Lomi wrote:
Hey Sam,
Nice to see a fellow guitar player who knows what I'm talkin about!
Yea,
you hit the nail on the head...looking to build a tele body at the
moment.
This "project" actually started out last year...I have a "Rhythmline"
tele
clone that I had gotten years ago. The body on this guitar isn't
even a
good laminate...it's -really- cheapo plywood, however it made for a
good
piece to practice refinishing on. Quite by accident, the finish
actually
turned out pretty nice (sort of a classic tobaco burst) so I went
ahead got
some new parts and turned it into something more playable. Now after
a few
months I've been thinkin...I've got this decent neck, decent pickups,
etc on
this really crap piece of wood....hmmmm! LOL!

I have another one I did a while back...sort of a "double fat" tele
that I
had done out of ash. Now this guitar's got -fantastic- tone that'll
rival
any LP, but the ash was a bit pricey and more importantly, was a
-serious-
pain to work with. I have another project that I'm working on...the
wife
and I are building her a new bass (yea...she's a musician too!).
This one
we're doing out of poplar and so far the poplar is -a lot- easier to
work
with then the ash was. We went with the poplar on this one because
my MIM
Strat is poplar and it does have a really good sound.

I'm actually going to be doing a Strat later this year (when the
money makes
itself available) and that one is going to be my "Dream Strat" and
I'll
probably go ahead and order a decent alder body blank off the net for
that
project...I plan to sink $400-$500 into that project so it'll be
worth
getting a good alder blank for it.

This guitar on the other hand, I really don't want to sink that much
money
into...like I said doing a new body for it is really kind of an
after-thought. I've thought about doing maple or even pine as I saw
some
really nice pieces (of pine) at the lumbar yard, but in either case,
it's
not really going to provide the sound I'm after for this guitar. I'm
putting this guitar together primarily to learn slide blues and I
really
want that "classic" tele tone from it...which is why I'm leaning
towards
alder if I can find it (yea, I know I'm being aweful choosy for a guy
that
don't want to spend any money! LOL!) . I'll probably just end up
using
poplar again as it's cheap and readily available...I can glue up a 3
piece
body for around $18 and I'm sure it will sound fine. I just really
wanted
to try working with the alder once before I start that Strat later
this
year....kind of get an idea of what I'm getting myself into.

Bright Blessings,
Jim


Jim,
I have an Ampeg "Big Stud" bass made out of plywood too. I am still
surprised it sounds as good as it does.

Sounds like poplar is the way to go. Building your own axe is pretty
cool stuff. I made a LP body with AAA flame that needs a neck bad...
maybe someday...

A friend of a friend really got into making his DIY guitar look like a
'63 strat. Added amber dye to lacquer on the maple neck to darken like
40 years of smoke, tricked out the paint cote to get checking, made
custom decals circa '63, and even found genuine old parts at guitar
shows as well as an original tweed case. He regularly fools so called
Fender "know-it-alls". It's really a warmoth/stew mac DIY done
lovingly perfect for about $500, and of course, it plays by itself. It
will make the hair on your arms stand up when he runs it through a
fulltone and an AC30.
Good luck with your tele!
SAM