How many simultaneous guitar projects are too many? Stay tuned as I attempt to find out.....
So really this is a dual purpose thread. Since building the Relliecaster I've been hankering after a TL to call my own. So this (eventual) build will help me satisfy that itch. I plan on modding the body a bit. There was a relic'd tele in one of the Guitar of the month threads a while back that had a cut away at the bottom of the body - I can't remember whose its was, but it really struck a chord with me. So for this I will be doing something similar.
The idea is embryonic at the moment, but I may also fiddle the bottom horn a bit. So it's sort of like a TL answer to a super strat. I've got the Wilkinson bridge and cover to go on it and the grover tuners, but thats about it at the moment. There are a couple in line before it so not an issue.
This brings me to the second part of the thread that we can chat about. As some of you may recall I've been working with Adam on a new Headstock and some other designs for PBG. The idea being for PBG to have it's own identity with the prebuilt stuff and some unique things to offer for the kits.
I'd like to clarify before I go any further that I offered my services in a collaborative spirit for this project. I am not charging Adam and we have operated under a friendly barter arrangement thus far. I see this as a community effort for the benefit of this community and as a way I can support PBG with the skills I have available. I of course speak to Adam a fair bit, but I do not speak for him or represent PBG in anyway, other than being a keen supporter.
So, after a lot of back and forth and "Chinese whispers" with the factory, we have received our first batch of sample headstocks. It actually turned out to be trickier than I expected as the factory does not actually use any computer controlled cutting equipment. The first batch of files caused a fair bit of headscratching on their end as I had set it up to basically enter into the machine and hit 'cut'. It turns out that they want to work from traditional technical drawings. So I went back to the files (and back in time about 20 years) and drew up proper schematics.
This appears to have worked out really well. The first thing I did when it arrived was print out my design at 100% physical size and lay the headstock on it. The match up is very impressive. The tuner holes are nice and straight and everything appears spot on. The string pull is perfect (it does look a little off in the photo as I'm trying to hold the wire in place and take the photo at the same time - but I can assure you its dead straight). So I'm very happy with that.
Seeing them in the real they are a lot narrower than you might envision looking at the design. The design brief was to make something to suit a tele that was exactly not a tele headstock and I think if you look at it from that point of view its pretty successful. I wasn't 100% at first, but its really growing on me.
Anyway, I'm happy to hear comments and constructive criticism. This is something that needs a pretty broad appeal so I'm interested in your thoughts. Fire away.
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Originally Posted by WeirdBits
. Yes, there is a manufacturing error there that we've noted. It'll fix up easily enough but hopefully that will be addressed on the next run.
