Ash / Walnut neck through tele build

Hi everyone,

First of all I've thoroughly enjoyed reading about all your builds and experiences, so i thought it time to get going on my first build.

So I've spent a long time thinking about this and I've nearly got all the bits together but here's a rough outline of the plan.

Through neck with a laminate of Ash and Walnut, but with a bookmatched walnut top so that from the front the stripy laminate is hidden, thats saved for a little treat when you turn it over. I'm also going to carve the top much like the warmoth carved teles..

I've got a really pretty piece of figured ebony for the finger board.

Gold hardware, including frets, no pick guard or switch plate and with a tune a matic bridge with no tail piece (strings straight through the body). Oh, and I've got a pair of shiny gold seymour duncan phat cat p90s.

Thats the plan and i cant wait to get going.

Watch this space!

C

Welcome on board Chris ,its a lot of fun here I can tell you.

Your project sounds like it will be very tasty when its done. I expect you are having a good look at the proceedings in the build challenge. Lots of good stuff in there and at least a few neck through builds.

I could flag up a few pointers for you regarding the things you mention but for starters you might want to have a peek at my own first build primarily to see where my adventures with a carved top ended up and why.
One of the points that is covered is the problem created by using a tune o matic bridge as it is about 5 mm taller than a tele bridge at the saddle. Hence you need to angle the neck / fretboard wrt the body. And then one thing leads to another . It could be renamed how I dug myself out of a big hole 8<))

Best of luck , I'm sure others will pitch in with advice as you progress.

Here's the link

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/179733-crazy-build-newbie.html

At last, progress!!

All the bits have come together, I've scratched my head long enough and drawn and measured enough times and after a few boring days of building a router table, procuring a bandsaw, waiting for a half reasonable blade to arrive for it, I've glued up the neck blank and spent half a day on it!!

So here goes!

Neck flattened of and truss cavity routed
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/IMAG0090.jpg

And again, showing the start of the interesting-ness around the heel of the neck, this is to accommodate the walnut top..
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/IMAG0091.jpg

... and a bit further along
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/IMAG0097.jpg

I'm going for a pretty thick fingerboard, but a reasonably thin neck, so, just to keep things central I'm going to have to let the truss into the back of the fingerboard a little..
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/IMAG0092.jpg

No going back now, it's a Tele!!!
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/IMAG0093.jpg

A quick glimpse of the figured ebony fingerboard
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/IMAG0096.jpg

So, so far so good.. No major traumas other than breaking that bandsaw blade I waited ages for!!!

Be very careful with the thin neck blank i.e. leave enough wood so that you have at least 1/8" of wood behind the truss rod.

Be very careful with the thin neck blank i.e. leave enough wood so that you have at least 1/8" of wood behind the truss rod.

Thanks, yeah, I was worried about that also, I should have around 1/4", that's exactly why I've decided to let the truss into the back of the fingerboard... I'm not sure it's a very orthodox way of doing things but I figured I'd end up with the same effect!

Got a bit more done today,

Spent a little while tidying some thickness issues with the body section, (I'm relying on some imaginative routing, planing and sanding on my disk sander to keep things true as I'm adding lamina to the body... More on this later I guess..)

Made a bit of a mess routing the channel in the back of the fingerboard that I mentioned above, I found that the router was creeping up through the table as I was passing the piece over it leading to the depth getting greater as I moved the piece along.. I was extremely lucky to notice this before I suffered it emerging through the board!

I'm pretty sure It'll be ok, at worst I think I've got about an inch of the channel in the middle where it thins down to maybe 2.5mm. Fortunately I'd already chosen to have the inlays along the top side of the fingerboard!



Shaped the Finger board..
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/IMAG0099.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/IMAG0100.jpg
You can see above I've still got some wood to remove from the top of the headstock..

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/IMAG0102.jpg

I'm pretty pleased with everything so far, nothings gone super wrong, certainly not that couldn't be rectified!!

It's starting to take shape!!

So a quick blast today...

I radiused the fretboard
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/IMAG0105.jpg

To my delight what I thought were probably saw marks in the Ebony turned out to be tiger-striping so I could reset putting a few drops of lemon oil to check it out..

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/IMAG0106.jpg

However I cant help thinking I maybe should have done the inlays and / or sloted the board first... too late now I guess!!
Profiling the neck next then...

