I bought my first Telecaster in 1992. It was fiesta red with a white pickguard and a maple neck. It was a great instrument. Unfortunately given the combination of my impetuous age, limited finances and the style of music I was playing at that time, I traded off that guitar. I got a cool Les Paul out of the deal so it wasn't a total loss, but I always missed that Tele.
Years later I found that I had a couple Tele shaped guitars, but no guitars true to the tradtional Tele spirit. Seeing as Teles are such a workhorse instrument, every guitarist should probably have one. You can play almost any genre on a a telecaster including jazz, pop, country, rock, etc.
I found myself wanting to add a traditional tele to my collection. I could have easily gone out and bought one, but where's the fun in that? So I decided to do my take on a vintage tele. I didn't try and go vintage with every last detail, but I did try and capture the general style with a few differences.
Here are the specifications of the instrument:
Neck Type: Bolt on
Neck Wood: Birdseye Maple
Truss Rod: Dual action
Reinforcement: Two carbon fiber rods
Headstock: Flat, Fender-style
Tuners: 3+3 Sperzel-style locking.
Nut: Bone
Body Wood: Swamp Ash
Fretboard: Birdseye maple, 10" radius, black dot inlays
Scale Length: 25.5"
Pickups: Wilde Bill (Bill Lawrence) Keystones
Controls: One volume, one tone, 3-way selector switch.
Hardware: Chrome.
Finish: Gloss nitrocellulose lacquer
Weight: Approximately 6.5 lbs
Curious how I built this guitar? Check out the construction photos here.
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This page last updated on 04/06/2020