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Originally Posted by GNAPPI
So far this guitar cost me just a little over $100, but the fun..... Pricele$$!
(Not counting the Antiquity P90 I had laying around btw)
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08-10-2019 07:07 PM
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I've just started a thinline build that I very much hope will be great for jazz - using an ash body, chambered both sides and below the bridge, made to order by a nice chap in the UK, and a one piece maple neck bought a while ago, again in the UK, but I suspect made somewhere in Asia. All decent quality anyhow. This will have the classic brass saddle ashtray type bridge - I kind of have to have that, although it's to be a Gotoh unit that has the sides cut down and compensated saddles. Neck pickup will probably be a GFS Surf 90 that I used to love when I had it in another guitar. Bridge is a hand wound Broadcaster type by Mojo, a UK pickup maker - not so important to me as the neck pickup, but still should be good.
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All of this customizing in this thread aside, no one is going to criticize Ed Bickert's tone, and he just used a standard tele for the first part of his career, then he just slapped a humbucker in the neck later on. Can't dismiss Ed because he doesn't sound like an L5!
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Originally Posted by Doug B
Kidding of course, I hear ya and you’re right. But that was not the goal..... ;-)
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Okay, assembled the Tele today with flatwounds (TI). Sounds pretty darn good! Nut is still too high, frets definitely need leveling (hey, the neck was $38, what did ya expect?). Results so far:
1. Love the 24.75 scale on a tele!
2. Wow, the Antiquity is a great pickup. But the dogear is too high - like I suspected it would be - I keep hitting it with my pick. I have a soapbar bottom plate, I can build the pickup into a soapbar (easy enough), but then the guitar will need some kind of pickguard to hide the cutout (was a cutout for humbucker that I enlarged). I shimmed the neck, but now the saddles are very high (maxed out)
3. Love the mahogany neck! It does give the same (type of) resonance as on my 125 and 333!
4. There is ‘ploc’ on the high strings!
5. No, it doesn’t sound like a 125 (as was to be expected) but it does steer much more into that direction than my other thinline Tele with Fender scale maple neck, so the mahogany 24.75” neck is a part of that sound!
6. The bass strings have a little too much metalic ‘zzing’ to my taste. Is that the bridge?? Could also be the string height, I was able to put them high enough to avoid stringbuzz, but there’s still some ‘interaction’ with the frets.
Things to do:
1. Fretlevel
2. Installing a proper cut bone nut
3. Install a metal jack output plate
4. Finishing/spraying the guitar
I am contemplating about changing the bridge for something rosewood with a (short) trapeze. I was thinking of using only the top part of an archtop bridge with the posts directly into the wood, but of course (lack of) clearance under the strings is the restraining factor....
I’ll record some sounds later on!
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If I go for a dogear and pickguard, I go for something like this (but in tortoise):
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As promised: sounds!
I definitely need to replace the dogear P90 for a soapbar.... it’s impossible to set it up right like this: it needs a shim right now to fit the dogear under the strings but the sadles are raised to their max now. You can clearly hear the buzzing and choked notes.
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Sounds great. Playing too.
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Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
To soften or eliminate the bass string's "zing", you might try a thin strip of leather (chamois or an old strap) or somesuch over the brass of the offending strings. Just a thought.
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Originally Posted by citizenk74
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Thru this phone and Youtube it is impossible to say if it sounds like ES125 or a tele (not so much) but it sounds darn good!
Might be Your playing too... or then it is the Antiquity pickup!
I wonder in which direction would Gibson type bridge (more shims to the pocket) transfer the sound.
Anyway, great project.
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Originally Posted by Herbie
Yes I am contemplating about a Gibson-type bridge myself as well. I was thinking bridge posts into the wood carrying the top part of a rosewood archtop bridge. I have a couple of archtop bridges laying around, but no clue how to install those bridge posts directly into the wood without bridge studs (I don’t want to install studs - I don’t have them and seems too invasive if I decide not to keep them).
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Originally Posted by Little Jay
https://shop.rall-online.net/epages/...6&Locale=en_GB
(don’t know anything about the seller, this is the first link I found) and put that rosewood bridge in to it?
You like rosewood, have You tested ebony ones?
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Hmm, with a bridge base I have to completely alter the neck’s angle, to get sufficient height. Shimming won’t get me there, I would have to alter the neck pocket, look for different length neck screws.... that goes a little beyond what I had in mind (and perhaps beyond my skills as well).
