Nylon Tele

Please visit ...

http://www.youtube.com/user/guitarcdt

...for a video that demonstrates this guitar.

more pics at www.myspace.com/christhomaschristhomas.

Enjoy!

I started drawing out a design for a nylon string electric this week. Thanks for sharing.

Your welcome. If you have any questions during your build feel free to ask.

Such a sweet build and what playing! :smile: I'm smitten by the "Peanut Butter and Jelly" song though :wink:

Ah that's my Lindsey! She was five then. She's 7 now. I hope've enjoyed all my video's. Thanks for your kind words.

hi chris,

i hope you dont mind, i need some info as im planning to build a tele style nylon guitar in a few weeks :)

i have a couple of questions

1. what's the width of the nut that you decided to use?

2. what's the pickup/pre-amp system that you used?

3. what's the scale length and what's the width of the last fret?

thanks and hope to hear from you

Don't let the nylon string name distort your perspective too much. It's a Tele. The nut is standard Fender 1 11/16". Scale length is still 25 1/2". Not sure what the width of the last fret is but I do know that the string spacing on the bridge is 2 1/8". I've made one other tele before this (which you can find here on the Tele forum under my name guitarcdt). I was used to making strats so I thought it was a good idea to have a Tele blueprint handy just in case. I got it on Amazon. Here's the link.

http://www.amazon.com/Fender-Telecaster-Thinline-Electric-Guitar/dp/B001R1EMKA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1344181884&sr=8-2&keywords=tele+blueprint

In the YouTube link that I posted above you can see and hear the guitar in action. I mention the use of a B-Band pickup and preamp. I got that here and was cheaper than ANY other place I found it.

http://www.opentip.com/product_info.php?products_id=1617584

Good luck! Hope this helps.

Wow...that is something special!!

Thank you!

Just watched your Youtube clip all the way through.

Beautiful playing. The guitar sounds really great too.

I liked a couple of your jigs. Do you find that rounding over the neck shoulder with your router jig saves you a lot of time?

I am thinking of doing a totally hollow Tele like this. With a 1/4" thick top, I was thinking you might not need the full center block(with nylon strings). What do you think?

Sah-weet sounding guitar, great looking, and some obviously fine playing. Congrats, and thanks for sharing.

Don't let the nylon string name distort your perspective too much. It's a Tele. The nut is standard Fender 1 11/16". Scale length is still 25 1/2". Not sure what the width of the last fret is but I do know that the string spacing on the bridge is 2 1/8". I've made one other tele before this (which you can find here on the Tele forum under my name guitarcdt). I was used to making strats so I thought it was a good idea to have a Tele blueprint handy just in case. I got it on Amazon. Here's the link.

http://www.amazon.com/Fender-Telecaster-Thinline-Electric-Guitar/dp/B001R1EMKA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1344181884&sr=8-2&keywords=tele+blueprint

In the YouTube link that I posted above you can see and hear the guitar in action. I mention the use of a B-Band pickup and preamp. I got that here and was cheaper than ANY other place I found it.

http://www.opentip.com/product_info.php?products_id=1617584

Good luck! Hope this helps.

Most electric guitar pdf files are available here on TDPRI for free. Its a pretty handy resource.

Just watched your Youtube clip all the way through.

Beautiful playing. The guitar sounds really great too.

I liked a couple of your jigs. Do you find that rounding over the neck shoulder with your router jig saves you a lot of time?

I am thinking of doing a totally hollow Tele like this. With a 1/4" thick top, I was thinking you might not need the full center block(with nylon strings). What do you think?

I wouldn't say it's been a great time saver. It does save some carving time but mostly it's made the job more uniform. I have a much better visual point of reference to begin spokeshaving and it's less strenuous on my hands. That's always an issue with me. I do my best to make sure my hands don't hurt while I'm working. Taking off about an hour or so of the bulk carving does help with that. The jig I really love in this process is neck drill press and safety planer jig. Just like the verticle router it makes for a more uniform product. It's the one thing I can really count on. I first measure and mark the thickness on the edge of the neck at the first fret and the 12th fret. I draw a line then line up the jig with the safety planer. One pass and it's done.

