Who does custom tele bodies?

[Radiohead625]

I'm looking to get a Tele body routed for a Jazzmaster trem and neck pickup. Who should I contact?

[Hyphen Nation]

guitarmill

[Radiohead625]

Perfect! Just found them and their stuff looks great!

[Hyphen Nation]

Yeah, danocaster uses their stuff. I am looking to either do the thing you are doing [tele with an offset trem] or a telemaster with an offset trem…I am in no rush and just keep looking at their get it now section, versus custom order, as the get it now is usually a lot cheaper.

[Radiohead625]

Good to know! I'm in no rush either as I'm currently messing around with a Squier Jag. I'm dying to build a Jazzmaster that fits my 5'6" frame lol. A Tele body just fits so much better than a Jazzmaster and that Danocaster just looks so sick! Actually found this guitar and it's making me want to put in a wide range bucker in the bridge and have the body made of Paulownia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w23iV1NSImg

[Hyphen Nation]

oh yeah…firestar inspires much lust…

What about a jag, or is the short scale too weird?

You could also look at the stuff Rhoney and Kauer make. They will make something to your specs. To be honest, building a guitar from quality parts will run you a fair bit of $$$.

[Radiohead625]

I'm getting my feet wet with this Jag right now. So far I like the feel of the short scale length, but it needs more UMPH if you know what I mean. I just feel like Jazzmasters project a little bit bigger and the way they distort just sounds huge. Take a listen to Band of Skulls first album to hear what I'm talking about. Love the sound that guy used to get with his Jazzmaster.

As for the money aspect, I know it's going to cost a lot that's why I'm doing my research. I need to make sure I get it right before I attempt to build it or have it built by someone else. I was thinking about talking to Dan about a build actually. From what I remember he gets fairly good prices for what he puts out. Never really looked into the other guys, but I will now.

[aen]

Dang dudes, now I just want to do guitar projects all the live long day.

[doommeow]

On the cheap, I'll had luck in the past taking bodies to woodworking places - places that make or repair furniture and the like. If you give them very clear instructions, exact measurements, there's no reason why they shouldn't be able to handle basic routing. I might not want to trust them with neck work or exact pocket measurements, but basic mods like pickup routing I've had done in the past for pennies on the dollar.

Just an FYI.

[Hyphen Nation]

Dang dudes, now I just want to do guitar projects all the live long day.

Speaking of telejagamasters…

I'm getting my feet wet with this Jag right now. So far I like the feel of the short scale length, but it needs more UMPH if you know what I mean. I just feel like Jazzmasters project a little bit bigger and the way they distort just sounds huge. Take a listen to Band of Skulls first album to hear what I'm talking about. Love the sound that guy used to get with his Jazzmaster.

You don't have to sell me on a Jazzmaster. Vintage, parts built, I love em all. My offsets have pushed all my other guitars aside.

Someone on OSG just did a build with JM pickups in a Jag body. It will never quite sound like a JM because of string tension/scale length, but I bet it's pretty rad:
http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/vie ... =8&t=87668

I'm getting my feet wet with this Jag right now. So far I like the feel of the short scale length, but it needs more UMPH if you know what I mean. I just feel like Jazzmasters project a little bit bigger and the way they distort just sounds huge. Take a listen to Band of Skulls first album to hear what I'm talking about. Love the sound that guy used to get with his Jazzmaster.

As for the money aspect, I know it's going to cost a lot that's why I'm doing my research. I need to make sure I get it right before I attempt to build it or have it built by someone else. I was thinking about talking to Dan about a build actually. From what I remember he gets fairly good prices for what he puts out. Never really looked into the other guys, but I will now.

Cool thing with custom builders, is they will do a lot for you. I have lust for the guitars Rhoney and Kauer make, as they are grounded in Offsets, but have shifted to their now unique takes. Check out their NAMM specials. Both have some pretty amazing prices on stuff for the show.

https://paulrhoneyguitars.squarespace.com Paul is awesome. Very active and engaged in dialog/will help anyone over on OSG. Did a lot of offset based stuff to start, but his own designs have evolved/matured to be amazing on their own. The Paramour is an awesome evolution on the offset. Take a look at Teh Keefs, a nice take on the Tele. While idiosyncratic, I really love the Zodiac model.

http://www.kauerguitars.com Doug is also a pretty awesome builder. Love the Arcturus model and variations he's coming up with, and I am blanking on his firebird based guitar, but they are fucking stunning…

[Radiohead625]

You don't have to sell me on a Jazzmaster. Vintage, parts built, I love em all. My offsets have pushed all my other guitars aside.

