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Hello Again. This thread's been idle a while. I've been pretty busy these past few weeks, but I've made some progress nonetheless. The Telemaster guitar is all but done. I wound the pickups a couple of weeks ago. I just need to cut the plastics, and assemble it. My Girlfriend wanted me to do a natural finish on it. I'm glad that I did. It'll be a pretty guitar when it all comes together. The main reason the tel's not done is that I've been concentrating on this bass. Here's the chambered body, and rough cut top. All clamped up I've wanted to make a one piece neck for a while. I really like the minimalism. Here was my chance. I've always made my own truss rods, so I had a pretty good idea about how i was going to go about it. I cut my truss rod channels with a router riding on shaped rails. the difference is just going at it from the other side. I made a new set of rails that had a crown. The whole operation was less difficult than I anticipated. I used walnut for the skunk stripe. The hardware will be black, so I bound it with black ABS. I wanted to do a subtle carve on the top, so I made this little sanding block with a built in bevel. It worked pretty well. I was able to get a nice consistent bevel. I made it a 24 fret neck so that it would have a long tenon. I'm at the finishing stage of this now. Her birthday's in a couple of weeks. It'll be a surprise for her, so I'm pushing to get it done. The weather is too cold right now to do anything other than a hand rubbed finish. I've got all of the hardware, and I've wound the pickup. I think I'll be cool.

On solid colors I've used exterior grade spackle paste with great results. It dries fast, sands easily, and shrinks very little. Although I've never added pigment to it, I've heard of it being done with good results. I follow the spackle with lacquer primer thinned about 4:1. This penetrates well, and binds and hardens the filler. Afterwards it levels out quickly. My favorite topcoat for a solid finish is http://pc.dupont.com/dpc/en/US/html/visitor/common/pdfs/b/product/nsn/Nason/496-00.pdf It's a 2 part urethane designed for spot repairs. It will cover just about anything without reacting, and the finish product is remarkable. On clear or natural finishes I've used shellac, or nitro and sanded back. It always seems like a laborious never ending project, and I really work hard for what I think are mediocre results. I struggle more with the finish stage than any other part of the construction. I see that many are using epoxy products. Has anyone tried using casting resin?

Very Cool! Good Luck in your new shop!

"The Sable" This one was ultra low budget. The only new hardware on it is the strings. The bridge was originally a tele/humbucker thing that I cut down, and all of the other hardware is re-purposed. I built the pickups with parts I had on hand. I only had to buy a few small things to complete the guitar. Like most of my stuff, it's not very fancy. There are only three pieces of wood in the entire guitar (oops, 4 if you count the truss rod fillet), but It plays and sounds incredible. Almost everyone's done their version of a Strat. Here's Mine. Plain and simple. One piece African Mahogany body Maple neck and fingerboard. Corian nut. Custom handmade pickups. Calibrated set. Master Volume/Tone with 8 way switching. Abalone edge markers Clear poly over black acrylic.

I've been away from town for a few days, and in the San Diego area. I'm home now, but while there I visited Tropical Exotic Hardwoods In Carlsbad CA. The inventory is impressive, but the prices were a bit of a shock. I don't usually spend much on a project, and the wood isn't a major expense. That might change soon. I saw many species that I'd really like to work with, I just wish my wallet was a little fatter. I didn't buy anything because I have the material already acclimating for my next couple of projects, but I will probably be back there soon. I have family out there, and travel to the area often. I'll get back on the telthingy this weekend, but meanwhile the next one in queue is a bass. American walnut top over a chambered maple body, maple neck, and fingerboard. This will be another one for my daughter.

Beautiful work Ty. Very Impressive!

Thanks for the nice words. I spent some time today sanding, and prepping for finish. It was hot, and humid here today. We are in our monsoon season, and it hasn't let up for weeks it seems. It was uncomfortable in the shop, so I gave up early. The finish on this guitar will be similar to the bass in the picture.

Thanks Bob, It is a tel in disguise. The truss rod adjustment isn't a big issue for me. It won't be too tough to access, and I shouldn't have to mess with it much. I built an S rigged guitar with a similar setup, and it's worked out fine. I like hiding the adjuster from view, and minimizing the clutter of such things as pickup adj screws, cover plates etc., and keeping them concealed from view. The long tenon works great for streamlining the neck taper to give unimpaired upper fret access. The main thing I don't care for on Fender guitars is the bulky, clumsy area where the neck bolts on. I quit building bolt-on's when I started making my own necks. I made a little progress. I routed for the pickups, and controls. Finished the neck taper, and now I'm prepping for the finish. A couple pictures of my S type with a similar neck configuration..

Hi everyone, I'm John. I haven't been around here very long, but I've enjoyed reading many of the threads. It's always a learning experience. I migrated here from the pickup makers forum, and haven't really done anything new since I registered 'til now. I'm a woodworker by trade, but mostly self taught when it comes to building guitars. I'm always working on a low budget, but I have good tools to work with, and a little free time now and then. I'm building a Tele in J'master clothes, or sort of anyway. The body is African Mahogany, Maple neck/fingerboard, 25.5 Scale. I make my own truss rods. I know that there's been discussion lately about F style necks. I anchor the rods directly under the nut. My theory is that this would give the best transfer of energy. This will be a set neck. I've cut a step in the neck tenon so I can use a vintage style neck adjuster, and still have it extend beneath the pickup cavity once installed. The guitar will have a stained/natural natural finish with no binding, so I chambered it from the back side. I finished the neck over the weekend, and got it glued into the body. This is where I'm at now.

Hi Ken, John H here.

