Tele Build Pictorial

[Hydrogeoman]

Hey all,

Decided I was going to try and take photos of most of the steps for the build I am currently working on. Nothing out of the ordinary here, just your basic tele and will probably bore many of you to tears. Hopefully, there will be some pics in here that will be helpful to some. This 1st post takes you primarily through the neck building process (minus fretting) and some simple inlaying on the headstock.

It is going to be pretty pretty economical, probably around $300 (US) total to build.

Curly maple neck and birdseye maple fretboard

Walnut body from a board a friend of mine found in an old miltary building that was getting ready to be demolished.

GFS Vintage Alnico (neck), GFS Vintage Alinco 50 (bridge) These are very inexpensive pickups which I have never tried but thought I would give them a shot.

Gotoh tuners

Wilkinson tele bridge

and other misc parts from Guitar Fetish.

Here is a pic of the body halfs glued up and thickness planed. The nasty knot will get hogged out when the control cavity is routed.

Lots more pics to see if you have the time:

Roughed out body shape click

3-piece neck glueup click

body and neck w/fretboard layed out click

route truss rod channel click

begin slotting fretboard (Stewmac blade and template) click

More slots , I used to use my table saw with a sled but the radial arm saw is quicker and just as accurate click

drilling the neck dot holes click

glueing on the fretboard (tape gets pulled before placing the fretboard click

fretboard will be held in place with two brads to avoid slipping when clamped click

fretboard clamped (did I use enough clamps?) click

No pics of radiusing the fretboard, but I just use the radiused maple sanding blocks (8" and 16" long ones). This fretboard has a 7.25" radius. click

Cutting pearl for inlay click

My logo click

Prepare to route inlay. I made my dremel router base from 2 brass screws that are used to hold a toilet tank to the toilet (they have a nice wide and fairly thin head) a little plexiglass and a piece of flat steel - and bingo. Saved a little money and seems to work pretty well. click

Begin inlay routing click

Finished route click

Epoxy mixed with a little amber toner click

Inlay placed in route with epoxy click

Begin rough cutting headstock shape with scroll saw click

Headstock rough cut click

Ok, in the past, I pressed the frets in at this stage, but this time I decided to rough carve the neck first, allow it to sit for about a week, re-level the fretboard and then fret. Hopefully it will make for a truer neck.

Begin to carve neck at headstock and heel area 1st click

Carving near headstock click

Headstock area and heel area roughed out click

Rough shaping on the heel click

Start carving the space between click

Another angle cut click

Neck roughed out complete click

Drilling tuning machine holes click

Test fit tuning machines click and click

Well, that's all for now folks!

Cheers - Greg

[Rick500]

Thanks for taking the time to take pics. I always enjoy following along.

[Xanthus]

Dayum, that's a nice pictorial going on! I'm sure a lot of us would love to see a PDF book when you're done, if you have enough pictures, like Erik did with his fanned LP build-off project.

[kiki]

nice job!

and thanks for posting the photos!

[CrazyManAndy]

Awesome stuff, Greg! I really dig the headstock shape and inlay. This one's going to be a beaut!

CMA

Edited February 12, 2008 by CrazyManAndy

[MiKro]

>snip<

Cutting pearl for inlay click

>snip<

Cheers - Greg

Looks Great Greg,

BTW I see you have the Dewalt scroll saw? Is it the model with parallel arm action like the variable speed DW788? If so, those are so smooth running that I have found you can use your Inlay blades in it. I tried my friends out and man was it cool.

Use a 1/8" backer for the inlay material and glue it to the backer using contac cement. Make the backer oversize so you have something to hold. when done use some acetone to remove the inlay from the backer piece. Just something I have tried and seems to work fine. Now if I can only get the routing part on such a small scale to work for me

Mike

[Hydrogeoman]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Good idea on the pdf Xanthus. I will put one together when this one is all done and make it available. It won't be a book like Erik's though - his is fantastic!

>snip<

Cutting pearl for inlay click

>snip<

Cheers - Greg

Looks Great Greg,

BTW I see you have the Dewalt scroll saw? Is it the model with parallel arm action like the variable speed DW788? If so, those are so smooth running that I have found you can use your Inlay blades in it. I tried my friends out and man was it cool.

Use a 1/8" backer for the inlay material and glue it to the backer using contac cement. Make the backer oversize so you have something to hold. when done use some acetone to remove the inlay from the backer piece. Just something I have tried and seems to work fine. Now if I can only get the routing part on such a small scale to work for me

Mike

Mike, thanks for the pearl inlay tip. I will have to try that next time I do some cutting. It will definately help eliminate the nice little grooves I always saw into my fingernails holding the workpiece

The scroll saw is a DeWalt DW788. It is a great saw. I use it mainly for headstocks and used it once to cut a body before I got a band saw. Definately a luxury to do tight cuts like this: bass "scroll."

I will have to give it a try with some very fine blades sometime. I once tried cutting a pearl piece with it using a blade that was far too stout for that kind of detail. The blade bound in the pearl and yanked the workpiece out of my hand in a blink - a very bone-headed move on my part. Fortunately I didn't catch my fingers in the blade but haven't tried cutting any pearl with it since that episode.

Here are a few more progress pics on the tele. First pic is of the fretwire bender I built using Jay5's plans. Less than $10 invested and it works great. The metal plate is a sandwich of three pieces of galvanized lawn edging epoxied together.

Radiused fretwire holder click

Cutting the wire lengths click

Pressing in frets. Using a Stewmac 7.25" radius caul held with the arbor made from Jay5's plans again and a Harbor Fright Arbor press. About $40 total investment (love to save money where I can) click

Here is an idea I would like to throw out. Has anybody tried mounting a torque wrench (the type that clicks when you reach your set torque) to their arbor press to try and ensure a consistent pressure on each fret that is being pressed in? I know there are variables such as the density and hardness variations you will see in the same piece of wood, so there may be instances where the fret does not seat all the way and requires additional torque, but I am thinking of testing this idea on the next neck I fret.

Getting there click

Fretted neck ready to be trimmed with the end cutter click

That's it for today! Cheers - G

[Andronico]

Good job !

[Hydrogeoman]

Today's pictures:

Thought I would start with a pic of where this build is at currently. Then the links to the few steps to get here.

Beveling the frets flush click

Begin setting up Myka's neck pocket jig (this was put together quickly as a prototype - I have not yet gotten around to making a nicer, more easily adjustable one). click

Clamping it in click

Laser level to align neck with centerline on body (I also use fishing line as a double check). click

Ready to route. click

Closeup before routing. click

Neck pocket route complete. Took cuts of about 1/8" at a time until final depth reached. click

Ready for the moment of truth. click

Ahh, fits like a glove. click

Well that comprises working on this for the last several weekends. Progress pics will probably be coming along at longer intervals. Until then, frequently wrong but seldom uncertain.

G