Thinline tele build

[honyock]

I am finally starting the process of making my thinline tele.

Pickups are Fender widerange with cunife mags

Neck is a roasted maple with stainless frets I got off eBay from a place in Utah.

Pickguard came in a lot of about 25 tele guards that is a nice aged white pearl by Warmoth

Body is from a Chinese guitar body seller, but is is reasonably nice looking.

Doing a tru-oil finish on the body so far I am about 3 coats into the process.

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[sabasgr68]

I am finally starting the process of making my thinline tele.

Pickups are Fender widerange with cunife mags

Neck is a roasted maple with stainless frets I got off eBay from a place in Utah.

Pickguard came in a lot of about 25 tele guards that is a nice aged white pearl by Warmoth

Body is from a Chinese guitar body seller, but is is reasonably nice looking.

Doing a tru-oil finish on the body so far I am about 3 coats into the process.

20250223_164508.jpg
20250223_164735.jpg

If it has humbuckers I like it!

Can't wait to see it finished!

[tobijohn]

Could you post the links to the body and neck sources? Thanks

[BatUtilityBelt]

Stunning.

Edit: Now I have to ask. Did you use a sealer before the tru oil?

[honyock]

Could you post the links to the body and neck sources? Thanks

Yes, neck is from:

https://www.ebay.com/usr/samsguitarshop

Body is from:

https://www.ebay.com/str/99musicshop

[honyock]

Stunning.

Edit: Now I have to ask. Did you use a sealer before the tru oil?

I did not, I am just following the instructions on the bottle, never done it before, so will see how it turns out.

The top grain of the veneer is so tight and smooth, I didn't see the point of a sealer there anyway.

I am doing super thin layers where it barely looks like I am wetting it and at this rate it will probably take a couple weeks to hit my target of 20 layers.

[tobijohn]

Could you post the links to the body and neck sources? Thanks

Yes, neck is from:

https://www.ebay.com/usr/samsguitarshop

Body is from:

https://www.ebay.com/str/99musicshop

Thank you

[tobijohn]

Yes, neck is from:

https://www.ebay.com/usr/samsguitarshop

Body is from:

https://www.ebay.com/str/99musicshop

The body shop has a left-handed set neck ES-339 style body, that got my attention as you rarely see those. They also have a pretty good assortment of necks too, any reason in particular you didn't buy both the body and the nec from that shop?

[mozz]

Could you post the links to the body and neck sources? Thanks

Yes, neck is from:

https://www.ebay.com/usr/samsguitarshop

Body is from:

https://www.ebay.com/str/99musicshop

Another thank you, seems like good parts. Appears to be made in the USA.
I have to put this warning about buying necks. A "LOT" of these sellers are just buying chinese necks and reselling, you have to read the fine print. This applies to ebay and reverb. I would rather pay a bit more for that USA quality.

[BatUtilityBelt]

Great. After checking out those stores, I'm picturing this on a guitar headstock.

HeadstockHead.jpg

[Spike]

Yes! I love these guitar builds. I just wish I had the skills/patience’s to do one myself.

Looking forward to following your progress!

[tonebender]

I love a thinline Tele. My band mate has one and it generates his best tone in MHO but he never uses it.

[tobijohn]

Great. After checking out those stores, I'm picturing this on a guitar headstock.
HeadstockHead.jpg

A neighbor down the street does some woodworking as a hobby, I'm going to see if he could make one of those with my head on it...

[tobijohn]

I love a thinline Tele. My band mate has one and it generates his best tone in MHO but he never uses it.

Did he say why not?

[honyock]

Could you post the links to the body and neck sources? Thanks

Yes, neck is from:

https://www.ebay.com/usr/samsguitarshop

Body is from:

https://www.ebay.com/str/99musicshop

Another thank you, seems like good parts. Appears to be made in the USA.
I have to put this warning about buying necks. A "LOT" of these sellers are just buying chinese necks and reselling, you have to read the fine print. This applies to ebay and reverb. I would rather pay a bit more for that USA quality.

I was sceptical, but it is nicer than my Mighty Mite and nearly as nice as my Musikraft (albeit not as custom)

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20250224_141342.jpg

I still plan to use my fret erasers a bit and the fretbaord could use a little oil, but other than that it is far an away nicer than the necks I have bought direct from China via eBay. I believe these are MIJ based on some of the feedback on the one negative review

[honyock]

Yes, neck is from:

https://www.ebay.com/usr/samsguitarshop

Body is from:

https://www.ebay.com/str/99musicshop

The body shop has a left-handed set neck ES-339 style body, that got my attention as you rarely see those. They also have a pretty good assortment of necks too, any reason in particular you didn't buy both the body and the nec from that shop?

I bought the neck after the fact, and had the roasted stainless fret in my saved list for a while. I didn't want to spend as much as I did on my Musikraft for my Kurt Cobain Jag body, but I wanted something nice. The feedback I read was good so I took the leap.

[tonebender]

I love a thinline Tele. My band mate has one and it generates his best tone in MHO but he never uses it.

