Drilling Wire Paths

[DrummerDude]

Yeah, hi, it's me and my Telecaster project again.

Is this the right way to drill a cable hole? (see picture)

I read a thread on a forum and it adviced people to make their own loooong drill bit and drill the body this way (I PhotoShopped the drill bit):

Is it a right thing to do? I think it's not OK because the neck socket has to be drilled too.

What is the Real Right Way?

Do classic Telecasters have a drill hole on the bottom of the neck socket?

Thanks!

[unclej]

i suppose that any way that works is the "right"way but i generally drill from the neck pocket straight through the neck pup pocket into the bridge pup pocket. then i'll angle a hole from the side of the bridge pocket to the control pocket. then a smaller hole from where the bridge itself sits to the control pocket for the bridge ground.

by the way, drilling a hole in the end of the neck pocket doesn't effect the way the neck seats or the sound of the guitar at all.

[DrummerDude]

by the way, drilling a hole in the end of the neck pocket doesn't effect the way the neck seats or the sound of the guitar at all.

←

I suppose you are right but theoretically a hole in the base of the neck socket lessens the contact between the neck and its socket, making the tone and sustain worse.

But I am sustain-crazy anyway.

My question was about Original Classic telecasters.

How is the wire drilling done on them?

[GuitarGuy]

I suppose you are right but theoretically a hole in the base of the neck socket lessens the contact between the neck and its socket, making the tone and sustain worse.

You been listening to Ed romain? or ron kirn?

[TeiscosRock]

I suppose you are right but theoretically a hole in the base of the neck socket lessens the contact between the neck and its socket, making the tone and sustain worse.

You been listening to Ed romain? or ron kirn?

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Seriously... Thats all just Voodoo, man!

[jay5]

I routed a channel along the same path so I didnt have to go through the neck pocket on my tele.

[unclej]

by the way, drilling a hole in the end of the neck pocket doesn't effect the way the neck seats or the sound of the guitar at all.

←

I suppose you are right but theoretically a hole in the base of the neck socket lessens the contact between the neck and its socket, making the tone and sustain worse.

But I am sustain-crazy anyway.

My question was about Original Classic telecasters.

How is the wire drilling done on them?

←

i don't know for sure about the classic teles but if i have time tomorrow and you don't get a definitive answer by then i'll try to find out...and i'll give ten dollars to anyone who can tell the difference in tone with a 1/4" hole in the neck pocket.

[j. pierce]

I generally route the channels between where my pickup routes will be placed before I glue the top on. So what you'll obviously want to do is plane a 1/4" off of that, route your wire channels, glue a new top on, and then redo your finish.

Or, you know, you could do it your way, that would work too. I'd actually probably go with what Uncle J said in his first post, seems like it'd be easier than trying to do one really long hole.

edit:

Check out this page, it has some info. There's some pictures and various text relating to this.

Many Broadcasters bodies do not have the diagonal wire route between the neck pickup and the control cavity. This route was added to allow easier drilling and mounting of the neck pickup's wire to the control cavity. Instead a long drill bit was used to drill a hole thru the truss rod adjustment channel in the neck pocket, thru the neck pickup route, down the center of the body, to the lead pickup.

My friends tele simply has a top-routed wire channel, the whole thing is hidden by the pickguard. It's an older cheap Squier though, so I don't know if that's the legit way.

Edited September 28, 2005 by j. pierce

[jay5]

Is that thing even a drill bit?

[frank falbo]

If you can get your angle perfect, you can come in from the output jack. I've done that several times. But it is very hard to get that hole started at such a sharp angle inside the electronics cavity. So I take the Dremel and carve a little hole out so the drill bit has a place to bite. I've always had pretty good aim, so I've never missed my mark. If you have to you can put a piece of masking tape on top and draw your line. Then you can match it up visually, assuming the bit doesn't walk. It won't walk if it's big enough and you go slow enough. With long cuts be sure to go about an inch or less and then pull back to let the shavings out, before going any farther.

[DrummerDude]

Is that thing even a drill bit?

←

Hahaha!

No it's not. It is not even a real thing. I drew it in PhotoShop and I positioned it over the photo of the body to describe the method in a graphical way.

By the way on the original photo this same body used to have a groove for the wire. I couldn't find a photo of a tele body without the groove so I removed it using PhotoShop.

Now the body from the pic looks exactly the way I am about to make my Tele's body.

The post from the forum I read about using long drill bits said that one should use the metal base of a coat-hanger. You should flatten its tip and then sand it sharp. The guy claimed that it works for that particular kind of drilling.

[x189player]

check your local electrical supplier for long drill bits. electricians frequently use very long bits when installing wiring in a wooden house.

[jnewman]

Woodcraft actually has some REALLY nice ones. They're german and they're 10 inch/250mm brad point bits. They cut perfectly clean nice holes and don't deflect much at all. They cost $10-15 depending on the size.

You can also get "aircraft bits" from good hardware stores.

[scottyd]

i made my own out of a 1/8" arc welding rod i just knocked the flux off of it and then heated it up and flattened the end and sharpened it to make it kind of like a spade bit, on my bass i went through the output jack hole to get to the pups (but the tele's jack goes out the front huh?)

[JPL]

Long bits? Aren't they available everywhere? Even Ace Hardware carries them in a pretty good assortment of sizes.

[johnsilver]

As luck would have it, I received A. R. Duchossoir's book on the Fender Telecaster yesterday in the mail.

It shows lots of diagrams and from a quick look Fender channelled the wiring several ways. There is one showing your proposed path from the neck pocket to the control cavity for the neck pickup, and another showing UncleJ's approach.

I used the first method on my Tele, but I vote for UncleJ's method. To me, its easier to ensure the bit stays straight and level drilling from the neck straight back through the pickup routes.

Suitable 12" long 1/4" and 1/8" aircraft bits are available at Ace Hardware for reasonable cost, as someone already posted.

[ryanb]

Long bits? Aren't they available everywhere? Even Ace Hardware carries them in a pretty good assortment of sizes.

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Yes. At least in my area, they are in pretty much any hardware or tool store and they are only a few bucks each. I wouldn't mess around with making something.

The long brad-point bits are nice, too.

[DrummerDude]

OK, UncleJ's method sounds nice but what about drilling the other wire route?

It looks kinda hard too.

[thegarehanman]

That's a piece of cake. Try drilling a hole from the bridge pickup route to the control cavity where the hole goes in between a bridge stud and a tailpiece stud on a carved top guitar. Now that requires some forethought. On a serious note, that's not a hard hole to drill at all. As insurance, put some masking tape around your bridge PU route so the wood doesn't get marred if your bit brushes the edges.

peace,

russ

[DrummerDude]

Hmmm...

[bluespresence]

Using a longer, smaller diameter bit will allow some flex and back your bit (and drill chuck) off of the edge of the pickup hole to prevent damage. The bits I use are 11-12" long. Do it slowly and carefully. The bit you show in the drawing is huge compared to the diameter you actually need to run a couple of pickup wires through.

Edited September 29, 2005 by bluespresence