Recent Telemaster Build

[Perry Underwood]

This is a Telemaster I've been working on. The neck is from a Washburn guitar. The body wood is padauk. I used a wiring system that allows three different sounds from a four-conductor humbucker. I'll add photos from the build process a little later.

Moderators, please delete previous post entitled "Telemaster Build." Thank you.

[Perry Underwood]

I wanted to add more information and photos about this guitar. The neck is originally from a Washburn A Series Stage Reissue. I've used the neck a number of times on different builds. It was a bolt-on neck, but I have used it several times as a glued-in neck.

I had to build up the neck heel. These photos show the neck just before completing the guitar. The shape edges have been softened a little.

And another view.

I also modified the headstock shape, reshaping the treble side. The headstock has had a cocobolo veneer for some time.

Finally, I added a piece of padauk to the nut to make it thicker. (The model of the Washburn guitar was A-5.) The low E string should be deeper in the nut, but it doesn't pop out.

Here's the overall guitar.

I mentioned in my first post that this guitar gets three sounds from the humbucker. The sounds are humbucker, single coil, and humbucker in parallel.

Thanks for looking. Comments and questions welcomed.

[Eric Schmitt]

Very nice work, I like the single pickup minimalistic look. What type of pickup did you use? It looks like one of those GFS loudmouths

[Matt Madden]

Very cool body shape. I like it.

My friend had an A-5 a long time ago. That had a weird, blocky body shape, right?

Yours looks great.

[Perry Underwood]

Very nice work, I like the single pickup minimalistic look. What type of pickup did you use? It looks like one of those GFS loudmouths

Eric, thanks for the compliment. The pickup is indeed a GFS Loudmouth. I'm not sure how much I like it in this guitar. I used it primarily because I needed a pickup that had wider polepiece spacing and because it has four conductors. One concern I have is that the wiring scheme I used may detract from the humbucker sound. I haven't decided whether to keep the pickup in the guitar or try something else. I would like more people to play it so I can get their thoughts.

Very cool body shape. I like it.

My friend had an A-5 a long time ago. That had a weird, blocky body shape, right?

Yours looks great.

Thanks, Matt. You're correct. The A Series was Washburn's Explorer shaped model. There were several models in the range: A-5, A-10, A-15, and A-20, and there were two runs of them. The first was in the 80s, and the second in the 90s. I'm not sure if all models made it into those two runs. The A-15 was the single-coil model, and I believe it was only in the first run. The A-5 was the bolt-on model.

[Mark Swanson]

If you have the wiring correct, then it won't take from the pickups' tone. A series connection is a series connection, no matter how you get it. The standard humbucker wiring is series, so since you have that option in your switching and if you have wired it right then that's it.

[Pete Halliday]

Nice work. I like the concept and your solution for the neck joint.

[Perry Underwood]

Pete, thanks for your comments. I've had to build up several neck heels in the past. I like to use different woods for this. It adds something unique to the guitar.

I forgot to mention that I finished the guitar in walnut oil. Unlike some others, I tend not to have a problem with it drying. I use Mahoney's walnut oil.

By the way, at one time I thought about putting a pickup in the neck position underneath the pickguard. It's called a stealth pickup. I tried various kinds of pickups I had, but found that none of them would give me the sound I wanted with it so far underneath the strings. I would have had to set the neck deeper in the body. I still like the idea and may build another Telemaster with this feature. The best pcikup I found for this use is a Duncan neck Invader. To me, the sound of this pickup improves when it is lower from the strings.

This is what the guitar's body looks like under the pickguard. The neck pickup rout is for a single coil I was planning to use but then decided against it.