Long story on this, but a friend-of-a-friend recommended me for some work on his guitars. He's a Tex/Mex player, and liked my Tele's when he stopped by my place. We got to talking about building him a custom, he loved the idea of taking a Tele and mashing it up with some other models. So, we sat down, drew out a list of things he'd like and before I knew it, he was handing over some earnest cash to get this started. I decided to build twins - a sacrificial prototype (mine) and the final, polished product. But, both nearly identical spare some things I would prefer on mine, verses his preferences.

Took me 3 months, but here is the prototype (warts and all, I have a couple small issues to iron out on the final version, but they're minor).



So, here's the skinny on this one-of-a-kind hybrid. Tele body made of basswood (think light), with a blue pearloid laminate top. Cream binding, slab style body. Neck is maple with an ebony fretboard, 24.75" LP scale length, 12" radius, med-jumbo stainless frets and a 70's strat headstock. String thru-hard tail, Filterbilly Classic pickups, and a 6-way toggle with coil taps. Grover tuners, bone nut, skunk stripe neck/truss and a satin nitro finish with hammered silver on the headstock.

It's very unique, but I really dig the final product. Feels very much like a Guild or some LP models to play...that scale makes bends easy, the neck is fast. Feels nothing like a tele, except for the picking hand. It's crazy light, but it doesn't sacrifice much in tone...has a lot of range, snappy and bright on the bridge PU when tapped, but has good bass and midrange when running both coils and sustain is good. I don't think I've ever seen a model quite like it, but the end result is pretty fun to play.

The Filterbilly's are really awesome. Really easy to dial in grit just hitting the strings hard, and they sound amazing clean and with a good tube sound...true to the lo-output filtertrons they're based on. Very affordable too, and drop in to a HB hole easily.

I'll post up once the next model is done....should be a clone except for a slightly different bridge and headstock color.

Very nice!  I like it!

Probably won't take a guitarist with a keen eye long to see what I fucked up on the bridge. I measured his bridge for the string thru holes, made my drill holes, but my hard tail is different than his (he wanted a heavier dish-style), and when the holes line up, it set the bridge too far forward, so I ALMOST ran out of room for intonation. With some screw & spring trimming it worked out fine, but too close for comfort. Measure once, cut three times! Doh.

Nice work Swingset, looks amazing!

Looks really nice, I'm impressed.

Impressive. Build pics would be interesting to see progression.

I'm terrible about taking pics while I'm doing projects (or just anything in general, but I'll snap some of the 2nd build as the customer will probably be happy to see it progressing).

I only have a "almost there" pic from before the finishing work, shielding, etc.



I do all my CNC/routing at a maker's workshop in Austin, which is pretty cool. The only parts I outsource is the fretboard (buy those from Stewmac) because it's kind of silly to reinvent the wheel on that. Occasionally I use neck blanks, but this one was very custom so I had to modify & build it. As for finishing, I do the paint/finishing myself, except for the clear/topcoat. Most body shops will hit a guitar for ya for minimal $$. The one near me only charged me $20 since they can just hang it in the booth while doing other work. I offered to final buffing, but they said no problem and did it for me.

Outstanding!  I can do bodies but don't have the patience for fine finishes or fretboard/necks.  Same for working on cars...I'll do engine swaps but my eyes glaze over when think about finish sanding lol.

I don't enjoy the sanding/prep, but neck work is kinda relaxing I think. That said, re-fretting gives me anxiety. I've done a few necks I took the guitar to a good luthier who I trust to pull and prep the neck. I'll re-seat them, but pulling is so easy to fuck up.

Learning and getting comfortable with neck work is, IMHO, the best thing a guitarist can ever do for himself and can be done with very minimal tools. For one, it means that almost no guitar is beyond making playable and setup for the player....at the very minimum I'd recommend anyone wanting to save a lot of money and really have your guitars dialed in for your tastes is comfortable leveling and dressing frets or addressing a high one. Cutting nuts for sure is something a player should be able to do.

