Building a Telecaster Dream Machine – Part 2

By IngoGuitars

After the Walk of Life pickups – a  reproduction of the Schecter F520T / F521T sound – are availabable now, I can continue with the next steps of my Dream Machine Tele project (see part 1 here). I meanwhile found a vintage Schecter brass Tele bridge some weeks ago, so – with my own highly-ploshed brass Tele pickguards  – I have nearly all essential parts for one guitar together now.

This is the body which I found on ebay some weeks ago. It is one-piece mahogany, not sure which (Honduras, Khaya,...) but it seems nice anyway. Here I put in the two pickups for a picture.
This is the body which I found on ebay some weeks ago. It is one-piece mahogany, not sure which (Honduras, Khaya,…) but it seems nice anyway. Here I put in the two pickups for a picture.

 

Here I installed the brass pickguard. I used the Schecter-style version with only 5 screws, and the pickup is attached to the pickguard (instead of directly to the body just like in a Fender)
Here I installed the brass pickguard. I used the Schecter-style version with only 5 screws, and the pickup is attached to the pickguard (instead of directly to the body just like in a Fender)
The face plate is black on this old Schecter neck. The plastic nut and the silver butterfly stringholder do not seem to be original and must be replaced with brass parts (which I don't have yet). One problem are the tuner holes which are too big for Kluson-style tuners (they are correct for Schaller tuners)
The face plate is black on this old Schecter neck. The plastic nut and the silver butterfly stringholder do not seem to be original and must be replaced with brass parts (which I don’t have yet). One problem are the tuner holes which are too big for Kluson-style tuners (they are correct for Schaller tuners)

Original would be Kluson Deluxe tuners but I will install a set of Japanese gold-plated Kluson-style tuners. These work fine, and originals are hard to get and more expensive. Schaller tuners are no option for me as I love the Kluson way to put the end of a string into the tuner and bend it into the tuner slot.

Here is my solution: I wrapped the tuner ferrules with self-adhesive copper foil until they fit nicely into the oversozed holes. 3 to 4 inches were enough.
Here is my solution: I wrapped the tuner ferrules with self-adhesive copper foil until they fit nicely into the oversized holes. 3 to 4 inches were enough.

 

Nice, problem solved.
Nice, problem solved.
Tuners installed
Tuners installed

 

To be continued soon…

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2 thoughts on “Building a Telecaster Dream Machine – Part 2”

  1. Ingo, thinking about tuners…

    In the Lady Writer video clip, the ends of Marks strings hang out a lot, but it would be a lot of effort to get this result with kluson tuners. Is it possible that the maple neck strat had tuners where it wasnt possible to put the string end in and bend it?

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