Tele String Thru Body ... Help!

[mdismuke]

I'm building a tele project guitar and the "string thru" holes have not yet been drilled thru the body.

I can guesstimate the hole placement based on the scale legnth, but I was wondering if anyone had the exact measurements or if there was some sort of template available that would take the "guess-work" out of it.

The bridge is not the standard tele bridge with the pickup mount attached if that makes a difference.

Even if someone could measure the distance from the bottom of the body to the string thru holes on the backside, that would be a great help.

Thanks.

[Drak]

Following these hints should get you where you want to be.

1. Bolt up your neck. You cannot place the bridge if you don't have the neck. I will assume you have it and it is now bolted up.

2. You should have a centerline running down the middle of the body. If not, make one. Place masking tape down the center of your body to mark on if you have to.

3. Take a 4' rule, lay it alongside the left side of your neck and mark a line going all the way down the body. Do the same for the right side.

4. Now, somewhere near the bottom of the body, measure the distance between the centerline and left side, then centerline and right. This will tell you if your neck is aligned with the centerline properly. If it isn't, try loosening up the neck screws and adjust the neck until it does line up so the 2 distances are equal, then your neck is aligned with your centerline. I will assume you've done this, and you have a good working centerline to work with.

5. Take your 4' rule and set the end of it against the nut. Measure to the 12th fret, you should be getting 12 3/4" to the center of the 12th fret, give or take a few 1000ths.

6. Now, holding the 4' rule in the same place, make a mark on your centerline at 25 1/2".

7. Take a square and at your 25 1/2" mark, make a line across your body at 90 degrees to your centerline.

8. Take your bridge and move the high E saddle about 3/4 of it's travel forward.

9. Now place your bridge on the guitar so that that high E saddle falls directly over your 25 1/2" mark, and the centerline will be cutting right down the middle of your saddles equally between the 3rd and 4th saddle.

10. Adjust the bridge so it's sitting perfectly parallel to your centerline, so it's not slanted one way or the other. Personally, I use my square, lined up with the centerline, to aid me in ensuring that my bridge is perfectly parallel. *This is with a bridge that incorporates the saddles and string-thru holes as one unit, as a typical Tele bridge does. If you're working with a TOM or something, than you would want to move the bass side back 1/8" or so.*

11. Mark out your stringthru holes with a pen or pencil

There you go.

Now, drilling those string thru holes is a whole different chapter, but you didn't ask for that.

[postal]

HAHAAA! Perfect advice there.

Don't even think about drilling those holes until you have all the hardware, and get it placed properly. Once you have that, drill the top holes, and be aware that they will probably wander a bit, so go very slow clearing chips frequently to try and keep the bit as straight as possible. Then drill the ferrule holes on the bottom, which is also no easy task to keep them perfectly aligned. The ferrule holes should look perfectly straight and evenly spaced regardless of the string holes themselves wandering.

[Drak]

Well, once he got to that point and asked, I'd be more than happy to give him a few more tips and tricks in that department.

Bottom line is that if you want guaranteed results and a guitar that will intonate properly and be properly aligned, there IS no 'one-shot easy answer' to a question like that.

More along the lines of 'give a man a fish and he may eat for a day, teach a man to fish, and he will eat heartily and happily forever' kinda thing...

[peterhanson]

So is the scale length determined by the length from the nut to the holes going through the body? I thought it was from the nut to the bridge.

[Drak]

So is the scale length determined by the length from the nut to the holes going through the body? I thought it was from the nut to the bridge.

No. The scale length is from NUT TO SADDLE.

What IS a bridge really? There are all kinds of different bridges. Telecaster bridges, Stratocaster bridges, Floyd Rose bridges, Baby grand bridges, TOM bridges, Combo TOM/StopTail bridges, the list of BRIDGES goes on and on and on, so obviously, you couldn't use a 'bridge' as any kind of reference point.

Does that make sense to you? What most bridges DO have in common, however, is the SADDLES. That is the TRUE breakpoint from nut to saddle that measures a scale length.

Now, on most typical guitars, the HIGH E is the thinnest string, and will be set most 'forward' of any other string. All the rest, due to the actual size of the strings themselves, will have different intonation points, and all will be further back than the high E string, which is why you move the high E string most forward in travel before measuring your scale length marker point.

[Mickguard]

Following these hints should get you where you want to be.

With all due respect to Drak for being helpful and all, really, the first 'hint' should be that you spend a bit of time reading up on the subject of guitars. Sounds like you don't know all the much about them, at least, not about building them. You only joined yesterday, have a look around this site --all of your questions will be answered. There are also some excellent books out there too.

Once you've read up a bit, people will be happy to help you out.

[mdismuke]

Thanks for the help Drak.

Your response tells me I was on the right track to begin with in regards to "scale legnth" and that there really is no "magic template" or anything.

I understand the last part of my question in regards to measurements may lead some to believe I no absolutely nothing about building guitars, but please don't judge me based on my one and only posting.

Thanks again for the help.

[Drak]

Glad I could help.

[peterhanson]

No. The scale length is from NUT TO SADDLE.

oops... that's what i meant to say, i was just being a little too general, with saddles being in bridges and all. anyways, thanks for clearing that up.

[Mickguard]

I understand the last part of my question in regards to measurements may lead some to believe I no absolutely nothing about building guitars, but please don't judge me based on my one and only posting.

Hey, no problem. A lot of people come through here all hepped up on the idea of building their own guitar without knowing the first thing about where to start (I, um, was one of those ). So the most helpful advice in that case really is to read up a bit before plunging in.

In any case, the bridge one chooses determines a lot about what happens with the rest of the guitar. In any event, you definitely need to have the bridge properly placed before you can think about the string through holes --they're not absolutely necessary (you can also use a top mount bridge), but the location of the saddles definitely is.

In case you haven't seen it though, Stew Mac's Fret Scale Calculator will also give you the exact positioning for many common bridge types --if you're lucky, yours will be there, so there'll be no guesswork.

[spazzyone]

Thanks for the help Drak.

Your response tells me I was on the right track to begin with in regards to "scale legnth" and that there really is no "magic template" or anything.

Thanks again for the help.

What the F$%k no "magic template"?

now what am i gonna do

Edited December 27, 2006 by spazzyone