Telecaster - Firstacaster

infernox · 2010-08-17T18:50:04+00:00

Ola peeps As stated in previous threads, Ill be looking at building a Telecaster real soon, although the aquisition of parts and planning will take me a whilst before I start building. On that note, the ball has started rolling on getting just the body cut and it will have to stay at that for the time being as I would like all the parts to be here as I build, thus negating the frustration of waiting for parts etc etc. I will most likely be ordering from Stewmac next month, so if anyone wants to get some stuff then maybe we can add to the order. Now to the project: As this is going to be my first Telecaster (and as Im feeling very partial to Les Paul right now) and more than likely my last, I want to make it special, thus Im not going to rush this, but also insist on staying original as much as possible in terms of parts and ideas. I had a look at the various Fender parts on Ebay and Musiciansfriend.com but the original Fender stuff seems rather overpriced, but Ill be keeping a lookout for good lot items. Having a visit to guitarfetish's new site today, I saw they have some really sexy stuff on hand in the colour I want and thus things like knobs etc will be non-original until I can find decently priced true Fender parts. Guitarfetish does have a body which including shipping will cost me R600+- but seeing as I might get some wood for free, id rather go through the process. Seeing a post from someone (I forgot the name) today with a link to a Fender, I fell in love with the idea of a white body, wooden pickguard and golden hardware. So about an hour ago I went to work in Google Sketchup and tried to put something together. This is what I came up with, but I left the Pup's as silver as I dont know if I can get those in gold. Also mine will be a 3 brass saddle bridge and not 6 like in the proofs. EDIT: Yes I know Sketchup's redition of Gold is horrid! Question: What wood should I go with seeing as it will be painted in any case? Also where can I get watertransfers printed? Just had a look at GuitarFetish again and it came to this (not ordered YET!), this exlcudes shipping and the stuff I need to get from stewmac, but includes a neck and head, which is pre-made. The shipping is great from GF.com as long as you order lots of stuff.

infernox

If I find a few builds which show me how... also think my buddy and brother in law knows how to...

Wood might be coming in for free, so I am keeping the cost down ?

Wizard

MoJo JoJoe wrote Building a neck is not easy ....

Gearhead wrote Any neck worth looking at (let alone worth playing) will cost more than a second hand upgrade-able guit. Mojo is right.

These okes know what they're talking about ... and they're right ...

Why don't you ask Manny about the fun & games of neck building - he tried recently ...
?

infernox

Guys. This is my first guitar.

What Im saying is that, I know this aint going to be a Gibson/Fender in sound quality, but with the skills I have in my buddy and my brother in law I think Ill be able to pull of making the neck... as they will more than likely make it ?

I think everyone is thinking that I need to make this perfect... comparable to a pro guitar project, but I dont want to... I want to have fun and trying to make it sound and look as good as I can and if not... then itll look amazing on my wall. Just saying... Id rather try the neck, like every other first time builder with the aid of my family/friends than buy a Fender authorised neck for 200-300 $ when I might even screw up the body, thus making the neck a MASSIVE waste of money... money with which I can buy amp or a nicer keyboard chair for my wife.

nicovlogg

infernox wrote Guys. This is my first guitar.

What Im saying is that, I know this aint going to be a Gibson/Fender in sound quality, but with the skills I have in my buddy and my brother in law I think Ill be able to pull of making the neck... as they will more than likely make it ?

I think everyone is thinking that I need to make this perfect... comparable to a pro guitar project, but I dont want to... I want to have fun and trying to make it sound and look as good as I can and if not... then itll look amazing on my wall. Just saying... Id rather try the neck, like every other first time builder with the aid of my family/friends than buy a Fender authorised neck for 200-300 $ when I might even screw up the body, thus making the neck a MASSIVE waste of money... money with which I can buy amp or a nicer keyboard chair for my wife.

Then you should just go ahead and do it - no harm in trying, as long as you're safe when using tools. If you're convinced then why not? ?

MoJo-JoJoe

Well I applaud your tenacity and will be watching with interest. I like how the body is looking already. As before ... best of luck!

infernox

Thanx again guys. Hopefully the first text cut on supawood will be done today just to guage the CNC's performance.

Mojo, thats not my body but to save weight im thinking about making it a three piece with some chambers to lighten it.

infernox

Ok so first cut was made last night. Aparently the test didnt go well and my CNC guy is changing the cutters today and will retry. Cant wait to see the test results.

doncorleone

the body looks nice already, man.. good luck with the rest..
it all comes down to the tone, the neck, the intonation and stuff.. we'll see...

but props to you for building that, man.. i couldnt imagine myself doing that. lol. i just dont know how..

infernox

Thanx Don, but thats not my body, that was just an axample picture.

