Colin's Tele Adventure

[colin2121]

Hi all
I asked Adam to custom order a tele for me. Being a lefty there is never much choice about so I thought this would be an opportunity to build something a little different from the run of the mill offerings.

The back of the body has some nice grain. I quite like the way basswood comes up with a bit of stain.


I am probably going to hit the back with some nice charcoal stain as that worked well on the bass I did previously.

But it was the front that really grabbed my attention.


A stunning spalted maple cap.
Not sure what I want to do to that at the moment but I am fairly sure that I don't want to cover it with the black pick guard that came with the kit. I am thinking of a light yellow/gold stain for the cap.

Only issue there is what to do with the neck routing. My thoughts were to put a P90 in the neck as it looks to be big enough.

So that leads me to some questions for the brains trust out there:
1. Would a P90 in the neck and a single coil in the bridge cause any conflicts?
2. What pots would best suit - 250k or 500k? (I will probably replace the stock ones)
3. What would be the best capacitor to use for the tone pot?
4. I was thinking of contouring the back of the body similar to a strat. What would be the likely impact on the sound?
5. If I do contour the back what is the best way to approach this? (I have not attempted this before so would probably need to buy suitable tools)

At this point I am also not going to grain fill - just sand the body smooth (and very carefully and lightly smooth the cap - it is very thin), stain and oil.

I will probably have many more questions. My aim this time around is to make something unique.

Thanks in advance for any assistance provided to the questions.

[king casey]

Hi all

2. What pots would best suit - 250k or 500k? (I will probably replace the stock ones)

Be prepared to widen the control cavity a small amount to accommodate a wider pot.

5. If I do contour the back what is the best way to approach this? (I have not attempted this before so would probably need to buy suitable tools)

The sky is the limit (or your budget) I contoured my tele with a course rasp and sandpaper.
Cheap but the investment was some serious elbow grease.

cheers, Mark.

[McCreed]

1. Would a P90 in the neck and a single coil in the bridge cause any conflicts?
2. What pots would best suit - 250k or 500k? (I will probably replace the stock ones)
3. What would be the best capacitor to use for the tone pot?
4. I was thinking of contouring the back of the body similar to a strat. What would be the likely impact on the sound?
5. If I do contour the back what is the best way to approach this? (I have not attempted this before so would probably need to buy suitable tools)

1 - You want to make sure the P-90 is the reverse polarity and reverse wound to your bridge pickup if you want the middle switch position to be in phase and hum-cancelling.

2 - A lot of people use both for P-90 fitted teles. A 500k for volume and a 250k for tone. It's ultimately what sounds good to *you*.
As Mark said, control cavity will require widening if you use 24mm pots. This may open a can of worms but, there's nothing wrong with mini pots if they're good ones. It's more about the quality of the pot, not the size IMO. So if you're not prepared to widen the cavity, maybe look at buying good quality minis.

3 - Again, tone is subjective, so it's what you hear & like, but the most common cap with teles is .047uf. I have typically used .047 or .033 with good results (for my ears). FWIW don't get caught up the BS about "orange drop" or "vintage" caps. Cheap, modern ceramic or poly caps ARE JUST FINE.

4 - I contour ALL my guitars. It just makes sense to me and feels so much better IMO. I would argue that there is NO impact on tone. Whilst I agree with *some* of the debate about tonewood mass/density affect on tone and sustain, I don't think the amount of material removed for a contours is that relevant.

5 - I use either a drum sander (80 grit, in my drill press or corded hand drill) or a flap disc on my 4" angle grinder. Just beware that basswood is quite soft so you want a light touch as material disappears quickly.

Hope this helps. Look forward to seeing the progress. Keep posting pics!

Cheers,
Mick

[colin2121]

Be prepared to widen the control cavity a small amount to accommodate a wider pot.



The sky is the limit (or your budget) I contoured my tele with a course rasp and sandpaper.
Cheap but the investment was some serious elbow grease.

cheers, Mark.

Thanks for the info Mark.
I appreciate the feedback. I will take pot size into account - that was something I had not thought of.

[colin2121]

1 - You want to make sure the P-90 is the reverse polarity and reverse wound to your bridge pickup if you want the middle switch position to be in phase and hum-cancelling.

2 - A lot of people use both for P-90 fitted teles. A 500k for volume and a 250k for tone. It's ultimately what sounds good to *you*.
As Mark said, control cavity will require widening if you use 24mm pots. This may open a can of worms but, there's nothing wrong with mini pots if they're good ones. It's more about the quality of the pot, not the size IMO. So if you're not prepared to widen the cavity, maybe look at buying good quality minis.

3 - Again, tone is subjective, so it's what you hear & like, but the most common cap with teles is .047uf. I have typically used .047 or .033 with good results (for my ears). FWIW don't get caught up the BS about "orange drop" or "vintage" caps. Cheap, modern ceramic or poly caps ARE JUST FINE.

4 - I contour ALL my guitars. It just makes sense to me and feels so much better IMO. I would argue that there is NO impact on tone. Whilst I agree with *some* of the debate about tonewood mass/density affect on tone and sustain, I don't think the amount of material removed for a contours is that relevant.

5 - I use either a drum sander (80 grit, in my drill press or corded hand drill) or a flap disc on my 4" angle grinder. Just beware that basswood is quite soft so you want a light touch as material disappears quickly.

Hope this helps. Look forward to seeing the progress. Keep posting pics!

Cheers,
Mick

Thanks for all that feedback Mick. Much appreciated! A lot of guidance there and very useful.
I used a .033uf in my strat build and it sound good to me. I might look at another of that size.
And thanks for the detail on contouring - also very helpful as I have not done that before.

[colin2121]

1 - You want to make sure the P-90 is the reverse polarity and reverse wound to your bridge pickup if you want the middle switch position to be in phase and hum-cancelling.

Hi Mick

I have not really done much in the way of different wiring.
How can I check the polarity of a pickup?
(Probably sounds like a dumb question!)

Thanks

Colin

[McCreed]

Hi Mick

I have not really done much in the way of different wiring.
How can I check the polarity of a pickup?
(Probably sounds like a dumb question!)

Thanks

Colin

Not a dumb question at all. At some point, all us needed to ask about this stuff!

One easy way to check the polar relationship between two pickups is by holding hold them together pole to pole. If the magnets attract each other they are the opposite polarity to each other. If they repel each other (won't stick together) they are the same polarity as each other.

You can also use a analog compass (magnetic, not one on your phone ) the polarity of the pickup will be the opposite of what the needle on the compass is pointing to.

Identifying phase is a different issue, but can be dealt with by swapping the positive and negative leads when installing.

Here's a link to Lindy Fralin Pickups that explains all this more clearly. (and it has pictures!)

If you're buying a pickup online, just ask the seller if they can tell you the polarity and wind of the pickup you're interested in. Most decent manufacturers will publish this information or at least make it available, just for these reasons.

[colin2121]

Progressing slowly on this one.
Still thinking about the electrics but I have started on the body.
Sanded the body smooth but only lightly rubed the maple cap. Too thin to sand very much. But the surface coating will smooth it out.
Had some nice yellow ash stain left over from the strat build so applied a couple of coats to the maple cap.
I am quite happy with the colour and the grain of the maple cap still shows through nicely.

[colin2121]

Still progressing slowly.
This is the last build I will be doing so thought I might go for something different.
Some charcoal coloured stain for the back to contrast the yellow ash stain on the cap.
I do like the way it brings up the grain in the basswood.

[JohnH]

Looking good! That spalted cap is really nice