Project Open Telecaster

[RestorationAD]

I am using this contraption to make my necks uniform thickness. I am not building normal tele necks. Instead I am building thin flat radius necks like I like. Hopefully someone else will like them too. One of my complaints about my old telecaster was the radius.

[RestorationAD]

After the rough profile it is time to glue on the fretboard.

[RestorationAD]

Finishing up the backs of the necks

And my new tool for it.

[RestorationAD]

It never ends every night the same thing... trim, sand, clamp, profile. I guess I am almost done with this batch. Shouldn't need any tele necks ofr a while when I am done. The one with the half a skunk stripe got a crazy cocobolo fretboard.

[RestorationAD]

I am seriously trying to finish up one step at a time. But it is hard to resist finishing at least one of these things... so I shaped up the headstock face on this one. Shouldn't need string trees on this one.

A few left.

[govtmule]

I am seriously trying to finish up one step at a time. But it is hard to resist finishing at least one of these things... so I shaped up the headstock face on this one. Shouldn't need string trees on this one.

Looks good !!

Any pics of your setup to shape the headstock face ? Are you using your Rigid osc. spindle sander ?

Steve

[RestorationAD]

I am seriously trying to finish up one step at a time. But it is hard to resist finishing at least one of these things... so I shaped up the headstock face on this one. Shouldn't need string trees on this one.

Looks good !!

Any pics of your setup to shape the headstock face ? Are you using your Rigid osc. spindle sander ?

Steve

Yes there are 2 ways of doing it... I am using the router contraption to rough depth the faces.

And my new tool for it.

Then I finish the curves up on the rigid sander.

Building Teles is like building a Model T. They are so archaic compared to my regular builds.... (Hope Drak didn't here that ..shhhh! )

[RestorationAD]

Finally carved one of the Tele necks out. I am going to use all these to experiment with neck shapes. This one has a D shape to it and the curve extends to within 1/8 of the fret board.

[RestorationAD]

I know the heal looks a little square. The tele body has a square heel so the neck matches the body.

[marko_slash]

The thing that is used for guiding the wood through the router (or planer, thicknesser), what is the material that touches the wood (the bottom of it)?

White thing on this picture:

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll19/re...es/P4230144.jpg

[RestorationAD]

The thing that is used for guiding the wood through the router (or planer, thicknesser), what is the material that touches the wood (the bottom of it)?

White thing on this picture:

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll19/re...es/P4230144.jpg

high density black foam

[MuffinPunch]

Looking good! You may have already gone over this somewhere in the thread, but your neck heels are quite a bit deeper than a traditional tele, aren't they? Im getting ready to start shaping my Strat necks (oops, San Dimas necks) and from what Ive understood, the heel depth is pretty close to the same thickness of the neck with a slight taper up to the head, about 3/4". Nothing wrong with doing it differently, just wanna make sure Im understanding it correctly. Aren't Strat and Tele necks pretty similar in shape?

[RestorationAD]

Looking good! You may have already gone over this somewhere in the thread, but your neck heels are quite a bit deeper than a traditional tele, aren't they? Im getting ready to start shaping my Strat necks (oops, San Dimas necks) and from what Ive understood, the heel depth is pretty close to the same thickness of the neck with a slight taper up to the head, about 3/4". Nothing wrong with doing it differently, just wanna make sure Im understanding it correctly. Aren't Strat and Tele necks pretty similar in shape?

You are correct sir. These only look like teles. (Jedi "These are not the teles you are looking for") If you want to see how to build a real telecaster check guitarnut or WezV or tdpri they build better teles than me. I have 3 necks that are closer to traditional tele necks and 4 with deep heels. But I am probably going to put a little neck angle in the heal of this one and glue it in or I might cut it down to normal size... I am just winging all these telecasters. I am experimenting with neck profiles and different things. Heck they all have 16" radiuses and 1 11/16" nuts a lot more Ibanez like than fender like. Think of them as San Dimas Teles.

You might have noticed that I will not need string retainers on this neck. The headstock drops really far. I picked that trick up from some of the guys a tdpri and Rick Kelly. I like Chihoe Hahn's teles as well.

[RestorationAD]

Headstocks sanded out and edges of the bodies fixed up. These are northern ash. They are stupid heavy but should sound like a freight train rolling down the tracks. I had an 81 MIJ squier that I miss... never should have sold it.

Necks are a little wider than standard tele necks so I widened the neck pocket. Had to rig a template setup. It has been a long time since I built any <cough> bolt on necks...

I am not as good at these things as some of the others on the forum... they are so prehistoric.

[RestorationAD]

One unfretted neck becomes a fretted neck... now repeat 3 times. While these look like teles they really are not... they are shreader necks bolted to tele bodies. 16 in radius, jumbo frets, and a trapezoid profile that would make John 5 happy.

[RestorationAD]

I am not used to all the screws it takes to get from a pile of wood to telecaster. They seem so industrial and archaic. All my current designs go out of the way to eliminate screws.

[RestorationAD]

And here is were I left off. Telecasters laying everywhere.... still have to make the nuts and pickups.

[Drak]

The main reason I like Teles is because of where the strap button sits, it positions the neck in the most optimum place for me.

I also prefer flat topped guitars, I honestly don't care much for carved top guitars as much from a player viewpoint, and I find my controls easier to reach and manipulate.

Versatile-wise, I find I can reach many more tones starting from a really nice true SC clean sound, then ramp it up with the pre-amp and the other EMG controls.

It's not so versatile to work it in reverse with a HB base sound and try to work it backwards to great SC tone.

