Having learned my lesson from my first build, I decided to focus on just making a body this time. I had some leftover alder from the previous project, so I built that along with a flame maple top to go with it.
Specs:
- Neck: Aftermarket MIJ Fender Telecaster neck
- Tuners: Fender locking vintage-style
- Body: Alder with belly contour, flame maple top
- Pickups: Fender Pure Vintage ‘64, wired with Oak Grigsby switch
- Bridge: Callaham
- Vibrato: Bigsby B5
- Finish: Hand-rubbed turquoise dye, water-based wipe-on poly
I decided I wanted to give a shot at a figured drop top and this was pretty straightforward to do with enough clamps. To make things hard on myself, I decided to wire this with an Oak Grigsby switch, which gives you an extra position to have the pickups in series. I also learned that Fender has not been routing their neck pockets at 5/8” for a while, as the aftermarket neck sat too high. The ideal route depth is likely 11/16”. Also, Bigsby’s are a pain to string and intonate.