Tele/esquire build in planning, it's going to be colorful

Talk about modding or building your own guitar from scratch.
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bodhi
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Re: Tele/esquire build in planning, it's going to be colorful

Post by bodhi » Sun May 12, 2024 11:15 pm

Very much a matter of preference, but I found that the traditional control plate setup makes sense on a tele. I tried reversing the plate and one with a slanted slot, and at least for me they didn't really seem to solve any real problems, more just being different. I guess it's at least partially a question of size of hands etc, but I don't find the normal controls to be out of position, and with the plate reversed the front pot just seemed to be too far forward towards the neck. A lot of Fender designs seems to place the volume pot roughly in line with the bridge saddles. Of course, if you're doing a single pickup only, might want something else. I have a four way switch for a series position as my only mod on a traditional tele setup right now.
Jazzmaster project (got a body, placeholder neck, some pickups and ideas)
Tokai Telecaster Thinline with Creamery Pickups Filtertron and Tapped Tele
Blake Mills-inspired Strat project w/ Gold Foil and slide pickup

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Flurko
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Re: Tele/esquire build in planning, it's going to be colorful

Post by Flurko » Wed May 15, 2024 1:21 pm

I saw a diagram on the Premier Guitar website for an esquire wiring scheme that seems interesting, I will try that when the parts arrive :
https://www.premierguitar.com/gear/the- ... ire-wiring

I've ordered a jack cup, a prewired control plate and a mint pickguard from AliExpress to try things on, usually the quality is acceptable.
I found in my parts bin a few disassembled humbucker parts, and a coil from this fits perfectly in the neck pickup cavity under the pickguard. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think of glueing some small neodymium magnets under just the low E and A pole pieces to get only those strings, then I can run this to one side of a stereo jack. I think I can also wire the jack to get only the normal guitar with a standard jack if I wire this pickup to the side that gets grounded when a mono jack is plugged?

And for info, here's the weight compared to my Jazzmaster, with our luggage scales :

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(the paint Looks green way more often than purple, but it's still very cool, and it goes better with the maple fretboard imo)

Ending note : I've noticed that my phone's autocorrect and my native french makes me look like a confused old man when I read my longer posts back, sorry, I'm still an pretty cool thirty -something ;D

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jthomas
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Re: Tele/esquire build in planning, it's going to be colorful

Post by jthomas » Wed May 15, 2024 3:26 pm

How about a clear pickguard to show off the paint.

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Flurko
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Re: Tele/esquire build in planning, it's going to be colorful

Post by Flurko » Thu May 16, 2024 2:39 am

jthomas wrote:
Wed May 15, 2024 3:26 pm
How about a clear pickguard to show off the paint.
I've thought about this, but for now I will try the traditional look first, I think the blocky shape of the Tele needs something to contrast with it and break it up slightly.

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Flurko
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Re: Tele/esquire build in planning, it's going to be colorful

Post by Flurko » Fri May 24, 2024 6:37 am

The parts have started to arrive, quick mockup to see how it looks, Inm glad the mint pickguard isn't too garish! It doesn't match the binding but otherwise it will look fine for now. I'll have to do some sanding around the heel because of the neck not being standard fender spec, but I should manage.
Still waiting on the jack cup and on the magnets do my lil neck pickup experiment.

Image
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walterwiseman
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Re: Tele/esquire build in planning, it's going to be colorful

Post by walterwiseman » Fri May 24, 2024 11:33 am

Looking good! The guard goes really well with the body colour.

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electric__ralph
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Re: Tele/esquire build in planning, it's going to be colorful

Post by electric__ralph » Tue May 28, 2024 10:04 am

If you still have the paint chip you should be able to superglue it down.

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alexpigment
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Re: Tele/esquire build in planning, it's going to be colorful

Post by alexpigment » Tue May 28, 2024 10:48 am

electric__ralph wrote:
Tue May 28, 2024 10:04 am
If you still have the paint chip you should be able to superglue it down.
I actually like using wood glue in these cases. Not as resilient of a fix, but it avoids the hole scraping, sanding, and buffing of the spillout. Just throwing that out there in case it helps.

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