CrazyManAndy

Why do you believe that the finish will start cracking if you use a PVA glue? Many of the guitars on here are built using Titebond, with no such issues? I could only see that happening if the joint was poorly made. CMA

Thanks for the compliments! The jigsaw actually worked much better than I anticipated. I suppose the faceplate could cause some damage (compression) to the wood, if it were a very soft wood, but it didn't do much to the alder. If it did do that, you could probably just steam it out. I think I will go with the belly cut. Do you guys know how deep a belly carve usually is? By that I mean, how deep into the side (the 1 3/4"). I'm in agreement with Mattia on the compensated nut. It's not really a major expense if I screw it up. Worth a shot, anyway. Thanks for the link, that's actually the page that inspired me to consider one. Oh, and I forgot to mention in my first post, be careful when removing double-sided tape! It's super strong, and it managed to take a few splinters of wood with it... CMA

Calculating fret positions is pretty simple. The best thing to do is just do a google search for "Fret Calculator". You'll find plenty of them. Here is a link on the subject: http://www.liutaiomottola.com/formulae/fret.htm/ For pickup positioning, here is an interesting study of the subject: http://www.till.com/articles/PickupResponse/index.html He's got two other articles on pickups as well: http://till.com/articles/index.html If you're looking for really heady stuff, you probably won't find it in a book, at least not one dealing specifically with electric guitars. You might try breaking it down into it's basic elements and getting books for each one. Wood, electronics, engineering, physics, music theory, metal, woodworking, etc. etc. Books dealing with other instruments might be useful as well. But, the internet is a great resource. Searching the internet and various forums is a great way to find that information. And it's free! CMA

Yay! Finally, I'm starting my first build! I knew for sometime that I wanted to build a Telecaster, I just wasn't sure exactly what type I wanted to build. I eventually decided on this design: Tonal objective: I going for something that can do classic country, hard rock, and everything in between. Hopefully, this'll get me close... Wood: Body is Alder. Neck is flamed maple/flamed maple. Color scheme: Black body with white binding on the top. No pickguard. The neck is flamed maple on flamed maple. I want to keep the maple very light in color to contrast the black, but I still want to give it some subtle character. Shellac + Clear Coat is my current weapon of choice, but I'll decide for sure when I get to the testing stage. All of the hardware is going to be black. I'll probably have black dot inlays, but I may go with no inlays. Electronics: I'm using a three pickup design with a special wiring scheme. The pickups are a custom set from Tonerider. A Telecaster "Hot Classics" bridge pickup, "Hybrid 90" neck P90 for the middle pickup, and a Telecaster "Vintage Plus" neck pickup. The set was custom wound to be RWRP like a Stratocaster, and the P90 was slightly underwound. You can check out tonerider.com for more info. I highly recommend them; great prices, great pickups, and great customer service. A+++ As far as the control scheme goes, my objective is to have as many useful options as possible while making the controls intuitive and easy to use. Thankfully, I found a design JohnH came up with that uses an On/On/On DPDT switch and a 3-way Megaswitch (T-model). It gives me these options: toggle up, T-switch selects B+M, M+N, N+B toggle in center position, T-switch selects B, M, N toggle down, T-switch selects BxM, M, NxM Other specs: It's going to be rear routed, to eliminate the pickguard. Standard twenty-one frets. I'm going to do an AANJ type thing on the heel, basically just recessing it. I'm currently debating whether or not to do a belly contour (any opinions on this is more than welcome). I'm also considering making my own compensated nut. Hmmm...well, that's all the important stuff. I'll make a more detailed spec list later. Onto the build... That there is the wood. The contrasting color of the two maple pieces may pose a slight issue at the finishing stage, but we'll see. The first thing I have to do is make the templates... Template Making 1 - Here we have a piece of 3/4" MDF with the plan glued to it. I used 3M Super 77 spray adhesive to do this. It works extremely well for this task. Template Making 2 - I'm drilling "pilot holes" to make the job a little easier on myself and the jigsaw. Less chance of screwing something up. Template Making 3 - Cut through the left side. The jigsaw is really aggressive on this stuff, so you have to take it easy. Template Making 4 - Repeated the above process on the right side and I now have the template roughed out. Template Making 5 - Here I'm about to clean up the edges with the Microplane rotary shaper. It's a neat little device. Be careful, it'll chomp right through that MDF if you underestimate it. Using the shaper without a guide bearing is more an art than a science. It takes a little warming up to. BTW, I didn't go all the way to the edge. I left a little meat on it for the final bit of hand sanding. I basically just repeated the above steps for the neck template and then went on to hand sanding.... Template Making 6 - Using a normal sanding block to finish the edges is somewhat challenging. The material is relatively thin, so the block wants to lean side to side preventing me from getting nice flat edges. So I used this method to get a flat, smooth edge. It's pretty self explanatory. You can see the various items in the background that I used to sand in the tighter radiuses. (note to self: I love double sided tape!) Template Making 7 - Here is the same method on the neck template. I actually did something a little different on this template. I clamped it down to the edge of the table so I could really go at the two long stretches. Template Making 8 - The finished templates! Onto the body... The Body 1 - Shape traced onto the body blank. The Body 2 - I drilled out all of the pilot holes. Before drilling the hole on the centerline, the body moved and I went in on the line a little bit. Nothing to worry about though. I didn't go deep, and it won't matter once I route the channel for the binding. The Body 3 - Body nearly cut out. The jigsaw is much more controllable on wood than on MDF, I noticed. The Body 4 - The body has been cut out and now needs to be brought closer to the line. The Body 5 - Aligned the template onto the body and attached it with double sided tape. The Body 6 - Time to clean up the edge with the rotary shaper. Unfortunately, I ran into a few issues here. First, the guide bearing attachment is undersized. I've heard of these things being oversized but never under. In any case, I decided to wrap some duct tape around the bearing to solve the issue. I put on two laps of tape which was just perfect. And here I ran into a second issue. The shaper doesn't leave a flat surface on wood, but rather little hills and valleys. I realized I would have to sand these out, so I added two more laps of tape giving it a slight oversize. This left enough room to sand out any imperfections. The Body 7 - Ok, I'm done with the rotary shaper, now I just have to remove the template and finish up with hand sanding... The Body 8 - Ahh...it doesn't get much better than good ole' fashioned hand sanding...anyway, I finished sanding down the edges. The area between the neck pocket and the upper horn still needs a little work, but other than that it's lookin' pretty good. I also started marking out some of the measurements, neck pocket, bridge placement, and what not. Well, that's where I'm at right now. Hopefully I'll get something done on it tomorrow. Until then... CMA

