Hi and welcome qpranger.
Quite a few builders like the idea of the belly carve and arm carve for the Tele style guitars.
Not sure about the binding (in fact, I'm not sure why the ash tele has binding - the one I build last year didn't). The scratch pine tele I did has a large round over on the front and back and I think it looks good.
As for the maple vintage looking neck: I used a golden teak stain on the neck of my TB-4 which has a maple neck. If that was diluted a bit more it may look more vintage. I used old baltic stain on the neck of the scratch tele. I'm not sure what is available in NZ. I usually just use Tru-oil which creates a slight amber colour. It really depends on what vintage yellow colour you are after.
https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...l=1#post210834
https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...l=1#post223110
Reply With Quote