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Raw Telecaster Project


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I was wondering about the neck too, I have huge hands á la Vai and I want a meaty neck. Is there any neck profile you guys think I could shoot for or just make the neck wider?

Also I made a huge stain on my desk today by hitting my cup of coffee over. It looked to cool and could be something for a future finish! But If I was to do this I would have to either drench the whole body in coffee or separate the top from the rest in some way. If I drenched the body/top in coffee would I damage the woold in any way? Do different roasts have different tone? :D

All input is good input folks!

EDIT: I also checked If I could get Melvyn Hiscocks's book around here and I could. I'll go to the local bookstore and see if they can order it for me.

Edited by Slabbefusk
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You could add another string for width, but I'd go for the meatier neck. I just finalized the thickness of my 6-string bass neck which measures out to 1.100" at the heel down to .900" next to the nut. Feels great and I can't wait to finally play on wide neck that is rounded instead of flat.

Why don't you dip a paper towel in coffee and rub it into some wood? I couldn't imagine why it would damage the wood in anyway, it would work just like a stain or dye. Sounds like a cool idea.

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  • 2 weeks later...
You could add another string for width, but I'd go for the meatier neck. I just finalized the thickness of my 6-string bass neck which measures out to 1.100" at the heel down to .900" next to the nut. Feels great and I can't wait to finally play on wide neck that is rounded instead of flat.

Why don't you dip a paper towel in coffee and rub it into some wood? I couldn't imagine why it would damage the wood in anyway, it would work just like a stain or dye. Sounds like a cool idea.

Yeah that is what I had in mind but what profile do guys think would give me a meaty but comfortable neck? What are your preferences? V-shape? C? Slim 60's?

What radius would be good for a sort of compromise between being able to play chords comfortably and still being able to pull of some faster stuff? Would a compound radius be too steep of a learning curve?

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  • 4 months later...

Okay!

Tomorrow we will recieve some information concerning our projects etc.

I have located a nice piece of American Ash that is already roughed out for a Telecaster shape (2 piece body).

My only concern is that its only 1,5" thick while my Ibanez RG is 1,75" . It weighs in at about 2 kgs unrouted. My idea with this project was to build a really clean telecaster with (hopefully) lots of fat tone. How much "fatness" would I loose if I went with this 1,5" thick piece versus a 1,75"?

Does anyone know how thick the early Teles were? Would a thinner body affect the stability of the neck joint in a bad way?

The pickups will of course influence the tone as well, but I'm just wondering.

I will also buy a neck for this project. I have absolutely no tools at home and I'm not sure if my school has all the necessary ones either. Maybe I should check that out :D.

EDIT: Do I ask too many or too dumb questions? :D

Edited by Slabbefusk
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  • 3 weeks later...
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Well, the important thing in this project isn't how deep you write about the theory behind. It is all about the end product and HOW you got there. I have to keep a log on everything I do when working on this guitar; what, how, why and when I did what and how did it go? That's what the teachers are going to look at when giving me my grade.

It would of course be sort of icing on the cake if I had some well explained theory too back up all things I've done.

Edited by Slabbefusk
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  • 2 weeks later...

Update:

I drilled the stringthrough-holes today and f****d up, but I don't know why. When I looked at the top all the holes aligned properly but when I looked at the back one was off and it annoys me like crazy. The sole fact that I was using a drill press and it still didn't come out straight is just lame. Must be the drill press that flunked out on me in someway because everything was fastened.

I think I will make a cavity just deep enough to house a coverplate so I won't have the the crooked bushings staring at me everytime I pick it up. Didn't do anymore work after those holes because I was just pissed.

EDIT: I've also made a new template for the neckpocket. It is much tighter than the first one, lucky thing I did the testpiece.

Edited by Slabbefusk
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How thin/thick was the drill bit? Usually I drill those with 3-4mm holes, and those tiny, tiny bits just loooove to wander on you. They need to be perfectly SHARP, good quality, and you need to go SLOW. Drill a little, back out, clear the sawdust, drill a little more, back out, etc. and let the speed do the cutting, don't force it or it'll start wandering and following the grain.

Luckily, though, you should be able to hide this sort of thing with the string ferrules in the back, which don't need to line up perfectly with the holes, hint hint.

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How thin/thick was the drill bit? Usually I drill those with 3-4mm holes, and those tiny, tiny bits just loooove to wander on you. They need to be perfectly SHARP, good quality, and you need to go SLOW. Drill a little, back out, clear the sawdust, drill a little more, back out, etc. and let the speed do the cutting, don't force it or it'll start wandering and following the grain.

Luckily, though, you should be able to hide this sort of thing with the string ferrules in the back, which don't need to line up perfectly with the holes, hint hint.

as Mattia pointed out the drawbacks of wood and small drills. The ferrules will cover them as Mattia HINTS TO! LOL :D

I now drill the outboard holes first and set a line on the back based on those 2, mark and drill all the ferrule holes inline and then go back and finish the others from the top. Some may wander but will find the larger ferrule hole.

Just my .02 cents.

MK

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I used the small 3-4 mm holes as a guide for my ferrule-holes so they don't align either. :D

It's f-ugly.

Therefore, I will make a coverplate that keeps them out of my sight whenever I'm not changing strings. Luckily all other holes that are to be drilled are much bigger so the bits shouldn't wander on those.

Thanks for the input guys! :D

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I used the small 3-4 mm holes as a guide for my ferrule-holes so they don't align either. :D

It's f-ugly.

Therefore, I will make a coverplate that keeps them out of my sight whenever I'm not changing strings. Luckily all other holes that are to be drilled are much bigger so the bits shouldn't wander on those.

Thanks for the input guys! :D

I'd say fill the hole and re-drill it instead...It's gonna come out better in the end, and will probably take less time.

And I don't think that the end product will be that important for your grade btw, it's 90% just the log and presentation.

You can end up with a pile of wood and still get good grades becaue the project is not at all about what you make, it's just about the process.

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