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Post by jeromemason on Mar 1, 2014 20:58:26 GMT -6
So I ordered a DIY custom shop tele kit from BYOGuitar.com couple of days ago. I've just got to say these people were absolutely fantastic. The kit I ordered had some generic hardware and pickups. While for most people a grand total of $450 for a Mightymite maple neck, one piece swamp ash body routed and drilled, and completely finished with Wudtone finish would be plenty for that price. These people went over and beyond to help me customize this guitar with better hardware like a Wilkinson bridge, bone nut, and a WD maple neck. The kicker here, I didn't want the generic pickups, I wanted to use pickups from Mojotone, and while the pickups they put in the guitars sells for like $15, they took them out, and gave me all of those upgrades at no additional charge. I don't normally give props or plugs for manufactures, but these people really went over and beyond to make sure I was happy, w/o trying to suck every nickel I had. I was also given the cell phone number to the lady that handles all the sales, was told to call or text anytime didn't matter when, and that they would keep me updated personally as my guitar was being built, by hand I might add. Great people, and if their product is half as good as their customer service I'll be a happy fella in a couple of weeks. You guys should check them out if you havn't already heard of them. This is what she'll look like when I'm done BTW  (- the fender badging of course)  |
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Post by mulmany on Mar 22, 2014 12:22:04 GMT -6
So I ordered a DIY custom shop tele kit from BYOGuitar.com couple of days ago. I've just got to say these people were absolutely fantastic. The kit I ordered had some generic hardware and pickups. While for most people a grand total of $450 for a Mightymite maple neck, one piece swamp ash body routed and drilled, and completely finished with Wudtone finish would be plenty for that price. These people went over and beyond to help me customize this guitar with better hardware like a Wilkinson bridge, bone nut, and a WD maple neck. The kicker here, I didn't want the generic pickups, I wanted to use pickups from Mojotone, and while the pickups they put in the guitars sells for like $15, they took them out, and gave me all of those upgrades at no additional charge. I don't normally give props or plugs for manufactures, but these people really went over and beyond to make sure I was happy, w/o trying to suck every nickel I had. I was also given the cell phone number to the lady that handles all the sales, was told to call or text anytime didn't matter when, and that they would keep me updated personally as my guitar was being built, by hand I might add. Great people, and if their product is half as good as their customer service I'll be a happy fella in a couple of weeks. You guys should check them out if you havn't already heard of them. This is what she'll look like when I'm done BTW (- the fender badging of course) Any updates on this? |
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Post by mobeach on Mar 22, 2014 12:32:00 GMT -6
Looks nice! let us know how it sounds when completed.
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Post by jeromemason on Mar 22, 2014 18:07:24 GMT -6
The final top coat was put on yesterday, so I would think it should ship out by Monday..... eagerly waiting, but well worth the wait to have it finished and built right. These people really do put a lot of work into these guitars. I was amazed at how many coats of finish and base they put on it, from how they were describing it to me this baby should last a long time.
I've got the Mojotone Broadcaster's in, the premium wiring kit from Stewmac with the orange drop cap and gold plated contacts on the pots.... I really didn't spare anything on the guts, and apparently nothing is being spared in the build and finish either. So far I'm very very impressed with this company.
I'll keep you guys updated with photos and the process.
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Post by jeromemason on Mar 28, 2014 0:00:10 GMT -6
Guitar will be here tomorrow!
I'll be taking pics on the process of putting it together for all you guys. I'm stoked!!!!
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Post by WKG on Mar 28, 2014 9:19:29 GMT -6
Nice site, I'll be following on this one. I've been wanting to do a build lately, either a Strat or a Tele with a vibrato, thinking a Trem-King. |
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Post by jeromemason on Mar 28, 2014 12:01:45 GMT -6
I hope it does...... we just got through what seems like a Cat 3 hurricane down here, hopefully it'll still come.
