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I have been looking for a new Fender Telecaster. I've had a few. I always like the neck pickup, the bridge pickup never. Today I played a home-grown Tele that felt and sounded great, and looked pretty good, at a much lower price than Fenders of comparable quality. My question is not about Teles specifically, it's about solid body guitars generally: What is your experience with no-brand guitars that you either have bought or built yourself, vs. those from well-known brands? Obviously, resale value is an issue.
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06-03-2023 08:05 PM
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Been building my own Teles for the better part of 30 years - it's not rocket surgery and you can get exactly what you want as far as pickups, neck, color, etc. They're also the easiest guitar to mod - find a nice body and neck whether it be US, Mexican, Japanese, Chinese, whatever and start adding whatever hardware you like. That's why Warmoth, Musikraft, and those other companies exist - they'll do the woodwork and you do the rest. I'm lucky that I have a good (but messy) shop, a lot of tools, and a local lumberyard that sells wood suitable for making guitars. You can actually make a body in a couple hours if you're set up to do it. I recently bought a 10' piece of 8/4 (2") x 7"alder and got three Tele bodies out of it - total cost: $82.00 which amounts to less than $30 per body so it kind of makes you wonder where all the $$$ goes when you buy a Fender at GC or SA. The last real Tele I had was a '68 that I bought for $120 in 1972, played for 30 years and parted out - the neck brought $700! The thing is, all the Teles (T styles?) (50+) that I've built since then, have, guess what? All sounded like Teles and when I play them, they all sound like me. If I thought I would sound better buying a REAL Telecaster somewhere, I would run right out and get one as I can certainly afford it, but I just don't see the point. And, stop and think about all the folks who go out and buy a Tele, then pull out all the parts out and replace them with something different - kinda defeats the purpose of buying one in the first place.
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I've been doing this since the 1980's, a parts-caster guitar is not actually "Building" a guitar, you are just "Assembling" the guitar from parts.
It's relatively easy, plenty of online videos and advice.
Buy an inexpensive Guitar Kit and give it a go.
Cheap Chinese kits? | Telecaster Guitar Forum
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Teles of all designs out there are the best options, IMHO, for the tinkerer and DIY guitarist. They're so essentially basic but that allows for a huge number of possibilities.
That also means you can range from a Chinese complete guitar where you'll have to replace everything, to something like a Warmouth custom assembly that'll be a fit like a glove and everyone will want to buy off of you. I've had both and they're all a joy to learn from and to play.
I will say that it's really helped me to have set-up skills and electronic knowledge and chops. Both of these things are easy to learn and a tele is a perfect teacher.
DIY guitars are a special connection and allow you to get farther in a good match with your instrument than any off the wall experience. Be careful in regards to your initial purchase and if you're buying online, look at other people's feedback and comments. You can waste your time and money by getting something with bad wood and shoddy electronics that you'll never get to feel good, or you can find a source that makes excellent guitars you can customize to a worthy professional standard. Some factories out there even make bodies for the brands you can buy off the wall of your big brand store.
If you have the kind of personality that likes to make your own, and you like to use your hands, there's nothing like it. And it's always great to wind up with a guitar for life that does what you dreamed of and know that you did it yourself.
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No DIY for me in this activity. I played several guitars yesterday. All natural finish from nice wood, good necks from Fender and elsewhere, and primarily Seymour Duncan pickups.
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This is the way.
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My only experience thus far is the purchase from Warmoth of neck and body, the electronics came in part from them as well as some from Thomann and a local here in Sweden. I have personally enjoyed learning and doing things myself and this brought me a great deal of experience which has helped demystify the guitar, set up etc. All in all a great experience and I have been very happy with the looks as well as sound. I would really enjoy doing the process over were there parts to make a headless guitar with a design like the Strandberg or a Klein guitar.
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25 years ago I wanted a guitar I could throw around and not worry about. My pride and joy was my Martin D28. I had owned cheap Squires and a “Citation”, but they were so awful to play I ended up just trashing them.
A friend told me about a guitar building class at the local community college (a kind of state funded vocational university in the US). I took the course, built an OM sized guitar to trash about, and…
Turns out when you make your own guitar you are going to lavish attention on it that no factory producing 40,000 guitars is ever going to. There were cosmetic flaws galore, but that guitar sounded and played better than my Martin. I followed that up with a home made Strat killer.
In twenty odd years, I’ve never bought another guitar. There is simply nothing on the market (other than high end hand made boutique guitars) I can’t do better. It’s not bragging, and I think it would be true for most of us. It’s just a function of the fact that no factory can afford the luxury of care, customization, and selection of premium components that I can when making my own guitar.
I recommend starting with a high quality partscaster. It may not satisfy you as a collector, but I’m sure it will satisfy you as a player.
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Odorous- I think there are some kits available for headless guitars. I know you can buy the bridges. Check AliBaba
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Did it once with Warmoth and Fender parts for a strat. I would probably go Warmoth completely next time for neck-body. I had great experiences with them. Great customer service, they were super nice to me it was kind of surprising in a way. I will say it's easy to get carried away with more expensive options and there are wait times on fancier woods but they do build some really amazingly nice stuff if it's a lifetime instrument you want to put together for yourself. Just know if you decide you don't care for it that as a whole it's worth jack unless you take the trouble to part it out.
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You can get a good guitar for cheap, but you won't exactly have the Fender/Gibson/Brand guitar sound. So it depends on what one is after.
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I've found some places in China that make Klein type guitars, some complete with pickups and some with bodies and parts separate and unfinished. All are of good quality. I've searched for something like this for a long time. I've put in my own electronics, done a fret level to bring the action to unreal action heights and they're great!
Originally Posted by 0zoro
Lotta stuff out there these days!
Look what I got for $200!
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@Phil59 -- were the guitars you played and liked "for sale," or just someone's you checked out? And "lower price than Fender" can range between $300 - $5000 USD, so a lot of this is, "it depends."
I just ran into a (no-name) guy at our local farmer's market selling hand-made basses; he was charging $500, and they felt pretty good. If I needed a cheap bass right now, I'd buy it. If, however, this guy was charging $2000, I'd walk on by. There are a lot of reputable, known builders making instruments in the mid-/upper-range, so I'd stick with them.
If you're looking at a specific guitar for a specific price, let us know .. and good luck!
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I'd like to buy just the body? Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
I've found some places in China that make Klein type guitars, some complete with pickups and some with bodies and parts separate and unfinished. All are of good quality. I've searched for something like this for a long time. I've put in my own electronics, done a fret level to bring the action to unreal action heights and they're great!
Lotta stuff out there these days!
Look what I got for $200!
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All natural finish from nice wood, a Fender Player modern C neck, Seymour Duncan pickups, CTS pots. $700 cash. My only reservation is whether I want those particular pickups. Originally Posted by marcwhy
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Unfinished Headless Electric Guitar,Mahogany Body Diy Guitar Kits No Paint 388 | eBay Originally Posted by GuyBoden
For just over $150 you can get the guitar, with everything. You'll want the nut, bridge and just tell them not to send the rest. Honestly, that's what I call a deal.
Write to them and tell them what you want, give them an offer and go for it.
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The guitar looks very interesting. Do give us a review when you have the chance. Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
Unfinished Headless Electric Guitar,Mahogany Body Diy Guitar Kits No Paint 388 | eBay
For just over $150 you can get the guitar, with everything. You'll want the nut, bridge and just tell them not to send the rest. Honestly, that's what I call a deal.
Write to them and tell them what you want, give them an offer and go for it.
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Thanks.
They don't deliver to the UK.
But, these do:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32790530940.html
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