Here’s the story of my Telecaster!! I grabbed a Surf Green Squier Bullet on closeout at Musicians Friend for $125 with the intention of using it as a project guitar. Being a budget entry level instrument, I wanted to ungrade everything fairly inexpesively. I didn’t want pickups to cost more than the guitar 😝!!

I sourced the parts on Amazon and eBay, and after a bit of researching went with Bootstrap Pickups wound to order out of Ohio. I got the Original Recipe set- 50s spec windings with alnico III magnets. Check them out- they are fantastic pickups at a great price!

I ordered brass saddles because there were no drop-in replacements for the bridge. I didn’t want to fill and drill to put in a new bridge, so I figured that would at least get me close!

I ordered Gavitt cloth push-back wire to do a new wiring harness along with a few old stock Soviet paper-in-oil capacitors. I put in a 0.047uF one following the 50s wiring scheme. I ordered a Kaish heavy duty three way switch to replace the cheap plastic one in the Bullet.

Full sized CTS 250k pots and a Switchcraft jack completed the electronics.

For machine heads, I priced out locking tuners, but found Wilkinson EZ-Lok tuners. The mechanism seemed simple and effective, the price was right ($35), and I like Wilkinson stuff, so that’s what I went with!! They dropped in ditectly, and only required drilling for the small stabilizing screw in the back. I’m very happy with them!

For the sad, white pickguard, I ordered a reddish tortoiseshell one from Musiclily. The holes lined up perfectly!! Whew!!! I’m a loyal member of the Order of the Tort!! Five of my guitars and basses have tort!!😎😎.

When final assembly came, I reversed the control plate to move the pickup selector to the back- made sure I soldered the pickups to reflect that on the switch!! I put GHS David Gilmour Boomers (10-48 gauge) strings on it. I like 10s on mu guitars except my Jazzmaster which has 11s.

I also ordered a Tusq nut as well, but chickened out putting it in as I didn’t have nut files, and didn’t trust myself to get it right!! Abalone topped knurled control knobs completed the build!

This thing Rips now!! The Bootstrap pickups are pure Tele, and sound amazing for the price point!! I’m happy with how the wiring and soldering went, love the reverse plate to move the selector switch out of the way and love ❤️ the look of the tort with the Surf Green. All in all the parts and pickups were about $125 dollars. So I’m in for like $250 and feel I’ve got a Telecaster that punches WAY above its ultimate price point. Fun project!!!

Hope you like the way it came out, and thanks for reading about it!! 😎🎸😎

Every "who winds a good vintage-spec Tele set" thread here ends with the same six names and a dozen small shops nobody can find again later. There was no single list of the independent winders, so I built one.

https://42gauge.com/

- 202 independent winders, each verified live on their own site, linked to their site

- Browse by country and US state, or by type (Tele, single coil, humbucker, P90, Filtertron, bass)

- Winder pages list models where the winder's own site publishes them

- Each page shows current Reverb and eBay listings for that winder when there are any, so you can see what sets go for used

- Mass-market brands (Duncan, DiMarzio, EMG, Fender, Gibson, Fishman) are deliberately not on it

- Free to list. Missing winder? Submit form on the site; I review every entry. Winders can ask for a correction or removal from their page

Full disclosure: this is my project, and the marketplace links are affiliate links (declared on the site). I used AI tools to help build and check the list, so some entries may be stale or wrong; corrections welcome. I'll be doing my best to keep it updated.

Who's missing? Drop the small shops below and I'll add them.

Klon Klone (the Twinkie) holy grail reverb —> 74 bassman

At one point in its life, this guitar had a bad teal green rattle can paint job and the previous owner noticed what looked Olympic White peeking out from underneath. So he carefully removed the repaint, revealing what you see here. It was already heavily relic’d, he just uncovered the remaining original finish in the top and sides. He determined that the back’s original finish couldn’t be saved, and left it.
After buying it, I decided to slowly sand it down to the beautiful, natural look it you see here.
It’s 9lb, typical for that era’s use of Northern Ash instead of Swamp Ash, but dang that middle position sound makes it all worthwhile.
Not sure if it’s a keeper or not, but digging it so far.

Brand spankin' new Classic Vibe 60s Squier Custom Telecaster. Still very much a beginner back into lessons mid-life and wanted an electric that wasn't breaking the bank. "Fender inspired wide range" neck pickup is probably just a humbucker with a faceplate, but whatever. Ready to poorly belt out some Clash!

Happy Tele Tuesday. It was calling out for some twang today.

I have the Paisley guitar. It’s very light. It sounds good. I just don’t like the V neck that comes with the guitar.

Anyone know if there's an aftermarket 6 saddle replacement bridge for the AP2 Tele Deluxe?

