Thread: Closest I get to a Tele build.

What a great build. The timber combination should also help with the weight I would think.

You're very ambitious making the neck too. That's the one piece that saints me, and have thought I would buy a pre-made neck when I make one. Happy to be convinced otherwise

Lance,
I worried a bit about a neck with truss rod but like a lot of other woodwork things its fine if you take it a step at a time. My advice is get the rod first and make a jig to guide the router. A bought neck does save a lot of work but may not always go with the overall look you are after. You are also stuck with the scale length of that neck (if its fretted)so have to design the rest of the guitar around that.
Regards
John

Hi Lance, neck construction isn't as daunting as you may think, besides, you want to be able to tell people you proudly built the whole instrument.
I agree with Orraloon about premade necks and I'll add to it by saying, build it yourself means you are in charge of the quality.
Pre made necks do make good guides, find a great one and record every measurement / radius of it.
Then replicate it.
I build mine from 3 pieces of 19mm x 42mm x 2400mm stock. Total width = 57mm
The 42mm means I get one neck section with a 10 degree headstock angle Plus the piece I remove to get the neck thickness becomes a piece of the fingerboard. A little extra piece becomes the wings of the headstock. I waste no part of the animal...I mean timber.
All cut with a handsaw.
I made a jig that accepts the neck for either electric or acoustic, 2 screws hold the headstock in place via the machinehead locations, another 2 at the heel.
The laminate trimmer with guide runs along one edge to create the truss rod slot. 12mm depth by 2mm increments.
Profiling is done primarily with a rasp, 1st, 6th and 12th fret are shaped first then its just a case of matching the remainder to these profiles.
Fingerboard is done by 12" radius block .
There's plenty of ways to create the neck, this is how I currently do it because its fun, but it'll probably change soon.
Pretty sure these will be the REHAB model.

KirbyMD

Thanks chaps. The trickiest part to my mind are the frets. Is an accurate fret layout achievable without specialised tools? I base my question on the assumption that a fret out my a millimeter will cause permanent intonation issues.

Perhaps I'm overthinking it all and just need to have a crack at it.

Originally Posted by LanceC

Thanks chaps. The trickiest part to my mind are the frets. Is an accurate fret layout achievable without specialised tools? I base my question on the assumption that a fret out my a millimeter will cause permanent intonation issues.

Perhaps I'm overthinking it all and just need to have a crack at it.

It is very achievable with a decent fretsaw and a quality fret rule.
I start my boards off all nice and square, marking them off along both edges and checking them with a square.
Then mark them out with a sharp pencil, use the fretsaw to cut the line making sure to stay square. You can use a guide block or a simple jig as an assist if you need to.
I cut mine to a depth of 2mm before radiusing the board, makes it a little easier and if a mistake is made it can be spotted before the cut is too deep.
Once the board is radiused the edge of the cut is just visible and I recut the edges to suit the fret and radius.
A mm out is very noticeable when you mark it out.
Take your time, double check and it should be fine.
Like anything I post, it's just my way of doing something and I hope it helps.
I'll have to take photos next time I make a fingerboard.

One of these guitars has a nice silky oak top on it, I'm going to add a matching neck to it.
Silky Oak on the outer and Tasmanian Oak for the centre plus Tasmanian Oak added for the headstock wings.
This group of photos shows the progress I've made using the rasp, scraper and 80, 120 grit sandpaper.
It's pretty close to being ready for final shaping.
I quite like this combo and hope I've got enough silky for another one.

All 3 coming along nicely,
Working toward the final shape with all contours now done.
Really curious about how the Silky Oak one will look with a satin coat and black hardware.

Those are looking good and the silky oak will be a real looker. I think you are right with the black hardware so you look at the wood not the bling.
Regards
John

Originally Posted by orraloon

Those are looking good and the silky oak will be a real looker. I think you are right with the black hardware so you look at the wood not the bling.
Regards
John

Thanks John, that's pretty much my thinking too. The other 2 receive Chrome but I just can't see chrome or gold working with the Silky Oak.

Kirby

These look awesome! Top work again mate!


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Really enjoying this thread, KirbyMD, thank you. Like LanceC noted, I too found fretwork a bit of a challenge at first. I got a great deal of inspiration and advice from Dave Fletcher in Wollongong (Fletcherhandcraftedguitars.com). His video tutorials are superb, and always graciously answered all my emailed queries. When I saw how he used the StewMac fret templates to cut his fret slots I thought that was a bit excessive, and fondly imagined I ccould achieve accuracy with my Incra ruler & pricey fretsaw instead. Needless to say, I now use StewMac fret templates with their dedicated mini saw blade in my table saw exclusively, and never have any intonation issues.
I was very taken by your original designs, KirbyMD; I began by making slavish copies of my favourite Fenders, then tweaking them a little, and now I have a few original designs of my own, one of which is based on a slightly dodgy Vietnamese electric which was a pawnshop find. I'll try to post pics, but am not great with technology!

Thanks Gezdog, glad you're enjoying the thread, I'll have to check out Dave Fletchers work.
The StewMac gear is pretty handy to have when it comes to fretwork.
I look forward to seeing what you've come up with,,
As far as technology goes...you think you're not great with it, it's why I build by hand.