Building the Blues: Telecaster Build #guitar #telecasterfender #fendersquier #fender #guitarist

I do not normally like blue guitars. I saw this body in an auction, and I am not kidding you I did not care what I was going to have to pay but I was going to win that auction!

This is a body made by MJT. It is an offset telecaster body or a Jazzcaster or a Telemaster (which is what I think MJT calls it).

The body is made of Alder and is finished in Nitro Dessert Sunset. It is only lightly aged which also attracted me to it. What is meant by lightly aged is that it has some finish checking if you look closely.

Finish checking is caused by the wood of the guitar body expanding and contracting with the change in humidity. Wood expands and contracts at a different rate than Nitro Cellulous Lacquer. So, as a result the finish develops small cracks in the finish.

The neck is a Fender MIM neck that was returned to a store a long time ago and sat in the back room sealed in the box. I purchased it for a great price and to my happy surprise it has a rosewood fretboard and is in perfect new condition. It is described as a flat oval shaped neck and has 22 jumbo frets, roasted maple, 25.5 scale length, and oddly enough a 12-inch radius.

The neck when I got it had an amazingly dry fretboard. I have become addicted to using Monty’s Guitars Montypresso Relic Wax. I am not sponsored by them and up until now was ordering directly from them in the UK which was costing me a crap load in shipping. I am happy to report that Chicago Music Exchange carries it and any order from them over $75 gets free shipping. Also, not sponsored or supported by CME.

This stuff goes a long way. I have already used it on a dozen plus number of fretboards and I have barely dented the can. I originally purchased this stuff to darken non-rosewood fretboard woods like Pau Farro and Indian Laurel. It will make them look close to rosewood in color. What I have discovered is it also rejuvenates rosewood fretboards and makes them look beautiful.

The pickups I used in this guitar are the Squier 60s Telecaster Custom. These are Alnico 5 pickups and in my opinion one of the best bargains in telecaster pickups you can find. You can buy a used like new set for $49 from Stratosphere.com when they have them. I am sorry if they do not at the moment because I purchased six sets yesterday.

They sound excellent to me, and I regularly install in my own guitars. The neck has really good clarity with high end that you do not normally find in a telecaster and the bridge is very bitey! Meaning it is pure telecaster.

Paring these pickups with a modern telecaster wiring circuit with a .047 uf Drop Cap and you have perfection. The components of the wiring harness are 2 CTS solid shaft 250k pots for the tone and volume controls. The .047 cap I mentioned and an Oak Grigsby Three-way Pickup Selector Switch.

A few observations about the build:

When you are building offset telecasters make sure you can find a source for the pickguard before you buy. Not all offset telecaster pickguards fit all offset telecaster bodies. There is no standard set of specifications for the bodies. I have purchase inexpensive Chinese make offset bodies and have really had a challenge finding a pickguard that will fit. It usually is around how the pickguard aligns with the control cavity cover.

When I purchased the MJT body in this video I tried to buy a pickguard directly from them knowing that this would fit exactly but they were out. They sent me to two different makers of pickguards that they work with. Each was about $5 to make a one-time pickguard for me with the materials of my choice from their offerings. I had to tell them it was an MJT Offset Telecaster body. I had four different offset telecaster body pickguards already in my shop. I tired each of them and none fit. They all aligned differently.

Just a note. I am not very talented at making my own pickguards. Well, more accurately I do not have the necessary equipment to do it correctly. As a result, each time I try mine turn out horribly. I prefer going out to get mine for now.

Since the neck had not been installed ona guitar before the neck’s nut only had the initial slots cut in it and was surely not setup for size 10 to 46 strings. I got out my trusty set of StewMac files and my Music Nomad fret height gauge and went to work.

Links to these two tools in the video description. The StewMac files are not cheap, but they are accurate, work really well, and will last a lifetime.

StewMac Files:

https://stewmac.sjv.io/PyX05z

Music Nomad fret height gauge:

Now the string height is perfect, and the guitar plays, tunes, and intonates so much better.