Life on the frozen tundra of South Dakota Life on the frozen tundra of South Dakota

My Take On A Traditional Style Guitar

My Take On A Traditional Style Guitar

Instrument completed on 04/04/2020

Instrument completed on 04/04/2020

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

Completed photo of the Vintage Tundracaster guitar.

Completed photo of the Vintage Tundracaster guitar.

Completed photo of the Vintage Tundracaster guitar.

Completed photo of the Vintage Tundracaster guitar.

Completed photo of the Vintage Tundracaster guitar.

Completed photo of the Vintage Tundracaster guitar.

Completed photo of the Vintage Tundracaster guitar.

Completed photo of the Vintage Tundracaster guitar.

Completed photo of the Vintage Tundracaster guitar.

Completed photo of the Vintage Tundracaster guitar.

Completed photo of the Vintage Tundracaster guitar.

Completed photo of the Vintage Tundracaster guitar.

Completed photo of the Vintage Tundracaster guitar.

Completed photo of the Vintage Tundracaster guitar.

Completed photo of the Vintage Tundracaster guitar.

Completed photo of the Vintage Tundracaster guitar.

Completed photo of the Vintage Tundracaster guitar.

Completed photo of the Vintage Tundracaster guitar.

Curious how I built this guitar? Check out the construction photos here.

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This page last updated on 04/06/2020