General Music Chat

I miss my ol' Strat.
I miss my ol' Rick Bass.
Thanks a lot guys!

I'll probably end up going through Warmoth or USA Custom Guitars until those big royalty checks come pouring in (NOT!).
It would be nice to visit a Fender Custom Shop to at least get an estimate for my dream guitars.
But, there aren't any in my state.

That is one hot looking Tele. I wanted a double "F" hole Strat but I always ended up getting something else. When I went back to see what they had they already cut back on making them so there wasn't one shown.

You can use a Tele neck on a Strat but you can't use a Strat neck on a Tele without cutting the pocket to fit the arch on the end of the Strat neck. Or you can cut the arch off the end of the Strat neck so the Tele pocket doesn't need any modicication. Some of their Tele bodies are routed so that you can use either neck configuration. The Tele neck is cut square so it will fit either pocket without any modification to the pocket.

I added a middle pickup to my Tele. The pickup rout and spacing are the same on the Tele and the Strat. I guess that Leo was happy with the sound. He was right.

That's really a unusual looking pick guard. Was that Tele a top rout or a rear rout? The one that I bought was a rear rout so it didn't need a pick guard. I did make a clear Plexiglases guard to keep the finish safe. I only ask because some people will put a pick guard on a rear rout, although I'm not sure why.

If you really want to get an arch top sound out of a Strat or Tele Poplar is a great body wood. It is about as light as balsa wood. Couple that with a rosewood board and it has many Arch top characteristics.

I had a factory Strat like that and I was really taken back as to how much it sounded like my Epiphone Triumph. (I put some pickups on my Triumph since it was acoustic when I bought it.) I played that guitar until I wore right through the finger board.

That is one hot looking Tele. I wanted a double "F" hole Strat but I always ended up getting something else. When I went back to see what they had they already cut back on making them so there wasn't one shown.

thanks. it is usually a head turner out on gigs. wow, i had seen (photos of) the single "F" hole strat bodies but didn't realize Warmoth had also done dual 'f' holes at one time.

You can use a Tele neck on a Strat but you can't use a Strat neck on a Tele without cutting the pocket to fit the arch on the end of the Strat neck. Or you can cut the arch off the end of the Strat neck so the Tele pocket doesn't need any modicication.

the other way around. tele necks (like most things square and blocky on teles) have a squared off heel. on the other hand strat heels (like most everything else on strat) is in fact rounded off.
so the already rounded strat heel will fit in a square shouldered FENDER tele neck pocket. however the squared shouldered tele heel won't mate w the rounded strat pocket.

i learned this yrs ago messing around trying to swap my FENDER Strat neck w my FENDER tele neck. FENDER bodies both. no problem getting the Strat neck on the tele body.....tele neck on strat body....no dice.

i did a little interwebs poking around before posting this and found several things that backed this up.

Some of their Tele bodies are routed so that you can use either neck configuration. The Tele neck is cut square so it will fit either pocket without any modification to the pocket.

so, that makes me wonder...your strats w the tele necks they're all Warmoth bodies/necks, then? that might be why they were able to work w/o mods to your bodies.

I added a middle pickup to my Tele. The pickup rout and spacing are the same on the Tele and the Strat. I guess that Leo was happy with the sound. He was right.

yeah, leo had quite a lot of stuff figured out. i've never owned or even played a 3 p/u tele. i think it would be nice to have the out of phase "cluck" options but i always feel there something kinda manly about wresting that two p/u plain ol plank of wood to give up the goods. i would like to add a bigsby at some point to one of my teles. (i also have a nice 'burst '94 50th Anniversay model w a rosewood board)

That's really a unusual looking pick guard.

Fender did two thinlines....this body w the two single coils being the first and then later they did one w Fender H/B's that uses a different p guard. this is the stock pickguard shape for the earlier model.

Was that Tele a top rout or a rear rout? The one that I bought was a rear rout so it didn't need a pick guard. I did make a clear Plexiglases guard to keep the finish safe. I only ask because some people will put a pick guard on a rear rout, although I'm not sure why.

it's a top route.

If you really want to get an arch top sound out of a Strat or Tele Poplar is a great body wood. It is about as light as balsa wood. Couple that with a rosewood board and it has many Arch top characteristics.

yeah, those light woods like poplar and basswood have a lot of "air" and openess to their tone.

I had a factory Strat like that and I was really taken back as to how much it sounded like my Epiphone Triumph. (I put some pickups on my Triumph since it was acoustic when I bought it.) I played that guitar until I wore right through the finger board.

ooh, i'm a real sucker for old Epi archtops. you still have it? pics?

he other way around. tele necks (like most things square and blocky on teles) have a squared off heel. on the other hand strat heels (like most everything else on strat) is in fact rounded off.
so the already rounded strat heel will fit in a square shouldered FENDER tele neck pocket. however the squared shouldered tele heel won't mate w the rounded strat pocket.