Scooped up a special run 2010 telecaster deluxe in sea foam pearl and threw some Lollar deluxe foils on it. Plays like a dream!

Hi,

any experience with this guy ? I am tele-crazy ... I decided to have only telecasters (because that round shiny upper bout actually supports nicely people with bald head) and Vs (my other guitars are ESP Arrow and Jackson Rhoads) ...

I wanted some longer scale tele to complement into my tele-life-plan, that is

• Vintage old-school tele - my MIJ Tokai Breezysound from 89
• Modern 7-string HSS tele - my MIJ Vola Vasti 7
• Modern 6-string HSS tele - my DIY partscaster project that is now in-progress, wanna details ? see below
• Mean metal 7-strings tele - ????? looking for it, Seraph 7 is a candidate, I want 27"

Please share with me your experience with Balaguer Serapth 7 if somebody has it ... Or maybe suggest another 7-string tele with longer scale ? I know Solar has some but they are both 26.5" and they have both Evertune, I already have Evertune on Arrows so I'd prefer normal fixed bridge.

thanks in advance for any your input ...

cheers

ps. my current partscaster-under-the-construction blueprint:

• fender MIM 12" oval flat shape roasted maple LH neck - so reversed headstock with fender logo upside down
• custom made body, white nitro satin with mild relic .. rear-fed so no tele control panel but with tortoise tele pickguard, just 5-way switch and volume knob, something between this and Jim Root's tele .. 40mm thick (or slim), armrest bevel and belly bevel ...
• HSS pickups ... Lundgren Black Heaven with Big Al for a humbucker (black nickel cover), custom made white strat-like single coils
• All Gotoh hardware in Cosmo Black finish (510fx and sg381 mg-t tuners)

Tele copy. The body is heavy and very dense. I’m a better guitar player than a cabinet maker or arborist. Any help appreciated.

They are two different models and also they are different price, the professional hotshot is around $2k and the professional hotshot classic is around $1500. Visual diff maybe the bridge plate but how about the pickups?? Thanks

Hi there,

I bought this tele a few years ago and was told this tele is a late 90's / early 2000s Fender Telecaster '52 Reissue made in Japan.

I'm trying to pinpoint the date as it would mean a lot to me if I knew accurately the date it was constructed. The guitar sounds great and is definitely well built. It's definitely old and has some slight wear and tear. 

The information I have so far:
- Crafted in Japan is printed on the back of the neck, next to where the neck bolts on
- The headstock reads Fender Telecaster
- When taking off the neck, at the back of the neck it reads TL-52 TX and above it it is marked 'D'. There also seems to be something that was written in pencil but has faded. All that remains is a 0 and potentially a 1 or a 7 before it. 
- Marked on the body of the guitar where the neck bolts on it reads TL-52
- The bridge plate is marked A011520, I'm not sure what that means.

I'm not sure if there's any other way I can find out the dating of this guitar, but it would be nice to find out.

Regardless this guitar is a joy.

If you have any information it would be greatly appreciated.

Send recommendations! I'm thinking Light regulars? XS 10-42's

I also hear good things about EB's, but also read they dropped off too,

Regular amount of Stanky? or Extra stanky's? (I always pronounce slinky's like this, because this is what I read before I need to filter myself)

Had an idea of a little amp guitar matching colour combo….to scratchplate or not to scratchplate, that is the question. 😉

I've been wanting a Thinline for a while, but I didn't want to pay for a vintage guitar and I do not like modern c shaped necks (they're too small for me). I do enjoy modding and setting up guitars so I try to find a body color I like on something inexpensive, but decent quality and turn it into a project. Guitar Center had a sale on the Squier black Classic Vibes 70, which I hadn't seen before. I put a few images into google gemini and started playing around with pickguards and necks and came up with something I think looks cool (last pic is the ai version). I knew I was going with Fralin Widerange pickups and I already had a Warmoth tele neck. I found a beefy Musiclily bridge that was a direct replacement and boom I was in business! I bought it and in two weeks I had all the parts. Once the Warmoth pickguard arrived I found out I had to hog out some wood so the 500k pots would fit (2nd image). I plugged and drilled all new screw holes (that paint chip in the middle is from factory). It went together fast! I'm really enjoying the guitar. It sounds sick. The pickups are articulate, touch sensitive, and have a ton of grunt. The high end is tame and not ear piercing. It's got all the cool sounds you would expect and it can really squeal if you are good at pinch harmonics (I am not - I suck). I cannot hear the F hole when I'm playing, which I'm happy about. I'm really enjoying it!

A Moon Reggae Master.

Look like a Telecaster, but mixed with LP Special flavor (Mahogany body & Double P90 config).

The pickguard was kinda look like LP Special kind also, but original owner removed it.

Has anyone ever made a switch from a single coil to humbucker Tele here? Or vice versa?

Or put new pickups in it?