rate my thinline tele partscaster

telehack

I recently have been reading up on wide range humbuckers and also thinking about a long term thinline partscaster. I'm not a fan of huge pickguards. What do you guys think of this mockup?

I couldn't find a nice way to incorporate the switch, so I'm toying with the idea of two volume controls. I did add binding at one point, but it didn't look right to me.

Funkfingers

telehack said:

What do you guys think of this mockup? I couldn't find a nice way to incorporate the switch, so I'm toying with the idea of two volume controls. 

I subscribe to the notion that form follows function. The positioning of the controls on a Musicman John Petrucci signature model guitar may not necessarily be the most elegant looking but they prove to be eminently practical in use. Logically, the *right* place for the controls is where YOU need them to be for comfort and ease of use.

Will two volume controls fulfil your requirements?

telehack said:
I did add binding at one point but it didn't look right to me.

A guitar is a machine for producing sound. What it looks like is secondary.

Roland

Use a Gibson switch behind the Tone knob

guitargeek62

Looks nice to me - you could make an easy start with an MIM thinline Cabronita model, and then have it routed for WR pickups if you wanted to keep things simple?

telehack

Good shout on the thinline cabronita. The gold ones are tasty`. I made another version with a pickup switch. I got the idea for volume controls only from Richard Thompson who had a guitar with like 4 or 5 pickups and would just blend them together. Not sure how well it would work in practice.

Funkfingers

Those Thommo guitars usually have three pickups. (Tele, Strat, P90.) 

sawyer

Like the idea of no switch. Looks cool! If you build it we will come! (Field of dreams quotish:))

Rocker

A guitar is for playing as has been said already. My suggestion is to ditch the guard and fit a pre-wired (one with decent quality hardware) standard Tele control plate.

Looking 'cool' is self delusion, most punters don't know the difference between a six string and a bass. Do what you think will help your playing and good luck with the build...

Gagaryn

Funkfingers said:

 

A guitar is a machine for producing sound. What it looks like is secondary.

But still important to most folk

telehack

I didn't choose WRHBs because they look cool. I chose them for the way they sound. I like partscasters because among other things, I'm picky about necks. Once you've bought a guitar, ripped out the pickups, changed the neck, etc. you might as well have started from scratch IMO. I do care about looks, not to look cool, but because I want a guitar to look good to me aeathetically. I also don't expect to do this any time soon. I build guitars by slowly acquiring parts over time.

Bridgehouse

No tone on a tele? But how will you make it sound dull, mushy and non-twangy??

telehack

>>No tone on a tele? But how will you make it sound dull, mushy and non-twangy??

Hah! I'm not dead set against. I was just toying with the idea...