Charvel-inspired GFS set neck tele

[thetragichero]

i have wanted a Charvel for awhile but not pay a Charvel price tag. gfs had a set-neck, bound tele that caught my eye for $109 (even came with a free waterslide decal) so i pulled the trigger. frets were a little sharp, and the 12th and 13th will need a haircut (now that it's been strung up for awhile I've found some dead spots). holes were not drilled perfectly (took me awhile to realize why i couldn't get the tuners to line up just right), but it's close enough for punk rock as my father was wont to say. the plastic nut that came with it was too long so it hung over both sides of the slot. replaced it with tusq xl (thought the black would look better anyway) bridge pickup is the Duncan-designed version of the EMTY blackouts (my first active guitar). neck position is a dummy pickup cover that will eventually contain a sustainer driver (rip 4real). controls are killswitch, volume, tone, on-off-on dpdt that will be used for sustainer circuit. had it strung with 11-46 but it sounded way too slinky, so i moved all the strings down and added a 56. tuned to DADGAD and it's pure metal riff heaven. I'm satisfied with the cutout for the battery cover on the back - i don't have the skills/steady hand that my former shop teacher father does (this is why he's spending his retirement building acoustic guitars)
here's pictures!

[pj]

Love that clean lines and simple appointments but looks like it means business whilst being pretty. I have a parts tele that I really need to find a chunky neck for and sort it. It came in as a part ex against some other gear.

[ashcatlt]

This is from that warehouse clearance section? I have a lot of Xavier guitars, but I've never really been willing to put in the effort on this kind of build. Turned out nice, though!

[musogreg]

I like that a lot - particularly for the $$$! Wow! You could try to hide the nick in the battery cut-out with a little supaglue and nail polish (applied with a toothpick) - for easy colours like red (or black) it can be almost invisible unless you are up close.