All of mine have compound radius necks and large or jumbo frets, and I do sculpt the back profile a little before I finish it.

So...we're really not so far apart, my Tele's ARE hot-rodded and customized to shred while (usually) keeping a very vintage type of appearance, and if I want to dip back to any kind of a great clean tone, it's right there too.

There is definitely a whole series of design ethics behind mine if you look closely enough at them, because if you think I build typical Telecasters, you're not looking very close.

So it's not so much I'm a Tele freak, it's that everything about their basic structure suits my personal playing style better than most any other kind of design, and the parts about them that don't I've modified to my personal liking.

Call it Personal Design Optimization.

And, I've always liked clean shredders as much as any high-gain shredder.

There are a ton of Tele players that can play super-ridiculously fast with no slop, so from that standpoint, I consider a Tele as a great base to shred on.

Let's look at my design specs, you'll see how far mine are from a typical Tele:

Chambered w/ Rear cutaways

Wide neck profiles

Large frets

Beefier than usual neck pickups (and sometimes bridge too)

Heavily shielded (= DEAD quiet, even under full pre-amp gain)

Controls laid out for maximum usability within picking reach

4 separate (and completely different) tone shaping pots

Pre-amped to 25dB gain (I'd call that a hot signal in anyone's book)

They can sound like a Tele, or like a Les Paul

Locking tuners (usually)

Variety of woods (not the same old Ash)

If I could, I'd go back and put SS frets in every one of 'em too.

That's a pretty good stretch from your average Joe Telecaster.

[avengers63]

'Bout damn time these bodies see the light of day.

[RestorationAD]

Let's look at my design specs, you'll see how far mine are from a typical Tele:

Chambered w/ Rear cutaways

Wide neck profiles

Large frets

Beefier than usual neck pickups (and sometimes bridge too)

Heavily shielded (= DEAD quiet, even under full pre-amp gain)

Controls laid out for maximum usability within picking reach

4 separate (and completely different) tone shaping pots

Pre-amped to 25dB gain (I'd call that a hot signal in anyone's book)

They can sound like a Tele, or like a Les Paul

Locking tuners (usually)

Variety of woods (not the same old Ash)

If I could, I'd go back and put SS frets in every one of 'em too.

That's a pretty good stretch from your average Joe Telecaster.

I like it. I wouldn't waste my time doing all those mods (see below why) but "I Like Them".

Now you know I have some serious opinions about certain guitars... but unlike <cough> PRS (POS) </cough> I like Teles. I don't know why. I guess because they are simple and I believe in simple. I respect the design elements that have made the guitar successful for all these years.

Note to all that can not take someones opinion digest it, accept it, respect it... DON'T READ ANYMORE.

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Here is how I feel about teles. The most Archaic, Prehistoric, Slab, Utilitarian, Industrial, Luddite, Assembly line, Ford pickups of the guitar world.

But a good tele is indispensable.

Few guitars in the world can you use to jack up your truck with, use to change the tire, beat a mugger's head in, paddle the john boat, cut your steaks on, and __still__ play the gig that night.

Don't waste your time changing the pickups to HBs or P90s or Filtertrons, save your EMGs and Blackwires, preamps, opamps and boosts. If Jimmy Page can lay down MASSIVE riffs on a stock one so can you. For this set of three the pickups will be close to vintage spec A3 .197 42Enamel...etc,etc,etc however the neck pickup should get some extra winds. I will have a few drinks while working on them.

Shielding them is like sound proofing a VW Beetle. Why bother they are supposed to be a bit noisy. I rarely shield my guitars anyway all those years playing gigs and I never noticed anything crazy . So what if you pickup a local AM station once and a while... Use it to fuel your fire.

The original electronics layout is perfect. One of the few stock guitars were the volume knob is not in my way.

I think they should be Ash. Why waste good wood on something that ugly. Ash is American, tough, and it sounds good.

They should be beat up. Rust, dents, cracked, worn, dirty all makes them prettier. If you aren't playing it you are missing what it is good at.

They should only come in 2 colors. Butterscotch and Blonde.

Basically your tele should look like Danny Gatton (RIP) took it on tour for 20 years.

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I feel better now.

[Johnny Foreigner]

If Jimmy Page can lay down MASSIVE riffs on a stock one so can you.

That's a little like saying "If Jimmy Page can write Kashmir, so can you" or "If Jimmy Page can be one of history's most respected guitarists, so can you"

I can't even play Stairway. I've got no chance of making a tele sound good.

[verhoevenc]

Dear god? Who needs this many teles?!

Chris

[RestorationAD]

If Jimmy Page can lay down MASSIVE riffs on a stock one so can you.

That's a little like saying "If Jimmy Page can write Kashmir, so can you" or "If Jimmy Page can be one of history's most respected guitarists, so can you"

I can't even play Stairway. I've got no chance of making a tele sound good.

Sorry... but if Joe Strummer can make one sound good so can you.

Dear god? Who needs this many teles?!

Chris

Two purposes. Test neck shapes and finishes. And a family project providing 3 brothers with matching telecasters.

[supplebanana]

Here is how I feel about teles. The most Archaic, Prehistoric, Slab, Utilitarian, Industrial, Luddite, Assembly line, Ford pickups of the guitar world.

Ford make pickups???????!!!! adjustable pole pieces or slugs ? and do they come in Zebra too?

[StormLeader]

Hahah, over here in the US Pick-ups can be referring to Pickup Trucks.

You silly UK'ers.

-Stormy

Edited August 12, 2010 by StormLeader