Partscaster with a little twist

normula1 · March 2019

So many years ago I was watching The Commitments film and saw the Tele thinline the guitarist used. I loved the idea, but a) I hate the control layout and b) despite a liking for a Tele, I'm a Strat man at heart.

So just before Christmas @GSPBASSES but this little beauty up for sale:

So I had a thought,,,, I'll make a hybrid and popped a couple of these Creamery Classic '71 pickups into Mrs Claus sack.
https://www.creamery-pickups.co.uk/custom-handwound-pickups-from-the-creamery/wide-range-thinline-humbucker-replacements.html#CLASSIC71

After much thought about how best to route the body without making a total hash of it, I bought the bullet and bought a set of Tele Thinline templates and a Strat scratchplate template and set about making some holes

This came out pretty well although the routes are a bit deeper than strictly necessary as the bit I was using was a touch long.

But as I had calculated, the wide range route for the neck pickup is visible with a standard scratchplate

I really fancied making a hybrid plate and drew several variations out on thin card, but none really worked.

So I ended up taking a regular Strat plate and making the top half 1/4 inch wider. It came out quite well and the extra width isn't really noticeable.

So I made my first ever "proper" template and used that to make a plate, and following @Jimbro66's suggestion used an old Tele control plate as a guide for the blade switch.

And whilst it's by no means perfect, I think it came out pretty well. The pickup screw holes are deliberately out of alignment as the baseplates on the Creamery pickups are a touch "rustic" and aren't straight.

I was going to finish this with some rattle cans but the grain is so nice it's shortly going to be heading over to @lonestar ;;;
to have one of his fabulous sunbursts applied.

I may well take the opportunity to make a second attempt at a scratchplate whilst its away

GoldenEraGuitars · March 2019

Cracking to see this being done. Looking forward to getting my hands on it

Winny_Pooh · March 2019

Lovin it

Jimbro66 · March 2019

Nice work @normula1. I'll look forward to your NGD thread when it's all finished and painted.

sawyer · March 2019

Lookin cool man!

normula1 · March 2019

I slung some strings on this evening and miracle of miracles everything lines up and it makes noise

Rabs · March 2019

Nice.. I like it

normula1 · August 2019

So I got the body and neck back from @GoldenEraGuitars ;earlier this week and have had a fun few hours putting it all together. I'm giving it a couple of days before the final setup, but even as it is, it plays really well and sounds great.

Scott's done a fantastic job and I absolutely love the colours. I'm so glad I didn't go down the Halfords rattle can route.

I'm going to have another go at the scratchplate as I reckon I can do a better job but apart from that I'm really happy with how it turned out.

ICBM · August 2019

Interesting conversion - a long time ago I saw a much more extreme one along those lines done to a '68 Strat... the owner saw a new Tele Deluxe in 1972 but couldn't afford one, so modded the Strat! With a full-size Tele Deluxe-style pickguard, four knobs, and an upper-bout switch. The present owner was going to try to restore it as a Strat, but I suggested leaving it since the routing was so extensive and the job had actually been done pretty well.

If you're going to replace the pickguard, make the pickup height screws in the right places - even if the baseplates aren't drilled there, there will be enough sideways movement to allow the screws to go through the holes, and it will look a lot neater.