The other thing is that if you're building, it's rare to have an affordable neck built by anyone, even Warmoth, that's truly dressed and fretted correctly. Some are better than others, but I've had my share of supposedly "ready to play" necks that I thought needed a lot more work to be really good.

Good to know, I had been considering getting a warmoth neck for a build thinking it would be GTG outta the box.

Warmoth is, for the $$, your best bet...and if you get one that's got some high frets, they'll fix/address it (which is more than you'll get from other makers). Buy with confidence from them...they are generally very good, but realize that they're ALL a bit of a crapshoot and fret sprout can happen to the best of them. A fret rocker (a credit card works too) will tell ya everything out of the box, and if you get a pretty straight one and set relief properly, they're rock solid.

They also offer a slew of options, which is cool. I'd trust them above Mighty Mite or some of the other neck suppliers, given what I've seen.

Youtube has some superb tutorials on neck work and setup. Stewmac's series with Bill Earlywine is always a great foundation. Guns & Guitars is a cool resource for budget builds, and he's always showing a cheap/easier way to get there.

If you do a build, start a thread! Would be cool.

On my Korean Lyon tele, it had one high fret on the low E and A at the 20th fret. Not exactly real estate I get into on a tele so I filed it down myself with my needle files but on anything else I'd get a proper set of fret files.

I like.

Ebony fretboard, stainless frets, gibson scale length, basswood body and filtertron style pickups...  That is really an interesting mashup.  What's she sound like?

My studio/amps are a bit of a mess right now, but I have my recording amp set up so I threw this together....not a comprehensive demo with the way my gear is but it gives you an idea.

I've had much better luck with Musikraft necks than Warmoth as far as frets go.  They cost $50 more give or take but I think it is worth it.

I have no experience with theirs other than a bass player I jammed with who used one to replace his Jazz, and he was pleased with it. That's about at the price point where, honestly, it better show up ready to string up with no fret issues tho. I'd be pissed if I had to finish a neck that was pushing $300.

Hell yeah, it sounds great!  Bright and articulate with some sparkle but at the same time it has a harmonic richness.  Wasn't sure if the SS frets might make it too bright and pingy but they definitely don't.

Thanks for the video Swingset.

That's an awesome guitar brother!  I *LOVE* the pearloid top . . . that gives me ideas :-)

Great work!

I got the idea from one of those cheapie sites that sells bodies (can't for the life of me remember what the hell it is), but they had some pearloid models pretty cheap. Was gonna use one and then I read the reviews (neck pockets wrong, canted routes on the trems, shitty quality wood/plywood). Said fuck that, but the idea stuck and pearloid & binding are just a matter of glue so I went with it.

Thanks so much for sharing this.
A) it's beautiful
B) it's cures me of my urge to order one of the kits I've been seeing advertised
C) much respect for your workmanship

Way to go!

Don't let it. Lots of fun and there's good kits that will be a joy to put together.

That looks great. Sounds cool, too. Nothing like a tele.

Building a guitar is on wy list of things I'd like to do someday.

Sat down with a new piece I've been working on and played a long solo with the Telemasher. Was anxious to see how it'd sound, and I'm super pleased with the result.

Laid down a pretty good solo, for me anyway, so if ya wanna hear it sitting in a mix here ya go:

https://craiggibson.bandcamp.com/track/a-better-place?fbclid=IwAR2QEmr16t0c6BJz6UQhhqtbXSA9vdkl84uSzcppelPunupWS_VLwE-bAIc

If you're ADHD/AC/DC, the lead solo starts at around the 2:30 mark I believe.

I just haven't got the skills or tools or time to learn the skills.
So I broke down & just ordered this puppy...
Attached File

PRS Santana SE

Well, if you're gonna skip the building, you can't beat that! Congrats.

You're being kind, thank you.
The kudos goes to you & your mad luthier skills!