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

Pencil/pin + sandpaper + elbow grease + patience & measurement ?
The harder the wood the easier it is to sand exactly right...

AlanRatcliffe

A tapered reamer is ideal, if you have one.

Wizard

Installed the tuners.
Ended up taping some 180 grit paper to a 6mm drill bit and patiently taking a bit off at a time.

I haven't wired up the electrics yet, but decided to assemble it and string it up first to make sure it actually worked as a guitar:

I really love kiaat.

warrenpridgeon

Looking good!! Looking good!!!

Keira-WitherKay

looks fabulous

Shibbibilybob

I'm also a big fan of Kiaat. has a smell that I find reminds me of beetroot or something similar.
It also works quite nicely, but is very inconsistent in density and texture.
I have found that the particularly orange bits are very very oily and wreak havoc on my drum sander if I am too ambitious when trying to thickness it.

I have used it for the rosette (in tiles made of end grain) and the purfling of the acoustic I am building at Casimi guitars.

Look how nicely that orange contrasts with the blackwood ? And Matthias Roux can do a flawless bee sting mitre (yeah I didn't do that myself ?)
That strip was rather a mission to sand to size, as their drum sander has no conveyor belt mechanism, so I had to push it through by hand...and the wood starts to get very flexible when it's around 1.5 metres long, but only 1.5mm by 1.5mm in cross sectional area.

AlanRatcliffe

Looks great Wizard! :goodtimes:

How's the weight? ?

Wizard

Alan Ratcliffe wrote How's the weight? ?

Heavy. Hehe.
Most of my noodling is while seated, so weight not a priority for me.

EDIT:
I'll weigh it & give an update.

Shibbibilybob

I'd have thought it would compare nicely, in weight to say, a Mahogany tele?

Wizard

Started setting up the intonation.
But the saddles kept going further and further back until the little saddle risers were bumping into and then riding over the bridge attachment screws.

Was very puzzling.
Contemplated buying flatter headed screws.

Then I remembered the "trial strings" I was using are a set of super light gauge strings I'd got from somewhere and was never going to use.
(which is why I used them for the trial).

Will put on some "target gauge" strings and try again.
Hopefully will discover the correct intonation setting of the saddles will head back towards the nut.

AlanRatcliffe

Strings are the most likely culprits IME.

Not as common on teles, but also make sure it's not suffering from Stratitis. If the neck pup magnets are strong and it's close to the strings it could introduce wolf tones that'll confuse a tuner.

I noticed that your last two neck dots are placed oddly - are you sure 'the neck is right?

Wizard

Alan Ratcliffe wrote I noticed that your last two neck dots are placed oddly - are you sure 'the neck is right?

Eagle eye Alan.
The neck is straight & aligned.
Some measurement shows the dots aren't in the middle :rolleyes:

How's the weight?

Complete guitar is 3.9kg.
I'll weigh the body separately when I have it pulled apart again.

On the finishing:

I'm quite pleased with my sanding this time.
The previous strat body I made had imperfect sanding inside the tight curves.
This time I used a rubber sanding cylinder that you can attach your own paper too.
Variable speed hand drill + sanding cylinder ... going up to 1000 grit worked fine.

My sanding regime for the body was: 180 / 220 / 320 / 400 grit.
Then some sanding pads named "ultra fine" and "micro fine".
Then a sander attachment pad claiming to have a 4000 grit effect.
I could see my face in the wood after that lot.

Then sanding sealer & smoothed down with 0000 steel wool.

It was actually much smoother after the sanding than after the sealer + steel wool.
hmmm.
But think I need the protection effect of the sanding sealer.

Then "black bison" wax. Has carnuba wax in it which is hard and smells really nice.
My current personal taste is visible wood & wax.

Tuning:

I really like those slot headed vintage kluson-type tuners.
But found it very tricky to attach the high E string without it popping out.
Even after watching all of the "how to" videos on the net.
Then discovered a cool trick.
Make a bend in the end of the string; place it in the tuning hole.
Secure it in the hole by jamming in a toothpick!
Wind on string. Remove toothpick.
Works perfectly !!

Intonation surprised me by staying the same after putting on target gauge strings.
My bridge is attached in the correct place, so no idea what's going on there.
I'll just buy some countersunk screws to attach the bridge; so that the risers can sit on them more comfortably.

Still left to do:
- attach string trees
- shield cavities with copper tape
- attach neck pickup
- wire it up
- attach input jack

I think I like the logo-less headstock.

Question on nut lubrication.
It's a white nut so don't want to spoil it visually with black pencil lead.
Is wax a good or bad idea as nut lubrication?

AlanRatcliffe

Wizard wrote Some measurement shows the dots aren't in the middle :rolleyes:
Or, in the case of the last two, on the "right" frets. ?

But think I need the protection effect of the sanding sealer.
Sanding sealer is formulated to bulk up faster as it has a higher percentage of solids. It is actually usually softer than your topcoats and more of a tendency to turn sticky over time. Takes longer, but I prefer to build up the entire finish with a topcoating (I even eschewed filler on porous woods at one point, but that makes for a lot of work). For an oil finish, I only use oils, for wax, only wax. With nitro, I'll often bring out any figuring with a very thin, penetrating coat of tung oil, seal with blonde shellac and then spray nitro over the top.

Then "black bison" wax. Has carnuba wax in it which is hard and smells really nice.
My current personal taste is visible wood & wax.
Carnuba is the best type of wax for finishing.

I really like those slot headed vintage kluson-type tuners.
But found it very tricky to attach the high E string without it popping out.
I find pushing it all the way in and then kinking the string works well. If needed, take it out again and make the kink angle sharper with needle-nose pliers.

Intonation surprised me by staying the same after putting on target gauge strings.
My bridge is attached in the correct place, so no idea what's going on there.
Probably just a dud set. It happens.

Question on nut lubrication.
It's a white nut so don't want to spoil it visually with black pencil lead.
Is wax a good or bad idea as nut lubrication?
Bad. Picks up dirt. The "right" materials are all self lubricating: unbleached bone, Tusq (even the white - the black has added Teflon, but the white is still very low friction), Delrin (AKA slip-stone), corian and micarta.

Wizard

Thanks Alan.

For an oil finish, I only use oils, for wax, only wax

Carnuba is the best type of wax for finishing.

Perhaps multiple layers of black bison wax is a good way to go.
Could have enjoyed my hard earned sanding finish more.

The "right" materials are all self lubricating: unbleached bone, Tusq (even the white - the black has added Teflon, but the white is still very low friction), Delrin (AKA slip-stone), corian and micarta

The nut is unbleached bone, so seems like I won't need to worry.

Wizard

Body only weight of the kiaat is 2.4 kg = 5lbs 4oz.

I have an alternate 1 piece alder tele body that weighs 2.1kg (4lbs 10oz), by comparison.

Had to choose which to use.
Chose the kiaat on looks, for this build.

Wizard

Shielded the body and wired it up.

Used copper tape from Stewmac which has conductive adhesive; so you can overlap it and still get conductivity.
Found it quite fun shaping the tape into the cavities.
Used the rubber on the back of a pencil to shape it into the curves and smooth out air bubbles.
Came out much smoother and neater than I expected.

Used the tape to shield the underneath of the pickguard.
Created little tabs to make contact with the bridge, control plate and pickguard shielding.

I discovered afterwards that the copper tape is quite sharp. Had little nicks on my finger tips from peeling off the adhesive.

I checked it very carefully with a meter, found a few bits that showed a few ohms of resistance and replaced them.

I found the tape shielding very easy, very fun and very effective.
Recommended.
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Supplies:_Shielding/Conductive_Copper_Tape.html?actn=100101&xst=3&xsr=1056

I have an OCD resistance to soldering onto pots.
I opted for a "star earth" approach using a connect-a-block thing to pull all of the earth points to a single star.
These included input jack, volume pot, wires from the 3 shielded cavities, both pup wires.

I used a 0.022 cap and 50's wiring.

The switch was a different configuration to the standard diagrams; so I figured it out how it worked with a meter; and then figured out how the circuit worked.
Very useful to knowing how it works, rather than just copying a diagram blindly.
It's a very simple circuit.

I did take one shortcut from an otherwise excessively shielded approach.
At 2am in the morning I didn't use shielded cable for the input jack, but just twisted the wires around each other.
The wires are quite short.

It is seriously hum free now. So well worth all the effort.
And it sounds and plays beautifully.
My new favourite electric guitar.

Thanks to Alan for all the answers to my questions and sage advice.

danienel

That guitar looks awesome! Well done!

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