No Electricity Tele Build

[grandtguitars]

Hi all, hope you're having a great day!

Yesterday I started a new big project, which is to build a telecaster with no electricity, so no router, no bandsaw, not even a digital caliper is allowed. I have here a little video I took that shows me carving the truss rod channel:

Here are a few pics:

 

I think I'm going to go for a padauk veneer on the body. Not sure if I'll put on a pickguard though, as I don't want to cover the beautiful wood

Next up is cutting the neck contour.

[Bizman62]

Seeing things built with simple and often inexpensive tools is very pleasing! Oh yes, I know that good planes can cost an arm and a leg but even those can be substituted with lesser quality tools which work almost as well if you can sharpen them properly. Too often budding luthiers seem to want to start the wrong way, relying on bought templates of unknown origin and copy routers without even knowing how to check the trueness of the templates or even the basics of the crucial measurements of the instrument they're attempting to build.

I'm waiting to see the type of finish you're going to use. A spray gun must be out of the question, mustn't it? A spray can also requires electricity to fill...

That said, I guess you'll need one electric tool at the end of the day: a soldering iron. Of course there's gas powered soldering irons but the above about filling them applies here as well. Then again, using electric tools for soldering the electronics isn't too big of a sin, after all it's going to be an electric guitar! Or... will it be an acoustic Tele?

Anyhow, this is a project I'll be following with great interest!

[grandtguitars]

32 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

Seeing things built with simple and often inexpensive tools is very pleasing! Oh yes, I know that good planes can cost an arm and a leg but even those can be substituted with lesser quality tools which work almost as well if you can sharpen them properly. Too often budding luthiers seem to want to start the wrong way, relying on bought templates of unknown origin and copy routers without even knowing how to check the trueness of the templates or even the basics of the crucial measurements of the instrument they're attempting to build.

I'm waiting to see the type of finish you're going to use. A spray gun must be out of the question, mustn't it? A spray can also requires electricity to fill...

That said, I guess you'll need one electric tool at the end of the day: a soldering iron. Of course there's gas powered soldering irons but the above about filling them applies here as well. Then again, using electric tools for soldering the electronics isn't too big of a sin, after all it's going to be an electric guitar! Or... will it be an acoustic Tele?

Anyhow, this is a project I'll be following with great interest!

It is pleasing to work on wood with hand tools, almost like meditation. My grandpa was a furniture constructor, so he has a few tools. Granted, they are soviet made so they're not the best but they get the job done I think

I'm thinking about brushing on a shellac finish, read in a lot of places that shellac would work best on padauk.

I could instead of soldering just twist all the wires together

[Bizman62]

17 minutes ago, grandtguitars said:

I could instead of soldering just twist all the wires together

Basically a good idea but how would you ground the wires to the top of a pot???

Also, all Soviet made tools aren't necessary of poor quality. After all, they built space ships that even came back in one piece!

[grandtguitars]

1 minute ago, Bizman62 said:

Basically a good idea but how would you ground the wires to the top of a pot???

I could use some copper shielding tape to attach them to the pots maybe

[Bizman62]

There's tape that has conductive glue...

Joking aside, for future novice readers I guess it's best to tell that there really is no substitute for soldering. Tape or twisting can work for a while but they won't stand the vibrations very long.

[grandtguitars]

I was debating whether to use a fretboard I'd made earlier, but ultimately decided against it as I used a power drill for the inlays. At the moment I've only got an 8mm thick fretboard blank, which I'll have to plane to a thickness of around 6mm. Anyways, this is the fretboard I made earlier and a pic of my very high end soviet-made hand plane

 

[Bizman62]

11 hours ago, grandtguitars said:

pic of my very high end soviet-made hand plane

That's much better than my Chinese one! Yours is cast metal, mine is sheet metal... Agreed it's not as fancy as old Stanleys but truth to be said a rosewood handle doesn't make the plane cut any better.

[grandtguitars]

Today I sawed the body blank. Took me around an hour and a half, maybe more, had to take multiple breaks because sawing is actually hard work 

 

The body ended up being slightly off center because I made a mistake cutting it, so had to move it right.

Also, I'm still debating what color hardware I should use - chrome or black? What do you think would go well with the orange?

[Bizman62]

Black would look great on the orange - trick is how to keep that orange! There's videos where they claim to do so, search and judge by yourself.

[grandtguitars]

1 hour ago, Bizman62 said:

Black would look great on the orange - trick is how to keep that orange! There's videos where they claim to do so, search and judge by yourself.

