RFR

Whilst recessing the bridge would get your problem solved, I'd say you can go for a less drastic solution. You bridge studs are still a good 2-3mm above the guitar top, and could easily be sunk flush with the surface, either by counter boring the top of the guitar, or by turning the shoulder off the stud in a lathe. I think if you did that, you would bring the action down into perfectly acceptable range, and save yourself the aggravation of routing a slot, and touching up the poly finish.

I agree with Setch.

Also you can grind down the bottom of the bridge. It will not be visible and will give you more room to lower the action.

Roman

Okay thank you! Do you think I will only need one can of paint? Also, do I put the Guitar together AFTER the 30 day, or 2 week, first polish?

Zack,

Get at least three cans of finish, wait as long as you can possibly stand before assembling

Roman

And this post will start like every post I make in a Telecaster thread; The Tele shape isn't very appealing to me.

However, this one is by far the best looking Tele I've ever seen, and if I'd ever build a Tele, it would look more or less identical to yours! Awesome build!

Thank you sir.

I must say I have had the same feeling about Teles.

Its is an acquired taste however, like fine wine or Jack Daniels

I have built a lot of guitars in my day, but I keep on coming back to the simple beauty of a Tele.

It is the workhorse of the music industry.

As much as Jimmy Page is recognized with a LP, Stairway to Heaven. as well as others was recorded with a TELE.

I love them

Roman

You are off to a good start Kenneth, Damn nice top you have there.

Roman

If you'd be willing, I'd love to know some of the design details.

I will put up a couple more pics for you.

A tele's just not a tele without a top-hat switch tip.

Actually, that's not quite true, plus I'm just joshin.

That's one serious piece of wood! Nice guitar! It seems so nekkid without a pickguard, but it's still a beaut.

Thanks Greg!

On that piece of wood, I COULD NOT bring myself to hiding an extra square inch of it.

Nice top! I like the switch placement, same place I put them on my Teles

Smart man!

This is a chambered, honduras mahogany with 1/4 maple cap tele of mine.

Roman

That is some outstanding work there.

Thanks guys, I can only take credit for the design, however.

I have a buddy that has a machine shop that actually built it for me.

He machines guitar parts for me as well.

Here is one of my bridges and tail pieces.

Very nice work! I must say that Korina looks almost like it has a birds eye type figure to it, does it? I don't know that I've seen any korina black or white that had figure like that, or at least none that I recall. Again, nice instrument and nice job with the theme/color scheme to the whole project, it fits well I think and is far from boring. J

Thank you!

Yes, it is birdseye Korina. Very subtle but there.

I also built a floating router attachment so binding channels could be routed in a carve top.

I have worked with other commercial and homemade carving machines before.

This one is a result of working all the bugs out of the other machines

A couple of years went into just thinking about the design and planning.

Here it is!!!

Roman

Awesome!

I love korina it is an amazing wood.

here is a bigger picture.

Here is a recent build.

Korina V

Great minds I guess

It IS a good looking headstock!

I got some more done tonight. First thing I did is to draw out the headstock. It took a while to get it how I liked it, but I'm happy with how it's gonna look, and I did set the tuners on and make sure it'll all fit right and everything, so no problems there. Then I cut the back off the neck off, excess that is. And finally, I got the neck rough shaped, it's not perfectly straight (slightly bumpy), but it should be able to sand out well. I did get to use my new spokeshave, got the veritas low angle one, and I really liked it, I still need some practice with it, but it was really easy to use.

Pictures of the shaped neck

http://s194.photobucket.com/albums/z120/an...=DSC01052_2.jpg

http://s194.photobucket.com/albums/z120/an...=DSC01053_2.jpg

http://s194.photobucket.com/albums/z120/an...=DSC01054_2.jpg

Just curious, where did you get the idea for the headstock? I have been making that design since 1980.

you can see some examples on my website.

If you came you with it on your own you have EXCELLENT taste!

Roman

Chris

Amazing!! I really admire a nice built acoustic.

I have built hundreds of electrics, but never an acoustic.

I am going to give it a try the easy way sometime. I'll get a luthier's Mercantile or Stew Mac kit.

That is one sweet piece of work! My hat is off to you.

Roman

damn nice!

Bummer!!

I would do this;

First clean off ALL the old glue. You want clean tight fitting raw wood.

Trace out the side profile onto a 2x4. Do this for BOTH wings

With a jig saw cut out your tracing. These 2x4s now become your form fit clamping blocks

Line the inside cut of the 2x4 with some paper, towel, t shirt or what ever will pad it a bit.

This way you will avoid damage to the body.

A great way to apply glue is using a foam paint roller ( the kind you use for trim, the small ones)

Tom Anderson guitarworks uses this method.

Roll out a thin layer of glue on both pieces and clamp till you have glue squeeze out .

To protect the wood on the top and the back from absorbing the glue, which could be a mess later on, tape off the top and back with some blue tape.

Hope that helps

Roman

Did UPS pay for the repair ?

Couldn't help notice the old Donnel glass surface fret-board sander on your bench. When I see one of those, I assume the owner has been working on guitars since at least the mid 90's.

That is funny you saw that, good eye!

Actually, I have been building and repairing instruments since the 70s.........................Gasp, that dates me huh?

I think they did, but I am not 100 percent sure.

Nice job!

Thank you Setch! I still haven't figured out the picture thing on this forum yet, but I have tons of pics.

Roman

Here is a link from another forum I am a member of documenting an extreme headstock break and its repair.

I took step by step pictures and it came out sweet!

http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/luthier-s-...ock-repair.html

cheers,

Roman

It looks to me like the frets were glued in with epoxy or superglue, then the excess was scraped off with a razor blade. I think it is just razor marks.

Roman

i would say that is the point of this site, along with learning new ideas and methods.

sounds cool