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
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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.
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.
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