Advice on neck, how to tell if a tele neck will fit

ok....made an impulse buy on ebay...but the body looked great. Could make a nice partscaster.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7335802729&rd=1&sspagename=STRK
I also have no idea how to drill for the wires.i mean...how do you get a drill bit in there ?

you won't really be able to tell until the two pieces meet for the first time. Then you will do the final fitting. Almost always the case unless it is a sloppy neck pocket cut.

As for drilling, the wiring hole for the neck pup, you will drill from the neck pocket through to the neck pup route in the direction of the control cavity. It takes a lonnnnng drill bit, and you can do this with a hand drill. If you don't have one, you can make your own lonnnnng drill bit. Take the largest guage wire coat hanger you can find, snip off the bottom straight piece. That's your drill bit, no kidding. Hammer one end flat into a sort of spade shape, take a metal file and sharpen the tip and edges... there you just made a drill bit that is sufficient for the job (he says from experience) Go at it.

The bridge wire hole goes at a downward angle to intersect the control cavity.

Here's a crude drawing, hopefully it clarifies. Good luck with it, it isn't that hard, you'll do just fine.

http://www.lewislabs.com/images/drilling%20guide.jpg

Is there a pattern I can get to help line up the holes for the neck and bridgeplate, along with string holes ?
If I have to I guess I could unstring and take the bridge off my MIM tele. But I was hoping someone had made one for easy alignment.

That is a beautiful peice of wood.....do you intend to clearcoat it? It would be a sin to cover that awesome grain. Be sure to post some pic's when you're done, it looks like it will make one fine partscaster!

yeah....I was thinking clear coat, nitrocellulose (unless one of you who's done this before has a better suggestion) and using as small a pickgaurd as I can get away with on the neck pickup. I want the wood to stand out and hoping with a nitro finish it will age like it should.

I wouldn't use a pickguard on that beautiful wood at all. I would use one of the metal Tele pickup rings AllParts sells.
http://www.allparts.com/shopimages/PC_5763-002-192.jpg

some "c" clamps and a good square/"T" square will probably come in very handy.....

you may or may not want to spend a few $ to purchase a Tele "template"....if not, take CAREFUL measurements of a good factory Tele...from bottom of neck pocket to lip of bridge, to the back of the bridge and distances to screw holes and string throughs.....you'll need access to a drill press for the string throughs...

here's a pic showing the neck Pup ring mentioned that eliminates the need for a pg:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y204/maestrovert/QuiltTele4.jpg

if you're not equipped or are otherwise unable/reluctant to proceed with assembly yourself, www.frettech.com / Rob DiStefano is very reasonable and highly recommended....