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Telecaster kit review

So I decided to try something different, and get a kit guitar from a seller online. I chose a Telecaster kit from Cotton Eyed Joe. The kit came with a swamp ash body which has a flame maple veneer top, maple neck with maple fretboard, Telecaster style bridge and pickups. The wiring is a snap-connect system that requires no soldering (except for the bridge/string ground), which I soldered to the bridge and copper tape shielding that I added.

A few obstacles to the project: the bridge in the kit I received wasn't the one pictured, so I had to request a replacement. Customer service was great, I got the bridge I needed in about a week. A few of the pre-drilled holes needed to be enlarged (string ferrules holes on back of body and the neck mounting screw holes), but no worries.

The headstock comes in blank form, so you can choose and cut your own style shape. I went with a standard modern Telecaster shape. I looked at a few pictures online and freehand drew and cut the headstock...a little sanding and all good. Neck had no finish, so I opted for a hand rubbed Tung oil finish, which is much better in my opinion for a fast playing neck.

The scale length was supposed to be 25.5", but I measured the 12th fret to verify for when I was going to set up the bridge saddles prior to dialing in the intonation. The 12th fret measurement was not 12.75" as it should have been. It measured out at 12-11/16", or 322.5mm. This made the scale length 25.39 or 25.4". I chose to measure the rest of the frets, and verified they were set up as the discovered 25.4" scale...weird.

I discovered when stringing up, that the small E string nut slot is cut too deep, and the string buzzes on the first fret. So a repair will be needed to remedy. A little bone dust and super glue will do the trick.

The neck pickup did not come with a cover plate, as was described, no worries. I fabricated one from a piece of 1/8" figured maple left from the top of another build in progress.

Finishing the body was an experience. The flame maple veneer top needed patience and care when sanding, as I discovered when flaking off one small area on the upper left horn. I patched with some wood filler paste, and moved on. I painted the back & side with a hammered steel enamel that is sold in DIY stores, marketed for painting floor registers (where heat comes out for your house from furnace). I finished the top with Colonial Maple Minwax stain and wipe on polyurethane.

All in all, for an investment of $150 (including shipping), and a little elbow grease, the result is a nice guitar that sounds as Telecaster should sound.

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Permalink Reply by Richard Dean on December 30, 2017 at 4:16pm

No problem, I probably leaped before looking, My apologies as well.

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on December 30, 2017 at 4:18pm

cheers . ;-)

Permalink Reply by darryl kernaghan on December 30, 2017 at 3:34pm

A bit sad Pick, along with Scott, we seem to be losing a lot of knowledge recently, hopefully some are just having a break and will return.

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on December 30, 2017 at 4:15pm

Yeah Darryl . Ted (scott) mentioned a while ago taking a break due to needing time for "offline stuff" . it is cool though that . content is now kept it seems . or atleast have the choice . but indeed sad to see good members leave .

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Permalink Reply by David L. on December 30, 2017 at 11:50am

Hi Justin,

I bought one off eBay a couple of years back when they were sellings loads.

The numbers for sale have dried up but if I recall correctly I bought my one from here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Coban-DIY-Kit-Electric-HY190-Basswood-bod...

I got one with the flamed maple top but can not find it for sale now.

If you look at the sellers shop there are several types of guitar for sale.

They are simple to put together (it is obvious if you look at a photo of a telecaster where the bits go).

The bodies are usually made from more than one piece of wood (this is normal) and the glue dries clear.

Not a problem if you plan to spray paint, but if you want to stain it the glue takes up the colour differently so will need a good sanding first.

If I recall correctly if you stick with the kit electronics you have to solder the pickups to the switch which is simple (and if soldering worries you eBay sells a solder glue you could use).

If there are bits you don't like you can always upgrade them later - my one ended up with a more expensive maple neck, locking tuners and a blade humbucker.

I modded the electrics with the humbucker wired for series/single coil/parallel options and there are piezos attached under the bridge so I can get an acoustic sound through the amp.

If you buy one from outside the EU you need to factor in the import duty.

The thing that separates a good from bad economy guitar is often how well it is set up. Once assembled you will need to adjust the string height, adjust the truss rod and perhaps sort out a part of a fret if it is high.

All this is easy to do with numerous websites and YouTube videos showing how to do it.

Regards,

David L.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on December 30, 2017 at 9:33pm

Looks great David.

I didn't know that Scott AKA Farmer Ted had left. Seems that I spoke to him within the last 6 months anyway.

I don't always catch the necro thread come back, but it's still news if you haven't read it before right? It is good to see a new member using the search function and reading content instead of starting new threads to ask the same old questions again. It's not like I've done that before. LOL