I believe Fender made an all rosewood Telecaster. Or was the body veneered? CMA

Hmm, I thought ReRanch had a pink. Try checking out a hardware store like Lowes or Home Depot. They usually have a good selection of rattlecan paints. They won't be nitro lacquer like ReRanch, but rather acrylic lacquer. I don't think there would be any compatibility issues, but misting on the acrylic slowly to start would be a good idea. Test it on scrap to be safe. CMA

What color are looking for exactly? Rattlecan or spray rig? Here some colors: http://reranch.com/colors.htm CMA

i see. i'm looking for a more technical book. most of the sites i came across on the web are too refined, and i'm willing to learn the more technical aspects of guitar building What exactly do you mean? CMA

I've seen it used with nitro finishes before, but I honestly don't know the actual process. Vegasrock, who is a regular over at ReRanch and TDPRI too I think, has used it before and he is who I got the idea from. You could send him a PM or start a thread over at one of those forums and I'm sure he would be more than happy to detail his experience with the stuff for you. CMA

Pine is popular over at TDPRI. I think it looks much better than poplar, making it better for clear, transparent, and burst finishes. Some people use wood hardener to counteract the softness and prevent easy denting. You may be better off just going to the sanding sealer stage and letting it do the leveling for you. CMA

The design calls for the neck and fretboard to be very light in color, which is why I want to lighten the fretboard rather than darken the neck board. I certainly would like to avoid doing any damage to such a wonderfully figured piece of wood. I'll probably chop off some of the waste and do some experimenting. Thanks for the tips! CMA

You can use a non-yellowing nitro. Deft's clear wood finish is a non-yellowing nitro, which is what I plan to use. CMA

That's the wood for my first project, and the two long pieces are flamed maple for the neck and fingerboard. My concern is the difference in color between the two. The fingerboard is significantly darker than the neck board. What's the best way to lighten up the darker board? I am thinking bleach? Thanks guys, CMA

Great design! I love dark and light contrasting woods. It's too bad you aren't building a neck to go along with it. You can always do that later though. Awesome! CMA

ReRanch is open today, so if you're reading this, you better get in there fast! Mohawk makes nitro lacquer in aerosol cans. If you can't find it locally, you can order it online, but the order has to be $85 minimum I believe. I've seen great results with Rustoleum and similar products, so I wouldn't completely take them out of the equation, at least as a last resort. You just have to be careful. Those companies usually make many different kinds of paints, so you have to be sure the particular line that you want to use is compatible with everything else. CMA

Welcome, friend! Have fun, and be sure to pick up a copy of Melvyn Hiscock's "Make Your Own Electric Guitar" if you can. CMA

I imagine you could use wood hardener (such as the one made my Minwax) if you're using soft woods. CMA

Rob (RobHale777) on the ReRanch forum did this with the ReRanch burst kit (go to RobHale777's post, about 7 posts down, for the pics): http://reranch.com/reranch/viewtopic.php?t...&highlight= I really love that burst. There are others on the forum who have used the burst kit with great results as well. I'd love to see your pics leeranya. CMA

+1. And I would also recommend Hiscock's book, very useful. This topic is indeed covered and he discusses the different approaches to this problem. CMA

Maybe it isn't your product so much as your marketing and business skills? CMA

I believe guitars with such an angle have the area around the neck cut to the same angle. Example: http://www.setchellguitars.co.uk/ant/blog/?page_id=10 CMA

I don't know if you've seen this thread: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...0&hl=tradie Great build. Aussie timbers or not, one of the best looking builds around. CMA

Edit: Oops, misread your post...sorry. CMA

This might be of interest: http://warmoth.com/showcase/sc_guitar_bodi...amp;type=guitar CMA

It isn't hard to make your own body. Besides, if you're going through the trouble of making a guitar with a nice top, you might as well get the wood to make a nice body to go with it. While I don't think one book can ever be "the best", I think you'll find that it has a considerable following here. It aptly accomplishes what it set out to do and does so in a very casual, accessible style. I've had the book for some time and I still learn new things every time I read it. CMA