Guitar Building: Bigsby Tele With Humbuckers! Part 1
The body for this guitar is a single piece of Eastern White Pine (IIRC) from my pal Larry at Clearfork Designs. It’s about 3.5 pounds and very resonant. As you can see from the photos in this first installment, I’m dyeing the body RED, using an awesome black and white shell pickguard, and installing a Fender-logo Bigsby B5. Once the color is right, I’ll topcoat with Tru-Oil, rub it out with 0000 steel wool, and buff it with Meguiar’s for a bright satin gloss (if that makes any sense).
To come: a neck from USA Custom Guitars (en route as I write), maple and rosewood, which will get a bone nut, and a new (to me, anyway) type of Gotoh locking tuner. Final pickup choice will rely on how things are sounding, but I have a brand new set of Electric City low-wind humbuckers that I think will work great. The bridge will be a Marc Rutters “Chopped” model, notched for the Bigsby. Standard wiring on a flipped plate, and we’ll see where we are. Much more to come!