Manton Customs Build: True Temperament Echo MK II Tele Inspired Guitar...Finished

Manton_Customs · January 2016

Hello all, I've heard good things about the forum so thought I'd register , this is my first post. I'm a full time luthier based in Shropshire and thought I'd share this build here as it's a True Temperament guitar which you may find interesting. If you're not familiar with True Temperament please take a minute to check out their website. It's a great system and I was pretty much hooked after building an 8 string TT guitar for a client last year. You can read all about the 8 string on my website.

This build thread was written last year and the guitar is complete, so I'll be working through the updates quite swiftly. It’s a stock instrument, so is for sale. This is not my first True Temperament guitar and the project came about as I managed to get a good deal on a pre made True Temperament neck, so all I have to do is build a body for it! I decided on my Echo MK II shape which is very much Tele inspired and it’s going to be red to contrast the Maple fingerboard nicely.

Basic Specs:

Maple Fingerboard True Temperament Neck

One Piece English Ash Body

Translucent Blood Red Finish With Contrasting Black Grain Fill

Gotoh Black Hardware

Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound Pickup Set

CTS Pots

Dunlop Straplocks

Manton_Customs · January 2016

The starting point: the True Temperament neck.

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u425/Manton-Customs/Manton Customs True Temperament Echo MKII/1.jpg

A close up of the wiggly frets. Now let’s get to work!

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u425/Manton-Customs/Manton Customs True Temperament Echo MKII/2.jpg

Here I have made a template from Ply to fit the neck nice and tightly. Those two tiny holes came with the neck and is where they attached a spray handle.

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u425/Manton-Customs/Manton Customs True Temperament Echo MKII/3 2.jpg

This is the body template…please ignore the hideous handwriting!

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u425/Manton-Customs/Manton Customs True Temperament Echo MKII/4.jpg

I forgot to get a picture of the body blank before cutting out, but here it is after the template has been used to cut out the body. As you can see it’s a really beautiful piece of wood, this is 1 piece English Ash.

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u425/Manton-Customs/Manton Customs True Temperament Echo MKII/5.jpg

Now I use the template made earlier to cut the neck pocket, here’s the result.

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u425/Manton-Customs/Manton Customs True Temperament Echo MKII/6.jpg

Test fitting.

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u425/Manton-Customs/Manton Customs True Temperament Echo MKII/7.jpg

Manton_Customs · January 2016

I don’t particularly like neck plates so I usually use ferrules, here I have just drilled and recessed them with a Forstner bit.

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u425/Manton-Customs/Manton Customs True Temperament Echo MKII/8.jpg

Next I mount the bridge in the appropriate location attaching it with two screws to be used later when routing for the bridge pickup.

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u425/Manton-Customs/Manton Customs True Temperament Echo MKII/9.jpg

Bridge pickup template attached using the screws mentioned above.

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u425/Manton-Customs/Manton Customs True Temperament Echo MKII/10.jpg

All routs completed

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u425/Manton-Customs/Manton Customs True Temperament Echo MKII/11.jpg

Just for fun a mockup with hardware!

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u425/Manton-Customs/Manton Customs True Temperament Echo MKII/12.jpg

More soon, thanks for watching.

Manton_Customs · January 2016

Here I have completed the sanding and cut the roundover, then attached a spray handle.

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u425/Manton-Customs/Manton Customs True Temperament Echo MKII/13.jpg

An edge shot, showing the roundover and the thickness of the body. I prefer my bodies a little thinner as you can see in this picture.

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u425/Manton-Customs/Manton Customs True Temperament Echo MKII/14.jpg

Then a sealer coat of Shellac is sprayed and the grain filler applied. This really brings out and highlights the grain creating a stunning finish once the colour coats have been sprayed.

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u425/Manton-Customs/Manton Customs True Temperament Echo MKII/15.jpg

The back after grain filling.

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u425/Manton-Customs/Manton Customs True Temperament Echo MKII/16.jpg

Thanks for watching.

Megii · January 2016

Looks great and very interesting. Is it designed to be best used in certain keys?

Manton_Customs · January 2016

Thanks

. Not really, it'll be perfectly in tune in any key though the most significant difference is around the first few frets, which is where normal frets are the most off. Though the result is still easily noticeable wherever you play on the neck.

If you meant tunings, then yes! Standard and down to half a step down are great. Though beyond that the system loses some of it's advantage. They make a special Low Tune system for this.

FelineGuitars · January 2016

Nice, but wouldn't like to fret dress the TT neck.

BigMonka · January 2016

The body looks great! Looking at the frets make my eyes go funny though!

Does it sound different if playing with other guitars or a keyboard?

axisus · January 2016

Nice! So with TT, what happens if you bend a string into the next bendy bit?

Sporky · January 2016

The world ends.

Rowby1 · January 2016

axisus;954982" said:
Nice! So with TT, what happens if you bend a string into the next bendy bit?

Beat me to it, what happens with bends and wide vibrato?

mart · January 2016

Looking very nice, especially the grain pattern after you'd treated it. But

Manton_Customs said:
...I prefer my bodies a little thinner ...

Last time I said something like that my wife slapped me.

Manton_Customs · January 2016

FelineGuitars said:

Nice, but wouldn't like to fret dress the TT neck.

Thanks! I like the juniors you're doing

. I have done minor touch ups to the frets before and yep it is a bit tricky but you get there in the end with a three corer file and some patience!

BigMonka said:

The body looks great! Looking at the frets make my eyes go funny though!
Does it sound different if playing with other guitars or a keyboard?

Playing with other guitars in a full band you won't notice much of a difference, but played in a quieter setting with a keyboard or piano then yes, it sounds a lot nicer! That's sort of how I ended up working with TT in the first place. I was commissioned to build an 8 string for a guy who plays with an organ and he was getting frustrated with the obvious intonation differences, so TT were the only real answer.

Rowby1 said:

axisus;954982" said:
Nice! So with TT, what happens if you bend a string into the next bendy bit?
Beat me to it, what happens with bends and wide vibrato?

Bends are no problem, they just feel a tiny bit different, here is a video explaining

Manton_Customs · January 2016

You're a braver man than I @mart #:-S

Manton_Customs · February 2016

As nice as it looked natural, it’s not what we are going for on this build so now I’m spraying the colour coats. This picture really doesn’t do the colour justice as it proved quite difficult to photograph! It’s more of a blood red in person as you’ll hopefully be able to see later.

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u425/Manton-Customs/Manton Customs True Temperament Echo MKII/17.jpg

Here several coats of clear have been sprayed and our decal applied, usually the decal would be reserved for the headstock, but this one has the True Temperament logo up there. So I needed somewhere else to display it and think it fits nicely here, the contrast of the red and white looking reminiscent of a sports car!

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u425/Manton-Customs/Manton Customs True Temperament Echo MKII/18.jpg

Now the guitar was given plenty of time to cure before wet sanding and buffing which has taken place here and we have a lovely gloss!

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u425/Manton-Customs/Manton Customs True Temperament Echo MKII/19.jpg

The back

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u425/Manton-Customs/Manton Customs True Temperament Echo MKII/b6c38224-87bc-46cc-9129-63d79d7e551f.jpg