Well here we go, first time building/assembling a guitar so I am looking forward to this.
I am more of an acoustic man but have a couple of semi's (Hofner Thinline John Stowell
and an Ibanez fretless bass).
Have always fancied a Tele and this looked like an unusual way to go about getting one.
I have checked the contents of the box which arrived in the UK only a week after
it was ordered. Most impressed.
I had looked at doing this with locally (UK) purchased parts but would be looking at £500 for this
sort of build compared to £250 from Pitbull which included Grover tuners and £90 odd of VAT,
taxes and delivery.
I particularly liked the spalted maple veneer.
Observations from the unpacking:
1) General impressions are the body and neck are very well made.
The fret ends are sharp so I guess they will need to be filed down.
Can anyone suggest a suitable type of file that won't break the bank ?
2) The nut is fitted poorly, and overhangs on the top E side.
A bone nut was ordered and consequently the factory fitted one will get the elbow.
3) Bridge - I am a bit confused with this, will I have to drill holes through the body
for the strings and if so, can anyone suggest what ferrules to fit ?
4) There is a gap between the bridge and pickup guard, I thought that they would
fit joining each other but perhaps I am wrong (and ought to go into my local
music store to have a look at Teles haha)
5) The neck is quite a loose fit in the pocket, the photos might have captured this.
I am hoping that once finish etc has gone on the wood things will tighten up a bit.
6) No sign of string trees but I can get these quite cheaply via ebay if needed.
As to finish I intend to use Crimson water based stains, amber, red and black in a sort
of sunburst effect with their gold filler in the cracks (don't laugh).
I may also stain the headstock black but who knows....
Would want to pop the spalted maple if i can and the finish will be Crimson's hi-gloss
finishing oil. Got to use smell friendly condiments as I shall be doing this inside during
the winter.
I have got some maple veneer to do some testing on so that will be my first task.
Got a few more photos to post but it looks as if 5 at a time is the order of the day.
Thanks for looking ! Cheers, FB.
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