gringopig's guitars
Custom 1955 Telecaster build
Having got the partscaster fever with my auction bought Broadcaster repro and subsequent overhaul, I got all enthusiastic again and based around a pickup I took out of that project, I built a brand new 1955 era one. I then didn't use the pickup!
I did however buy some top quality parts and make a real effort with this.
Compare my one with an original 1955 as seen at Guitarpoint in Germany and you can see the changes Fender made to the model. Out went the Butterscotch finish, the black pickguard and in came steel saddles.
I noticed that I had installed a round switch tip on mine and looking at the photo below, I swapped it out for a top hat. Got to be accurate right?
So you can see that this one is a later model than the 1950-1953 era Blackguard. Fender changed a few things. They went to a blonde finish instead of butterscotch and put on a white pickguard and used steel saddles. Still retaining the maple one-piece neck and basic configuration though.
I chose to use brass saddles as I had them already and I like the sound.
So I bought:
A body from Axecaster in the UK which was reliced already; a Hosco I believe with string ferrules which looked really cool.
A neck from Musikraft in the USA with specs as follows:
Guitar Neck Build: Qty: 1
Construction Type: 1 Piece Constructed
Orientation: Right for Right Handed Players
Scale Length: 25.5" Standard Fender
Number of Frets: 21
Nut Width: 1.650" (41.9mm)
Nut Slot Style: 1/8" Nut Slot (Standard Fender)
Heel Width and Type: 2-3/16" (55.55mm) Squared Tele
Truss Rod Type: Dual Acting w/ Modern Nut adjust @ Heel
Shaft Wood: Quartersawn Maple ($80.00)
Fingerboard Radius: Compound 7-1/4" to 9-1/2" ($40.00)
Fingerboard Edge Style: Heavy Rolled Fingerboard Edges ($40.00)
Tuner Hole Size: 11/32" (Vintage Kluson)
Top Dot Inlay: 1/4" Dots (Black)
Top Inlay Material: None See Dot Inlay Above
Custom Shape Inlay: None (See Dot Inlay above)
Side Markers: Black 2mm
12th Dot Spacing: Wide (Vintage Style Pre 1964)
Fret Size and Type: 6105 Nickel Silver (Medium)
Skunk Stripe Option 1pc: Walnut w/ Walnut Plug
Back Profile Shape and Size: Med D 90 10
Binding: None
Tuner Install: NONE
Headstock Veneer: NONE
Nut Installation: NONE
Nut String Spacing: Not Applicable
Finish: Oil (Tinted) ($70.00)
Neck Mounting Holes: None
Carbon Fiber Reinforcing Rods: None
Musikraft Heel Stamp: Standard Burn License Stamp
A lot of parts from Charles Guitars including:
Callaham bridge, aged Tele knobs, output jack, CRL 3 way switch, two 250 k ohm pots and 0.047uF Sozo capacitor, aged Kluson single line tuners, round string tree and aged strap buttons.
I ordered a Monty's Broadcaster bridge pickup and a full Monty neck pickup and an 5 hole aged Tele single ply guard from another source.
I went ahead and installed all the hardware on the body as the bridge mounting was already pre located and got everything as I wanted it and waited for the neck to arrive.
Once in my hands I handed it over to Bob at GuitarGuitar in Edinburgh who installed the tuners and bushings, made a nut and installed the neck with small shims either side of the neck pocket as the Hosco body didn't follow the standard Fender spec for pocket width weirdly. No idea why.
I just got it back:
Click on gallery for larger version
Putting something like this together isn't like buying off the shelf as you have no idea what it's going to turn out like, so I was super keen to test it out. First thing is - it's no lightweight. I don't mind that at all however.
The neck is a chunky D shape with 0.9" at the first fret and it feels just perfect to me. Bob did a great job with the neck and nut, so it plays really well but it's the sound that's quite surprising.
The Monty's pickups are wonderful. The neck is juicy and warm but it has presence and a bit more bite than a regular Tele neck pickup and the bridge pickup has heft, volume but isn't shrill.
The most odd thing is the interaction with the tone circuit.
Most tone controls go from no treble modification to dark at the other end of the wiper but this one weirdly doesn't. It goes darker but sounds like a wah pedal on half way at the extreme, so it still has clarity in spades.
I never expected that but it sounds really good actually. It still slices the top end of a tad when rolled off but as you roll it down it doesn't go 'woofy' like other Telecasters. I am sure it was a 0.047uF Sozo I ordered just like before but it goes to show that all the small differences add up to individual responses. Playing it back to back with the Blackguard repro, I now can't wait for Golden Era Guitars to finally ship me the new neck for it: the Allparts reliced FAT neck. The skinny Fender neck is not for me. I will put it onto Reverb and Ebay after the new one is on as someone will love a really good reliced skinny neck from 1992.
I did a demo below so you can hear this twangy beast in action. Select 1080p for best effect.
So. An update.
This is also sightly embarrassing as I didn't pay enough attention to the value of the capacitor that was sold to me. On the outside it was marked as '472k', now this should of course be '473k' as the 3 refers to a multiplier and the 3 means it is 10X the value of a 2.
So, I was supplied with a 0.0047uF capacitor! Way too small. It took ages to click on this fact as well. I got in touch with the supllier and they checked their parts bin and it turns out they weren't paying attention either as they had been supplied with the wrong value. Easily done. They sent me a replacement and I fitted it and guess what?
It sounds like a normal Telecaster tone control. No mystery at all.
So I did a follow up video for this one as you can watch it below!
