Partscaster (Tele) Project

[Deltaphoenix]

What’s up gang? I haven’t been very active here lately and ILF had been down for a bit so I felt like this thread was needed.

I am more of a bass player but I have 2 rad guitars (EBMM Mariposa and Pro2 Tele) which is probably 1 more than I need. I had been thinking about a Bigsby on a Tele and other Tele Pickups. I decided that I would put together what I was thinking about rather than modding my current Tele.

Here is the body I picked up from BloomDoom Guitars:

It’s Alder and Nitro finished.

I have a set of blacked out Porter 9T pickups (essentially P90s in Tele shells). I have a black Goldo G5 tremolo on the way. It’s essentially an improved B5 (designed/built in German) that has a shaft that is like the Callaham aftermarket one.

There are some Tele Bridges that are designed for use with a Bigsby. But not many of them are black (that is a requirement). I decided to go with a black Babicz FCH bridge because I think the circular cam saddle for the string look like they will work with the tremolo (plus the saddles are brass which is traditional material on a Tele). I emailed Babicz and Jeff Babicz answered confirming his bridge works well with a Bigsby.

For the rest of the hardware, I will get some black hardware kit. I am thinking that I want an Pro2 neck w/Rosewood FB; I really love the neck on my other Telecaster so it makes sense to just get the same type for this.

There are other things to figure out like the pots, cap, nice output jack and if I want to do anything else to the electronics.

I am not sure on the pickguard for this guitar yet. The white one in the picture looks great and I think it would look great with the guitar and black hardware.

Any thoughts, suggestions or experiences to share? I am open as this is the first guitar that I have assembled part by part.

[Deltaphoenix]

The Goldo G5 trem arrived yesterday. The bridge arrives tomorrow.

Right now I am thinking about wiring and electronics mods. My AmPro2 has series/parallel for both pickups on and a treble bleed mod. These Porter 9Ts aren’t designed with series in mind but it can be done. I am thinking I want something different than my other Telecaster though. I am thinking a blend mod may be the way to go. When on neck, you can blend in the bridge and vice versa. I think that would be handy and give the guitar its own vibe. Also, no treble bleed circuit on this one.

[Gone Fission]

Nice thing about traditional Teles is it is easy to redo the controls.

Traditionally P-90s use 500k ohm pots for volume and tone. Can’t tell you if the Porters are designed to drop into a stock Tele with existing 250k pots, though—the pickups may be brighter/shriller that way. Traditional pairing is 250k with .047 mF for Fender and 500k with 0.22 mF for Gibson.

Beyond that, the easy tweaks are 50s wiring or modern wiring, which effects volume and tone interaction and treble roll off. Read articles to get a better explanation than I can give. If you’re going modern, you might want to experiment with treble bleeds for which preferences can be idiosyncratic based on rigs. Mythos Effects sells a treble bleed PCB with onboard mini switches that can be used to test some favorite arrangements in your guitar.

You may also consider a simple thing like putting the control plate in backwards and putting the volume towards the strings for easier swells but slower switching. If you don’t like blade switches you can get custom plates for Gibson-style toggles.

Deeper gets deeper. Blend pots, 4-way switches to add a series option, out-of-phase or “half-out-of-phase” wiring, and on, and on. Dirk Wacker’s column in Premier Guitar, Seymour Duncan’s online wiring diagrams, and the TDPRI forum will have lots of info and ideas. But I would suggest starting pretty basic and adjusting to fine tune what you have and then maybe expand some sounds that usefully expand your available arsenal. (For example, if your pickups are fat and high output, adding a series switching option may add little; if your pickups are bright and sparkly, adding the series option may give you more use than thinner out-of-phase sounds.)

[Blackened Soul]

One thing I have been doing lately is to mod my bigsby arm brackets by grinding off the stop so the arm can turn 360. If you have a grinder or belt sander this takes under 5 min. If you feel this is beyond you you can buy a after market one https://toneshapers.com/products/callah ... rm-bracket it really makes a difference in the stuff you can do.

Note: when bigsby and replacement park makers say the parts for USA made and import models do not fit they mean it. The holes are not even close to the same size… this is actually why I started to grind my own arm brackets.. I had an import b7 and wanted to put a Chet Atkinson curvy arm on and the arm bracket did not fit so I ground the stop nub off the original arm bracket and was able to get it to work.

[Deltaphoenix]

Thanks for the input, ya’ll!

I have been thinking of reversing the control plate for volume swells. I think it will work well with the Goldo G5 Trem.
The G5 arm can already be positioned however I want and it doesn’t need any Callahan type mods or replacement parts.

I think the Porters use 250k pots but I will confirm. As far as electronics go, my other tele is a 4 way and the pickups are optimized for that (rwrp). I am thinking a stacked pot with blend that works on neck or bridge only would make this super flexible. I am still pondering modern vs 50s wiring. The 50s wiring is interesting and possibly nice for this guitar.

On Thursday, I bought a black neck plate with an Illuminati symbol (eye in pyramid). I have some slightly conspiracy theory/related tattoos.

I have kept thinking about a neck and the idea of an aluminum neck came to mind. By yesterday I had connected with James at Aluminati. They are in Asheville, I will be an hour away. They are operational and undamaged. I am getting an Aurora 6 inline with cutout. It will be Black with a brushed finish. Carbon fiber fret board with Copper inlays. I am stoked, about a 4 month wait for the neck at which point this will be assembled.

[Deltaphoenix]

It’ll be a few months before I have the neck and can assemble. I pretty much have everything else here or on the way. I went with Radioshop Pickups out of Wales for the electronics, they have a sweet a blend send up for a Tele and the guys are really cool (I am of Welsh descent too on my Dad’s side).
My Buddy Alper (Alperious Custom Pickguards) nailed what I wanted for the pickguard. My Dad’s initials were DLC and do are mine and my son’s so a little homage to Dad. I figured Luke vs Darth to represent father and son battles was kind of fitting too. Anyways here is a pic:

[wdinc01]

That's an amazing pickguard! I've seen a few of his pickguards pop up on Punk Rock Bass Player facebook group

[Deltaphoenix]

Thanks!!!
Alper is a great guy, we collaborated on getting my vision into a workable design. I totally recommend him if you are looking to personalize your guitar (or just make it look cooler).