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Post subject: Complete Telecaster Build Pictorial
Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2011 6:48 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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Location: Just East of Event Horizon
I had ordered the Fender 60th Anniversary Limited Edition Flame Top Telecaster.
I was hoping the Tele would look like the beautiful Flame Top pictures from NAMM 2011.
Unfortunately, the Tele that came in a couple of weeks ago, was in my opinion, really disappointing.

The flame top was nearly invisible and the book matched Flame Top halves had a distinctively different color tone, from side to side, below the bridge.
To top it off, the back of the alder body had a long line that stretched nearly the entire length of the body.
It may have been a highly unusual grain marking for alder, or in the alternative, a filled crack.
While I doubt that it was a crack (Fender wouldn’t do that, would they?), it alone was enough to nix the deal, let alone the very disappointing "Flame Top."

I was pissed!!
So I went on EBay and started looking at Telecasters.
I bought one of the MIM Heineken limited edition Telecasters for $420, which were a recent Heineken promotional give-a-way.
Production of the MIM Heineken Telecasters is supposedly limited to 250 guitars.
It has cool graphics on the front and back of the guitar and a cool Heineken red star as the 12th fret marker on the fretboard.
I figured that it would be a great guitar to "hot rod."

While I was scouring EBay, I ran across a beautiful “Mighty Mite” ash cherry burst Tele body for a great price at $150. Here’s the EBay listing:

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I had previously considered building a Warmoth Tele, whose similarly finished bodies are more than twice as much. I had never heard of Mighty Mite before, so did some research and decided to take a chance, since I still had some cash that I had saved from the “incinerated” Flame Top deal.
I'm a big fan of that cherry burst look, and for $150, I pulled the trigger.

There were a couple new MIA Tele necks on EBay that were ridiculously priced in the $500 ball bark, so I bought a new, MIM Nashville Deluxe Tele neck for $230.

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When the Mighty Mite body arrived, I was stunned at how nice it was.

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I have a 2006 American Deluxe cherry burst ash Strat, and the Mighty Mite body was every bit as nicely finished.

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I already had an ’83 Telecaster top-loader bridge with Schaller Elite saddles that I had bought a while back for a future project. I bought this bridge because I own an ’83 Tele and I have always loved these top-loader bridges which were only issued by Fender on American Standard Teles in ’83 and ’84.

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Last edited by MickJagger on Mon Sep 23, 2019 2:53 pm, edited 7 times in total.

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Post subject: Re: Complete Telecaster Build Pictorial
Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2011 7:08 pm
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Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2011 5:58 am
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Great looking parts, congrats! Image


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Post subject: Re: Complete Telecaster Build Pictorial
Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2011 7:11 pm
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Thanks HappySquierGuy.

When I received the neck, it was perfect except that I had not been aware that the Nashville Deluxe is set up for vintage Kluson style tuners, which is not the look that I wanted.

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I planned to use Fender/Schaller American Standard tuners, which still have the same look as they did on the American Standard Teles in ’83.

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The 11/32” tuner peghead holes in the neck headstock for the Kluson style tuners had to be enlarged to 13/32” to accommodate the American Standard Tuners.
I first used a 3/8” drill bit. I taped off the drill bit as a depth gauge, equal to the length of the tuning peghead outer shaft.

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There is no need to drill all the way through the neck (the tape depth gauge is not shown here, but it was used when drilling the tuning holes).
The small screw holes for the Kluson style tuners were very carefully filled with plastic wood, as it will mar the finish of the neck.

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Next I bolted the Fender Nashville Deluxe neck onto the Mighty Mite body.
The Mighty Mite body cavity is perfectly cut to accept the Fender Telecaster neck, having a very nice, close fit.

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The neck screw holes in the body were about 1/16” lower than the screw holes on the neck.
This was easily corrected by taking an 11/64” drill bit, taping off the drill bit for the depth of the body hole, minus 1/8”.
I then inserted the drill bit into the body, from the inside of the body cavity, up to the tape, 1/8” before the back of the body (the drill bit is smaller than the hole).

I then drilled with a very slow drill speed, pressuring the drill bit slightly upward, expanding all four holes slightly upward, removing only enough wood to allow the neck screws to contact the screw holes on the neck.
After this slight modification of the body holes, which play no role in actually holding the neck onto the body, the Fender neck fit the Mighty Mite body perfectly!!

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The ’83 bridge that I’m using is a “toploader,” so I am not using the string holes through the body.
But I had planned to finish the string holes on the back with Fender string hole ferrules.
The Fender string ferrules that I bought, initially did not fit.

