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So I have a Deltatone Telecaster copy that I love dearly, except I don't like the body. It's made of basswood, is extremely light, and dents easily. So I'm building a new one.

I'm not going to simply replicate the body, though. I'm going to add:
-A String-Thru bridge
-Nitro Finish
-Full-Sized Humbucker route in the neck
-Rails Humbucker in the bridge
-Custom Wiring
-Strap Locks
-A Dark Red Finish
-Shielded Cavities
-A better control plate. (The old one is all wavy looking)
OH, and since this thread is worthless without pictures of said guitar.




And here's the progress so far.

Clamped and Glued!


Pre-Sanded


Post-Sanded


Trimmed and Traced


How do you make a Telecaster? You take a slab of Ash and bandsaw away everything that isn't the Telecaster!


And then the body totally cut out.



I DARE YOU to find the seam.

I'm gonna order the hardware this weekend, so there'll be more progress soon.

Looks like a nice project! Great start.

BTW, if you're in need of new saddles for the build I have a set of unused Graph Tech string savers that I bought for my tele that I'd let go cheap. I bought the wrong size.

The body yesterday. i didn't noticed until now that it was upside-down.

Wow! Very nice!

I have a Squier Tele that I enjoy playing, but the body is too light for my tastes. I've thought about getting a new body for it. I'm curious to see how this turns out because DIY is awesome.

Yeah, I could pay 200 dollars for an unfinished tele body that I'd have to route some more for my needs. Or I could go out, buy $15 worth of White Ash and make my own. Plus you add 90 bucks for the hardware.

Hmm. I never took economics, but I think that it's cheaper to DIY it.

Does anyone have a recommendation on where to get plans for a tele build like this? I'm living at home and my dad is a wood worker, so building a guitar might be a fun project...

nbabmf wrote:I have a Squier Tele that I enjoy playing, but the body is too light for my tastes. I've thought about getting a new body for it. I'm curious to see how this turns out because DIY is awesome.

I got an Affinity Tele for super cheap and mounted a Bigsby B5 to it that I got in a trade... It added a good amount of sustain to the guitar and made it feel less like a toy due to the added mass. Plus, Bigbsys look damn cool. The next Tele that comes my way will get a Jaguar-style vibrato.

The real pain in the ass right now, is the stock 6 saddle, strat-style bridge that comes with the Affinity. I gotta find a drill press or something somewhere so that I can put in my old Jaguar bridge instead.

Tele projects rule!

hclapp219 wrote:Does anyone have a recommendation on where to get plans for a tele build like this? I'm living at home and my dad is a wood worker, so building a guitar might be a fun project...

You can find all kinds of free body tracings online, if you just type a few words into google. But since you've got free access to wood working tools, why don't you make your own custom body shape? Your very own, 100% custom YOU guitar.

like a jag jazzy trem? bandito?

tuffteef wrote:like a jag jazzy trem? bandito?

Sho'nuff.

Badass.

DO IT! sounds so darn good

but be preped for some mad problems haha

A Tele with a Jag trem...I like it.

Kellanium wrote:A Tele with a Jag trem...I like it.

What pickups are you thinking about throwing in there? There's a set of Lace Aluminum humbucker pups in the b/s/t...

tuffteef wrote:DO IT! sounds so darn good
but be preped for some mad problems haha

As long as it gets in there straight, I don't think there will be any more problems than there would be with any other vibrato system. My Jaguar's trem works perfectly, so why shouldn't it on any other solidbody with the same string spread?

I have a GFS Lil Puncher that's going in the bridge as well as a Duncan-Designed Jazz equivalent in the neck. Because i'm cheap.

I may replace the DD with a mini humbucker at some point.

As for those alumitones, I actually know mhn433. She offered me them and i politely declined, as one set costs more than the entire build project!

I just ordered the hardware.