Tuff Dog Tele

[FrankenWashie]

Thanks for the comments I am very pleased with it at the moment ( I haven't touched it yet )

And it will definitely be a Merle tribute guitar I have played so many of his songs over the last 40 or so years and enjoy the battle of coming to grips with the fabulous guitarists who have graced The Strangers ( Roy Nichols, Roy Buchanan & Redd Volkaert in particular ) Merle himself was a very talented picker but he was leaving it to the younguns at the end because the mind and the fingers didn't have it anymore.

@ Woks I am using Coolongatta Gold and Black Stump for the finish on DBs recommendation and I think I can do a fair job of it because I won't be rushing it, there is no need the current herd covers the sonic palate I need. Truth be known the only guitar I probably need is my 1976 Shergold Masquarader until I need Strat quack and a wiggle stick ( but a man can never have too many toys )

Looking forward to seeing this evolve Dave, it looks a fantastic kit to work with.

[dave.king1]

Made a small start, marked out and cut the headstock & pickguard.

The bits from the US have arrived so just about ready for lift off.

One minor issue arose last night when I was checking the Toneriders, the wrong pickups were in the correctly marked box.

Vintage Plus instead of Hot Classics so I sent Adam an email late last night and he shoved the correct ones in the mail this morning, the VPs are on the way back to PB as well.

Damn I love the customer service that we get from PB, a big thumbs up from me

[WeirdBits]

Yep, can't ask for better customer service.

[dave.king1]

First build photo post dummy build

Shaped pickguard sitting in place along with the correct six saddle string through bridge, now hunting the correct switch tip and the pearloid tuning heads and MOP veneer for the dog

[wokkaboy]

love the pickguard shape DK really suits the tele shape and hardware !

[dave.king1]

I'm making it as close as is humanly possible within the constraints of the kit and available reasonably priced upgrade parts.

After a lot of searching I found the pickguard template on the net and cut this from the kit item with a fret saw then bevelled with a dremel and then scraped the resulting edge with a Stanley blade to clean it up, the dogs head is another whole world of challenge yet to be confronted

[FrankenWashie]

First build photo post dummy build

Shaped pickguard sitting in place along with the correct six saddle string through bridge, now hunting the correct switch tip and the pearloid tuning heads and MOP veneer for the dog

Mmm...Starting to feel the mojo on this one Dave. Look forward to seeing how you go with it!

[dave.king1]

I knew the kit black barrel switch tip was wrong so I went and had another look at the Custom Shop pic and the tip should be a Strat tip in cream so it was back to fleay bay and then I remembered I have a white Strat hardware package looking for purpose.

White tip, white pickguard, perfect

[wokkaboy]

sounds good DK, see if it fits on the switch. When I've upgraded switches the top of the switch blade are usually wider than the PBG ones. You might be lucky and it slips on fine.

[dave.king1]

PB switch to PB switch, installed half an hour ago