Different strokes, but I don't slot the fretboard or do the inlays/dots until after the fretboard is on, routed flush, and do the radius. I also don't, however, carve the back until after the aforementioned tasks. Just seems easier for me that way since it will lay flat for the sawing and drilling. If that makes sense.

Nice job so far!

So I've finally got a bit more done,

I've slotted the fretboard..
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/IMAG0111.jpg

and finally glued the cheeks on to the body...
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/IMAG0113.jpg

I mentioned before that I have a bookmatched Walnut cap to go on top.. I've have a plane that I'm going to cut the cavities for the controls aright through the body before I attach the cap. Now I'm thinking I might fit the pick-ups right through the body so that I don't need the surrounds on top, just put the screws through the walnut cap... I'm fitting some gold Seymour Duncan Phat Cat P90's that are in a standard humbucker body so I think it should look much nicer without the plastic surrounds.. Does anyone know of any manufacturers that do this.. I'm a bit intrigued to see what it looks like..

I'm not completely happy with one of the fret slots, if i mix up some glue and Ebony dust and fill it I should be able to cut a new slot but it will definitely overlap the old one, does anyone have a good tip for which glue I should use?

That's looking really nice. You do some clean work. I just had the same problem with a fret slot. I would suggest regular wood glue & sawdust. I used superglue and it gets very dark. If you mix the wood glue and the Ebony dust and pack it in the old slot, it should be OK.

I really like that ebony. A lot. The build looks great, too. Any chance you want to disclose your source?

Hi,

Thanks for your advice, I ended up using Superglue to fill the fret slot last night, I just wasn't convinced that the wood glue would dry hard enough. It did go dark though, although The slot is going to be covered by the head of the fret anyway..

The ebony was bought from a guy on Ebay, (http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/cliffordessex/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686) for about £20, it's turned out so much nicer than I thought it would..

So with any luck I'll get the body roughed out over the weekend but I desperately need to get my templates cut out.. (boring!!)

A few more hours spent over the weekend...

Roughed out the body with the bandsaw and then spent an agonising time trying to not mess up routing to the template, unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures but nothing unrecoverable occured..

This is the worst of it which I managed to get rid of with a little artistic re shaping!!
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/IMAG0118.jpg

From the top
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/IMAG0114.jpg

Finally it looks like a guitar!!
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/IMAG0119.jpg

I couldn't resist a go at the heel of the neck with the flapper disc
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/IMAG0121.jpg

I've been cursing my decision to make a through neck guitar for my first ever build recently, every stage further through the build you get the more pressure there is not to make a mistake as it's all one bit, things have been a lot more awkward shaping the body for example with the neck attached!!

BUT... Ten minutes with that flapper disk and you realise why you wanted a through neck guitar!!!
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/IMAG0122.jpg

So I'm in the process of making the other routing templates now.. I think I might have come up with a way of letting the pick ups in without a surround or a whole right through the body... Watch this space!!

Thanks for all you kind words by the way, this is a very rewarding new hobby!!!

Cheers
c

So pretty!

That's gorgeous! Can't wait to see the final product. I assume you are staining it, light or dark?

Looks great! Loving the walnut/ash contrast.

I built my first Telecaster with an ash neck and finished it with TruOil and I love it. In fact I like it so much I have another 4 ash necks i'm currently working on.

Keep the updates coming :razz:

Mike

Very nice. Those surfboard-esque stripes are going to look great.

Thanks everyone..

I hadn't actually thought about staining it.. I was planning on an oil finish, possibly something like Tru-Oil...

I might test some stain on some off cuts...

a challenge for you all...

I'm fitting some humbucker sized pick ups (they're actually SD Phat Cat P90's) but I'm desperate a) to not use any surrounds and b) to not have to see the sides of the pickup (which would normally be covered by the surround).

I have the advantage of having not fitted the separate walnut top yet so I can do some interesting routing before hand, or possibly go through the body (mounting them from the back straight through walnut cap) but I'm a bit concerned that the hole right through so close to the neck may cause strength/ stability issues. Also those stripes look so nice from the back it'd be a shame to disrupt them with a cover on the back...

any ideas??

That is one beautiful piece of work. It would be a shame to disrupt the back in my opinion. Man that's nice.

