Help with Endpin Jack on a Tele Custom

Hey Guys,

I want to put an endpin jack in a Tele Custom i am building, and i will need to drill a hole in the cavity wall nearest the bridge (coming in from the standard input jack hole) that will "meet up" with the hole drilled for the endpin jack.

Having no experience at all with something like this, i'm wondering about how to keep the holes straight so that the endpin jack/strap button sits perfectly flat to the body, and the hole in the cavity wall meets up right with the hole drilled for the endpin jack so that i can route the wires through.

Any ideas about how best to do this, or what tools/method you would use, would be greatly appreciated.

Also, if this sounds like something that should be done by somebody with experience, please let me know if any of you would be willing to tackle something like this, or give me the name(s) of somebody who might do something like this.

My whole project has come to a screaming halt as i hit the wall of my inability to do this properly.

Thank you for reading this, Royce

I want to put an endpin jack in a Tele Custom i am building, and i will need to drill a hole in the cavity wall nearest the bridge (coming in from the standard input jack hole) that will "meet up" with the hole drilled for the endpin jack.

I'm having a littly trouble understanding the above. Will the jack be in the strap button location? By cavity do you mean the control cavity? Is the typical output jack hole already drilled?

If I'm understanding what you want to do, one option might be to drill the hole for the endpin jack all the way to the bridge pickup cavity. Then run your output wires from the control cavity back to the bridge pickup cavity and out to your endpin jack.

Hmmm............... just realized that might not work because of the string ferrule holes and the bridge mounting screws.

Is this the type of jack you are planning to use?

......http://www.stewmac.com/catalog/images_1lg/1521_1lg.jpg

Hey jwells393,

Thank you for your reply! :grin:

First i want to clarify...it is a Squier Tele Custom i am trying to modify.

Yes, the jack will be the strap button (i hope!) and yes, i meant the control cavity..also, the typical output jack hole is already present, but i'm going to be using it for something else.

I was thinking about drilling straight through to the pickup cavity too, but the string ferrule holes and bridge mounting screws are in the way, just like you said.

That made me start thinking about taking a sharp right from the endpin hole to the control cavity, but at this point, i'm not feeling very confident about being able to drill either one of these holes properly.

I have very little experience with this kind of stuff (i'm just getting started) so i'm having trouble imagining what i might use to keep the drill straight for both the endpin jack, and the hole that will be going from the cavity to the endpin hole (starting from outside the typical output jack hole).

Here is a picture (from the Stewart Macdonald site) of the endpin jack i have.

Hi!
The hole you are planning to drill will be going through the string loading holes so... it will not be possible unless you use a top loader bridge.
Furthermore I cannot see how you will solder the output wires to the jack.
Even if you pre-solder the wires it would be difficult...
You might be better off enlarging the existing jack hole to be able to use it for that other purpose you are not telling us about :-)
Cheers
Silvio

Could you draw a picture to explain exactly what you're trying to do?

That endpin jack probably requires a 1/2 in. hole. Drilling a 1/2 in. hole approximately 3 to 4 in. long in the butt end of the body shouldn't be a problem.

The only way I see to drill a hole that could intercept this hole is by starting at the current output jack hole. This would require a hole ~ 5 in. long. I'd recommend a 1 ft. long 5/16 in. or larger diameter bit. Such a bit won't drift like small diameter bits. If you're careful you should be able to intercept the other hole. To start this hole you will be drilling at an angle to the sidewall of the current jack hole. There's a little trick to drilling an angled hole to keep the bit from skipping.

Fishing the wires through the 90 degree change in direction might be a little tricky but could be done.

I question the feasability of going through all this trouble if the body already has a jack hole drilled. I could see doing on a scratch build body that wouldn't have the typical jack hole.

Maybe its more convinient to use a jack like this :
http://www.mijnalbum.nl/GroteFoto-ZF6HNXJ4.jpg
Beacaus you have more room to drill sideways to a direction where there are no strings etc. in the way. (you can purchase that by www.axesrus.co.uk)

To Jack, Doubletriode, LocustPlague and oigun,

Please forgive me for dropping out of this thread prematurely.

My little sister died unexpectedly, and i just dropped out of everything for a while.

I did manage to get the job done, but not without sweating bullets!

I'd never done anything like this before, and i was nervous doing it to an instrument i was already having fun playing.

The reason i was doing all this is because i wanted to put a 13 pin socket in place of the standard output jack, and move the standard output jack to the endpin.

The guitar is almost finished, but i need to get a custom pickup cover made for the Roland GK-2A.

Do you guys know anybody who could do this?

Thanks again, Royce