guitar2005 Posted February 21, 2011 Report Share Posted February 21, 2011 I've been wanting to build a Telecaster for a while and after having started on a customer Tele build, I decided to experiment a little on another tele build. This guitar has a 3 piece ash body with a 3/16" cedar top. The top is from a 2x8" piece I recieved 10years ago as a part of a deliver for cedar decking. The ash is three pieces that I just had to use on something. Total body thickness is approx 1-1/2" thick. The cedar is very soft so I'll have to be careful when handling the guitar during the build process and it will need a good, solid finish. A friend of mine donated some very nice quartersawn Birch, which I decided to use on the neck, along with a piece of Ovengkol for the fretboard. The fretboard wood is very nice but beware if you want to use this wood - It splinters like crazy - This is the last time I use this wood for a fretboard. The neck pocket and neck heel are cut so that there is no overhang at the end for the 22nd fret. The neck itself has an angled headstock and has a 1-3/4" (43mm) nut and a 2-1/4" neck width at the heel. This is the cedar I used for the top; Resawn cedar: F-Hole; Top Glued on to the ash core: Cutting the fretboard; Cutting the nut slot on the fretboard: Mockup of the body and neck: Side view of the neck and view of the neck pocket: End grain of the Birch Neck: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted February 21, 2011 Report Share Posted February 21, 2011 ovangkol is a bit splintery with its interlocked grain - worth it though, its pretty and polishes up really well. i made a few necks from it about 6 years ago and just did a simple oil & wax finish, I still see one of the guitars regularly and it still feels awesome with very little aftercare Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chops1983 Posted February 22, 2011 Report Share Posted February 22, 2011 They look great Guitar2005, one could almost mistake this for my thread Im interested in how much of these you hollowed out? If you have any pics maybe you can put them up for us? Chad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted February 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2011 The body is hollowed out like so (this is a different guitar Mahogany/Maple cap, but the principle is the same): Since the top is already thin, I didn't touch the top but for the almost 1/2" Maple capped guitars, I also routed the top out on the F-Hol side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted February 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 Routed the back cavities and cover recesses. Next steps are to get the bridge, drill/route the string through ferrules. drill the jack hole, then start the finishing process. Waiting on parts right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted July 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2011 Got more work done on this one. Its its the finishing stages. I'm applying Target Coatings EM6000 waterbased lacquer on this one. So far, so good. Its my first experience with this stuff and I'm spraying 5 guitars with it. Here are some pics of the body, curing. I'll let this one sit for a while. What you're seeing is the finish right off the gun. That's about 16 coats on there. This is my 1st time doing a bound body. Its turning out pretty good. Not perfect but definitely happy with the result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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