Manet Posted April 13, 2011 Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 Hello fellow luthiers, I have no experience (hardly a luthier fetus) with building guitars, so I'm counting on you to save me from a potential disaster on my first build here! The guitar I have in mind has: - a PRS body (couldn't resist it..) - telecaster bridge plate and single coil - PRS humbucker in neck position - (Buy) a telecaster 22 frets neck (I think the body will be enough trouble for a first build) So here are some of my concerns: - Will a telecaster neck fit into a PRS body without any modifications on neck or body? - Will the position of the "string-holes" on the PRS body template be the correct place to put the telecaster bridge plate etc.? - Is there anything else that I haven't thought about yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linny Posted April 13, 2011 Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 (edited) 1. The neck will fit, if you make it fit! 2. See above. 3. Plenty! Just read, plan and draw a full size plan on paper or cad. Templates are everything, sometimes they are the hard bit. 4. Profit!!!?? Edited April 13, 2011 by Linny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripthorn Posted April 13, 2011 Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 PRS and telecaster guitars have different scale lengths, neck pocket types, neck angles, etc., so you will have to put in a lot of leg work to mix two different styles of guitars like this relative to doing a straight up clone. Don't assume that any holes will line up or anything like that, you will have to do all that from scratch, preferably with parts in-hand. If I were doing a first build again, I would do a clone or very subtle variation of a well-known guitar instead of the full blown, designed from the ground up build that I did. I made a lot of mistakes and ended up scrapping the guitar (it played, but was not particularly well done). You may be different than I and are welcome to try, but my suggestion based on your questions (I'm not putting you down, just saying that based on your questions there are lots of things you need to read up on, we all have to) it might have a pretty good chance of not turning out quite as well as you would like. Then again, you might be the type who studies and researches everything to death before practicing which you do before actually building. I'm much more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants type guy who likes see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manet Posted April 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 Thanks for the replies! @Ripthorn, hey thanks for the reality check! I will probably take your advice and do a copy of either the tele or PRS, but I can start by reading everything to death, since it's useful stuff to know anyway! My immediate thought now is to buy the neck and shape the body after it's needs, but of course, I should read something to death first. BTW, I just finished a sketch of how I want the guitar to look (roughly) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripthorn Posted April 13, 2011 Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 I certainly like the look. If you really want to do it, I would buy the neck, cut out the body and route to a template for just the outer profile, then route the neck pocket and place the bridge, etc. Just make sure you are very careful and measure a gazillion times before actually cutting, routing, drilling, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manet Posted April 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 Sounds like a plan! Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted April 13, 2011 Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 Just remember that if you go for this combo of styles you will need to leave a "tongue" of wood sticking out from the body for the neck to be screwed to. If not, you will only have like 2 cm for the neck pocket. This can also be remedied with a move of the bridge-pickups-neck package toward the butt end of the guitar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manet Posted April 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 @SwedishLuthier: Ah yes, I actually thought about both those options yesterday, but I didn't have enough brain power to get something useful out of it. Tack så mycket! But is it necessary to think about angles if I have a telecaster bridge plate, and shape the neck part of the body like a (strat-/)telecaster? To me, everything along the median of the guitar would then practically be a telecaster except for the PRS humbucker, and the slight curve of the body behind the bridge plate... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 Nah, you don't need to consider a neck angle with a tele neck and bridge. Just plan carefully so that the neck elevation matches the bridge and your desired playing actions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 I made a quick drawing. These are your options: or anything in between Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manet Posted April 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 Wow, I'm impressed by the quality of your "quick drawings"! Thanks a million, this is a great leap in the right direction for my project! I think I will go for the first option, and "curve the neck part of the body up against the neck pocket extension" like a strat. I like the look of the telecaster hardware on your drawings, I might end up using that instead. Better start gathering wood and parts! EDIT 1: I really appreciate all the help I've gotten so far, and now I only have a few concerns regarding the "stuffing"... I promise I will be quiet for a while after this Let's say I use the following: PRS humbucker, telecaster single coil, PRS vol/tone pots (push/pull), telecaster knobs, telecaster 3-way switch. - Are all pots and "knob-holes" the same size? (Would a telecaster knob could fit on a PRS vol pot?) - I found a PRS humbucker compatible with 3-way toggle and push/pull pot, and I assume the Telecaster SC is also compatible like that. Will they work together with the wiring, tone/vol pots, and so forth? EDIT 2: New look Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manet Posted April 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 *delete* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 Just so you know,though there is no trademark and it's by no means the only one,Bill Jehle has been using the logo of "jellycaster" for years. http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/logo.