MichaelW
Well-known member
So yah, I guess I had another Tee build left in me this year.......hahahah.
Although "technically" it COULD be considered not a "Tele" since it's a baritone. (sort of....maybe?)
Thanks to all me baritone brothers that chimed in on my Baritone Questions thread.
This uncharted territory for me. I've never built a baritone and come to think of it I don't think I've ever even played an electric baritone.
I have played some acoustic Bari's that enjoyed a renaissance when Pat Metheny released his "One Quiet Night" album that was recorded exclusively on his Linda Manzer baritone tuned to a quasi Nashville tuning. I actually talked to Linda at a guitar festival about possibly building me an acoustic baritone but wound up decided not to drop the...whatever, 7k she was asking for it back then. (Probably 10k now).
Anyway, with all the input from the thread my project has come together.
I went with a WD Music Baritone Tele neck with a 28" scale. The WD was the only aftermarket conversion neck I could find that had some "meat" to the neck profile. I think it's .88 under the first fret, which is where I like Tele necks.
For the body, I went back and forth about converting one of my existing Tele's (The Burgundy Mist P90 one) or starting from scratch. I don't play that P90 Tele much since getting my P90 Gold top but man, every time I pick it up I'm blown away by how great it sounds. So I'm leaving that alone.
I wound up getting a body from Stratosphere. It's not a parted out Fender but rather new replacement body that's relatively inexpensive. But the quality is a lot better than the similarly priced GFS XGP bodies.
It's a 3 tone sunburst in a very well done polyurethane finish in "roasted swamp ash".
The neck pocket dimensions are spot on (the most important spec for me).
The only down side is that it's a bit on the heavier side for my tastes coming in at 4lb 10oz. Not terrible but I generally like them close to 4 or a tad below for Swamp ash. But, at this price, it's nit picking.
For the pickups, after some deliberation and the consensus from the forum that a standard Tele bridge pickup works very well for a baritone I decided to start with a standard Tele pickup set (with a little bit of a twist). The bridge pickup is a "Staple" design, borrowed from P90 Staple construction. So it's going to be a bit hotter, have a bit more mid-range and a P90 vibe to it. For the neck I got a "Wicked Tele". Which is True Custom Shop version of Fenders "Twisted Tele", which is basically a Strat sounding pickup in Tele garb. Both pickups are "value priced" pickups from True Custom Shop. I've used their pickups before and have been impressed. I think they're designed here in the US and production is farmed out overseas.
Other than that, I think I have everything I need to complete the build. With the exception of a notched straight edge to check the neck straightness and fret leveling. The frets look pretty good and I may just give them a polish and build it out and seeing if it needs a fret level or not.
I mentioned in the other thread I had a hell of a time shooting lacquer to do the headstock logo. I finally was able to build up enough coats of lacquer to be able to rub it out by using Mohawks "Lacquer for Brass". Which is a nitrocellulose rattle can lacquer for antiquing brass. It's nitro but very very thinned out. I was able to shoot that without blushing but it needed like double the coats to build up a finish due the reduced solids.
So here we are so far....
Although "technically" it COULD be considered not a "Tele" since it's a baritone. (sort of....maybe?)
Thanks to all me baritone brothers that chimed in on my Baritone Questions thread.
This uncharted territory for me. I've never built a baritone and come to think of it I don't think I've ever even played an electric baritone.
I have played some acoustic Bari's that enjoyed a renaissance when Pat Metheny released his "One Quiet Night" album that was recorded exclusively on his Linda Manzer baritone tuned to a quasi Nashville tuning. I actually talked to Linda at a guitar festival about possibly building me an acoustic baritone but wound up decided not to drop the...whatever, 7k she was asking for it back then. (Probably 10k now).
Anyway, with all the input from the thread my project has come together.
I went with a WD Music Baritone Tele neck with a 28" scale. The WD was the only aftermarket conversion neck I could find that had some "meat" to the neck profile. I think it's .88 under the first fret, which is where I like Tele necks.
For the body, I went back and forth about converting one of my existing Tele's (The Burgundy Mist P90 one) or starting from scratch. I don't play that P90 Tele much since getting my P90 Gold top but man, every time I pick it up I'm blown away by how great it sounds. So I'm leaving that alone.
I wound up getting a body from Stratosphere. It's not a parted out Fender but rather new replacement body that's relatively inexpensive. But the quality is a lot better than the similarly priced GFS XGP bodies.
It's a 3 tone sunburst in a very well done polyurethane finish in "roasted swamp ash".
The neck pocket dimensions are spot on (the most important spec for me).
The only down side is that it's a bit on the heavier side for my tastes coming in at 4lb 10oz. Not terrible but I generally like them close to 4 or a tad below for Swamp ash. But, at this price, it's nit picking.
For the pickups, after some deliberation and the consensus from the forum that a standard Tele bridge pickup works very well for a baritone I decided to start with a standard Tele pickup set (with a little bit of a twist). The bridge pickup is a "Staple" design, borrowed from P90 Staple construction. So it's going to be a bit hotter, have a bit more mid-range and a P90 vibe to it. For the neck I got a "Wicked Tele". Which is True Custom Shop version of Fenders "Twisted Tele", which is basically a Strat sounding pickup in Tele garb. Both pickups are "value priced" pickups from True Custom Shop. I've used their pickups before and have been impressed. I think they're designed here in the US and production is farmed out overseas.
Other than that, I think I have everything I need to complete the build. With the exception of a notched straight edge to check the neck straightness and fret leveling. The frets look pretty good and I may just give them a polish and build it out and seeing if it needs a fret level or not.
I mentioned in the other thread I had a hell of a time shooting lacquer to do the headstock logo. I finally was able to build up enough coats of lacquer to be able to rub it out by using Mohawks "Lacquer for Brass". Which is a nitrocellulose rattle can lacquer for antiquing brass. It's nitro but very very thinned out. I was able to shoot that without blushing but it needed like double the coats to build up a finish due the reduced solids.
So here we are so far....
