Members Jeff Leites Posted July 4, 2009 Members Posted July 4, 2009 I didn't intend to build this guitar, but after buying and installing a new neck on my '64 Mustang, my wife said I should have kept the Mustang the way it was as a collectable. So... I now had a 24" scale neck, with upgrades (ebony fingerboard, graphite nut, locking tuners and stainless steel frets) sitting around. I couldn't let it go to waste, so I build up another Mustang with some added features, dual rail humbuckers, the slide switches wired for humbucker, off, or single coil, and a DPDT switch on the tone control for phase reversal.
Members Mark L Posted July 4, 2009 Members Posted July 4, 2009 Very nice What are those strings - 15s??
Members Jeff Leites Posted July 4, 2009 Author Members Posted July 4, 2009 Very nice What are those strings - 15s?? Are you kidding? I'm a weakling 9-42.
Members amplayer Posted July 6, 2009 Members Posted July 6, 2009 Looks pretty cool. Where did you get the body?
Members Jeff Leites Posted July 6, 2009 Author Members Posted July 6, 2009 Looks pretty cool. Where did you get the body? The neck, body, pickguard, tremolo, bridge, and control plate came from Warmoth. I got a few parts, including the pickups at my local (Hollywood) Carvin store. It sounds good to me. I get a lot of tone variations with my wiring arrangement. I took it into the Carvin store to show it off to Mark, the store manager, who is way more talented than me. He played it for a while and seemed to like it.
Members amplayer Posted July 7, 2009 Members Posted July 7, 2009 The neck, body, pickguard, tremolo, bridge, and control plate came from Warmoth. I got a few parts, including the pickups at my local (Hollywood) Carvin store. It sounds good to me. I get a lot of tone variations with my wiring arrangement. I took it into the Carvin store to show it off to Mark, the store manager, who is way more talented than me. He played it for a while and seemed to like it. Ah yes. Warmoth. My main guitar is a guitar I assembled from a Warmoth Strat body and a Warmoth Strat neck. Warmoth stuff isn't cheap, but it is very good.
Members Rubber Lizard Posted July 7, 2009 Members Posted July 7, 2009 For an "accident", that is one nice looking axe... Oooo! Oooo! QUESTION! (hand waving wildly from the back of the class) First of all, that guitar looks great. I am inspired. Maybe I should use some Warmoth parts -- but here is my question: I have a Fender custom shop tele. It is beautiful. But it does not have a tremolo bridge. Should I (could I) get a whammy-able bridge from warmoth and install it? Would that be an over-bastardization of my fender tele, or is it an "okay" thing to do? PS: it has to be gold hardware to match the guitar. I hope that is done at Warmoth.
Members amplayer Posted July 7, 2009 Members Posted July 7, 2009 For an "accident", that is one nice looking axe... Oooo! Oooo! QUESTION! (hand waving wildly from the back of the class)First of all, that guitar looks great. I am inspired. Maybe I should use some Warmoth parts -- but here is my question:I have a Fender custom shop tele. It is beautiful. But it does not have a tremolo bridge. Should I (could I) get a whammy-able bridge from warmoth and install it? Would that be an over-bastardization of my fender tele, or is it an "okay" thing to do?PS: it has to be gold hardware to match the guitar. I hope that is done at Warmoth. It is an OK thing to do, but if it were me, I wouldn't do it to the Tele. You'll kill the resale value of it. Instead, I'd suggest buying some less expensive guitar to do that to, or even buying one that already has a whammy. Note that by buying stuff from Warmoth, you can build just about any bolt-on neck guitar you can think of. However, it's expensive and very time-consuming so is best for people who really love to do it.
Members Jeff da Weasel Posted July 7, 2009 Members Posted July 7, 2009 Should I (could I) get a whammy-able bridge from warmoth and install it? Could you? Yes. Should you? NO!
Members Huh? Posted July 7, 2009 Members Posted July 7, 2009 Get a B-Bender instead. Nice work Jeff...it looks good.
Members Jeff Leites Posted July 7, 2009 Author Members Posted July 7, 2009 It is an OK thing to do, but if it were me, I wouldn't do it to the Tele. You'll kill the resale value of it. Instead, I'd suggest buying some less expensive guitar to do that to, or even buying one that already has a whammy. Note that by buying stuff from Warmoth, you can build just about any bolt-on neck guitar you can think of. However, it's expensive and very time-consuming so is best for people who really love to do it. I agree, I've seen Teles with Bigsbys but it seems like any change you make to the way it came from the factory, will lessen it's value 30 years from now. Building a guitar isn't really cheap. I think it cost me around $800 in parts and materials for the Mustang, it's cost me around $1,000 each to make a couple of other guitars (a semi-hollow 6-string, and 12-string). And it is somewhat a labor of love that requires acquiring some experience. IMHO an exception would be the Carvn Bolt kit. It's currently on sale for $429 (upgrades available), goes together easily, and I think it's a decent guitar. If you are more adventurous, besides, Warmoth, check out USA Custom Guitars.
Members Jeff da Weasel Posted July 7, 2009 Members Posted July 7, 2009 Building a guitar isn't really cheap. Absolutely not. In almost every case, it'll cost you more to build a guitar than to go buy a similarly well-made one off the shelf. The people I know who build guitars do it because they really enjoy the process... certainly not to save money.
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