Haddo-caster 7.0 - Complete

Well, I can now report that I am pretty much done with the Telecaster put-together project. I am glad that I added the little metal plate under the neck, because I did use the micro-tilt feature to set up the angle of the neck. I think the action is a hair (literally) on the high side, but it feels just about right.

I had to adjust the truss rod, because I think there was too much relief in it. Now it seems okay. Raising the neck angle with the micro-tilt allowed me to bring up the saddles on the bridge. This is good because the bridge pickup was too close to the strings. Believe it or not, this affected the vibration of the string, since the oscillations had to compete with the magnetic pull. I think the technical term for this is Strat-itis as it is a common occurance on Stratocasters. Anyhow, it seems fine now.

Now that the height of the strings is set, I may have just a little more pickup adjustment to make. I think to balance things out, I need to raise the neck pickup a tad, and maybe bring down the middle pickup. The bridge pickup now seems fine. I ended up with a standard Telecaster-style output cup here. I was not able to secure the Electro-socket. It's on back order, or something - so, I picked this up for $5 in Jefferson City.

Man, I wish I could walk into a store in this town and buy a part like that! Funny story about that, I tried to buy this part from Guitar Center in Independence. I have such trouble there, but it is on the way. As I approached the store, I noted that there were 4-5 guys standing outside the door on their smoking break. I know that this is their right, but if I managed that store I would ask them to do this out back. It just flaunts that no one will be inside to help.

I go directly to the counter to request this part, and it takes several minutes for someone to assist me. Finally a young woman asks me what I want and I tell her that I am looking for a cup for the output jack of a Telecaster. She points to a control knob on the wall and says "like this?" "No," I tell her, I need the part that goes on the output of the guitar. "Hmmm," she says, without looking further "I don't think we have those." I couldn't believe it. Maybe they did, or maybe they didn't carry this simple product (I saw output covers for Les Pauls and Stratocasters, but the place where I thought these would be were obscured by some other products). However, she had no interest in finding out, or at least pretending to "look in the back." I promptly left and drove the rest of the way on my trip getting to West Music in Jefferson City 1/2-hour before closing. Not only did they have this simple item, but I bought strings and a Redd Volkert DVD. I spent $50 at a real customer-oriented music store. Sometimes I wonder how Guitar Center stays in business. But, I keep going back for this treatment.

Review:
Oh man, this thing plays well. The Fender body and neck allowed for a near-perfect setup. The Glendale 3-barrel saddles gives a vintage look and sound, but also allows dead-on intonation. The 7-position pickup selection gives every sound that I was searching for. So far, I don't have a favorite, but I do gravitate towards #2 (middle and bridge) for that bubbly spank sound similar to a Strat. I can definitely handle the 7-1/4" radius fretboard, which is good because it looks outstanding. The neck feels fine, too. I don't have a hang-up about needing the exact same feel on every guitar I play, I believe the player needs to get everything he can from guitar that sounds right.

The American Deluxe body here has a carved back to make it easier to play. Also, the heel is carved where the neck meets the body. This makes it a lot easier to access some of those higher notes. I can't get over how much better a tinted vintage-looking neck with 21 frets looks, compared to the 22-fret pale look that would normally come with this model. Fender really does do great work, though - because that neck from the other model fit in here so nicely (well, except for drilling the hole offset neck bolt.) The wood grain (alder) really shows through the 3-tone sunburst finish. Also, I like the top binding on these things.

I modified the leather strap per my usual method, Schaller locking straps, and a "tail" at the other side to put the instrument cable through. This keeps the cable from being pulled out accidentally if I step on it. This is something that I did to my strap for the Les Paul. The strap is all stiff and not broken in at all. It will probably take a year. It is that vintage thin style, because this guitar only weighs 8 lbs. If I used this strap on my Les Paul (over 10lbs. maybe?) it would cut right through my shoulder.

The reversed control plate is very comfortable to me. If you played Telectasters for a few decades, I could see this being a minor problem. In short, this is a simple guitar style, with the minor complexity of a middle pickup added. It sounds absolutely amazing through a tube amp.

--gh