Harry Klippton
Not Interested
Lol I'll sell you my HH tele
NGD! (Warning P90 content....)
- Thread starter MichaelW
- Start date
swelchy
Well-known member
Always lusted after this GF bodies but never pulled the trigger because I figured the neck pocket alignment would be atrocious!Ok so here's a pic....it's a Tele, and it's got P90's. Nuff said, the rest is TL;DR in you're interested
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TL;DR.....
So this project started out as a bit of an experiment. I don't have a lot of experience routing pickup cavities or more correctly, "over-routing" pickup cavities.
So I think it was during the Memorial Day sale, I bought an inexpensive GuitarFetish XPG body that was routed for Filtertrons. My plan was to over-route them to P90's as the width is "supposed to be" the same. I figured if I totally screwed the pooch it wouldn't be too painful. I think I paid $90 shipped for the body.
Also, as one who has a strong character defect of not taking responsibility for his own actions....I'm gonna blame this project on @Harry Klippton who posted a pic of his P90 Les Paul and @thewintersoldier who posted a pic of his Tele....on the same day! I have a weakness for both tele's and P90's....so this turned into a mashup of both. (Ok, so seriously I was inspired by a Nash Tele w/P90's I saw on Reverb but I don't have $2300 to drop on it at the moment) Harry and Chris are off the hook
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So first off, the GFS XPG body. I was actually very pleasantly surprised how well made it is. I was kinda expecting a typical asian made body glopped with tons of finish. Turns out it's a very resonant, lightweight piece of Poplar and a very thin polyurethane finish that was very well painted. The shape, radii, etc are all spot on for a USA spec Tele body. I would say it's AT LEAST as good as the aftermarket Fender Mexican bodies that you can get, for about 1/3rd the price. I was so impressed that I ordered an alder Strat body in Candy Apple Red for a future project. Neck pockets are perfectly cut. No, it's not a Warmoth, but it's pretty darn nice. I'd be proud to rock it on any build and put the money saved into pickups.
My over-route worked out well and only a tiny bit of edge of the original route showing.
So with that success I went ahead and ordered the rest of the parts for the build.
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I went with the Lollar P90's. I have to admit I'm a huge Lollar fanboy....there's not much Jason makes that I don't like. I've got his pickups in my Tele's, my Strat and also in my Eastman. For this project, I went with the "50's Wind" for the neck and Standard wind for the bridge.
For the neck I decided to use an ALLPARTS TRO-C neck. I read a rumor (on TGP so it MUST be true, right??!!!) that Bill Nash uses Allparts necks as his base for his builds. I absolutely LOVE the neck on my Nash Tele and the spec's seem to match the Allparts TRO-C so I took a chance and ordered it.
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It's a nice neck but it needed some work. Again, not a Warmoth but it came with a nice rosewood slab fingerboard with some nice figuring.
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For the bridge I decided to cut my own "Shorty" since I wasn't quite sure how an off the shelf one would fit with the P90. Turns out I could have used a regular shorty but I already got this one. It's a Fender branded "vintage style" bridge plate with no saddles. I cut it down to fit with a hacksaw then filed and sanded the edges.
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I decided to shield the cavities with shielding paint. I've never used the MG nickel paint before. I was surprised it wasn't black. But it does the job nicely.
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Onto the fingerboard....the rosewood needed some sanding, and I usually do that with a razor blade. I also like to "roll" my fingerboard edges which I also do with a razor blade, then hit it with some micro mesh.
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You can see that the fret ends need some work as well, which I'll get to later. Continued in next post.......
MichaelW
Well-known member
Surprisingly good. I was pleasantly surprised, but you may still have to shim for optimal neck angle. It's not a Warmoth.
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swelchy
Well-known member
I built a chambered strat with all warmoth body and neck 20 years ago… Had a fishman piezo vintage tremelo in it too… should have never sold that guitar!Surprisingly good. I was pleasantly surprised, but you may still to shim. It's not a Warmoth.
Got some pics? Send me a PM if you’re serious I think you’re around the corner from me
chongmagic
Well-known member
Love the color!
She's a beaut Clark!
She's a beaut Clark!
MichaelW
Well-known member
I really wished they'd had the same "Burgundy Mist" in a double bound. But the only double bound ones they had were routed for H-H which wasn't gonna work for P90's.......but.....there's been so much talk about H-H Tele's that now I want to build one hahahah