The redwood top on this is also 1/4". The body isn't a solid block in the center. I did a standard tele thinline body rout. That means there's hollowed out wings on each side and a little square routed caving behind the bridge. I like the way this turned out. I don't know how a fully hollow body would be. I would say make sure you have a solid block under the bridge. This will absorb the vibrations enough that the guitar should be feedback free. That was the biggest thing for me. I love nylon and wanted to use it more live but never had the dough for something that would be around $1000 and up (Carvin and Godin). Also, for home recording I found my old Alvarez nyoln incredibly difficult to record well. I love the feel of electrics too. So this is the guitar I made and it only cost me a little under $400. Good luck I hope this helps. Feel free to post any other questions or even to keep me posted on your build. I'd love to see how your doing.

Chris

Most electric guitar pdf files are available here on TDPRI for free. Its a pretty handy resource.

Yes your right! I downloaded one of Terry Downes blueprints on here (I think that's his name). It's a REALLY good one too.

Sah-weet sounding guitar, great looking, and some obviously fine playing. Congrats, and thanks for sharing.

Thank you!

Very nice, although I'm a bit disappointed as I thought the thread was going to be about a nylon-bodied tele! Now that would be a sturdy guitar, if a little on the weighty side.

I have had a curly redwood top set on my bench for about a year now with the intent to make a nylon string chambered solidbody. I still have to find the right combination of body shape and headstock shape before I get going. And a good back wood, though I am leaning towards lacewood or leopardwood.

Nice looking guitar, I think that nylon stringed electrics are just cool.

I do like the sapele. It's a great alternative to Hondo Mahogany. Same qualities as Hondo but I love that ribbon fiquire that Sapele gives you. Much more striking in appearance. I too think nylon electrics are cool. For my purposes, I use this on just about all my solo guitar gigs now. I used to play a custom jazz guitar (that I made) for solo jobs. I always got plenty of complements but when I started using the nylon tele, I started getting referrals. Coincidence? I dunno. Thank you for your kind words. :)

Very cool guitar. Thanks for posting.

I built an electric nylon string last year, but most of the critical dimensions were "classical" not "tele". Awesome sound.

Very cool guitar. Thanks for posting.

I built an electric nylon string last year, but most of the critical dimensions were "classical" not "tele". Awesome sound.

Very cool I'm sure. You should post pics. I'd love to see it. Considering that most of the work I do is live I wanted something that was as comfortable as any of my electrics and resistent to feedback. That's why I went with standard Tele dimensions. Thank you for your comment. I'm glad you enjoyed the guitar.

Very cool I'm sure. You should post pics. I'd love to see it. Considering that most of the work I do is live I wanted something that was as comfortable as any of my electrics and resistent to feedback. That's why I went with standard Tele dimensions. Thank you for your comment. I'm glad you enjoyed the guitar.

I did... :wink:

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/274567-im-next-one-well-semi-hollow-electric-nylon-string.html

There's a link to a youtube clip towards the end as well.

.

I did... :wink:

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/274567-im-next-one-well-semi-hollow-electric-nylon-string.html

There's a link to a youtube clip towards the end as well.

.


I'm glad you sent me this. When I was planing my guitar I had looked on YouTube to check out any others. I rememeber seeing yours! That's pretty cool isn't it? I love the cocobolo board. I've always wanted to try one but that wood is so heavy I usually come back to rosewoods.

Chris

PS I just subscribed to your YouTube channel.

Very nice, Chris. I also watched your video of "Tenderly". Brought a tear to my eye, it was one of my Dad's (played piano) favorites. Very nice rendition.

Thanks for sharing.

Very nice, Chris. I also watched your video of "Tenderly". Brought a tear to my eye, it was one of my Dad's (played piano) favorites. Very nice rendition.

Thanks for sharing.

That's quite nice of you to say. Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Chris

In case anyone is interested here a strat that I just finished.

http://www.strat-talk.com/forum/diy-strat-forum/183653-eddie-van-halen-tribute-guitar.html#post1016178