Tele Build

Wizard · 2012-04-21T15:04:59+00:00

Ok. So Manny has convinced me that no-one's life is genuinely complete until you've owned a Tele. And it's more complete if you've made one yourself. I have previously acquired a 24 fret neck from Cannon. I have a bunch of spare wood in my workshop. I am going to attempt to put the two together. I got hold of a Tele plan and just got it printed at a local printshop. Was delighted with careful measurement to discover that it is indeed to scale. My first design dilemma, which this forum is going to solve for me (hopefully): Placing the neck over the plan, the extra neck length (due to the 24 frets) goes over where the planned neck pickup is supposed to go. A google of "24 fret tele" shows that there are indeed a large number of tele's that have been made with 24 fret necks. Advise please on the type of pickups to be used on a Tele; specifically the neck; and where to place it: (need to focus a bit to see the printed plan) My (current) plan for the body is either: a) Use my last remaining block of one piece Alder, or b) Glue together many strips of kiaat to create a unique look.

Gearhead

I built a heavily chambered Strat out of hard Ash, even though it has a Rosewood board and hot bridge pup, I still roll off the tone quite a bit to get it anywhere near useably bright. It does have awesome bite, resonance and sustain though. My recommendation is that, given the fact that you spend a massive amount of time and energy on a build, you do not skimp on material and hardware. You owe it to yourself. Swamp Ash is readily available from the States but I bet in the Cape there are some nice Ash trees to be cut as well...

Wizard

Using a saw as a jointer requires that the saw is set up perfectly square.
Setting it up perfectly square is proving more difficult than expected.
/rant

Neon-Gecko

Wizard wrote Using a saw as a jointer requires that the saw is set up perfectly square.
Setting it up perfectly square is proving more difficult than expected.
/rant

When in a pinch, use a straight-cut router bit and a fence/straight edge as a substitute for a jointing plane.

Gearhead

+1, never trust a saw to create a joint plane. Even if somehow you get it square and the wood running straight, it still leaves saw marks that will show up as regularly spaced gaps in your joint.

Wizard

Went for Alder.
Helped enormously by template generously donated by Manny.

Template on wood:

Roughcut with jigsaw.
(I really need a bandsaw!)
Will smooth with belt sander.

Cavities routed:

Neon-Gecko

Yep, looking good so far... 8)

Gearhead

Looks to me like there are two horizontal stripes between the bridge and the endpin, both front and back. If those are from a thicknesser, you'd better come up with a way to sand them out before mounting the bridge and/or finishing, cuz those things really really show up in the shine of a finish.

Wizard

Gearhead wrote Looks to me like there are two horizontal stripes between the bridge and the endpin, both front and back. If those are from a thicknesser, you'd better come up with a way to sand them out before mounting the bridge and/or finishing, cuz those things really really show up in the shine of a finish.

Well spotted.
I haven't done any finishing at all yet - wood is exactly as it came from the shop.
I found with my strat build that the alder dings quite easily ... and was perpetually sanding out marks I made during the build.
So I'm going to do all the work first; then finish once later.
I intentionally routed a few mm deeper to allow for this.

makepeace

yes! another build thread.. go for it and will be watching ? how's the lp turning out?

Wizard

makepeace wrote yes! another build thread.. go for it and will be watching ? how's the lp turning out?

The LP was a partial build.
Handed it back to the friend to finish.

This build is going to be very stop / start.
I feel quite confident about the body build ... but Manny is challenging me to make a neck; which I've never tried before.
Also need to order all of the tele parts ... with the inevitable homework & tough decisions that will bring.

makepeace

I'd definitely say do the neck.. ? But that's because I'm a bit chicken to go for it at this stage.. I think that it could be a nice exercise in building up some real trade in woodworking though..

Wizard

I invite you all to now offer your religious fervour regarding hardware options and pickguard colour.
I'm leaning towards vintage (or vintage-look) approach with either black or cream pearloid pickguard.
I'm also a believer that it's a musical instrument; so function always trumps form.

Neon-Gecko

Play around with this site http://www.yajimastringworks.com/tct/yswtct-kisekae-e.asp to get an idea of where you want to take the look...

Wizard

I took a spare piece of alder and tried staining it and coating it in a number of different ways.
Stains included dark oak, walnut & red mahogany.
Coats included danish oil, a "french polish" compound and liquid beeswax.

Best result was probably walnut stain with the "french polish" coating ...
... but concluded that Alder doesn't really stain that well at all.
And that the plain tung oil or danish oil finish is probably one of the best.

The stains tend to sink into the pores and make the wood look "muddy", if that makes any sense.

Wizard

A slight hijack of my own thread.
I sanded up and "french polished" a piece of laminate kiaat.
I really like the look and visualise a Tele body in something like this as a future project:

Neon-Gecko

Wizard wrote A slight hijack of my own thread.
I sanded up and "french polished" a piece of laminate kiaat.
I really like the look and visualise a Tele body in something like this as a future project:

Damn! The drool factor the is pretty high. Have you thought about capping the alder body with that piece or similar Wiz?

Wizard

Neon Gecko wrote Damn! The drool factor the is pretty high. Have you thought about capping the alder body with that piece or similar Wiz?

Neon, I will find some way of bringing kiaat into the equation.
The pleasure I get from looking at those colours and smelling that wood is just too great to ignore.

P.S.
The pictures don't show it; but you have to smell cut kiaat to believe it.
Right now that's what my workshop smells like.
Never under-estimate the power of touch and smell.

Neon-Gecko

Yeah I've built a staircase with kiaat before, it has a wonderful spicy/cinnamon smell when worked so I can well imagine what your shop must smell like at the moment.

Teak also has a unique smell, but kiaat wins hands down in that department. Also a really good looking timber, with the creamy whites, reddish to deep chocolate browns, amazing grain pattern all in one plank.

Wizard

Finally getting around to complete this build.

I did a deal with Brain Fanner.
Traded him a marimba for a tele neck.

Have got some vintage kluson tuners I'm trying to install.
My vernier says the bushings are 8.7mm ... which I'm guessing is 11/32".
I drilled them to 8.5mm thinking that would be fine; but the maple is hard and I'm scared I'm going to do damage if I force them.

Needless to say my local hardware didn't have an 11/32" bit.
What do the guru's say I do to fit these bushings?

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