Did he say why not?

Well in fairness he does generate some pretty tasty tones with several of his others. He plays an SG a lot, a couple of other Teles and a 335. He seems to use this one Tele for open tuning and slide. When he plays in standard tuning it's usually the SG. I just remember back in the day, I loved hearing that thinline.

[tobijohn]

I bought the neck after the fact, and had the roasted stainless fret in my saved list for a while. I didn't want to spend as much as I did on my Musikraft for my Kurt Cobain Jag body, but I wanted something nice. The feedback I read was good so I took the leap.

Well, the necks are twice as much but if I've learned anything, you get what you pay for. I wish he also carried set-in necks.

[idiotsdelight]

Stunning.

Edit: Now I have to ask. Did you use a sealer before the tru oil?

I wouldn't use a sealer. It would inhibit the TO penetration.

I'm stoked you're using the cunife reissues. I have one for my tele Custom body if I ever get around to it. I got the 1 meg harness for it already. I want to do the ash body finish similar to that SX Furrian I sent to you. I might airbrush a slightly dark edge but I want that wood feel like yours.

[honyock]

Lost a few days this week to a family outbreak of norovirus thanks to a trip to the arcade my mom took kids over last weekend (we think) and despite all attempts to wash hands and sanitize after our youngest fell ill, my wife fell victim 12 hours after the kid and me 12 hours after that...

Can't seem to upload pics now, site is being weird about it, getting http errors and too many questions warnings

[honyock]

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The sides are done, 4 coats total, going to knock the shine off with 0000

20250227_222233.jpg

The top still needs some more, and I will be going to get some Bowling Alley Paste wax to finish just the top to a nice shine

20250227_222332.jpg

The back just finished coat 2 and it is looking very nice indeed. Feels nice, the grain is still there, but it is nice and smooth.

[honyock]

image.png

Ended up using Trewax (only thing the biggest Ace west of the Mississippi had and I didn't want to drive all the way to Woodcraft to get the Staples bowling alley wax). The wax went on nicely with some 00 steel wool as the directions suggested. Took a good bit of elbow grease, but it shines up like good furniture without being cheap and overly shiny like a heavy poly finish. Still super smooth and your forearm or hand slides across it a bit like nitro vs. poly. It still lets the flame really dance around under it without being a mirror shine. I left the back and sides Tru-Oil only since it is a little more tactile with the grain of the mahogany.

1st dress rehearsal. going to install the bridge, but I cannot decide if I want to do string through or just live with a toploader.

I've got a short GE Smith style bridge, or I have a higher mass individual saddle string through style.I guess I will see which one plays better with the scale length and putting the saddles in a good range of motion for intonation (though the GE Smith style will be barrels unless I can find my intonated brass or steal the Graphtech saddles from my Agile TC630)

I have a plate style string through insert I could use instead of string bushings if I do go string through as another option.

Kind of doing this on the fly, still waiting on my 1Meg pots and the caps I need for the Widerange setup.

[BatUtilityBelt]

Gorgeous. I believe the folks who claim a string through adds sustain and resonance. My guitars seem to support the idea.

[honyock]

Gorgeous. I believe the folks who claim a string through adds sustain and resonance. My guitars seem to support the idea.

I would agree wiht the sustain, I had made a strat with a tele bridge back in the day that started out as a top loader but eventually I filled in the cavity wiht a super dense piece of maple and made in a string through so can't say for sure which made more difference.

This being a thinline it might make more sense to go string through to try to get a little more of that harmonic craziness ala Ted Nugent.

On the flip side, I have a couple top loader Strats that have a striking amount of sustain, but the bridge base plate is ~2x thick as a typical strat and wider contact patch so that I think it transfers vibration with the body better than a thin stamped vintage style bridge with barrel saddles can. Both are ash so it may be a bit influenced by the wood type as well.

[sabasgr68]

image.png

Ended up using Trewax (only thing the biggest Ace west of the Mississippi had and I didn't want to drive all the way to Woodcraft to get the Staples bowling alley wax). The wax went on nicely with some 00 steel wool as the directions suggested. Took a good bit of elbow grease, but it shines up like good furniture without being cheap and overly shiny like a heavy poly finish. Still super smooth and your forearm or hand slides across it a bit like nitro vs. poly. It still lets the flame really dance around under it without being a mirror shine. I left the back and sides Tru-Oil only since it is a little more tactile with the grain of the mahogany.

1st dress rehearsal. going to install the bridge, but I cannot decide if I want to do string through or just live with a toploader.

I've got a short GE Smith style bridge, or I have a higher mass individual saddle string through style.I guess I will see which one plays better with the scale length and putting the saddles in a good range of motion for intonation (though the GE Smith style will be barrels unless I can find my intonated brass or steal the Graphtech saddles from my Agile TC630)

I have a plate style string through insert I could use instead of string bushings if I do go string through as another option.

Kind of doing this on the fly, still waiting on my 1Meg pots and the caps I need for the Widerange setup.

Looks nice, and I would like to know how you like it if you go the string through way.