Fiddleback Eucalyptus Tele

[Runn3r]

hi all

just recently built a Tele using fiddleback aussie eucalyptus with great help from the fellas at woodworkforums.com







i can report that it is much lighter than american hard ash but enhances well (and similar to american hard ash) the brightness Teles are famed for ...it is of comparable weight to alder but does not behave like alder in terms of 'tone production'

there is no danger of low end boominess imo...if anything one might have to turn up the bass a touch on the amp

[Bob Connor]

Great looking Tele.

I shifted this from the tonewood section as more people will see it here.

And welcome to the forum.

[DarwinStrings]

Hi and welcome to the forum runn3r. It would be nice to know your name.

That is a spectacular piece of Tassie Oak any chance of you parting with some of the other pieces you have.

You did well with the stain. When I stain woods like this I use water based dyes and i am surprised that the feast watson proof tints are so clear.


Jim

Life is good when your amongst the wood

[Stephen Kinnaird]

What a beautiful guitar!
Thanks fer movin' it, Bob.

Steve

[Runn3r]

thank you all my new friends

i just recently stumbled upon this forum and since i have something to show i might as well join ...

...not tht i wouldn't have joined otherwise of course!

since i only have a few blocks of this material in my shed i prob will decline any offers unless it be an exchange for wood that i dunt have

many ppl consider me strange for valuing wood more than money but there u go heh

i would be scouring Vic lumberjacks/forestry agents directories if i were on the hunt for such wood ....the guy who sold me my pieces from over a decade ago was a lumberjack/timber merchant

as for the stain ...i am impressed with the feast watson green and black (i used both in separate stages with lots of sanding and iterations of the black stage) and for my next project i think i want to achieve a copper red type tone/colour as i have a strat neck made of the same type of viet rosewood as on this tele...so i will try the red and amber stains and will report on results

i have used powder/water stains before but all my old supplies are well beyond their use by dates...thus the bunnings experience lately

[ozziebluesman]

Hmmmm, now that is a gorgeous tele.

Welcome to the forum!

Cheers

Alan

[Taffy Evans]

Very eye catching guitar, great effect with the finish love the colour, welcome to the forum.

[Runn3r]

thanks Taffy and ozziebluesman and everyone else for the warm welcome

some parts arrived today and here are a couple of updated pics

[matthew]

wow.

looks transparent, like water.

[Lillian]

Looks sweet. Love the color and the finish.

[DarwinStrings]

Hi Run

I was wondering with the Antonio Sai neck did you need to level and dress the frets yourself of was it well done already, also was the nut nicely set up. Do those necks have a two way truss rod or one way.

One more, what sort of pickups did you use and what do you think of them.

Jim

May lyctid borers never find your shed.

[Runn3r]

Hi Run

I was wondering with the Antonio Sai neck did you need to level and dress the frets yourself of was it well done already, also was the nut nicely set up. Do those necks have a two way truss rod or one way.

One more, what sort of pickups did you use and what do you think of them.

Jim

May lyctid borers never find your shed.

yup...the neck required a fret levelling, then a crowning and finally the ole sanding+brasso polish...i always do this for all necks and guitars i buy ...it is the only way to guarantee no-fretting out on bends of 2+ semitones from any spot...bending strings is important to me

3/32" at 12th is wht i consider 'normal' electric guitar action with 10's strings and 2/32 to be low-ish ...this one settled nicely around 5/64" with healthy amount of 'air' to 'twang'

and no... i had to cut the nut slots myself...it was blank/unslotted already in place...i also like to polish the bone to 1200 and polish it off wiv brasso as well

yes..the neck was described as having a '2 way truss rod' but i have not adjusted it to see if it works...i merely tightened it till it had some tension on the nut (so it is not loose) and the neck was straight as is

atm it has not bowed one tiny bit with 10's on and tuned to standard pitch...this viet r/w is really very stiff with little 'give' in the neck...
most impressive wood i must say...

did not tape off r/w fretboard as it had scratches and besides i wanted the inlays to also 'shine'

pickups used = Fender SCN Tele pickups...they are truly 'noiseless' ! and sound very much like single coils should but hotter in output...espc the neck which brings it to a strat-ish power neck s/c sound rather than the typical wimpy standard tele neck pickup of 6k typically...this one is 12k

i liked these so much i ordered the scn strat pack! lol

will give it a go in a later build or just chuck in one of me existing strats to see wht they like...if they anything like the tele pickups it be a winna imo

P.S...cheers matthew and lilian!

[DarwinStrings]

Ok thanks Run. I haven't heard the Scn Tele pups they sound good if you like a hot neck. I have heard the Strat ones and althought they are a great set of pups i found that they lack that alnico bite. Two sets of Strat pups to to hear, if you get the chance are Lace Holy Grail, noiseless and alnico rather than samarium cobalt magnets and the top of the line are the Kinman, also noiseless alnico giving that early strat sound in a noiseless pup. I think both sites have sound samples and Kinman has comparative samples against the Fender ones.

Jim

[Runn3r]

Ok thanks Run. I haven't heard the Scn Tele pups they sound good if you like a hot neck. I have heard the Strat ones and althought they are a great set of pups i found that they lack that alnico bite. Two sets of Strat pups to to hear, if you get the chance are Lace Holy Grail, noiseless and alnico rather than samarium cobalt magnets and the top of the line are the Kinman, also noiseless alnico giving that early strat sound in a noiseless pup. I think both sites have sound samples and Kinman has comparative samples against the Fender ones.

Jim

thnks for tht info...i think i will avoid puttin those scn strat p/u's into alder bodies then heh...perhaps the ash or eucalyptus bodies might serve them better

i have seen the kinmans demonstrated and yes they do sound great but they are very dear sooo...unless i pick em up on ebay or sumthing i doubt i will ever get to use em

i have got lace tele pickups which are also nice but not as hot as the scn tele p/us ....the lace strat p/u's to me lack something ....i dunno ...again perhaps i used the wrong body wood or something but they lacked the 'stratiness' (espc the in-between positions) tht i demand ...out of a ...strat

p.s. the lace strat p/u's mentioned above are the gold ones and the red/blue/silver ones found in the 90's strats with the roller nuts ...havnt tried the newer lace p/u's so my analysis might well prove to be wrong when it comes to the newer ones

[DarwinStrings]

Yes I agree with you on the Golds and the red, blue and silver sets but they are also not Alnico magnets, I'm not 100% sure but I think they are made from ceramic magnets and are sort of aimed at longer sustain. The ones I was referring to were the "Holy Grails" and they have the alnico as did the early strats, they are not cheapies either.

Good luck finding some Kinmans on ebay

Jim

[Dave]

Thats a stunning looking guitar you've put together I love the figuring!

A really nice job!

Dave

[Runn3r]

thank you Dave