of my friends. They're abilities range from beginner to pretty darn good.

Hi John,

I just posted a video for you to watch which will answer a couple of you Q's.
You'll be able to see in the video that Steve (speed metal boy) approves of the action and fret work and Jon digs the sustain.
It is not very light at all. Ipe is extremely dense. In fact it will sink in water. The total assembled weight is 9lbs.3oz.

Steve

Maybe it's just my eyes, but it looks like there is finish on the inside surfaces of those wings!!!! Is that correct? Did you attach the wings before or after finish? And are they glued in, bolted, or what? VERY impressive work.

_________________
ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com

WOW!
That is completely out of this world!
How'd you think that up?
Deco city!

The rebuilding of the gold foil removed some of the raunchiness that is so endearing of the original design.

Did you lose the steel baseplate along with the cover (brass or German silver)? That's going to cause some changes right there.

I'm loving these inspired new Teles!! Toone has a similar creation:

Steven, your eye for design is just off the charts. I hope you had as much fun during the challenge as I did because I'm dying to see what you do next year

Hi Chris,

It is completly finished inside and out. The wings were assembled in layers and then finished. The layers were laminated after buffing. The center was glued using LMI white. Next the wings were spread and gel CA used to adhere the spacers.
Here are some shots of the assembled layers.



The polising on the inside is not as good as the outside as you can imagine. It did turn out rather well and I'm happy with the results. This design worked rather well at removing compound from the buffing wheels when trying to polish the interior.

Here is a link to the build thread at the other forum.
http://www.tdpri.com/forum/2012-tdpri-tele-build-challenge/318180-wheelies-2012-challange-build-thread-completed.html

Thanks Alan,

How did I think that up? No comment

Yep. They were complete junk as well as the magnets and the pole screws. All I was able to salvage was the steel core and the coil. Availlable choices for magnets in that size are quite limited and the replacments are quite a bit stronger than the originals. C5 vs C1 (best guess of some pickup builders as to original material). I did use copper foil on the inside of the wood cover and in the cavity. Figured it couldn't hurt.

Reminds me of a Stephen Wright joke.
I have George Washington's hatchet. I had to replace the handel as it was rotted and the head because it was cracked, but it still holds the same place in the universe.

I really like Rick Toone's work and have a lot of respect for his innovations in ergonomics and such. There was another similar design in the contest from a guy in Belgium. I think my and Stinjn's versions of the theme are better. The way Rick did the neck there is pretty darn cool, that would have simplified a lot of things on my build.

Hey Roger,
Thanks, it was a lot of fun.
I think for next year I'll do anything that doesn't involve polishing the inside of a guitar.

I think the best way I can relate my feelings on this guitar is to document my reactions to your pictures, in the order in which I saw them (top to bottom):

1. Oh ok, a neck-through Telecaster. Sure, looks like a nice job, I guess I'll scroll down and keep looking. Something weird about that arm contour...
2. What the hell? Is that a strap hanging off the side? What am I looking at?
3. Holy...
4. ...freaking...
5. ...CRAP!!!

And from there I was speechless. Really clever design. Shame it doesn't make it super light, but other than that, it looks killer! And judging from the youtube clip, it doesn't sound half bad either! Nice work!

Yeah, Toone's was an detailed experiment, but your's is superior in its practical appointments! The contours make all the difference. Pickups, too..

But let me say the cleverest thing on this to me is the carve by the heel - my palm bottoms out at the back side of the cutaway LONG before the top side. It really baffles me when I see carves on the top side of the guitar there. I have never needed more room there. So kudos to that appointment as well!

Thank goodness, I was a bit disturbed at the notion that Mr. Toone had lost his mind.



Thanks,
I saw that detail on a Suhr last summer. I picked up that guitar and had a moment. Then I realized that's what Ken Parker was doing in the '90's.

Awesome looking guitar. Great job!

_________________
Another day, another dollar.

I saw this guitar before finish - very clever and awesome balanced design. It weighs like a brick - you might need a back support to play it.

Looks even better with the finish Steve - way to go!

_________________
John Ressler