Building a tele body - making maximum mistakes!

nicovlogg · 2010-07-24T21:11:03+00:00

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)

infernox

You live and you learn... and from what Im seeing you learning alot and showing us what to do and what not to do.

Great job man, keep it up and finish it. Hope your doing a little log (no pun intended) for yourself for your next builds as I know my memory isnt always toooo fresh.

nicovlogg

G-Man wrote Wow, very good job man. You have serious patience!

Silly question, but is mirante a decent wood to make a guitar body from? Coz I have a decent sized plank laying about in the garage and I'm playing with the idea of starting a little project...

Well, I'm not the biggest wood expert but from what I've read it's an easily workable wood, quite dense and probably stronger than pine. From my architecture studies I can tell you that it's normally quite good looking as well so that should be a nice project! I know that it's been done before.. go for it! 8)

Gearhead

Meranti (if that's what you're referring to) is not commonly known as a tonewood. Does not mean it is going to sound awful, but it might. I never liked working with it (my old man had quite a large stash so I would up using it for all sorts of things) since it blunts tools very quickly, it is short grained and brittle and it has weavy grain that you always wind up tearing out. Works well for making door frames and the like but I wouldn't want to waste time making guitar bodies out of it. Forget necks all together, going to break.

nicovlogg

Gearhead wrote Meranti (if that's what you're referring to) is not commonly known as a tonewood. Does not mean it is going to sound awful, but it might. I never liked working with it (my old man had quite a large stash so I would up using it for all sorts of things) since it blunts tools very quickly, it is short grained and brittle and it has weavy grain that you always wind up tearing out. Works well for making door frames and the like but I wouldn't want to waste time making guitar bodies out of it. Forget necks all together, going to break.

Listen to this man! ?

G-Man

Ok thanks, let the hunt for decent wood commence!

pungy

Hey man this is nice for a first build.
I am currently also busy with my first build.
A CNC router made my build a hell of a lot simpler.

What are you doing with the finish?

Check out my progress. http://gibsonsgspecial.wordpress.com

nicovlogg

pungy wrote A CNC router made my build a hell of a lot simpler.

What are you doing with the finish?

I can believe that! I don't have any great tools except for a drill press, so it's slow and frustrating going. I will be doing a hand-rubbed Danish oil finish.

Your SG is starting to look like a guitar! ?

infernox

pungy wrote Hey man this is nice for a first build.
I am currently also busy with my first build.
A CNC router made my build a hell of a lot simpler.

What are you doing with the finish?

Check out my progress. http://gibsonsgspecial.wordpress.com

Where is your CNC machine? Im looking for someone to do that for me, but battling to find a company who does wood.

infernox

Where did you get your wood? What are good south-african woods to do this with?

infernox

What was your original body thickness?

Is 4.3cm too thin?

MikeM

The pm button is on the left. A small speech bubble.

[deleted]

infernox wrote Where is your CNC machine? Im looking for someone to do that for me, but battling to find a company who does wood.

http://www.guitarforum.co.za/profile/jeremy%20Budgen/

Forum member, Jeremy Budgen has a CNC machine, has access to very decent woods. Give him a call...

He is based near Delmas, about 40 minute drive from Pretoria

A friend had a custom body CNCd by Jeremy.. he provided a lovely piece of African Mahogany...

infernox

brent, thanx very much for that.

I have subsequently found a guy who can CNC and he will test (as their machine isnt the most advanced) tomorrow on a piece of supawood.

Will create a build thread now.

I will contact jeremy tomorrow morning. Thanx again.

nicovlogg

After some very frustrating days in terms of work, I got my hands on some Supawood (MDF) and made some templates - tired of messing around, I decided to fix up the neck pocket as good as possible and finish this thing. Unfortunately varsity work is taking its toll on my spare time. >☹

New neck pocket jig

Nice and tight! Not ideal to have a glued block, but I think it's better than having a badly shimmed pocket!

Testing ferrule holes - bought 3 new drill bits, attempted to find the best looking and tightest fitting one.

ALMOST THERE! ?

Gearhead

One of the key elements of achieving anything worthwhile has to be the so-called 'hanging in there', just do so bro....

infernox

Looking good!

nicovlogg

Gearhead wrote One of the key elements of achieving anything worthwhile has to be the so-called 'hanging in there', just do so bro....

Definitely will - just a bummer that the only time I can work is after dark, because I'm at varsity so long - BUT the good news is I just got access to a garage down the road from me where there's a bandsaw, lathe, TABLE ROUTER etc - everything I could need! ?

pungy

infernox wrote
pungy wrote Hey man this is nice for a first build.
I am currently also busy with my first build.
A CNC router made my build a hell of a lot simpler.

What are you doing with the finish?

Check out my progress. http://gibsonsgspecial.wordpress.com
Where is your CNC machine? Im looking for someone to do that for me, but battling to find a company who does wood.

Hey , i am in Cape Town.
I am sure i can cut you a blank body and courier up to Jozie?

I have done a blank Telecastor body from Ash and doing a stratocastor body in Ash as well.

Dwerg

these builds all look awesome, well done guys.

Rayno, almost there ?
you going for a natural finish?

infernox

Nico, can you please measure that neck you bought?
Whats the length, height and width when packed... also the weight, please please as I would really like to get myself one, but working out shipping.

BTW, that paper your sending it for lazerprinting corrceT?

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