[finished !] Tele/esquire build in planning, it's going to be colorful

[bodhi]

Very much a matter of preference, but I found that the traditional control plate setup makes sense on a tele. I tried reversing the plate and one with a slanted slot, and at least for me they didn't really seem to solve any real problems, more just being different. I guess it's at least partially a question of size of hands etc, but I don't find the normal controls to be out of position, and with the plate reversed the front pot just seemed to be too far forward towards the neck. A lot of Fender designs seems to place the volume pot roughly in line with the bridge saddles. Of course, if you're doing a single pickup only, might want something else. I have a four way switch for a series position as my only mod on a traditional tele setup right now.

[Flurko]

I saw a diagram on the Premier Guitar website for an esquire wiring scheme that seems interesting, I will try that when the parts arrive :
https://www.premierguitar.com/gear/the- ... ire-wiring

I've ordered a jack cup, a prewired control plate and a mint pickguard from AliExpress to try things on, usually the quality is acceptable.
I found in my parts bin a few disassembled humbucker parts, and a coil from this fits perfectly in the neck pickup cavity under the pickguard. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think of glueing some small neodymium magnets under just the low E and A pole pieces to get only those strings, then I can run this to one side of a stereo jack. I think I can also wire the jack to get only the normal guitar with a standard jack if I wire this pickup to the side that gets grounded when a mono jack is plugged?

And for info, here's the weight compared to my Jazzmaster, with our luggage scales :





(the paint Looks green way more often than purple, but it's still very cool, and it goes better with the maple fretboard imo)

Ending note : I've noticed that my phone's autocorrect and my native french makes me look like a confused old man when I read my longer posts back, sorry, I'm still an pretty cool thirty -something

[jthomas]

How about a clear pickguard to show off the paint.

[Flurko]

How about a clear pickguard to show off the paint.

I've thought about this, but for now I will try the traditional look first, I think the blocky shape of the Tele needs something to contrast with it and break it up slightly.

[Flurko]

The parts have started to arrive, quick mockup to see how it looks, Inm glad the mint pickguard isn't too garish! It doesn't match the binding but otherwise it will look fine for now. I'll have to do some sanding around the heel because of the neck not being standard fender spec, but I should manage.
Still waiting on the jack cup and on the magnets do my lil neck pickup experiment.

[walterwiseman]

Looking good! The guard goes really well with the body colour.

[electric__ralph]

If you still have the paint chip you should be able to superglue it down.

[alexpigment]

If you still have the paint chip you should be able to superglue it down.

I actually like using wood glue in these cases. Not as resilient of a fix, but it avoids the hole scraping, sanding, and buffing of the spillout. Just throwing that out there in case it helps.

[Flurko]

It's done for now, I'm going to try it with the band tomorrow to test it at high volume.

The neck angle and the pickups I have on hand didnt allow me to try a stealth neck pickup, so I did an Esquire wiring, based on this but adapted to work with the import switch I have. It seems to be working, but the effect of the cap in the neck position is very subtle, we'll see how it plays with dirt pedals and such.

The pickguard needs to be trimmed a bit because it's currently over the control plate, I need to find a way to sand it cleanly.

A new photo with yet another kind of light and so yet another way the color looks :