Thread: first Tele build

the distance from the bridge to the ferrule holes is not a critical distance and can be whatever you want it to be ...the critical distance is the scale length (distance between nut and birdge)

however a critical point to note:

the bridge u have chosen is one usually for a LP where the neck is set at an angle to the plane of the body ...bridge height off the body(distance from bottom of string to body at the bridge end) is taller than a typical tele bridge(your pic shows this)

on a tele with a typical tele bridge the plane of the neck is parallel to the plane of the body

if u wish to use humbuckers AND have the typical tele 'feel' of parallel neck/parallel body ....there are tele bridges suitable or fixed strat bridges

otherwise u might have to deviate from the norm to compensate for the increased bridge height on your tele

ahhh thanks alot mate, that makes sense.

yeah i will be going with a humbucker, am i right in assuming that i wont have to cut the neck pocket as deep to compensate? whatever the few mill it is?.

thanks again mate.

Originally Posted by Clarke

ahhh thanks alot mate, that makes sense.

yeah i will be going with a humbucker, am i right in assuming that i wont have to cut the neck pocket as deep to compensate? whatever the few mill it is?.

thanks again mate.

...yeah ...u could have a shallow neck pocket and keep the parallel neck/body feel but the strings will be much higher off the guitar body than a typical electric guitar and then u might have to invent a pickguard tht will put in an artificial floor near the pickups ...ala da big G

./..or u could put in the neck angle like da big G ...i forgot the exact angle but it surely can be found out by googling

in which case u might still need the pickguard ala big G but the strings not so high off the guitar body espc at neck pickup end...and there is more of a 'normal' LP feel to it (neck at slight angle to plane of body)

...or get a tele bridge with humbucker hole and proceed as per normal tele construction...or get fixed strat bridge with string spacing for humbucker ...and proceed as per normal...

pick yer poison i guess

Originally Posted by R3R

...yeah ...u could have a shallow neck pocket and keep the parallel neck/body feel but the strings will be much higher off the guitar body than a typical electric guitar and then u might have to invent a pickguard tht will put in an artificial floor near the pickups ...ala da big G

cheers, im already inventing a pickguard to thats no problem.

i was looking at the traditional tele bridge on stew mac, the drawing that is.
it has a string height of 10.12mm.

http://www.stewmac.com/catalog/specs/4583_1spec.gif

and the gotoh bridge has about 10.69
http://www.stewmac.com/catalog/specs/0167-N_1spec.gif

with such small tolerances would it more worthwhile to cut the neck pocket as per the drawings and shim a mill or 2 if i need to?

Originally Posted by Clarke

cheers, im already inventing a pickguard to thats no problem.

i was looking at the traditional tele bridge on stew mac, the drawing that is.
it has a string height of 10.12mm.

http://www.stewmac.com/catalog/specs/4583_1spec.gif

and the gotoh bridge has about 10.69
http://www.stewmac.com/catalog/specs/0167-N_1spec.gif

with such small tolerances would it more worthwhile to cut the neck pocket as per the drawings and shim a mill or 2 if i need to?

well...the 10.69 does not include the lil height of the bridge saddle

and this 10.69+lil bit is the MINIMUM height if bridge is adjusted as low as possible ...usually such a bridge is installed a few mms off the body like in your pic


...

the 10.12 mm string height on the tele bridges is near the minimum but the maximum is only a couple more mms above tht depending on length of bridge saddle screws
your plans prob specify neck pocket depth for such a bridge
....
assuming u want parallel neck/body ...

...the shim might be around 3 mm if i had to guess but u prob do better to fit the neck to the body and test for yourself by routing a shallower than usual depth (say 5mm off the usual depth)

install bridge and a couple of strings and see wht the action is like

i reckon u prob want a few mms play at the bridge height end and not force yourself to deck the bridge

Or you could recess the bridge??

yeah

tht would work

looks a cute lil guitar this one heh

There is one consideration you need to make when setting the distance from the ferrel length from a TOM bridge is to make sure that the strings don't touch the bridge piece as the strings angle off the top of the saddles. The strings should only touch the tip of the saddles. If you place the ferrels too close to the bridge, or the bridge is set too high, the strings can wrap around the back of the bridge and rest on the back of the bridge, which is not a good result on tone and can creat some buzzes. Also you don't want to create a string deflection angle over the bridge that is too sharp, as it increases the string pressure over the bridge and can lead to unwanted string breaking.

Cheers,

Peter

aye Peter

tht's a good catch tht one

thanks blokes lots of stuff i didnt think off