Project #002 - The Honey Tele

SIx String Chef

SIx String Chef

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So here's the story...

A few months back, I bought from Amazon a MIC Telecaster (sorry, Ramo...), with the firm intention of, at some point, acquiring and gathering enough quality spare parts to then, upgrade it to within an inch of its former life and turn it into something worth playing. Well, that point in time is now. And just in time for it to accompany my offspring back to college.

And without further ado, here's a laundry list of all the Frankensteinization already and yet to be made:

MIC LSMGTS TELECASTER UPGRADE BUILD PROJECT #002 - 2022 – "Honey Caramel" Telecaster

BARE BODY WT.: 1419 grs. / 3 lbs., 1.9 oz.

Body Weigh-in.jpg

  • Original frets levelled, radiused to 12”, crowned and polished.
Fret level 2.jpg

Fret crowning 2.jpg

Frets finished.jpg
 
  • Hardware upgrade
    • Saddles upgraded from generic chrome-plated not intonatable to Fender original American vintage compensated brass 3-barrel
  • Compensated saddles.jpg
    • Bridge’s saddle screw holes enlarged to fit.
  • Saddle holes enlarged.jpg
    • Headstock tuners upgraded to Wilkinson self-locking, aged-in-house.
  • Aged tuners.jpg
    • Control plate upgraded to Gotoh Original aged.
    • Output jack plate upgraded to original Fender
  • Jack wired assembly.jpg
 
  • Control electronics upgrade. Removed original electronics and subbed with:
    • CTS 250K A-taper pot – Volume
    • CTS 250K A-taper pot w/ .022 µf Sprague Orange Drop cap – Tone
    • Fender original 3-way blade switch
  • Electronics harness 1.jpg
    • Output jack upgraded to Switchcraft #11
  • Rewiring and wire management
    • Harness - vintage pushback cloth stranded 18-22 AWG wire
  • Electronics harness 3.jpg
  • Cavities EMW/RF shielding
    • Connected to common grounding hub in Control Cavity (screw/lug joint)
    • Continuity between all points and cavities checked and confirmed
  • Shielding.jpg
  • Shielding 2.jpg

not finished yet...
 
  • Pickup upgrade
    • Fender Tex-Mex Tele set (Neck and Bridge)
  • TexMex Pups.jpg
  • Pickup wiring switch config – Standard Fender Tele Tex-mex Diagram (3-way sw, 1V 1T)
    • P1 – Bridge
    • P2 – Bridge + Neck
    • P3 – Neck
  • Finished body.jpg
And that's the body completed. All the pup and electronics connections have been double checked physically and shielding is working like a charm. Just need to screw on the neck to the body and move on to:
  • Full setup
    • Neck flatness
    • Install new strings (.010" - .046")
    • Truss rod adjustment and neck relief check
    • Bridge saddle height adjustment to match fretboard radius (12")
    • Action adjustment
    • Saddle intonation
I'll keep the updates coming...
 
Love seeing other people's project threads. I'm not a Tele guy, but still fun to see the progress. Good job!

If you take requests, I vote the next one is project #006, The RamoCaster, complete with a zero cutaway mini body, 2 lowest of the low output single coils (wired out of phase), a volume knob that's stuck at "4", a tone knob with no bass response and a tablature book entitled "The BeeGees Greatest Hits on Ukulele."
 
Iron1 said:
Love seeing other people's project threads. I'm not a Tele guy, but still fun to see the progress. Good job!

If you take requests, I vote the next one is project #006, The RamoCaster, complete with a zero cutaway mini body, 2 lowest of the low output single coils (wired out of phase), a volume knob that's stuck at "4", a tone knob with no bass response and a tablature book entitled "The BeeGees Greatest Hits on Ukulele."
Click to expand...
How about a hohner violin shape body like Paul McCartney's bass??? :pound-hand:
:pound-hand: :pound-hand:
 
eclecticsynergy said:
Cool. Nice caramel color. Thorough upgrades there, with attention to detail.
Are you going to string it as a top loader?
Click to expand...
Thank you, ES! Much appreciated!! It has taken me a few long days to get everything in this guitar the way I would want it for my own guitar (or as close as feasible). Plus, messy / tangly wires, and crappy / shoddy workmanship are some of my many pet peeves...

Yes, I'll string it as a top loader. I still don't have a press drill (nor the space to put it on, I'm doing work out of a spare bedroom in the house) and I do not feel confident enough yet to drill free hand the body thru-holes for the strings and ferrules AND have them turn out plumb straight enough. That's why I kept the :poo:ty original MIC bridge plate. Otherwise, I had my eye on a vintage fender or a Callaham to install. Hopefully at a later time...
 
