Thanks mate. Yeah the colour or colours will be great I think.
A mate on this forum....Wazkelly....put me onto the recessed sockets ages ago. I like their finish. But, I don’t recess them into the hole. I just ensure I get the USA sockets for switch craft jack sockets and then file the hole until the socket sits just proud of the hole with its lip resting against the edge of the guitar or bass.
Switch craft have been an industry standard jack socket for many years. I just find that they work really well.
Noisy can be many things....on my IB-4 kit the long pencil style jack socket was ridiculous....cost nearly $30 to get a better one.
Check with a different lead....try checking the socket and if it touches anything inside the hole....turning strat ones can make a huge difference. Then finally there is control cavity shielding....for single coil pickups this is really a must.
Real parts are just up the road at Peregian Beach. Check out their stock levels....comes and goes quickly.
No just standard Tele body shapes....may have to look and see if the Tele Deluxe has much happening. I am tossing up about the headstock shape....the newer deluxes are a curvy strat shape and the older ones have the nearly standard Tele shape.
I wish you luck with the builds.