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I then bought 5/16" diameter string ferrules from Stewart McDonald and they did not fit either.
While the Fender ferrules are not marked, they also appear to have a 5/16" diameter.
I was initially afraid to drill out the holes for fear of chipping the the finish out the urethane finish which is somewhat brittle.

The StewMac ferrules have ridges on the ferrule shaft, while the Fender ferrules have smooth shafts.
So I decided to bite the bullet and enlarge the string holes, and use the smooth Fender ferrules.
I used a portable variable speed drill with a 1/4 inch bit which is much smaller than the preexisting Mighty Mite drilled string hole.

I placed the drill inside the hole at an angle and carefully expanded the hole with a VERY, VERY slow drill speed, certainly not more than 50 rpm, while carefully touching the side of the drill on the edge of the hole.

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After the holes were slightly enlarged, I pressed the Ferrules into the holes and then tapped them home by laying the head of a pair of flat, square pliers as a "drift" on top of the ferrule, and tapping the head of the pliers with the butt of a screw driver handle.

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I have an 83 Telecaster, so I know the distance from the bottom of the nut, to the rear edge of the bridge plate.
Otherwise, I would have to use a 25.5” scale from the bottom of the nut to the high “E” bridge contact point to figure out the placement of the bridge, as there are no "string-through holes for reference. Fortunately, the bridge pickup routing was properly routed, allowing for a correct positioning of the bridge for proper intonation adjustment.

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Last edited by MickJagger on Mon Sep 23, 2019 4:10 pm, edited 18 times in total.

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Post subject: Re: Complete Telecaster Build Pictorial
Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2011 8:40 pm
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I’m using Fender SCN noiseless pickups.
I really like these Bill Lawrence designed pickups, particularly in a Telecaster.
They may not be the "twangiest," but they're great hot pickups for blues and rock.
And best of all, there is no single pole pickup buzz.

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The depth of both the bridge pickup cavity and the neck pickup cavity had to be deepened with a drill, to accommodate the depth of the SCN noiseless pickups.
I do not have a router, which would have made this a lot easier.
So would a forstner drill bit.

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Copper tape was used to shield the control routing.
I also used copper tape for shielding in the pickup routings, even though the pickups are a noiseless design.
A solder link is used to electrically connect the bottom and the side pieces of copper tape, which are grounded with a ground wire from the control routing area that is soldered to the copper shielding in both locations.

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Here is the control route shielding with the ground wire that connects to the “ground star.”
Copper shielding is overlapped onto the face of the guitar in order to ground the back of the pickguard which will receive copper shielding, and to assist in grounding the bridge, in addition to a dedicated bridge ground wire which can be seen on the lower left screw post on the bridge pickup in the picture below.
Electrical tape was used to cover the copper tape under the pickups to assure that the pickups would not ground out.

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Here is a picture of the "grounding star," where all ground wires connect at a single point and are grounded by the ground wire from the jack.
No wires are soldered to the volume or tone pots.
A webpage called "GuitarNuts.com" claimed that all potential ground loops that may cause a 60 cycle hum are eliminated by using this wiring method.
I don't know that I believe that, but in my opinion, it is a much cleaner way to solder ground wires, than soldering them to the back of the pots, and it elevates possible heat damage to the pots.
The ground star will be covered with electrical tape.

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Last edited by MickJagger on Mon Sep 23, 2019 4:34 pm, edited 16 times in total.

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Post subject: Re: Complete Telecaster Build Pictorial
Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2011 9:50 pm
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great post so far. i like it. i also like the way your after matching your strat. very cool.

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"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."


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Post subject: Re: Complete Telecaster Build Pictorial
Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2011 10:41 pm
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Thanks Way Cool.

A couple of days after receiving the Telecaster body, I obtained a genuine Fender white pearl pickguard.
When I mocked it up on the guitar body it was clear that the control plate routing was slightly too close to the center of the guitar and the control plate would not line up with the pickguard cutout.

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I originally did not view the body as being usable due to this problem and was going to return the (then unmolested) body, which was kindly accepted by the EBay seller.
When I eventually had a loaded control plate, the offset was not as bad as it seemed, but it would still not line up exactly with the pickguard cut out.

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I contacted pickguard.com who provided a custom pickguard without the control plate cut out for a $10.00 up-charge.
Here the custom pickguard is shown with a notch cut into it so that it could be placed under the loaded control plate so that I could trace the exact location for the control plate cut out.

