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Post by majorminor on Jul 13, 2021 9:10:15 GMT -5
I've been accumulating telecaster parts here and there for a few years with the goal of assembling a Fender Nocaster. The bridge is an after market Wilkinson and I do have some phillips screws in the bridge rather than the period correct slotted screws but the rest of the parts are OEM Fender custom shop. Nocaster means 50's style Telecaster, ash body, black pick guard, big honkin' maple neck. Apparently the story goes that Leo Fender originally named this style of guitar a Broadcaster but got sued by Gretsch over the name so for a period in 1951 Fender just snipped that B word off the original logo and kept shipping guitars until they started calling them Telecasters and the new logos arrived. So, Nocasters have nothing on the headstock but a simple "Fender" logo. Most of the parts on this guitar are used and slightly flawed cosmetically if you go looking. It went together so easily, and was basically 90% set up after just screwing every thing down. The neck pickup did have an intermittent short which was above my pay grade to chase down so I did drop it with a local guy to verify my soldering(which was fine). He wound up disassembling the neck pick up and finding a wiring flaw that allowed a lead to touch the pickup cover and fixed that. So the guitar sounds reeeeaaalllyyy good. One of the better teles I've ever played. I'm kind of shocked
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 19,904
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Post by Dub on Jul 13, 2021 9:18:07 GMT -5
Beautiful! We need to hear a recording.
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Post by majorminor on Jul 13, 2021 9:30:19 GMT -5
Beautiful! We need to hear a recording. It's a long story that need not be told but I gave it to a friend last night. I just wish it hadn't sounded so damn good!
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Post by Cosmic Wonder on Jul 13, 2021 9:44:32 GMT -5
Jealous. Warmoth body and neck? Or…?
Mike
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Post by majorminor on Jul 13, 2021 9:56:32 GMT -5
Jealous. Warmoth body and neck? Or…? Mike Body - OEM Fender Custom shop '55 Journeyman relic 2 tone sunburst nitro lacquer. It's ash and I *think* it's one piece Neck - OEM Fender Nocaster neck. It's NOS but has some wear, minor dings, and some lacquer checking on the fretboard. It's an older neck as it's a 7 1/4" vintage style radius board. Pickups/Controls - OEM Fender of some type which I've forgotten. Pickups were something custom shop hand wound and signed though. Flat pole pieces on the bridge. Treble bleed cap which I like. The intermittent short probably explains why they were cheap. Bridge/Saddles - Wilkinson aftermarket. I didn't weigh it but it feels like mid 7 lbs or so. Super resonant and loud unplugged. The neck and neck pocket seemed made for each other. Luck of the draw but it wound up being a better than average telecaster for sure.
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Post by Shannon on Jul 13, 2021 10:44:38 GMT -5
Very nice!
I've often thought it might be fun to put together one of StewMac's electric guitar kits.
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Post by Marshall on Jul 13, 2021 10:48:04 GMT -5
Nice. I'm interested in the Nocaster neck profile. I'll do some research.
Nocaster U Neck - .998" at the 1st fret - 1.013" at the 12th fret, this is the largest neck profile with very little taper, large "shoulders", this profile is standard on a Fender Custom Shop '51 Nocaster model
Oooh. That sounds nice. Except it's longer scale. But nice.
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Post by Marshall on Jul 13, 2021 10:57:01 GMT -5
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Post by Cosmic Wonder on Jul 13, 2021 11:04:32 GMT -5
I didn’t know you could buy bodies and necks from the Fender custom shop.
Mike
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Post by majorminor on Jul 13, 2021 11:08:20 GMT -5
I didn’t know you could buy bodies and necks from the Fender custom shop. Mike Mike - I don't believe you can, but you can often find Fender OEM parts on reverb.com and Ebay trading hands privately. Also, these guys ask top dollar but sell all sorts of OEM Fender parts: stratosphereparts.com/
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Post by John B on Jul 13, 2021 12:01:36 GMT -5
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Post by Marty on Jul 13, 2021 12:07:11 GMT -5
Good job Steve, you did it right.
Putting together a solid body electric is not all that difficult IF you use verified parts, meaning they are verified to fit together. Most "kit" guitars use verified parts and do not need modification to make it all fit together.
Over the years I've had MANY guitars brought to me because the owner thought he was going to put together his DREAM guitar. Only to find this won't fit with that. One of the big ones being putting a Tele neck on a Strat body or the other way round. Or putting in pickups with the wrong string spacing for the bridge.
StewMac kits are not the cheapest but you can be sure the parts will all fit properly.
If anyone is interested I'll post my "Kits" folder links.
Might even be fun for a few of you to build kits as a forum "Show and Tell" project.
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Tamarack
Administrator
Ancient Citizen
Posts: 9,390
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Post by Tamarack on Jul 13, 2021 12:17:54 GMT -5
Looks great - a classic Tele!
(As everybody knows, maple fretboards on Fender-style instruments have more mojo than rosewood fretboards)
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Post by majorminor on Jul 13, 2021 13:41:20 GMT -5
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Post by drlj on Jul 13, 2021 13:49:46 GMT -5
[quote author=" Marty" source="/post/929748/thread" timestamp="1626196031 If anyone is interested I'll post my "Kits" folder links. Might even be fun for a few of you to build kits as a forum "Show and Tell" project.[/quote] I am very interested. Post away.
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Post by Marty on Jul 13, 2021 16:03:27 GMT -5
Will post this evening. Gotta errand to run first.
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Post by Marty on Jul 13, 2021 17:33:54 GMT -5
I'm not listing some because they do not verify parts, they carry too many. You have to check and match specs yourself. Solo MusicThe Fret WireBYO GuitarGuitar FetishMighty MiteWarmoth Premier Parts and not a budget site. But they have a really neat BYO feature that let's you see the completed instrument with selected parts. This will also tell you if you have chosen incompatible parts.
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Post by howard lee on Jul 14, 2021 6:43:11 GMT -5
Steve, that's a beautiful Tele you built there. Your friend is a lucky person.
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