Yeah I loved how light they are. You could throw that around all night long and not feel it. For £350 it's a prime gigging tool. And I hate to advertise the competition here but this was my third choice.

http://www.fret-king.com/eclat2ym_spec.html

Ignore them at your peril. They do thinline teles too.
This is about as good as the guitar world gets
http://www.fret-king.com/cssemitone_g.htm

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No no and no

Hello moochy13: I build guitars from scratch. I'll answer your questions in order.



It's a total no-go. The point of a thinline is that there are chambered cavities inside. If you go carving into it you will break into those cavities. Some people want contoured thinline bodies and build them from scratch for that purpose, which allows them to design the cavities to take account of the shape of the outside of the body. That's the only way to do it.



If you are talking about a body with Strat type contours then it is very difficult indeed, which is why you don't see many Strats with edge binding. Those that do have it tend either to have no forearm contour (such as the Aerodyne Strat) or to have "faux" binding. A very few extremely talented luthiers build top end "super Strat" type guitars with violin style purfling inset within the edge contour of a Strat body. That sure as heck ain't a project for a beginner.

On the other hand, if you just want to add edge binding to a Telecaster with traditional edges, well that is possible. Provided you are good at carpentry and know how to make a perfect rebate all the way around to receive the binding. One can do it by hand, or use a small palm router with the appropriate collared follow bits for that; or the Dremel with a precision router base and follow guide is also very useful. However, these are not tools for beginners. They are far from fool-proof.



Perfectly do-able. You need this type of Bigsby:

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bridges,_ta ... brato.html



You could. Buy the correct neck plate and carve the heel to match it. And it's better to start with an undrilled neck heel too, if possible.



It is really tough. For starters, you need routing templates for the body. Do you know how to make them? You can buy routing templates for the cavities and neck pocket but they are surprisingly expensive. Better to make them - if you know how. And have you ever used a router? If not, sure as heck I wouldn't lend you mine and neither would any sensible person. For starters you might ruin it and there is also a strong possibility you'll injure yourself really badly. The worst home carpentry injuries they regularly see in hospital emergency departments are from routers (I know an intensive care nurse; you should hear her stories).

Routers are savage, brutal machines. You'd have to be a total idiot to just grab one and have at it, without being taught how to use it properly and safely first. Take heed.



Answering those is the easy bit. Lot's of excellent people on this Forum ready to help you with that stuff when you're ready.

Lastly:

In addition to WDMusic.co.uk, which you already know about, there's also:

http://www.allparts.uk.com/

This next one concentrates a fair bit on the budget end of the market. I don't see any thinline Tele bodies there at the moment but he sometimes has them, including in natural finish. This would be by far your cheapest way of buying necks and bodies:

http://www.axesrus.com/axecart.htm

The following are grown-up luthiers' suppliers. They are mostly for tools and timber for building from scratch, but you will also find hardware on these sites as well, sometimes at good prices, sometimes not. This first one sells some of the most beautiful timber on the planet. He is also very useful for plastic binding, wooden banding and stocks some hard to find tuners, bridges and such as well:

http://www.luthierssupplies.co.uk/

The next one, Tonetech, are good for tools. They sell many of the same tools as Stewart-MacDonald, often for better prices and without trans-Atlantic shipping. Check here for tools first, for instance that Dremel router base I mentioned:

http://www.tonetechluthiersupplies.co.uk/

Next, Touchstone are good for timber, tools, and are also the UK distributor for Schaller hardware:

http://www.touchstonetonewoods.co.uk/

In addition to most of the above, you can also shop for pickups at the following. Very expensive and amongst the very finest on the planet are:

https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/main/

Much more affordable:

http://www.wizardpickups.co.uk/

Both of those pickup makers will build to order, often at no greater cost than buying off the shelf.

Last comment:

This is the truth. Self-building is usually not a way to get a cheaper instrument, but is sometimes the best way to get a guitar that has combinations of features the mainstream makers don't offer.

Going to custom builders, such as Feline, mentioned by Nick above, is also excellent and sometimes not as expensive as people think.

Good luck - C

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That's a great guitar! I'd seriously consider one of those.

Though the Squier Classic Vibe thinline is unbeatable at its price, too.

Cheers - C

EDIT: oh, and while we're advertising the opposition, Gordon Smith offers very nice mid-price thinlines, built right here in Merrie England, near Manchester. People speak highly of these:

http://www.gordonsmithguitars.com/produ ... y.php?id=8

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