I Gotta disagree on that one. I believe I have it right. The Strat pocket is concave and the Tele body is square. Since the mounting holes are the same on both necks the Tele neck stops short of the end of the concave pocket on the Strat body. When the pocket on a Tele is cut properly the Strat neck extended curve butts against the Tele pocket before the mounting holes match up. I imagine perhaps a bit of force would cause the Strat neck to fit the square pocket on a Tele, but in most cases not. All my Strasts are Warmoth bodies so they do not have a "universal" pocket.

I got the information from the Warmoth tech before I bought my first Tele neck to put on a Strat.

You can check Warmoth and they will tell you the same as I did. I have no idea where these other sites got their info but it isn't correct.

I will see if I have a pic of that Epiphone. I refinished it. It used to be sunburst but I did a walnut stain refinish. It has a crack on the bottom "F" hole where a jerk slammed it against the side of an amplifier when I let him use it to sit in for a couple of songs. I didn't even get to see that before the break was over and he had already gone. I cried some crocodile tears over that one but I just left it like that rather than having it glued.

I played that arch top for most of the years that I was gigging.

I truly did love it. I also had a Zorko fret less bass that was shaped like a big dog house bass with the pull out tail stand. That was also a fun toy.

Two of us played both lead and bass so I would play bass for three hours one night and he would play bass for three hours the next.
Whenever I brought my Zorko people would come up and tell us we had a cool trio. When I played my EB2 they would refer to us as a band. We played the same damned music every night and the same people followed us around town. Go figure.

I will send the pick to you by e-mail.

Hey Slacker, what's the wood on the brown Strat with the black guard?

It is Swamp ash. I always buy Swamp Ash in the 3lb 5-10 oz weight when I can. The bottom of the tree that grows under water is the best for the tone that I prefer since it is more porous. I also like the sound of Alder, but I haven't seen any Alder with nice grain patterns. Alder has a bit more upper midrange tone. All of those guitars are Swamp Ash.

So I guess its not as simple as just soaking my Martin in the tub for that best tone?

Hey Slacker, what's the wood on the brown Strat with the black guard?

It is Swamp ash. I always buy Swamp Ash in the 3lb 5-10 oz weight when I can. The bottom of the tree that grows under water is the best for the tone that I prefer since it is more porous. I also like the sound of Alder, but I haven't seen any Alder with nice grain patterns. Alder has a bit more upper midrange tone. All of those guitars are Swamp Ash.

So I guess its not as simple as just soaking my Martin in the tub for that best tone?

I remember many years ago, someone was trying to recreate the methods used by the Stradivarius family in building their famed instruments, even soaking the wood in urine.
As far as I know they never discovered the Stradivarius's secrets.

I Gotta disagree on that one. I believe I have it right.

let's leave it at that. i can only speak of my personal exp that i mentioned above. i had a stock FENDER strat neck mounted on a stock FENDER tele body w zero mods. my stock tele neck however would NOT fit on my stock FENDER strat body. (square heel in a round pocket)

hey, i think between religion and politics you and i already have enough to disagree on!

I will see if I have a pic of that Epiphone. I refinished it. It used to be sunburst but I did a walnut stain refinish. It has a crack on the bottom "F" hole where a jerk slammed it against the side of an amplifier when I let him use it to sit in for a couple of songs. I didn't even get to see that before the break was over and he had already gone. I cried some crocodile tears over that one but I just left it like that rather than having it glued.

nice looking EPI and tho it's not real clear in the photos..looks like you did a fine job refinishing it. looks great. wow...that really sucks about that goofball messing up that gtr.

I will send the pick to you by e-mail.

gottem, thanks. very cool stable you have there. i couldn't tell...is the Gibson box an L5 or Byrdland? and is that a varitone control i see mounted to the pickguard of the EPI?

Birdland. That guitar was ruined by the Gibson custom shop. I sent it in to have an Ebony fingerboard put on it. When I got it back the thing was all wavy with spots that could not be adjusted level with a truss rod. It would have taken too much of the frets to cut them down. Not the first time that the Gibson custom shop has screwed up one of my axes. If they were the last place on earth I wouldn't send a good guitar to them ever again.

I have vari tones on a great many of my guitars. I have two Les Pauls that are wired with them, the Birdland and the Epiphone also have them. I also have Varitones on three of my seven Strats , a Carvin Bolt, and a Warmoth SG body sporting a Telecaster neck.

I love those varitones. My Telecaster has a blend control as well as a variable tap that changes a Shecter Tele bridge pickup from a 12K overdrive hot pickup to a standard 6K. I hooked the pot between the 6K and 12K windings so there is a continuous adjustment between the two taps.

I have built a Warmoth Tele, seven strats, and an SG before Warmoth changed their web page to one that I didn't like. Thank God for that. It saved me a lot of money.

pretty short scale on those Byrdland's, no? man....i defininetly would have held Gibson's feet to the fire on that one. "hey....you screwed this up. NOW put it right"

i used to have a varitone on an old Gibson Ripper bass i used to have. dug it a lot.

so, you had a blend control on a tele....very cool. i've wired up a few basses that way but never checked out a gtr w that setup. hmmmmm.