It'd be easy to do if you didn't want standard humbucker mount pickups, right? Why don't you just do standard P90's or some other easy flush mount HB like a TV jones or something?

I'm fitting some humbucker sized pick ups (they're actually SD Phat Cat P90's) but I'm desperate a) to not use any surrounds and b) to not have to see the sides of the pickup (which would normally be covered by the surround).

I have the advantage of having not fitted the separate walnut top yet so I can do some interesting routing before hand, or possibly go through the body (mounting them from the back straight through walnut cap) but I'm a bit concerned that the hole right through so close to the neck may cause strength/ stability issues.

any ideas??

if you want to avoid the ears being routed from the top, you might want to go with a traditional P90 ..... and this also solves the problem of how to mount the pickups....

Theres something about the phat catsi really like, also i already have them, add to that i like the idea that if i want to put humbuckers in at any point i can... A quandary indeed!

-clear pick guard with an artsy route/carving underneath??
-

don't glue it, rig the walnut top to clamp down (guitar case latches) so its removable. :shock:

make the surrounds out of Walnut.... it keeps the theme on the top and lets you use the pickups you have

So a bit more done,

inlays...
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/IMAG0123.jpg

Have I mentioned the lovely ebony before ? ;)
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/IMAG0124.jpg

12 Fret logo, it's a mish mash of a C and an S, My initials out of walnut and ash, it took ages and I was pretty convinced it'd never work out but basically once I cleaned it all up, gave it a wipe over with some lemon oil I was about as excited as I've been throughout this whole build.!

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/IMAG0127.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/IMAG0128.jpg

Also got the neck profile about there, it's a little slimmer than the tele's I've played with a slight flat on the apex, I've quite liked this feature on guitars i've played as it kind of gives a reference and also a little leverage...

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/IMAG0126.jpg


One last one... Gold frets!!!!!!

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/IMAG0129.jpg

It's starting to feel like I might just end up with a real guitar, having never done this before I had no idea really how long it'd take and how well it'd go but i think there's hope!!!

The 12th fret marker is top notch!

The 12th fret marker is top notch!
Thanks...

Also, I think I've worked out my pick mounting conundrum (see above)... I'm pretty please with the plan.... whatch this space ;)

It's been a while...

file the fret ends today, flush to the neck so far but not bevelled yet, just waiting for the filling to dry before I finish those of..

Also did some routing on the body, straight through the body for the wiring chamber and one of the pick up cavities, but completely forgot to take any photos!

Also I roughed out the walnut top, as I needed some dimensions for the pickup cavities...

it's by no means properly fitted but it gives an idea, and I must say I'm pleased with the result!!

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/IMAG0001.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/IMAG0002.jpg

and having got this far I really couldn't resist....

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/IMAG0004.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/IMAG0007.jpg

I jumped a little bit, it really is starting to take shape it's just what I hoped it'd look like, so I'm over the moon!

This is going to be a beautiful guitar.... I want you to be as happy with her as you can possibly be

So with the ABR bridge, did you incorporate any angle with the neck or are you going to recess the bridge so you don't have extreme action?

This is going to be a beautiful guitar.... I want you to be as happy with her as you can possibly be

So with the ABR bridge, did you incorporate any angle with the neck or are you going to recess the bridge so you don't have extreme action?

I had every intention of incorporating neck angle but i had an epiphany at the last minute based on my playing technique that caused me to go flat. So I'm going to recess the bridge, it also helps with the through body stringing as withe extra height of the bridge with the neck angle the length of string behind the bridge was really quite long.

thats really nice, I'm looking foward to seeing it finished.

So I finally finished it, I got carried away toward the end and forgot to post..

It's turned out pretty well, I think I achieved...

Some aspects I'm not so pleased with, like the finish, it's fine, but not how I orginally envisaged it... Hopefully if I can bothered I'll give it another go, the trouble is, I'm playing it a lot and really enjoying it, so the idea of having it all apart is a bit painful!!

The Brass nut was a pain, and I'm still not happy with it, the main problem being I'm too tight fisted to buy some proper nut files, I've had three attempts so far..

Any who, here's some piccies..