My body has had a bit of a delay as the gent CNC'ing it had a death in the family, so I told him that there is no rush.

Gearhead

What the CNC oke needs to figure out is what causes the problem (is there chatter?). If he just changes cutters and the same thing happens, you're stuffed.
The geometry of a wood cutter is different from a steel cutter (which is different from a nylon one etc). I don't know the English names but the Dutch names for the two angles of a cutter are 'vrijloophoek' (the angle between substrate and cutter after cutting) and 'spaanhoek' (the angle between substrate and swarf after cutting). The latter is much smaller with wood, especially hardwood.
The revs need to be high enough and the cutting speed low enough so you cut tiny slices instead of major chunks - again hardwood more so. If the revs are too high though, and the 'vrijloophoek' not big enough, you get friction between the wood and the cutter causing it to heat up quickly and burn the wood. More so with less hard wood like Poplar, Spruce, Alder etc.
If the machine has play on the main spindle, forget it. You might try with spiral flutes but the problem remains.
If your wood is allowed to vibrate during cutting, you also will run into chatter. Being much more flexible than steel, wood just needs a lot better clamping. I would try gluing the body wood onto a piece of cheaper stuff and cut up to the glue line.

AlanRatcliffe

Great post Gearhead! Thanked.

MoJo-JoJoe

Alan Ratcliffe wrote Great post Gearhead! Thanked.

+ 1 !

infernox

Thanx gearhead. Ill tell him that, if that fails Ill just use a bandsaw and make the basic shape.

Gearhead

You might try a combination of bandsaw, glue-on and CNC as well. If your bandsawing is on average 3mm from the line, the cutter has to remove 3mm of wood rather than its own diameter. You can go to the very stiff 50mm cutters and do the full thickness without penalty. If you plunge straight into the wood you will probably go for shallow runs and a (less than) 25mm cutter, which will still vibrate all over the show since it is more flexible and it is cutting left and right. A cutter that only cuts on one side will lean out, but not vibrate as much.

infernox

Thanx Gearhead, much appreciated.

Ive made up my mind regarding some of the hardware.
Most of it will be Guitarfetish golden parts with some parts (all I could find) being Wilkinson branded i.e. Bridge and Tuners. I had a gent post pics of his GFS parts and they looked good. Ill have to see how the gold actually looks.

Pickups Im open on and the choice is between original Fender pickups, GFS Pickups (heard some good things) or Tone Rider's and Im looking at the noiseless (correct my terms if Im wrong as Im damn tired) versions.

Neck, Im still open on... Ill have to see what Im going to do about this as the shipping is killing me with regards to the neck. Gearhead, would you consider making one? ?

If by some small miracle I do get a guitar fetish neck, then I will refret it completely before it goes on the body and upgrade the truss-rod to a stew-mac product.

The neckplate I will more than likely go for a original fender version, hopefully from the year of telecaster this build is going to find it inspiration from.

MikeM

infernox wroteIf by some small miracle I do get a guitar fetish neck, then I will refret it completely before it goes on the body and upgrade the truss-rod to a stew-mac product

Why not just buy a proper neck then? You'll need fretting tools, fret levelling tools, fret crowning files etc. It'll probably turn out cheaper to buy a Musikraft (or similar) neck like Nicovlogg has, and have a good neck once and for all that you can transfer to other bodies. The neck makes up a lot of the unplugged tone in my books.

Not being funny or nasty here man.

Gearhead

infernox wrote Gearhead, would you consider making one? ?

I definitely am considering making necks, but the waiting list is a couple of years. Not that they are so good that there are many takers, but because I build so slowly... It takes me half the weekend just to recover from a weeks' work, and then there are so many other fun things to do...

I do wonder why it is that necks scare aspiring builders more than bodies. With my Strat I just used a Fender neck because I ran into a really cheap and nice pre-owned one. In any other case, I would have built one. There are three things difficult about making necks:
- the potential warp and bending of the wood as you close in on the final shape because of internal tension (which is true for any wooden object),
- spacing slots & cutting slots & fretting of the board (requires proper tools),
- cutting the truss rod rout at an arc (requires proper routing jig) and subsequently filling it with other wood.
Other things, like shaping and finishing are similar for the body.

If I were you, I would worry about finishing. I know I do :-[

nicovlogg

You could always buy my telecaster, got a squier affinity tele here that's going to be on sale soon. That way you can scavenge on the parts and upgrade them with time. :?

Gearhead

infernox wrote {..} upgrade the truss-rod to a stew-mac product.

I'm not sure how you intend to do that? ?

infernox

Nico, please elaborate

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