Blazer Posted April 15, 2009 Report Share Posted April 15, 2009 (edited) Well once again I decided to get rid of stuff I have lying around and made an inventory of what I can use for a new build and came up with this. - A Birdseye maple tele neck with a rosewood fingerboard - A plain maple Strat neck with maple cap fingerboard - Two Dimarzio Super distortion humbuckers - Two chrome Fender style hard tail bridges, one toploading the other for string through body construction. - Two sets of Cast sealed tuners, one for each neck. -Two chrome humbucker rings. So with that I decided to build two matching pine body Teles. http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/guit...uw/100_0931.jpg The first body still in the clamps, the glue has set over night http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/guit...uw/100_0932.jpg The second body in the clamps http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/guit...uw/100_0935.jpg Routing the first body http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/guit...uw/100_0936.jpg And here it is after the routing was done. The second body during the routing The two bodies together Then I decided to drop the idea of using the necks I had lying around and instead opted to made the necks from scratch, also when talking to Jack T Ripper, our second guitarist, he asked me if it were possible to give the guitars 24 fret necks and I found no reason why it shouldn't be possible. It also makes that I have to give the guitars a Gibson 24, 1/5 scale length. http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/guit...uw/100_0954.jpg One of the necks while the glue sets http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/guit...uw/100_0955.jpg And here's the neck after the glue dried and I planed it. This particullar neck was made from rest pieces of other necks we made, it consists of three main pieces of Birds eye maple, two layers of rosewood veneer, two layers of maple veneer and two layers of lacewood veneer, the effect as you can tell is striking, this will be a KILLER neck. As for work on the bodies, I finished routing the neck pockets.... ...and started work on the routing of the electronics compartment. Edited April 21, 2009 by Blazer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazer Posted April 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2009 (edited) http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/guit...uw/100_0948.jpg And off we go.... http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/guit...uw/100_0949.jpg Slow and steady wins the race http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/guit...uw/100_0950.jpg And routing a pocket to recess the backplate so it looks and feels smooth. Finished http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/guit...uw/100_0952.jpg Time to whip out the grain filler. http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/guit...uw/100_0953.jpg For both bodies of course. And here's how they look after the first sanding when the filler has set. And from behind too of course But with my decision to abandon using the necks I had ready I also created a problem, I still had those necks lying around and so I decided to build a THIRD tele. But this one would be quite different. I still had that Stunning Birds eye Maple neck and it would be a shame NOT to use that neck so I decided to make a third tele body so I could use that neck and I also decided to go for that tried and tested wood combination that makes a rock guitar: Mahogany and maple. Book match baby, you can see the join but it's not really that bad. Edited April 21, 2009 by Blazer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazer Posted April 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2009 (edited) Side view: you can see that I used two routing bits, a smaller one to do the top and a bigger one for the rest of the body, this was because hard rock maple can splinter when routed and this way I avoided chipping. This picture also shows the thickness of the body. It's thicker than a standard tele body but that will translate in sustain. The back: as you can see, a big "Eye" where a branch sat is prominent at the bass side. But I don't mind, I think it gives the guitar something of it's own. My Boss already nicknamed it "The Jupiter's storm guitar" because of this figure in the wood. I filled the "Eye" in the back of the body with two component filler. The transparent stuff also gives a little preview on what the mahogany will look like when finished. http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/guit...91/100_0989.jpg And this is the thing I used, dependable stuff. A little water on the top exposes that pretty texture of the maple here. I already decided that this will be a twin humbucker, rear-routed guitar, no pickguard because I feel it would be a crime to cover up such a pretty piece of Maple: it needs to be seen in full. Edited April 21, 2009 by Blazer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazer Posted April 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2009 And just Yesterday I performed a LOT of work on that third body. I routed the neck pocket, the body rounding, the pickup cavity and... ...The back cavity. It's starting to look like a tele, Although I'm not sure yet if that will be the bridge I'm gonna use here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fowl2338 Posted April 15, 2009 Report Share Posted April 15, 2009 Wow, that looks great. Can't wait to see them when you're finished. Are you putting Dimarzio Super distortions in all three? And how bout a floyd on one of them...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazer Posted April 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 Okay you guys, tomorrow will be the day that I finish the routing and drilling work on my tele body. After that it will be sanding and finishing. I have two options on where to go with this tele. Either with or without pickup rings, what would you guys say is the best option of the two. As for color I'm still biased to do in in translucent red. The body after I used two component filler on several places to fill in cracks and shallow dents in the wood where the top got chipped during planing. What I need to do now is sand the body smooth again and drill it for a Fender Non trem Strat bridge, string canals and string ferrules. On the back I'm planning to rout a recessed heel pocket similar to the one on this Ibanez guitar. I need to do this because of the neck bolts not being long enough to bolt it secure in place and it also make it easier to play high up the neck. As always I'll keep you guys informed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 Beware of thinning the neck pocket - pine is not very high on the list for either strength or long-term stability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chops1983 Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 Looks good! P/up rings for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazer Posted April 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 Beware of thinning the neck pocket - pine is not very high on the list for either strength or long-term stability. That scooping of the heel is meant for the Mahogany guitar, not the pine ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazer Posted April 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2009 Well today was the day for me to rout out the scallop in which the neck plate will sit. And while I was at it I also screwed the neck on to see if that needs adjusting as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazer Posted April 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2009 Here's the body inside the workshop yesterday after I applied the first layers of amber shellac. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazer Posted April 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2009 And here it is today after a wet sanding and a second layer. The pictures don't do it justice, in person the color is much deeper in shade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazer Posted May 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2009 Well if all goes according to plan I can assemble the amber tele this week, as always I'll keep you guys informed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted May 12, 2009 Report Share Posted May 12, 2009 The "eye" actually cleaned up pretty well once the finish was on. I was a bit skeptical when I saw the initial pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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