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Ikea birch wood butcher block, an ur-telecaster...

Here it is! I hinted at it last week, and due to the generosity of a benefactor (a little bit surprise to be asked for her humble kitchen appliance), I managed to put my hands on a second hand (with vintage patina) Ikea butcher block (out of production) made of glued birch cubes (I still don't know why birch is not a common tonewood for electric guitars, when it is used for its resonance for drums and speaker cabinets...), with the perfect dimensions to cut a telecaster out of it, Zachary style! 

Now I used the sitar bridge on the Doppelcaster so it would be a more standard project (also I have a lot of tele gear leftovers from my previous projects) though with a slightly different design (time to try the double lower horn) and the new mini-humbucker I bought lately in neck position. Also I don't know if I will use my Micro-Frets neck with its shorter scale or get a tele neck, or even a baritone mod one... 

Sitar bridge and pickguard polishing

So I finally installed the sitar bridge on the doppelcaster, though until the last moment I thought that it would not work - the vintage bridge is really smaller, and I was about to give up when I decided to not use the string-through holes - it's not so important since the sitar saddles remove anyway most of the sustain (and I took the occasion to re-polish the pickguards). Anyway the sound is brilliant and I'm convinced now that this was the best move, a guitar + sitar makes more sense than a guitar + baritone, and I have already some songs ideas with this beastie.

I will try to make soon a video demo of it but I need to set precisely the sitar saddles, and it will take a while, then I'll have a pro setting to have the guitar at its best, also I'm curious (and a little bit anxious) to have a pro point of view on this instrument. Ah, and the P90 still doesn't work, if anybody knows where to find a wiring diagram for a P90 in neck position on a telly, it's welcome!

more sketches

a sitar bridge for the Doppelcaster

Ordered sitar-guitar saddles from Rockinger, and a vintage style telecaster bridge, but I overlooked the fact that the Squier teles I used to build the Doppelcaster had modern bridges... I will see if I can make things fit - and I still have the option of making another telecaster-inspired guitar, I'm on the tracks of an old-school Ikea Butcher Block.