#1
|
|||
|
|||
I had fun building this one (Fiesta Red Tele)
Well after building various partscasters (Jaguar, Jazzmaster, and a Strat), I had to try my hand with a Tele. I've always wanted a Fiesta Red Tele. It's one of my all-time favorite colors, especially when paired with a dark fingerboard and matching headstock!!!
It took me a long time to find what I needed, mainly a pre-painted Fender body, and a neck with a matching headstock. I got the Fiesta Red Vintera Body from Stratosphere , and the matching Fiesta Red headstock USA neck from a dealer in Germany. The neck has an ebony fingerboard with pearl dots, medium jumbo frets, roller string tree, and Fender high ratio tuners. I used Wolfetone pickups with a slightly hot bridge pickup (Tele B*tch), and a standard wind neck pickup (Tele cub). I didn't even know that Wolfe wound Tele pickups, but I'm sure glad I had him wind these. They sound great! As for the rest of the electronics, I used push-back cloth wire, PIO Emerson .047 cap, CTS close tolerance 250K pots, CRL switch, and a Switchcraft output jack. For the bridge. I used Fender bullet brass compensated saddles that I pulled from an American Series Bridge, with a special Bridge Works bridge plate that has a notched flange, and it's drilled so that it can be top loaded (to reduce string tension). The body does have string ferrules for rear loading too. I'll try it both ways. Because I've been playing Teles, and modding them since I was a kid, putting this one together and setting it up, was a breeze. The only problems that I ran into was a too tight neck pocket, as someone a Fender really gooped the Fiesta red paint into the pocket. I just made a little sanding block and sanded the inside edges until the neck fit perfect. Also the neck needed quite a bit of truss-rod adjustment The truss rod worked perfectly, and I got it dead straight. The frets didn't need any work at all. The nut slots were pre-cut on this neck, but I cleaned them up a bit. In a few days, after the neck gets used to being under tension, I will deepen the slots so fretted notes on the first fret are in tune. Right now they are slightly sharp, like most guitars that come from the factory. The guitar though is intonating perfectly at the 12th fret, and the string height is pretty close to where I like it. Also the neck is aligned perfectly, with great string spacing. and the strings are going right over the poles of the pickups. Well I just got done putting it through the paces, and it sounds and plays great. I would have bought this one right off the rack! I got lucky! Anybody that's ever built a partscaster(s), knows that you take chances building these things, and there is no guarantee that the guitar will sound that great. Good, if you use decent parts, but really good to great, well that's where the luck comes in As I said earlier, the only thing I really need to do is slightly deepen the nut slots, although it already plays really good now. After I do that I will record a demo. So here it is... setting the neck flatness... neck pocket sanding... dialing in neck pickup height (you have to do that before installing pickguard), and check out the nice ebony board and shiny frets!... Cool custom neck plate... Fiesta Red headstock... Voila, it's a guitar ( a good sounding and playing one at that)... With it's fellow partscasters... Last edited by rockabilly69; 06-17-2022 at 12:53 AM. |
#2
|
||||
|
||||
Looks like fun!!!
And we all know red sounds better. Bob
__________________
"It is said, 'Go not to the elves for counsel for they will say both no and yes.' " Frodo Baggins to Gildor Inglorion, The Fellowship of the Ring THE MUSICIAN'S ROOM (my website) |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Agreed, and we both know that Bob...
|
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Thanks so much for sharing this completed build with us Rocky! I just can’t get over the perfect family picture of your impeccable handiwork. We have spoken about that Jazzmaster before, and as great as the others are, that Jazzer is still my favorite of your builds. Although, I am very partial to painted headstock Fenders, and Fiesta Red is so historically iconic to Fender’s history I may be easily swayed!
Beautiful work. fd
__________________
I love playing guitar |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Man, Daniel!
What a great looking Tele! Good for you! I will look forward to hearing that demo! - Glenn
__________________
My You Tube Channel |
#6
|
||||
|
||||
Very cool gotta love Red.
__________________
Enjoy the Journey.... Kev... KevWind at Soundcloud KevWind at YouYube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...EZxkPKyieOTgRD System : Studio system Avid Carbon interface , PT Ultimate 2023.12 -Mid 2020 iMac 27" 3.8GHz 8-core i7 10th Gen ,, Ventura 13.2.1 Mobile MBP M1 Pro , PT Ultimate 2023.12 Ventura 12.2.1 |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Thanks and I do Kev...
Quote:
Quote:
Last edited by rockabilly69; 05-10-2022 at 01:05 AM. |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
So, so good!
|
#9
|
|||
|
|||
Another great parts-o-caster build! Looks like you have another great guitar in the lineup.
I bought a white MIM Strat body from Stratosphere back in 2007 for my partscaster build. They came up with a great concept about buying Fenders, tearing them down, and selling the parts. |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
|
#11
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
|