SIx String Chef said:
  • Pickup upgrade
    • Fender Tex-Mex Tele set (Neck and Bridge)
  • View attachment 78698
  • Pickup wiring switch config – Standard Fender Tele Tex-mex Diagram (3-way sw, 1V 1T)
    • P1 – Bridge
    • P2 – Bridge + Neck
    • P3 – Neck
  • View attachment 78699
And that's the body completed. All the pup and electronics connections have been double checked physically and shielding is working like a charm. Just need to screw on the neck to the body and move on to:
  • Full setup
    • Neck flatness
    • Install new strings (.010" - .046")
    • Truss rod adjustment and neck relief check
    • Bridge saddle height adjustment to match fretboard radius (12")
    • Action adjustment
    • Saddle intonation
I'll keep the updates coming...
Click to expand...
I'm glad you shielded all the insides.
That helps a lot to keep the noise down.
Did you ever think about using a 3rd coil, to balance the hum out?
I've seen that on some Teles where the 3rd coil is hidden under the pick guard.
I think the factory made it like that for a while.

Have you looked at these JB Gatton PUs?
I think you might try those because they sound a lot like stock PUs but they are humbucking and have more output level.

But anyway have fun.
 
And so, here's the latest update:

Honey caramel underwent a thorough setup, which included
- Strings .010" - .046" (D'addarios EXL).
- truss rod adjustment (tightened) to flatten excessive neck bow at rest.
- set neck relief at .010" (capo @ 1st, fretting at 17th)
- Bridge saddle heights adjusted to match 12" neck radius
- Adjusted saddles' intonation for 1/2 step-down tuning (E#) and string gauge.
- Action set at 4/64" low E and 3/64" high e
- Pup heights adjusted to 5/64" low E and 4/64" high e, clearance from bottom of string to top of pole / cover (fretting at last fret)
- Existing nut slots lubed with homemade "nut jelly" :LOL: (vaseline + xtra fine graphite powder).
- Playability of fretboard checked for
* buzzing​
* high frets​
* dead frets​
* fretting out (bends 1/2 and full step)​

And here's the end result:

Honey Caramel finished front.jpg

Honey Caramel finished back.jpg

However, not all things turned out peachy. Once the guitar was fully assembled, a couple of issues came to light, one quite apparent and another, not so much so:

- The string alignment to the center of the neck is off towards the bass side, leaving the high "e" too close to the edge.

- The neck pup circuit seems to be "open-ish". And I put the quotes because it reacts with faint sound when tapping with a screwdriver and when playing with the switch in the neck position. However, the multimeter shows an open circuit as measured through a plugged cable. Weird...

As the offspring is going back to the university tonight, and the guitar is still quite playable, both issues will have to be addressed on the next visit home. But the new owner and I have discussed possible fixes and they all seem very feasible and could include some additional improvements such as a better neck (this one's "rather lightweight and unsubstantial" for the kid's taste). :hmmm:

And when that happens that will too, be chronicled.
 
Last edited:
SIx String Chef said:
And so, here's the latest update:

Honey caramel underwent a thorough setup, which included
- Strings .010" - .046" (D'addarios EXL).
- truss rod adjustment (tightened) to flatten excessive neck bow at rest.
- set neck relief at .010" (capo @ 1st, fretting at 17th)
- Bridge saddle heights adjusted to match 12" neck radius
- Adjusted saddles' intonation for 1/2 step-down tuning (E#) and string gauge.
- Action set at 4/64" low E and 3/64" high e
- Pup heights adjusted to 5/64" low E and 4/64" high e, clearance from bottom of string to top of pole / cover (fretting at last fret)
- Existing nut slots lubed with homemade "nut jelly" :LOL: (vaseline + xtra fine graphite powder).
- Playability of fretboard checked for
* buzzing​
* high frets​
* dead frets​
* fretting out (bends 1/2 and full step)​

And here's the end result:

View attachment 78796

View attachment 78797

However, not all things turned out peachy. Once the guitar was fully assembled, a couple of issues came to light, one quite apparent and another, not so much so:

- The string alignment to the center of the neck is off towards the bass side, leaving the high "e" too close to the edge.

- The neck pup seems to be "open-ish". And I put the quotes because it reacts with faint sound when tapping with a screwdriver and when playing with the switch in the neck position. However, the multimeter shows an open circuit. Weird...

As the offspring is going back to the university tonight, and the guitar is still quite playable, both issues will have to be addressed on the next visit home. But the new owner and I have discussed possible fixes and they all seem very feasible and could include some additional improvements such as a better neck (this one's "rather lightweight and unsubstantial" for the kid's taste).

And when that happens that will too, be chronicled.
Click to expand...
is the shim causing the bad neck allignment?
 
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