The final stage, fit the strings and a setup, should be easy, not with this one…. more problems….
Starting with the neck set, a little large….
so a quick turn of the truss-rod. So far so good.
The action at the first fret is a little high……..
so I cut each nut slot down a little.
Next the action at the other end, and here is where it all went wrong…..
Even with the saddles right down the action at the 12th fret is still too high.
Not a problem this guitar has an adjustable neck….
apart from the fact I couldn’t locate the screw inside. So, off with the neck again to find out why. You can see the tip of the adjuster screw in the plate set into the body. I took it out and found that the hex-socket was full of gunk.
I cleaned it out and lubricated it so it will work properly.
With the neck re-fitted I managed to get a decent action height with the saddles at a reasonable height.
With the remaining strings set to match the fret-board curve finally it’s coming together.
Almost done, set the intonation. Always a slight compromise with 3-way Telecaster bridges.
Very last job, apart from some polish, the pickup heights. Roughly set them to a standard height and then plug it in and listen to how it sounds.
At long last the Tele from Hell is done. Another afternoon gone, a 2 hour setup squeezed into four!
And here is the large glass of red I awarded myself for finishing it off before it finished me!!