With only the top part of the bridge and with the posts directly into the body I might get away with only shimming the neck.
And usually I prefer rosewood indeed, but in the case of my Ibanez AF55 rosewood sounded too muffled and I used an ebony bridge. So it depends on the guitar really.
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Originally Posted by Little Jay
I was amazed how different the rosewood and ebony bridges sound. In my ES175 VOS the rosewood sounded hard and thin when the ebony was lively and musical. But the stock rosewood bridge has two brass holes for the height screws so the might cause something too.
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Hope I’m not boring you too much with this project..... but I booked a little more progress:
Found a satisfying solution for the somewhat overly bright bass-response of the bridge:
I removed the saddles and cut the top piece of an old archtop bridge to length and the right height. It comes from and old Japanese guitar and is actually plastic with a rosewood insert piece. But voilà! The metalic zzinggg is gone and added bonus: less sustain. Both a good thing for imitation of an archtop-like string response!
I replaced the Antiquity dogear for a Chinese soapbar (out of a Fender Modern Player Thinline P90). This fits much better and the guitar is now probably set up. Although this pickup is not bad at all, I could immediately hear the difference with the Antiquity..... so I will tranfer the guts of the Antiquity into the soapbar housing!
With the soapbar I need a scratch plate, I found an $8 tortoise example that will look fine I think:
I have to trim it it to fit. I will go for this shape:
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Wow, that's an innovative solution!
If You want a bit of free string space behind the bridge to imitate archtop's trapeze tail piece, You can move the tele bridge plate away from neck and move Your new bridge where it should be. You can even cut the bridge plate so that there is the end part only left.
When the strings do not go thru body holes You can move the bridge plate more freely.
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Your tele is starting to get very cool indeed ....
3 a side head , mahog , medium scale , wooden saddle
p90 in the neck ...
my kind of tele !
Is the plastic/wood bridge floating ?
is it just held in place by string pressure ?
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Originally Posted by pingu
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Originally Posted by Herbie
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This is an interesting thread. Your tele sounds very good and the playing is also awesome.
I have been planning to build a jazz tele too, and as I also have an old es-125 that I love, it has been really interesting to see how your project turned out so far. I especially love your new bridge, and might try that on an ordinary tele build that I am doing. I am just a beginning hobbyist when it comes to building. Made recently a strat with a charlie christian pickup in the neck and even if that still needs some fine tuning I am building a tele now.
what I like most about the Es-125 besides the sound, is the neck. If I were to build a guitar to chase the es-125 vibe, I’d start with building a replica of that neck, as close to the original as possible. I already have some african mahogany for that. I’d also position the pickup exactly at the same position. A lollar charlie christian would do, as vintage dogears would be to hard to find and I love the cc. And I would want the bridge to be just like the one on my es-125.
Now, the body construction would need some thinking. I definitely would love to have a fully resonating top. But building the whole quitar the acoustic way would maybe too much (for my current skill level, at least) and beside the point. So I have been thinking a heavily chambered body with an arched spruce top could do. Of course it wouldnt still sound like an archtop guitar, but maybe it would sound jazzy enough. I am not interested in building another basic thinline tele as I already have one that I love.
The overall shape would either be a tele but I have also been thinking it could maybe be like a benedetto bambino too.
please do post a video with the new bridge!
cheers
Jonni
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Originally Posted by Jonni
Originally Posted by Jonni
Originally Posted by Jonni
The pickup sits in the same place as the pickup in my ES-125, btw.
Originally Posted by Jonni
Originally Posted by JonniLast edited by Little Jay; 08-27-2019 at 07:01 AM.
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Just finished the scratch plate.... lots of work since nothing is standard anymore. Had to reshape it from this:
...to this:
I also changed to a standard metal control plate, since that fitted the cut out in the scratch plate.
If I find a bridge pickup for a reasonable price I might install that since the cutout is already there (although I didn’t plan for a bridge pickup).
Now it’s almost time to stain and finish it... I am thinking a walnut or worn brown stain with a thin clear coat....
Video with sounds hopefully later today!
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Originally Posted by Herbie
I have one. P90 Crossroads version. I love it!
Albert
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Originally Posted by AKA
What do You play with it, jazz or rock or heavy or what? Solo gigs or with a loud drummer? Does it feedback easily?
anyone selling an ibanez pm120?
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