Seeing as you are very familiar with Jazzmasters old and new, how much do you think the sound will be affected if I basically have a Jazzmaster with a Tele body?

Cool thing with custom builders, is they will do a lot for you. I have lust for the guitars Rhoney and Kauer make, as they are grounded in Offsets, but have shifted to their now unique takes. Check out their NAMM specials. Both have some pretty amazing prices on stuff for the show.

I checked out their sites and they seem like great builders, but the guitars just didn't hit me the way Dano's do. The way he finishes them just makes me tingle in funny areas lol…

This just makes me drool every time!

[Hyphen Nation]

Seeing as you are very familiar with Jazzmasters old and new, how much do you think the sound will be affected if I basically have a Jazzmaster with a Tele body?

The weight of the body, and the type of wood in the neck [all maple, vs Rosewood cap, etc] would have some tonal effect, but it would live in between tele and JM sound.

I checked out their sites and they seem like great builders, but the guitars just didn't hit me the way Dano's do.
The way he finishes them just makes me tingle in funny areas lol…

Fair enough. The relic's he makes are top notch, and are a few hundred dollars more than if you bought all the parts and put it together yourself.

This just makes me drool every time!

Seriously though. That thing is a work of art. I come back to look at that pretty regularly. That or a Telemaster is inspiration for a new build. I kind of want to do a telemaster with tele pickups, maple neck, but offset trem to hear how that sounds/feels.

[Radiohead625]

The weight of the body, and the type of wood in the neck [all maple, vs Rosewood cap, etc] would have some tonal effect, but it would live in between tele and JM sound.

I was thinking going with either alder or trying that paulownia wood for the body with a rosewood board. Haven't really decided yet. I wonder how the telecaster electronics would affect the tone.

The big thing I worry about with assembling something like this by myself is the angle of the neck. Jazzmasters can be fussy and if I'm throwing together a Tele with a Jazzmaster tremolo, I'm worried that the action and everything will be way off. I've heard of some people even putting an angle on the neck pocket. That's way too technical for me.

[Hyphen Nation]

The weight of the body, and the type of wood in the neck [all maple, vs Rosewood cap, etc] would have some tonal effect, but it would live in between tele and JM sound.

I was thinking going with either alder or trying that paulownia wood for the body with a rosewood board. Haven't really decided yet. I wonder how the telecaster electronics would affect the tone.

My understanding [and practical experience] is that the neck has more to do with tone than body. The most obvious demonstration of this is an aluminum neck Kramer I have that has crazy overtones. Maple necks tend to be nice and bright because of the rigidity of maple, etc. I don't have any experience with Paulownia, but I think Alder and Ash are the classic fender body woods. I'd go for light weight, myself.

There are two ways Electronics will effect the sound:

The pickups themselves will definitely bring their characteristics through. Tele's are bright, and cutting guitars, mostly due to the nature of the two pickups. I loosely think of tele's and Jags as lead guitars and JM's and strats as rhythm. Tele and Jag pickups just cut, burn and scream in my experience. Good Jazzmaster pickups [Curtis Novak] combine a bit of a classic clarity of a single coil, but they are wider and the way the wire is spread out flat, it adds a bit more mids and dimension to the tone. I say good JM pickups, because a lot of JM's out there [the fender japanese ones for instance] are wound a lot more like strats, and just stuffed into a JM pickup cover.

The other MAJOR factor in wiring it up will be the pot values you use. Jazzmasters typically use a 1meg tone pot which gets really bright…like icepick bright. I usually keep mine parked at about 5 [500k or less]. That being said, there are times [signal chain, band mix] when having that extra bit of high end is nice to cut through. If I was to build or get something like the Danocaster that inspires lust above, I'd probably stick with standard tele values, even if I put a JM pickup in the neck. The two builds I'd like to explore are just that. Tele body, JM pickup and offset trem, and JM body, tele or charlie christian pickups.

Don't forget tone is a funny thing. You can go into a guitar shop any day of the week, pickup 4 of the exact same make and model and they will all sound and feel different. A good set up will make most guitars feel and play awesomely.

[Hyphen Nation]

This just makes me drool every time!

[/quote]

I have so many feels and wants for that guitar…it's fucking bonkers...