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)

nicovlogg

infernox wrote 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?

Yep, paper is for laser and is in the post.

I could do better, and just tell you EXACTLY what it cost me. It was shipped in a FedEx medium mailing tube, cost $55 from South Jersey.

infernox

and I suppose you paid about 200$ for the neck right?

nicovlogg

infernox wrote and I suppose you paid about 200$ for the neck right?

Yes, $190 or so - at the shipping rate it's not worth it to buy a cheap neck, the way I see it. Have you received the paper yet?

infernox

No not yet, but as I said in the PM, my mail takes AGES!!
Look the GFS neck is 30$ with a 40$ shipping... still much cheaper. Trying to find a broken, damaged squier...

Or ill just make it.

nicovlogg

infernox wrote No not yet, but as I said in the PM, my mail takes AGES!!
Look the GFS neck is 30$ with a 40$ shipping... still much cheaper. Trying to find a broken, damaged squier...

Or ill just make it.

Not too bad - but I still wouldn't pay more for shipping than the item. Rather get one made by a local luthier?

Wizard

infernox wrote Or ill just make it.

Wizard thinks that Infernox should make a neck ... to get it out of his system

makepeace

Not too bad - but I still wouldn't pay more for shipping than the item. Rather get one made by a local luthier?

Anyone know what a local luthier would charge for a tele/strat neck?

Wizard

I know Infernox is going to hate me for saying this ... but ...

I think your options are:
(a) go for the dream neck - get a custom neck from USA Custom guitars ... $ 200-300 + shipping + VAT
(b) get a really good neck by buying a good 2nd hand guitar and using the neck ... could get away with R 1,000 - R 2,000 on gumtree
(c) make a neck yourself ... expect it to take a long time to make and be horrible on your first attempt ... will pay about the same as (b) in tools, errors and hassle

I'd suggest you take yourself into a dark room, think hard, pick one of (a), (b) or (c) ... and just commit.
They are ALL right answers.
They are all good providing you make your decision with your eyes wide open and understand the consequence after heeding the sage advice of the people who have gone before you.
?

We should probably also stop hijacking Nico's Tele build thread ...

nicovlogg

Ah, had a great day working on the old pinecaster today! ?

First off, installing the tuner bushings.. easy as pie. Just put them in the fridge for an easy fit and then used a clamp to push them in.

Next up, tuners. Kept them straight with some Supawood.

Tada!

Then, installing the neck - a frightening experience, scared to damage anything, install it skew, drill holes too large.. blah blah, just did it and it came out fine. ?

To get the bridge on right, I used some thread to make sure that it lines up with the neck. Not really needed, because I'm working from a good template, but wanted to make doubly sure.

Drilling string holes through the top of the body. It's not a good idea to go all the way through because most bits will wander a bit and not come out the back straight.

Used a method from Jack Wells on TDPRI of aligning the drill press with a metal pin to avoid skew holes - worked like a charm!

Bought a nice "bullet point" bit for the string ferrules - makes a nice flat-bottomed hole, and cuts through anything.

Came out way straighter than I expected - little bit of a gap in the middle, but nothing terrible.

Also did the flat spot on the body, some more sanding and the wire holes from the pickup cavities.
Almost done! ?

Can't wait to hear how she sounds! ?

MikeM

Fan freaking tastic ? You'd better not string her up without me around >☹

Gearhead

Now for some Danish oil, right? ???

nicovlogg

Gearhead wrote Now for some Danish oil, right? ???

Yup - I have been considering nitro, there's a definite sunburst in my future - but for right now - Danish is the way to go! ?

Wizard

Looking magic !!!
?

infernox

Looking awesome!

Gearhead

Just noticed one thing in your pics: the sharp edges where the top meets the neck might be a little sharp in your case. They are very vulnerable this way, you might want to consider taking a knife and cutting them off a bit.

nicovlogg

Gearhead wrote Just noticed one thing in your pics: the sharp edges where the top meets the neck might be a little sharp in your case. They are very vulnerable this way, you might want to consider taking a knife and cutting them off a bit.

You're right - going to put a dremel to that and smooth it out. Not keen on getting splinters while I play ?

nicovlogg

LOADS of sanding today - all that's left is the finer grit around the cutaway, which is a real pain to do by hand.

Any tips on using Danish oil? I reckon I'm going to go up to 400 grit, raise the grain, sand it away, then clean the guitar with white spirit? and then apply a diluted Danish oil mix (3 parts oil to 1 part spirit). Apply with a cotton cloth, leave for 15 minutes, rub dry with another cloth. Wait 24 hours. Rinse and repeat. Does that sound about right?

Electronics are done! It's a 4 way tele with the 50's Gibson style wiring which I'm a fan of.

DaLoCo

Do a google search for danish oil, or else search the talkbass.com forum, specifically the Luthier's Corner.

nicovlogg

Finally started with the oiling - pretty easy with the danish oil actually, just wipe on, let sit for a few minutes then buff dry and leave it overnight. Done 3 coats so far, all the hole are finally drilled, and everything fits together like a charm. Tomorrow I'll be cutting the nut.

The first coat:

By the third coat, it's taken on quite a bit of lustre and has become more orange-red than it was to start off with. The oil has a really pleasant smell, and once dried, feels fantastic! ?

Wizard

nicovlogg wrote The oil has a really pleasant smell ...

I agree !!
I like going into my workshop ... just for that smell !!
?

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