My Most Resonant Telecaster Build - An Amazing Lump of Air

Sometimes when I am putting a guitar together, I go on a journey of learning. I never quite expect it – like I did not when I started this build.

The guitar in this video is built upon a Chinese made Thinline telecaster body in metallic purple. I looked around my shop and found that I had a brand-new pickguard for this very guitar body design, but it was in red tortoiseshell.

I thought to myself – a purple guitar with a red tortoiseshell pickguard? I don’t know. I googled this to see if anyone else had done this before.

Everything has already been done before. Rarely do we venture into uncharted territories.

I found – of course that it has been done. One really good example is that Chicago Music Exchange did a special run of Squier Classic Vibe '60s Stratocaster Purple Metallic with a Tortoiseshell Pickguard.

Which is f’ing awesome looking!

What is not f’ing awesome is that if and when you can find this guitar for sale they go for around $650 and up.

I digress.

Speaking of Classic Vibe, I had a brand-new set of Squier Classic Vibe 60s Telecaster Custom pickups that I would use for this project. I purchased a bunch of these because I think they are a highly underrated pickup.

I also had a Fender MIM Classic Series 60s Telecaster Neck with 21 frets, C shape, and a 7.25-inch radius.

I installed a set of Gotoh Vintage tuners on the neck.

The wiring circuit is a standard modern telecaster circuit with two CTS 250 k pots, a .047 uf capacitor, and an Oak Grigsby three-way pickup selector switch.

The bridge and neck plate are both Fender and the brass compensated saddles are made by Wilkinson.

I put the guitar together. Nothing really new or unusual in the project. No special 10 position switches or split humbuckers. Just your boring run of the mill telecaster thinline.

Not to change subjects but I am kind of excited about some changes I recently made to my workbench. I get really claustrophobic with crap strewn all over my bench when I am trying to work. It messes with me being able to have clear and productive thoughts.

I was looking at my tuner the other day and realized it had the same ¼ threaded hole that all my cameras have. It suddenly hit me that I could install an articulating boom arm and then install my tuner at the end. When I am using the tuner, I pull it over to the guitar and when I am not using it I swing it away and off the bench.

My Positive Grid Spark Mini died. I have had one on my bench since they first came out and have loved the size of the amp and how it does not take up a lot of room. It is always handy so I can test a guitar when I am working on it. I was at loss without it and found you cannot just replace the battery. You must send it into Positive Grid for service.

Everything I put in place of the Spark Mini was just too large and took up way too much space.

At the same time my Spark Mini died I saw on Amazon the MOOER Baby Bomb 30 Micro
Power AMP. I could not believe my eyes. A 30-watt amplifier in the form factor of a mini pedal. I already had a 30-watt single speaker cabinet, so I decided to order the pedal for $91. Link in the description of this video.

Here is how Mooer describes the pedal:

BABY BOMB provides a true 30 Watts of power to drive any guitar cabinet with an impedance of 8 0hm – 16 0hm. If you push the volume control past 12 o'clock Baby Bomb can provide a warm, true tube like, post stage overdrive which feels natural and pleasant to the touch.

When the pedal showed up, I attached it to the wall above my bench using pedal Velcro. I plugged it in and cranked the volume up.

OMG! This thing can get so loud! When I am using it, I barely turn the volume up and it booms. Maybe only a quarter of the way max.

I am truly amazed with the quality of the tone that comes out of this thing. I am also very happy because it has also freed up even more space on my bench.

On with the build.

The first time I installed the strings on the guitar while it was sitting on the bench and strummed them, my face was positioned over the f- hole.

I could feel air brush my cheek and the sound produced was just, excellent.

I picked up the guitar and tuned it and started to strum. The volume of the sound coming out of the guitar was not usual.

I have put together a lot of thinlines and other types of hollow or chambered bodies. They are always somewhat resonant but not at this level.

This was almost at an acoustic guitar level.

[rhykko]

Yup, my own Squire thinline is theee most acoustically loud guitar I have owned

[trishagriffus]

Love hearing something about the science and history of this craft!

[Stratsrule]

Awesome. I like it. Love the pickguard. Ty gcg

[paularmstrong]

Where did you order that resonant body?

[TimSpencer-kfft]

I liked this guitar so much, I bought it. Thanks Jamie. I've been binge watching your videos and learning a lot. Best wishes. I look forward to adding it to my collection.