Custom Telecaster for Jazz Build

[iim7V7IM7]

I have decided to have a custom Telecaster built by Maine luthier Laurent Brondel. Laurent made me a great acoustic flat top back in 2015. He is a wonderful craftsman and a great player to boot.



Given my place in his build current queue, my build won't start until June '017. If I he shares some photos while its being built, I will share them with the forum in this post for those who are interested.

I have now owned four Tele type guitars over the last 30 years:

- Larry Carlton Standard (Valley Arts)
- '62 Reissue Telecaster (Fender Japan - long GONE)
- Nocaster (Fender Custom Shop - GONE in '014)
- Custom Tele (Ron Kirn)

I still own both the Valley Arts (~25 years) and the Kirn (~2 years), but the VA has P-90s a narrow 1-5/8" nut, 24-fret, 24-3/4" scale and the Kirn has single coils, a 1-5/8" nut with a C-profile neck .82" @ 1st fret and .95" @ 12th fret. Both are great guitars, but are not optimal for me playing chord melody tunes. They simply feel a bit "tight".



This custom Tele will be a bit more focused for playing Jazz. Like many Telecasters, it will have a light weight, Ash body and a one-piece Sugar Maple neck. Aside from the handcrafted aspect and aesthetic preferences that I won't outline just yet, the custom aspects are mostly to do with the neck/fingerboard and the type of pickups.

I want this guitar to have a wider, deeper neck. I want slightly wider (+1/16" over a vintage Tele) nut width at at 1-11/16", but not the 1-3/4" (or more) that some jazz players seek. It will also have a correspondingly wider string spread at the bridge at 2-3/16". This makes use of my fingers supporting a pick a bit easier for me. Standard 1-5/8" nut width feels too narrow particularly after playing a 1-3/4" archtop.

I grown to like playing a fairly deep "U" profile in a Tele neck. A 52 Style "U" is a bit too deep at a consistent .99" depth and so is a 1951 "U" at .95" @ 1st fret and 1.00" @ 12th fret. The C profiles are all tad too thin for me. So it will be slightly less deep than the early '50s profiles, but still maintain a touch of U profile shoulder. I am going with a .90" depth @ 1st fret and .98" depth @ 12th fret. I actually find a bit of added depth to be less fatiguing.

I am thinking that the fingerboard radius will either be a 9-1/2" or 12" radius (TBD) for easy chord melody fretting but flat enough to allow for the occasional single line blues bend. For fret wire, I am using Jescar EVO .047" x .095" which is not super tall, but has a bit more girth than vintage wire. I have EVO wire on a number of other guitars and have been delighted with it. Play slightly lighter strings on a Tele than I do on my archtops. Nickel .011"-.050" seems to present pickups with enough metal for some girth in tone and allow for the occassional bend.

For pickups I am going to try a Lollar Charlie Christian for Tele in the neck position and Lollar B.S. For Tele in the bridge position. What I am hoping for with these pickups are:

- a bit more warmth than a single coils,
- but retaining more clarity and brightness than a find in humbuckers,
- with a bit less grit than I find with P-90s.

This the biggest speculative "guess" on the build having notactually auditioned these pickups, but Tim Lerch sure makes them sound great in a number of his videos and demos, but I suspect anything played by him does...(great player!).

More in June...

[Lobomov]

Looks awesome .. Hope for the best. I like 12" radius on fender style guitars. They are rare, but the ones I've tried sure feel right

[MikeTT]

I always wanted to put a Tele with CC PU(s) together (some day I will!).
The CCs can be quite noisy, maybe I will try the Ilitch system in my build, he has a version for CC-Pickups.

[Cunamara]

Go with a 24 3/4" scale, if you want a "looser" feel. I put a conversion neck on my Strat and it's great. .013s feel like butter; makes me want one for my Tele, too!

I have a Pete Biltoft CC in my Tele and also on my archtop. They are great pickups, huge warm sound with clarity and bite should you want it.

[mr. beaumont]

It ain't a tele if it ain'the 25.5"

Kidding aside, do what you want, but u do think scale length i's very important for one of the tele''s great sounds--but it's not the jazz one.

[iim7V7IM7]

It ain't a tele if it ain'the 25.5"

Kidding aside, do what you want, but u do think scale length i's very important for one of the tele''s great sounds--but it's not the jazz one.

yup, 25-1/2" with 21 frets it is...

[iim7V7IM7]

I always wanted to put a Tele with CC PU(s) together (some day I will!).
The CCs can be quite noisy, maybe I will try the Ilitch system in my build, he has a version for CC-Pickups.

