Looking for advice on DIY Telecaster neck

[J. B. Goode]

Hello fellow guitar enthousiasts.

 

As a long-time player with no building experience, I am planning on building my first DIY instrument, a T-style guitar, mostly of ready parts. From the research I’ve done, every step (picking and assembling the parts) seems fairly affordable and easy, even for an atechnical person like myself – except for the neck, which I’d like to make in a way that it is and stays straight with minimal/no need for adjusting the truss rod whenever I change strings/tune down or up, which I do often. Also it should allow for good intonation and for the guitar to stay in tune. In other words, I want to make a neck that does its job, without having to break the bank. And from what I understand, this would mean that

- the neck, a single piece of maple, I suppose, should be straight and sturdy with accurately placed fret grooves, laid in with stainless steel frets

- the tuning machines must be stable

- the nut must be of high quality too

 

Now, if this is correct, then a) how do I make sure I pick the right parts; how should I check they are and will stay good? b) what are things that I, as a beginner, and fairly atechnical person with access to and willing to invest in woodworking tools, can do on my own, and what are things I should see a luthier for, or buy readily?

 

If it is not correct, please tell me what I should look out for instead.   

 

Any help would be much appreciated. After a few very frustrating experiences with electric guitars, it would be a relief to finally own (build) a guitar that sounds good, feels good and doesn’t let you down in some unexpected way.

 

Tnanks in advance!

[Bizman62]

Hello and welcome! Here's some thougths that are just my personal opinions based on what I've learned.

For stability, a laminated neck is often a better choice especially in the less expensive price ranges. Single piece necks are common but as wood is a living material a cheap neck may be just that, cheap. Ideally you'd want  straight and tight grained wood which has been properly dried and stored in a humidity controlled space for a decade or so to make sure it doesn't warp or do any other unwanted tricks. That's not a cheap process!

Fret material has nothing to do with tuning stability. Durability is another thing and that's where stainless steel is the toughest material. Then again, your playing style and activity play a big role in how fast your frets wear.

Good tuners are a must, as is a good nut.

And any neck should stay straight when changing strings unless you change the thickness which changes the tension.

To your questions:

a) get the kit of a well known maker. You never know what you get from the Chinese online shops. At worst the frets are totally off! Also get all the wooden parts from the same maker to ensure the right measurements and tight fitting. Crimson Guitars make pretty good kits and you can modify the order from almost square blocks to a painted puzzle.

b) For a kit the minimum you need is a screwdriver and a wrench, and a soldering iron for the electronics, and some means of slapping the finish on. Of course that depends on the level of readiness of the kit you choose.

If at all possible making the guitar tutored by a luthier would be worth gold. Joining a guitar building course, public or private, would teach you both how to use the tools right and how to build the guitar in the right order, not to mention how to fix the problems you'll most likely run into. My guitars have been built from scratch at a course offered by my hometown and under tuition of a Master Luthier, yet the neck of my first build is like a baseball bat. But it's playable, stays in tune and has the intonation right.

 

 

[mistermikev]

5 hours ago, J. B. Goode said:

Hello fellow guitar enthousiasts.

 

As a long-time player with no building experience, I am planning on building my first DIY instrument, a T-style guitar, mostly of ready parts. From the research I’ve done, every step (picking and assembling the parts) seems fairly affordable and easy, even for an atechnical person like myself – except for the neck, which I’d like to make in a way that it is and stays straight with minimal/no need for adjusting the truss rod whenever I change strings/tune down or up, which I do often. Also it should allow for good intonation and for the guitar to stay in tune. In other words, I want to make a neck that does its job, without having to break the bank. And from what I understand, this would mean that

- the neck, a single piece of maple, I suppose, should be straight and sturdy with accurately placed fret grooves, laid in with stainless steel frets

- the tuning machines must be stable

- the nut must be of high quality too

 

Now, if this is correct, then a) how do I make sure I pick the right parts; how should I check they are and will stay good? b) what are things that I, as a beginner, and fairly atechnical person with access to and willing to invest in woodworking tools, can do on my own, and what are things I should see a luthier for, or buy readily?

 

If it is not correct, please tell me what I should look out for instead.   

 

Any help would be much appreciated. After a few very frustrating experiences with electric guitars, it would be a relief to finally own (build) a guitar that sounds good, feels good and doesn’t let you down in some unexpected way.

 

Tnanks in advance!

I'm sure I'll double up on many things biz will say... but I'll give you my take anyway.  #1 start from a good plan if you are a begininer.  I would suggest you consider "tele revision D" as a good place to start.  you can find it on tdpri or on electric herald.  it is a well established tele doc.  you can find neck docs there too... but personally I just use fret2Dfind (avail on this site and elsewhere) to build a fretboard based on the nut E to E dist and the bridge width.  

afa stability there are a number of things you can do... 1 piece isn't necc best there as a multilam will be much more likely to be stable... but barring that... I would suggest you get some birdseye or at least HARD maple... NOT soft maple.  good grain will make a huge dif here too.  I would also advise that you don't cut your neck back profile really thin.  I would also suggest using a 2 way truss rod.  you do all these things, use a good fretboard, ensure that the fretboard is flat, and get a good leveling bar for your frets... and you'll have a neck you don't have to touch.  tuning stability - one thing that will help there is going heel adjust.  not having a big cut through the headstock/neck transition will stengthen the hell out of it... it's not required... but imo it is def a way to give yourself more of a leg up in that dept.  almost any decent tuners (namebrand) will be fine... but cutting the nut slots yourself is a must.  any factor slotted nut is not going to be 100% there.  even graphtech - I find i freq have to hit the slots a few times to prevent binding.  90% of all tuning issues come from the nut.  

none of this is bible.  we all have to choose what makes sense to use so hopefully there will be something there you can use.  def consider more than one source for advice.  lot of great members here and I'm sure a few more will chime in.  here's to your adventure!!