If I was thinking of having a guitar put together (which I am - in this case a telecaster), I was wondering if there were any recommendations for the less important parts.
Now, there are great makers of pickups, bodies and necks on here, but what are people's recommendations for the other bits - bridge, scratchplate, control plate, knobs, neck plate, ferrules... have I missed anything? Screws, even. That stuff. If you were to want to spec everything as high as possible, where would you go for that stuff, and what kind of difference would it make (even if it's just psychological)? Is there a perceptible difference between a cheapo control plate and the fanciest one around (even if you don't think the difference is worth paying for)? As far as I can tell, a CS strat has plastic knobs not that different from a Squier (not that anyone lets me near a CS strat).
Firstly, my criteria are on quality and locality - so the best parts available, and most local (on the FB first, then British small companies, then larger companies). I'd let quality come before localness (for example, I've had a recommendation for Rutters for the bridge, and I see they do all the other bits too), but on the whole I'd rather support locally if I can.
In my case, I think I'd prefer a nickel finish, or something less chrome that would patina somewhat, but that's a different question.
(I'm assuming that tuners and internal electrics are specialised enough that you just use the best you can get.)
Comments
There is no guarantee that the best components money can buy will, necessarily, add up the best possible electric guitar.
The law of diminishing returns definitely applies.
I thought people might have opinions, because I don't know, and it's not the sort of thing the YouTube guitar commentariat talk about as far as I can tell.
I do agree that the instrument is (or ought to be) more than the sum of its parts, but it was the parts I was wondering about.
Bridges in particular were simple, fairly thin pressed steel, and some of the super expensive alternatives out there can lead to more of a generic single coil guitar tone than a great Tele tone IME.
If you can't get to hold the parts in your hands to assess their quality, then genuine Fender parts for things like screws, neckplates and control plates are a safe bet.
Although the Fender Custom Shop would no doubt beg to differ, there's simply a limit to how much cash you can throw at a Telecaster build before you start going backwards.
For instance on my own self build Tele I ended up paying a frankly daft amount of money for a matching bridge plate, control plate & knobs all milled from a single chunk of cold rolled steel. As a piece of engineering it’s a nice detail but do I really need it when your classic Tele bridge is a thin piece of sheet metal folded & plated ?