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/182588_10152204598895710_1492945357_n.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/549100_10152204598225710_1201927923_n.jpg


http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/525695_10152204468805710_910605322_n.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/515_10152206992755710_1485675584_n.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/189155_10152206993290710_1156315339_n.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/302878_10152206994620710_1666540680_n.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/224500_10152206993665710_2134001954_n.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/282340_10152206994315710_2103116120_n.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2456813/Stripeycaster/Build/59635_10152206995130710_1605978454_n.jpg

Gold hardware isn't my cuppa Tea, Chris, but you've made this look very nice. That walnut is gorgeous and the finish looks good. What did you use?

john

I used tru oil, although it not a bad finish I'm not completely happy, I think it might have come out better if the oil was a little thinner. I was particularly fussed about a gloss finish, in fact I was kind of after more of a Satin finish actually..

Maybe I'll be inclined to redo it one day..

Plays very nicely though, its a fair weight!

The Brass nut was a pain, and I'm still not happy with it, the main problem being I'm too tight fisted to buy some proper nut files, I've had three attempts so far..


And this will always be an issue until you get the proper tools. Look at it this way................when I bought my nut files, the set cost $80. The same set now costs $100. You are NOT saving money by putting it off. The price will only go up over time and your frustration will only grow as well

I used tru oil, although it not a bad finish I'm not completely happy, I think it might have come out better if the oil was a little thinner. I was particularly fussed about a gloss finish, in fact I was kind of after more of a Satin finish actually..


In the forum search, do a search for Tru-Oil and look for post by me. I posted a tutorial in two threads detailing how to thin it, apply it, and how to get a gloss or satin finish. It's really quite easy :wink:

Beautiful guitar - nice work.

In the forum search, do a search for Tru-Oil and look for post by me. I posted a tutorial in two threads detailing how to thin it, apply it, and how to get a gloss or satin finish. It's really quite easy :wink:

Awesome, thanks..

I just wish I could put it down long enough to have it apart and re do the finish!!

Is there a better method, in your experience, for removing/preparing a previously tru-oiled finish for another attempt? ;)

Fantastic guitar Chris. What a great job.
How did you solve the pickup mounting conundrum? Is the walnut top removable in case you want to change the pickups.

Beautiful work! Big fan of P90s here! Would love to hear sound clips.

Fantastic guitar Chris. What a great job.
How did you solve the pickup mounting conundrum? Is the walnut top removable in case you want to change the pickups.

+1 on the compliments.

But I'm stumped too - how the heck did you do the pickup mounting? I't looks as if they're locked in forever, but I'm betting there's a trick I'm not seeing.

Beautiful! And you can go back and spruce up that Tru-Oil any time you want too, if it really doesn't suit you. Looks great to me.

Rex

Ahh, the pick ups, definitely the aspect with which I'm most pleased...
So I did take pictures but subsequently lost them..

They are easily remove able but I shall try and explain..

The top is fixed but the cavity underneath is shaped/deep enough such that the pick up can be slotted in one end first then in far enough to get the other ear in and then brought back to center.

There's a piece of foam underneath to sit them up through the hole.

The holes for the mounting screws are the same diameter as the springs, so once the pickups in and sitting up on the foam the springs are dropped in through the large holes.

I then have a threaded insert (easily available for setting a machine thread in wood and plastic) with an outside self tapping thread that suits the hole in the wooden top (with the spring through it) and in inside threaded hole big enough for the pickup screws to pass through (without engaging in the internal thread).

This insert gets screwed in to the spring hole compressing the spring down underneath which pushes the pick up away, against the foam.

Pass the pickup screw through the insert, catch the thread in the pickup ear and do up bringing the pickup back up through the body.

It took a bit of trial and error to get spring lengths, foam depths etc right but it works a treat and the pickup screw head pretty much entirely covers the insert beneath it so you can barely see how its done..

Me at my most ingenious!

Amazing, what a superb looking guitar! Great work!

Is there a better method, in your experience, for removing/preparing a previously tru-oiled finish for another attempt? ;)

Better/easier? I wish :roll:. If you got it too thick then it's probably streaked (right/wrong?). If that's the case, wet sand that bad boy with a little warm water (drop or so of liquid detergent) and at least 320 grit wet/dry paper. That will level it while keeping it smooth (but is slow).
That is a fine guitar you've built there :wink: