After having been inspired by Arlo West and his vast range of Pine-bodied telecasters, and having major amounts of free time during these long holidays, I decided to give it a go and build a telecaster body from scratch. ? Here's the progress!
I decided on Oregon Pine, being pretty easy to find locally, nicely grained, easily workable and apparently a decent tonewood. Some people, such as Gearhead, might consider it a "kid's wood" but for a first project I think it's perfect! ? I found some old Oregon Pine from houses that has been kept in relatively good shape - it had some nail holes and so on, but that was part of the look.
After being planed and joined by a carpenter friend, it started really looking like something. I was worried that I'd chosen dud pieces, but the thicknesser revealed great grain.
I roughly shaped it with a tablesaw, to get it in the ballpark size-wise. As you can see, there's some bad parts in the neck area - this was one of 3 pieces that I got from the original Pine, and I chose this one as a first attempt so that I wouldn't feel TOO bad about all the mistakes I would, and did make. :-[
Using MikeM's template and router AND garage that he graciously provided, the body was routed to within a few millimetres of final size - leaving some space for mistakes and sanding.
Then, it was sanded using Gearhead's drum sanding attachment on my drill press. Thanks to him and Mike for their help, tools and advice! ? Had a shopping spree at Hardware Centre in Randburg, which ended expensively. A vernier caliper was sorely needed, and decided on Danish oil as a finish.
After getting my hands on a nice round-over bit, I started immediately and soon realised that it was harder then expected - got some tearout and uneven parts. Fortunately, I had about 3mm of extra wood to sand down and rectify those mistakes. ?
DISASTER! I got really lazy, after a few hours of sanding, and wanted it to go quicker. I won't go into details about what I stupidly did, but it left an ugly bump next to the bridge pickup rout. :'( Had to postpone it until I could get it properly thicknessed - my hand planer wouldn't do the job.
I ordered a neck from Musikraft, and must say that I was really impressed by their service. Very fast, it was here within 2 weeks. Great finish on the neck, with some nice flamey bits. ? The pickups are Bill Lawrence Keystones - very keen to here these things in action!
Next up I will try the roundovers again - slower, and much more carefully this time! When (if?) my Stewmac package arrives, I'll be able to place the bridge and so on. 8)
