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A Telecaster body from the Bay
Having a left over Strat neck from my previous projects I decided to make something out of it and start another project.
This time with a Telecaster body. I watched e-bay for some time for candidates and soon this turned up on StratoSphere.
A 2009 Candy Apple Red Standard Fender Telecaster Body
It was mine for $179 and it arrived within a couple of days.
The body was in excellent condition and the Candy Apple Red color is awesome, the pictures do not make it justice.
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The parts so far
The neck was part of a 2005 Highway One Strat where I've already used the body for the Partsocaster II project.
The tuners are left over long tuners from two sets of Fender F-logo Locking Tuners. The short shaft tuners were used in the Parstocaster I project.
The clay dots on the neck have been removed since I planned to install abalone dots instead.
The frets were showing heavy wear and since it had earlier problems with fret bussing and string choking I was planning a refret.
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The body being sheilded
The body is shielded using 3M copper tape and sheets of self-adhesive copper foil.
Copper tape is applied from the bridge pickup cavity to the area under the bridge to ensure good bridge grounding.
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Abalone dots installed
The dots being used are the 6.35 mm (1/4") abalone dots from Stewart-MacDonald.
The dots are inserted using the thumb fingernails and the gently tapped in level using a pin punch and a hammer.
They are glued using black super glue.
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Refretting the neck
To be able to do a fret job I ordered the Essential Fretting Tool Kit
from Stewart-MacDonald along with a pack of jumbo frets (0150) and some additional setup tools. It was shipped by DHL and delivered within two days to Sweden.
Here's a series of pictures showing some of the steps.
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Callaham Vintage T Bridge
The bridge ordered from Callaham arrived on September 14.
It's a vintage style Tele bridge with vintage compensated brass saddles for correct intonation.
The finish is superb and the excellent craftsmanship really shows.
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Stringed up for setup and fret check
Now is the time to string it up and check out the fretwork. With a very rough setup, about 5 minutes, it plays really nice.
I was surprised about the tone, there's an unmistakable Tele-twang even now.
A few high spots on the frets need adjusting, but else it plays very well.
I will let it rest for a while and come back adjusting neck relief, string height and intonation and then check the frets again by just playing it.
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The final parts
The remaining parts was ordered from Guitar Part Resource and they was delivered 13 October 2009 and the final assembly immediately begun.
Parts ordered:
'52 Tele 1 Ply Black Pickguard - P.N. 099-2019-000
Original Vintage Tele Control Plate - P.N. 099-2058-100
Fender Noiseless Tele Pickup set P.N. 099-2116-000
Custom Shop 4-Way Tele Switch - P.N. 099-2250-000
Two Original Fender Solid Shaft 250 K Pots - P.N. 099-0831-000
A set of Original Vintage Tele Dome Knobs - P.N. 099-2056-000
Am Std "Fender Corona" Neck Plate - P.N. 099-1446-100
A square foot of copper foil for the shielding
All original Fender parts except for the copper foil.
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Mounting the brigde pickup
The Fender Noiseless pickup set came with slotted mounting screws and rubber tubings which I of course used.
The pictures show the bridge and its pickup being mounted.
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The neck pickup
Since using the 4-way switch with the option of wiring the two pickups in series the neck pickup needed modifying.
The ground lead for the coil needs to be isolated from the ground and a separate ground wire for the metal cover was added.
The pickguard was shielded using the copper foil and since it had a '52 5-hole pattern and no holes for the pickup screws
I drilled the 3 extra mounting holes for the 8-hole pattern and the holes for the pickup screws.
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The electronics
For the electronics I chose to use a 4-way switch, a volume control with treble bleeder and a greasebucket tone control.
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Assembly finished
The Telecaster is finished, stringed up and taken for a test-ride.
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The 2009 Tele-partsocaster III
Consisting of mainly Fender original parts.
2009 Mexican Fender Standard Candy Apple Red body
2005 American Fender Stratocaster neck, refretted and redotted
Fender 1 ply black '52 pickguard, modified
Callaham Vintage-T bridge with vintage compensated brass saddles
Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups
Fender F-logo Locking Tuners
Custom Shop 4-way switch
Volume control with treble bleeder
Greasebucket Tone control
Electrosocket Jack Mount with Switchcraft output jack
Dunlop Straplok system straps
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