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The custom pickguard allowed me to cut the control plate cutout where I wanted with a 1 ¼” hole saw.
The black line is where the cut will be made. The blue line is where the genuine Fender pickguard was cut. There is about a 1/16” difference in location.

I don't know if all Might Mite Tele bodies have this routing problem, but I have reason to believe that it is not a completely unique occurrence.
But considering the great price and the quality of the body and finish, having to get a custom pickguard is not all that bad.

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I bought a 1 ¼” hole saw for about $7.00 and first drilled a guide template.

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Then I lined the pickguard tracing up to the hole saw guide template and to the hole saw fitted into the template, and screwed the pickguard to the template board.

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Then I cut the control plate cutout into the pickguard.

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The back of the pickguard was then shielded with copper shielding which is necessary to eliminate static electricity popping that is often picked up by the SCN pickups if the pickguard is not shielded. The overlapping copper tape on the face of the guitar will ground the pickguard.

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When I initially strung the low "E" string onto the guitar, at what I considered a reasonable bridge height, the string laid flat on the frets. The neck required three (3) strips of masking tape placed above the top neck mounting screw holes on the butt of the neck, to shim the top of the neck out to the proper distance. This resulted in a perfect neck position for adjusting the bridge saddles for a low action set-up that feels and plays great without fret buzz.

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Last edited by MickJagger on Sun Apr 03, 2011 7:20 pm, edited 8 times in total.

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Post subject: Re: Complete Telecaster Build Pictorial
Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2011 11:21 pm
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Drum roll please...
And without further adieu, it is time now for the finished Mighty Mite, Custom '83 Cherry Burst Ash Telecaster.

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I used Fender SCN noiseless pickups and Acme Guitar Works "Modern" electronics (no volume kit) with a CRL 3 way switch, CTS 250k Audio-Taper Pots, a Switchcraft L11 Jack and an Orange Drop .022µF Capacitor.

I also used a Rutters Guitars "Shallow Twisted Machined (input) Jack Cup," Fender dome chrome knobs, Fender/Schaller strap lock buttons, the '83 Fender/Schaller toploader bridge and the custom pickguard, which I cut with the 1 1/4" hole saw.

It cost $858.56 total to build, which I think is fairly reasonable.

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The Fender Nashville Deluxe neck was reconfigured to accept Fender American Standard tuners and a button style string guide was used.

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Small, No. 3056 Schaller Replacement Pearloid Tuning Knobs from Stewart-MacDonald were added later to the Fender tuning machines.

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The screws that hold the tuning knobs onto the tuning machines also adjust the torque stiffness of the tuning machines. The torque stiffness was adjusted after this picture was taken, which shows an incorrect adjustment that is illustrated by the varied exposures of the black machine shafts on the side of the tuner assemblies.

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A Fender "F" neck plate was used.

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The Mighty Mite body string holes were initially too small for the 5/16" Fender string hole ferrules.
I carefully expanded the holes using a 1/4" drill bit at a very slow speed, inserted at an angle, so as not to chip out the urethane body finish.
I then pressed in the ferrules and tapped them home. String Ferrules were used to cosmetically finish the guitar, as they are not used due to the toploader bridge.

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Last edited by MickJagger on Sat Apr 16, 2011 12:42 pm, edited 11 times in total.

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Post subject: Re: Complete Telecaster Build Pictorial
Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2011 11:30 pm
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man that thing sure is purty. wow does it sound?

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"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."


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Post subject: Re: Complete Telecaster Build Pictorial
Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2011 11:41 pm
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Thanks Way Cool.
It sounds and plays great.
I think my first build was a success.


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Post subject: Re: Complete Telecaster Build Pictorial
Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2011 11:46 pm
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i have to agree with you. looking back, have you found any way that you could have cut the cost w/o cutting the quality?

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"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."


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Post subject: Re: Complete Telecaster Build Pictorial
Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2011 6:00 am
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Came out nice!

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Post subject: Re: Complete Telecaster Build Pictorial
Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2011 6:28 am
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Nice work, I bet it sounds good too.

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Post subject: Re: Complete Telecaster Build Pictorial
Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2011 9:33 am
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Great Job!! It looks beautiful...are you happy with the sound?

ginop


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Post subject: Re: Complete Telecaster Build Pictorial
Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2011 9:44 am
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palermog wrote:
Great Job!! It looks beautiful...are you happy with the sound?

ginop



um...... look four posts up. :wink:

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."


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Post subject: Re: Complete Telecaster Build Pictorial
Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2011 9:56 am
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Doh!!....Thankyou way cool jr.... just too much nyquil and aspirin in my system fending off this cold I guess!....


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