I've always wanted a vintage ES125

Nice guitars Eddie. I like your hardware choice on all of them. I bet that they're great players. I don't trust epoxy. I think it creeps on stress joints. I use Original Titebond, on almost everything. Whatever you use, make sure it's fresh. Don't risk using adhesives that aren't at their best. Your clamp times seem pretty long. I'll use titebond on an acoustic neck reset, and string the guitar the next day. 6-8 hours clamp time is enough.

<As I stand with my fist in the air Screaming "FRICTION DRIVE"> I can see how the traverse might be confusing. It confused me for a long time. The objective was to make the TPL adjustable without affecting any other function, and do it simply. I think in this picture you can how the reel, slider, and cable all move together, not having any impact on the traverse. The points where the cable attach are stationary. Any of the other homebuilt machines I've seen rely on cams, and you need a different one for each pickup. They also are using belts, or gears for reduction, which means changing TPL is difficult. With this simple design, I've eliminated all of this. Thanks for the reply Peter. Tyler I apologize for the hijack.

Hi, This is John. It's my automatic winder that Tyler is talking about here. I want to thank you Peter for giving me the chance to answer some questions about the winder. My worries: "- To complex with all the friction drive and friction gears" It's actually a very simple design. Other than the reel , there are only three moving parts. The motor, the mainshaft, and the wheel that drives the reel. "- Tensioner + dancer will probably only work for lower RPM settings" I've been winding my test coils at 1,200 rpm. to keep my test data consistent. The best thing about the dancer is that you can actually see your tension. The tensioner is adjustable on the fly and it can be calibrated by watching the deflection of the dancer. It controls the tension so that it is more equal between the ends, and the long surfaces of the bobbin. Because of this the coils would be less microphonic. This might be one of the big merits of machine winding. "- The traverse mechanism will wear out" What will wear out? There's only 1 moving part besides the cable I made from a guitar string. "- The traverse mechanism will need extremely precise placement and adjustment to be able to accommodate all different bobbin sizes and most of all, all flange thicknesses." The slider on the traverse arm is the wire guide. It's infinitely adjustable between 1/8-11/16" I use a system of alignment pins that allow me to return the platform to exactly the same spot. For exact reference on the wire guide I measure the distance from the end of the transom arm to the guide itself. Bulletproof, and fast. "The complexity to get the traverse to travel so that the movement changes direction a tiny bit inside of each flange is too steep. You will spend more time setting the machine up than actually winding, at least in the beginning." The initial setup isn't too difficult. It only takes a few minutes, but once you have the setup It is very quick. "This at least apply to if you are shooting for a winder that will wind several types of coils. And if I understand the mechanism correctly, adjusting the fishing reel back and forth. Moving it will change the position of the traverse vs the coil laterally (sideways). This in turn will mean that if you have the machine perfectly dialed in and would like to know the difference in sound between different TPLs you will need to first move the fishing reel, then re-adjust the "trow" of the traverse." You do misunderstand the mechanism. When the reel is moved the only thing that changes is the traverse rate/TPL "And it also means that you cannot simply mark he base with "this place on the traverse for standard HB bobbin" and similar as that will differ with different TPLs." I drill holes in the platform and insert pins to re-align the base perfectly. Nothing changes. "- I'm a grumpy old man" I'm Batman "My suggestion if going down this path" "- Direct drive. With a motor with sufficient power you can always lower the speed with a speed control so why limit yourself. With all those friction gears and stuff you will build in a set of possible future problem/issue components (friction drives WILL wear out)" I built the whole thing in a few hours, and for about $25. Anything that wears out would be easy to replace. There's been little sign of any deterioration of components "- Skip the dancer. I run my winder considerably faster without one. It's called over-engineering, a thing I often immerse myself into..." I really like the dancer for reasons I stated earlier. I made it from a guitar string. A bronze .056 I used the same string for the traverse cable. "- Get backup parts for the traverse" What's going to wear out? "- Rework the traverse system altogether" ouch, that's my baby. You should take a closer look. Maybe You're missing something. After all, The TPL is fully adjustable without a belt, gear, or pulley, and with only one moving part. The traverse length is fully adjustable, by sliding the wire guide on the arm. The tensioner is reliable, and adjustable on the fly. It's to my best knowledge unique in these aspects for a homebuilt mechanical winder. Literally. "All in all I don't aim to slam John or his machine, but I think that "less is more" is something that need to be applied to a project like this." Peter, I welcome the criticism. If everyone looked at the world through my eye's, We'd be in a mess. I live by "less is more", and I don't think I could have made it with fewer parts. Tell me if you see something I could omit, dancer excluded. "With my hand fed winder running at 2500 rpm I think I can wind the coils faster than with a auto traverse machine like John's. The problem is, IMHO, That Jason Lollar, in his book, described and built a machine with auto traverse instead of a more simple machine. After reading that book a lot of aspiring winder thought that an auto traverse was mandatory." I've been hand winding pickups for many years. This is the first automatic machine I've built. I'm still prototyping on it. I plan eventually to replace the reel with a cam driven traverse. The trick is making it out of cheap common stuff. Tyler, You can always build a hand winder, and add a traverse later if you accommodate for it. Here's a picture of my mechanical winder. Friction drive of course. I used a reed switch with a $2 pedometer for the counter. It counts every tenth turn from the friction driven decade wheel. No problem with the reed bouncing. Until now the only winder I've ever used.

I was invited here by member Robbinst. After cruising the board it seems I among a group with which I can relate. It's refreshing to see everyone's instruments, and how they achieve them. I'm a woodworker by trade, and have been making guitars for a few years. Most of my methods, and jigs are things that I've devised and made over time. I do as much as possible by myself in shop. Here's a slideshow of one of my projects. Slideshow Mahogany Guitar