iamzelix

That's exactly what happened. Man there is a learning curve to all this guitar making.

It seems mostly in the end grains. It also occurred with that cheap routing bit. I just quit trying to use it and went with the bit and dewalt hand held router. It took three passes to route it completely.

I got starting cutting out the body for the next tele. I gotta say you all make it look easy. I was really having difficulty with routing out the body without messing it up. I had a few spots that were chewed up a bit. I was able to sand them out for the most part. The Yonico 14982q Flush Trim Router was horrible. I had to get another bit. A picture of the chewed up part. sigh.

Making a bit of progress. I had the neck fitting nice and tight. I hit the neck with a sander and it fits a bit loose now. sigh. I also noticed that routing the neck pocket it's not perfect like the template. Not sure what I did wrong there. Tried to do an inlay with the dremel... not the best job I've ever seen. Oh well.. I took a shot at it. The struggle continues.

Yeah...picking up the pieces and moving forward I realize the fret markers are done before fretting. I'm in that learning curve. LOL it was painful and I'll never do it again. The body was roughly shaped decades ago with a jigsaw. I've been sanding it and working out the mistakes. I'm enjoying working with it so far. I'm learned that sanding sealer is your friend.

While cleaning out the garage i found the old guitar I was working on. 15 years in the making this one is...LOL So I've jumped back on it and I'm pushing forward. It's a nice mahogany body with a maple neck. I've got a few parts in and I"m going to finish it up as one last practice piece before I hit the new wood. The head stock was cut wonky with the band saw. I've bondo'ed it and I'm going to have to paint it. The fret board was pre-slotted. This is my first fret job. I didn't realize how tough it is with just a hammer. Gotta get a arbor press. I used Gorilla glue that's clear mixed with mahogany sawdust for the fret board marker. I didn't realize how solid this stuff is. I'm playing hell getting it sanded and looking nice. I originally printed out a cad drawing and glued it to the body to follow. I got an allparts lefty bridge. I also found this pickup off amazon that was pretty cheap and has some good reviews. I'll only have one pickup with a volume and tone.

I'm still waiting on the template. It's taking forever for them to ship it to me. I also ordered this router bit: Yonico 14982q Flush Trim Router Bit Top & Bottom Bearing with 1-1/2" H 1/4" Shank. It shows a bearing at the top and bottom. I'm not sure if it will fit the bill but we'll see. I have some fret wire, truss rod, tuners, and a few other items on order. The bridge showed up today. Waiting (in)patiently for the template so I can get going with this.

The wood arrived. I'm still waiting for the templates. sigh. I'm very please with what they've sent. Keep in mind this is the cheapest that they had.

Still waiting for the template and the wood to arrive. I decided to use up some old pine I had and continue on with the practice. I also picked up this rigid sander. One of, if not, the best things I've ever bought. I had some old stain laying around. I thought I'd give it a whirl... I have sanding sealer on it now. I kinda like how it's an old beat up looking guitar already. LOL

http://www.exoticwoods.com/home.php?cat=7

It's basically the cheapest components they had. I'm still a bit nervy about pull this off. LOL I'm thinking even though the bodies are 3 piece glued I might try for a "poor man's burst" like Big D guitars does. I'm really excited to try to pull this off. The other I'll try to paint I think.

Okay I just ordered the wood for my first 'real' builds. I'm going to make a lefty and a righty telecasters. They will have Alder bodies with a maple neck and fret board.

Well I have to thank all of you good people here for that. I've been reading many a post and came to that conclusion. I'll make another body out of pine then I'm going to go for it. wish me luck.

I can get 1 X12 popular here. I guess I could laminate a couple of pieces to make it thick enough for a guitar. I'm thinking 1-1/2" thick would be a minimum thickness for a guitar body. I found a place online that sells "exotic" woods at a decent price. I'll be ordering some to make hopefully a good guitar next. I want to finish up learning before I jump out and get real wood. I'm trying to get my uncle to hook me up with some local hardwood. He cuts trees for a living and sometimes get a portable sawmill to process some lumber. I'll like to try some pecan, or hickory.

It seems that beating my head against the wall like this will really make building a guitar with proper tools on proper wood seem like a dream. I've got another pine body blank ready for when I get the template. I'll do one more with pine then I'll get move on to 'real' wood.

Awesome!

I just made the body as a practice exercise. I didn't make a neck for it yet. I went ahead and ordered a tele template off the net. When it gets here I'll try again with another piece of pine. Hopefully this time it will come out better.

Lesson 7 Less is more. Don't go nuts with the design.... less is more. This is where I left it at last night. I'm not really "proud" of it as it stands so far. What I am proud of is everything I've learned so far in a short time. It isn't too terribly bad for a noob I don't guess but it's riddled with flaws. LOL I've got to get some more supplies. My belt sander died on me. It was over 30 years old. I also have to get some new router bits. Thanks for viewing this thread.

Lesson 6 When taping off for a paint job make sure the tape is firmly on. I got some "over spray" under the areas the tape wasn't firmly put on. Fun Fact: You can clearly see the join is not done properly here.

Lesson 5 Make damn sure you know which side the electronic cavity goes on. Notice anything wrong with this picture? Hint: Cavity on the wrong side. (I'm a lefty)

Lesson 4 Jigsaw blades. Make sure you have a sharp new blade. I went thru hell to get it to this point..

Lesson 3 have new and/or sharp router bits. I used some old router bits my father gave me. You can see the lovely results. Of course I can't blame it all on the bits. I'm equally to blame and own up to it.

After reading many threads on this forum I decided it might be prudent to do a practice run with some cheap wood before I jump out and buy some expensive wood only to ruin it. I've learned a lot of lessons in doing this. lesson 1 Make sure the joiner is perfectly square. Lesson 2 have plenty of clamps on hand. I have to buy more.

I've already been looking at down draft table making. I have an air compressor I can blow off everything periodically as well. I still have a bit more tweaking to get it completely done... Then I'm on to enclosing the garage and making a "man cave." It's in shambles at the moment. Then I'll be caught up on all things and get to building.

Making progress. Here's a panoramic shot of where I'm at now.