Thanks for the info. I know there will be some hum (like my P-90s). Jason pots these PUs, but they'll be some buzz. If it really bothers me, I have an electro-Harmonics Hum Debugger pedal.

[iim7V7IM7]

Go with a 24 3/4" scale, if you want a "looser" feel. I put a conversion neck on my Strat and it's great. .013s feel like butter; makes me want one for my Tele, too!

I have a Pete Biltoft CC in my Tele and also on my archtop. They are great pickups, huge warm sound with clarity and bite should you want it.

Glad to hear that you like them...

[Stringswinger]

Thanks for the info. I know there will be some hum (like my P-90s). Jason pots these PUs, but they'll be some buzz. If it really bothers me, I have an electro-Harmonics Hum Debugger pedal.

I have a Hum Debugger pedal. I keep it for quiet rooms or concerts where I will be using a single coil. The buzz is not fun. My experience with this pedal is that it works great with solid state amps but can create some strange overtones with a tube amp.

Good luck with the build!

[Jabberwocky]

Good luck with the build. A luthier who is also a player is a rare person. Bill Comins is one such person who plays better than some of his customers, well, at least one, namely, me.

My "Tele" is a Japanese Bacchus T-Master Swamp Ash with a P90 soapbar in the neck.

[iim7V7IM7]

I have a Hum Debugger pedal. I keep it for quiet rooms or concerts where I will be using a single coil. The buzz is not fun. My experience with this pedal is that it works great with solid state amps but can create some strange overtones with a tube amp.

Good luck with the build!

Mark, thanks for this. I have only really used it on a few occasions with my Evans (SS) and not my Redplate (tube). I expect the "noise" to be similar to my Lollar P-90s which have some noise but are acceptable most of the time.

[iim7V7IM7]

Good luck with the build. A luthier who is also a player is a rare person. Bill Comins is one such person who plays better than some of his customers, well, at least one, namely, me.

My "Tele" is a Japanese Bacchus T-Master Swamp Ash with a P90 soapbar in the neck.

Yes, Bill despite his own self criticism as a player is still a fantastic player. I think he remembers how well he played when that was the main focus in his life vs. lutherie. I was at a party with him last October were he played for us for about 30 minutes and he still has some great chops. Here is a short solo Youtube of him from a few years back.

Here is Laurent playing a Stanley Clarke tune (School Days). BTW, that is Chuck Thornton on bass (CP Thornton Guitars). He is not a straight ahead jazz player, but made a living for many years as a musician and in recording studios before going to work for Dana Bourgeois 10+ years ago. Laurent is mostly an acoustic flat top luthier but he also makes fantastic Fender solid bodies. The Strat that he is playing in this video was made by him together with Chuck on a limited run collaboration last year called "Nowcasters" (vintage with some modern touches).

[rob taft]

iim7, Did you mean the Lollar B.S. Tele pickup instead of the B.C. pickup. I wasn't or didn't see a B.C pickup. That said, I have the B.S. pickup installed in the bridge of my Larrivee Bakersfield. It is one of the first ones they made with a rosewood slab board and 1 3/4" nut width. I also installed a Lollar Mini Hum in the neck position. I'm a big fan of mini hums and Lollar makes some of the best. When I put the Lollar mini hum in the neck it over powered the Duncan Broadcaster in the bridge so I swapped it for a B.S. tele.

To my ears, they sound almost identical. Not only in volume but in tone. If I couldn't hear the difference between the two locations, i.e. bridge/neck, I would swear they were the same pickup. Which to be honest I like.

[lammie200]

yup, 25-1/2" with 21 frets it is...

That is where I am at after a brief try at a 25 1/8" scale neck. Funny how much difference 3/8" spread out along the entire length of the neck can make as far as cramping my style. With an archtop the difference is not as noticeable, but solid bodies are made for the upper registers access. I like a bit more room to work that stuff out, if you know what I mean.

[iim7V7IM7]

iim7, Did you mean the Lollar B.S. Tele pickup instead of the B.C. pickup. I wasn't or didn't see a B.C pickup. That said, I have the B.S. pickup installed in the bridge of my Larrivee Bakersfield. It is one of the first ones they made with a rosewood slab board and 1 3/4" nut width. I also installed a Lollar Mini Hum in the neck position. I'm a big fan of mini hums and Lollar makes some of the best. When I put the Lollar mini hum in the neck it over powered the Duncan Broadcaster in the bridge so I swapped it for a B.S. tele.