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manet Posted April 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 Yeah it's not the most original name out there... But I didn't know about it when I thought of the name. Anyway, it's only going to be this guitar with that name. The story behind the name is that I make music under the name "Manet", and that is the Norwegian word for jellyfish, hence the name Jellycaster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 It's cool.I just wanted you to know so that if it bothered you that you could make a change.By no means is Bill's guitar the only "jellycaster"..there is another guy who builds "melted" guitars by that name. But I thought you might want to know since there is a tutorial on how to make a logo that says that exact word on this site...somebody might think it was "unoriginal" or something..but I personally think that with guitars,completely original idea rarely make a good one... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 Wow, I'm impressed by the quality of your "quick drawings"! Whell, if you have a good quality Tele CAD and a PRS body CAD its a quite quick job to fuse tham toghether, add a few clicks and you also have the body outline drawings made in a total of 10-15 minutes. I think I will go for the first option, and "curve the neck part of the body up against the neck pocket extension" like a strat. I think that is a good idea. You get better support for the neck pocket and it makes the body less PRS-isch. That body flows better together with a six-a-side head IMHO Re: the knobs vs the pots, there are metrical and imperical versions of boths so they need to match and there is no sure way to say "this will match this" without measuring teh parts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manet Posted April 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 @westheman Thanks for the heads up. The name is really stuck in my head at the moment. But I haven't started on the guitar yet, so I might come up with something more original when the time comes to baptize it. I did some searches and it appears all the good knockoffs are used. I didn't find anything on "pussycaster" though, so it might end up being my mojo axe.. @SwedishLuthier I guess I'll just have to take a leap of faith with the stuffing. Luckily the buttons and pots are cheap, but I really hope the electronic parts and the pickups speaks the same language. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripthorn Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 My one suggestion from an aesthetics standpoint, I would do away with the tele control plate and do a PRS-style rear control cavity. Also, you don't have to worry a ton about pickups playing with pots and switches nicely, because pretty much all pots function on the same basic principle. You can mix and match pots and pickups and switches with relatively low risk. Now you've got me thinking of doing a PRS body with 6 in line headstock... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manet Posted April 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 Awesome to know that it most likely won't be a problem with the pickups and stuff! Hmm, I've gotten positive feedback from a friend on the tele control plate, so I guess it's a love/hate thing. I like that extra piece of GOLD. It's PIMP. But I would love to see your take on the PRS body with 6 line headstock! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 @westheman Thanks for the heads up. The name is really stuck in my head at the moment. But I haven't started on the guitar yet, so I might come up with something more original when the time comes to baptize it. I did some searches and it appears all the good knockoffs are used. I didn't find anything on "pussycaster" though, so it might end up being my mojo axe.. I would have called it "Manny-caster" personally..that's how us Americans might butcher the word Manet... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manet Posted October 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 Just a small update here. I've made a ROUGH model of the guitar I want to make (picture). Gathered some very useful experiences from that and will hopefully make the final version look better. I scrapped the "maple top" idea. Got a piece of mahogany and have started drawing lines and stuff on it. I have one question: Does anyone know how deep the neck humbucker pocket (it's a PRS humbucker) should be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted October 23, 2011 Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 I really like that top carve. Very nice! On the other hand a router and some templates will make the pickup and control cavities look much better and it will reduce the probabilities of goofing things up. AT least on this side of the border you can rent a router if you don't have access to one (often the biggest hurdle when starting out, the lack of specialized tools). Re the rout depth: Even if I don't have a PRS HB to measure I would assume that if they are "short legged" (5-6-7 mm long legs) they will need a rout in the 20mm range, and if they have longer legs you just need to add depth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manet Posted October 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 Thanks for fast reply and for liking the carve! Believe it or not, I actually used a router there. But I did all the carving BEFORE routing.. BIG mistake. So I just said "f**k it" and just hacked and slashed away just to have a hole. I will definitely try to make a template before routing this time. Sounds like a good plan. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.