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Post by jeromemason on Mar 28, 2014 18:17:21 GMT -6
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Post by jeromemason on Mar 29, 2014 19:10:47 GMT -6
Got the pickups in and a rough set up today, finally got to hear her and man does it sound amazing. The guitar absolutely killed any Tele they had hanging on the wall, and they had some priced at over 2k. The guitar is incredibly light, but the sustain it has is just crazy, when you strike a chord it just hangs out with a beautiful tail. The snap of the Broadcaster Mojotone pickups is unreal, every employee in the place was stunned, especially when I told them I've got a total of $670 in it. Customers coming in were wanting to buy it off me too, not a chance, this baby has my sweat and heart in it.
I won't ever buy another one from fender I know that much, and the tech helping me build it said "you've got yourself a real damn Tele here". Like I said, not one Tele on their wall could come close to it. That's also with the nut not glued in, the intonation and action not dialed in, and with brand new parts, I can't imagine what this guitar will sound like once things are tightened up and broken in.
If anyone is interested I can give you the BOM that I used, and how I negotiated better parts with BYOGuitar.com. They are great people.
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Post by WKG on Apr 1, 2014 21:18:40 GMT -6
Wow, it looks great!
How is the WD neck profile?
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Post by jeromemason on Apr 1, 2014 22:33:39 GMT -6
Well I've got big hands, so it's a bit thicker than what fender puts on their Tele's, but for me it makes playing much easier. But the whole guitar just feels really great, it's lighter than an off the shelf Tele, which I really like, but like I said, the sustain of this guitar is very good. We had to shim the neck, but that's pretty normal. It's starting to settle in now, so I think by thursday we'll probably ratchet everything down and do the final set up on her. But for the amount I've got in this guitar it doesn't make sense to buy one off the shelf, not when it blows away the best fender has. Now, granted they don't have any of the custom shop ones in stock, but it was still killing Tele's that were priced at 2k, and I think it looks better too.
I don't even need one, but I'm eyeballing their strat and really considering it, it looks just as impressive. Mojotone has some '52 classic pickups that sound killer, I'd love to do another one, it's been a fun process.
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Post by WKG on Apr 2, 2014 8:08:25 GMT -6
I could work with that. Standard Fender profile is pretty comfy for me. Ideally I'd like to find a soft V neck and do a Tele build with a Trem-King on it. One of the most comfortable guitars I own is my Alvarez Yairi DY87 and it has a fairly shallow soft V profile.
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Post by jeromemason on Apr 2, 2014 12:00:47 GMT -6
Just find the neck elsewhere and get the custom shop body from them. You can get it finished and all for like $240 I think. And you see how good the finish looks. You can actually send them a message and ask if they have what you want, a lot of the stuff they have, they don't have on their site.
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Post by jeromemason on Apr 3, 2014 19:53:51 GMT -6
Well she's all done, set up, broken in and I'm completely blown away. Holds tune great, massive sustain, action is down and easy to play w/o minimal buzz (it's a fender) and the intonation is damn near perfect.
It took some shimming on the neck to get it just right, some shifting of the bridge and nut and some micro adjustments with the truss rod, but that's the beauty of building one from scratch. I mean it really educates you on what to do when something goes wrong, I know for me I learned a massive amount about setups and how to find the right spot to make the guitar perfect. But it does start with a great crafted body and a good neck, and for that I again have to throw a massive shoutout to BYOGuitar.com. The tone of those broadcaster pickups is just incredible too. That guitar will go to my eventual son one day when I have him haha. I'll never get rid of that guitar, too many funny things while it was being built. And it's gorgeous.
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Post by jcoutu1 on Apr 3, 2014 20:15:08 GMT -6
Finished pics?
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Post by jeromemason on Apr 4, 2014 22:20:40 GMT -6
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Post by wiz on Apr 23, 2014 15:08:57 GMT -6
Nice
cheers
WIz
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Post by jeromemason on Nov 3, 2014 13:13:05 GMT -6
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Post by tonycamphd on Nov 3, 2014 18:01:31 GMT -6
i dig this! the red looks great man, i have a book matched quilted maple top, alder back tele body i made, i will be putting it together soon, maybe i can use those folks for parts?
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(- the fender badging of course)