To my ears, they sound almost identical. Not only in volume but in tone. If I couldn't hear the difference between the two locations, i.e. bridge/neck, I would swear they were the same pickup. Which to be honest I like.

Rob, of course you are correct (typo!)
B.S. Tele Bridge: Lollar Guitars & Pickups



I have heard that they are a great match with the CC. I have also heard using a 500 k pot vs. a 250 k pot is recommended along with a lower value tone cap like a .022.

Thanks for sharing your experience...????

[rob taft]

iim7, I can't speak to the match between the CC and the B.S. but I have a 500K pot setup in the Larrivee. I can't remember the capacitor value as I installed an Acme Toneshaper which allows for the selection of either 250 or 500K as well as different capacitor values.

Based on your above stated desires, I think you will be pleased.

[iim7V7IM7]

I spoke to Laurent and we made a few decisions on fingerboard radius (I am going with a 12" radius) and slightly wider fret wire with Jescar EVO .047" x .104". I still need to look at Sugar Maple neck blanks, but something with light figure either Birdseye or some light curl (He makes his own necks). Laurent recommended that I try Rutters cold rolled steel intonated saddles for a bit more seperation (the CC pickups will add warmth) with a traditional nickel plated ash-tray bridge. The guitar overall will have a 1950s look to it.

[iim7V7IM7]

Here's the quartersawn ash set that we went with....



We chose some heavily birdseyed Sugar Maple for the neck (third in the upper left image). Mine is the one on the right with the wider 1-11/16" nut (right image)

[Spook410]

I saw that Kirn had a model on his website designed to offer a quite good price/performance for something at that quality level. And I would have bought one if I could have gotten a fatter/wider neck on it. Of course, part of why it had a reasonable price is that options were not offered allowing Kirn to leverage some efficiency.

I never thought I would need a tele. Been wanting one lately. Of course, your posts fan the flames as what you're building is pretty much exactly what I would like. I would just tweak it to a 44mm neck width and be good to go.

Thanks for taking the time to keep us up to date. Cool stuff.

[iim7V7IM7]

I saw that Kirn had a model on his website designed to offer a quite good price/performance for something at that quality level. And I would have bought one if I could have gotten a fatter/wider neck on it. Of course, part of why it had a reasonable price is that options were not offered allowing Kirn to leverage some efficiency.

I never thought I would need a tele. Been wanting one lately. Of course, your posts fan the flames as what you're building is pretty much exactly what I would like. I would just tweak it to a 44mm neck width and be good to go.

Thanks for taking the time to keep us up to date. Cool stuff.

Ron builds great guitars. Ron mostly does not build his own necks but gets them CNC'd for him by USA Custom.

44 mm is what I have on most of my other guitars. Once you go beyond 2-1/8" (54 mm) at the bridge, you get quite limited in hardware choices. So a 43 mm nut width and 54 mm bridge spacing is what I went with. The neck will have a pretty thick u-shaped profile about 22.9 mm at the 1st fret and 24.9 mm at the 12th fret.

[jads57]

Another possibility is using a Mini Humbucker for the neck pickup. I always end up using a Seymour Duncan SM-3N in my Tele Partscasters with great success for not only the Jazz tone I like but it also is more in balance with the Tele Bridge p/up as well.

I did have a CC Rider (Vintage Vibe Picups) in a G&L Asat neck position which sounded wonderful but a bit noisey.

[iim7V7IM7]

Another possibility is using a Mini Humbucker for the neck pickup. I always end up using a Seymour Duncan SM-3N in my Tele Partscasters with great success for not only the Jazz tone I like but it also is more in balance with the Tele Bridge p/up as well.

I did have a CC Rider (Vintage Vibe Picups) in a G&L Asat neck position which sounded wonderful but a bit noisey.

Thanks for your thoughts, but Laurent already has the Lollars and the body is routed for them (see image in prior posting). I expect there to be hum like any single coil or P-90. I want to add the CC sound on this one...

[iim7V7IM7]

Moving right along...the neck is carved and fretted (ended up going with Jescar EVO 55090), the body is shaped...

[iim7V7IM7]

The Tele body is in mid-finish (one in the middle with larger neck pocket for CC pickup). It has been sealed, nitro clear coated and a transparent white nitro applied. Next will be another clear coat, some tint coats and final clear coats followed by > 1 month cure time.

[iim7V7IM7]

Laurent created a bit of tint into the translucent finish. It is a bit washed out in the sunlight vs. how it really looks. A few more clear coats of nitro and then 4-weeks of drying until he works on it again.



The figure in birdseye sugar maple neck can now be seen also enhance with a bit of tint.