I’ve scoured the internet and came to the conclusion that shellac is the best finish for padauk. I ordered some and when it comes I’ll do a small test on one of the scraps

[Nicco]

Gorgeous piece of wood there, looks fantastic.

What I would say though is even though you've made a mistake on the sawing and now your original body template doesn't quite fit aligned to the centre line, I wouldn't compensate by going slightly off centre on the body; a really visually obvious centre of the timber like you've got being just slightly off square is going to attract your eye all the time. 

If it were me, being a custom guitar and all, I would tweak the body shape to fit the wood.

Just a thought.

[Nicco]

Or glue back on the bit you didn't mean to cut off. A well done, visually unobtrusive glue joint is going to be way easier on the eye than an off centre, centreline

[grandtguitars]

10 hours ago, Nicco said:

Gorgeous piece of wood there, looks fantastic.

What I would say though is even though you've made a mistake on the sawing and now your original body template doesn't quite fit aligned to the centre line, I wouldn't compensate by going slightly off centre on the body; a really visually obvious centre of the timber like you've got being just slightly off square is going to attract your eye all the time. 

If it were me, being a custom guitar and all, I would tweak the body shape to fit the wood.

Just a thought.

Thanks. I modified the body slightly as per your suggestion. Still looks like a Tele, not a big deal

[grandtguitars]

So I made a rough cut of the body where I could reach with a saw. Managed to break a good sweat even though it's like 10 degrees Celsius outside. 

I'm thinking I'll wait until I get the hand drill and the forstner bit to make the tight curves. And while I'm waiting I guess it's time to finally start shaping the neck.

[Bizman62]

Redrawing sure made a difference to the better!

[grandtguitars]

So today I roughly cut the body and neck, here's a short video:

Also today I received the hand drill, and it's pretty fun to work with.

[Bizman62]

Woohoo! You must have spent quite some time deciding which part of the padauk veneer to use. To my eye it looks like you've made a good choice!

A couple of questions: How often and how do you sharpen your saw? And do you use wax or something similar to lubricate the saw blade?

[grandtguitars]

3 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

Woohoo! You must have spent quite some time deciding which part of the padauk veneer to use. To my eye it looks like you've made a good choice!

A couple of questions: How often and how do you sharpen your saw? And do you use wax or something similar to lubricate the saw blade?

I did spend quite a while deciding which way to bookmatch the veneer and which part to use. It's a shame that a good chunk of it will go to waste but oh well. Maybe I can think of some way to use at least the big scrap piece.

I actually have never sharpened a saw   And no, no lubricant. Do people lubricate their saw blades? Never heard of that

[MiKro]

You can always use a small soldering torch for the wiring.

mk

[JGTay]

1 hour ago, Bizman62 said:

A couple of questions: How often and how do you sharpen your saw? And do you use wax or something similar to lubricate the saw blade?

I used to be a saw doctor when I was younger, I only sharpen and set the teeth on my saws when they need it. You shouldn't need to lubricate a saw if it is sharp enough. 

[Bizman62]

1 hour ago, grandtguitars said:

I actually have never sharpened a saw   And no, no lubricant. Do people lubricate their saw blades? Never heard of that

Despite the sped up video it looked like the saw didn't bite too fast... A file can do a lot, a saw tooth setter will further help.

And yes, you can wax your saw blade to prevent it sticking. For the same reason there's teflon coated saws. But as @JGTay said a well set sharp saw should not need that. Unless, and this is just pondering, unless the wood sweats some sticky sap. Spruce, pine...

[grandtguitars]

12 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

Despite the sped up video it looked like the saw didn't bite too fast... A file can do a lot, a saw tooth setter will further help.

And yes, you can wax your saw blade to prevent it sticking. For the same reason there's teflon coated saws. But as @JGTay said a well set sharp saw should not need that. Unless, and this is just pondering, unless the wood sweats some sticky sap. Spruce, pine...

I'll have to look into it. I found a video where the dude sets the teeth with just a screw and a hammer, anyone tried this method?

 

[Bizman62]

2 minutes ago, grandtguitars said:

the dude sets the teeth with just a screw and a hammer, anyone tried this method?

No I haven't seen that, thanks! I don't have the setting pliers so I've set the teeth of my firewood saws just by eye.

That Paul Sellers "dude" is a very highly recognised craftsman so his advice should be solid.

[grandtguitars]

9 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

No I haven't seen that, thanks! I don't have the setting pliers so I've set the teeth of my firewood saws just by eye.

That Paul Sellers "dude" is a very highly recognised craftsman so his advice should be solid.

Yeah, I watched some of his videos, seems solid