Resonator Telecaster .......... My Project

I purchased this body on Ebay. It was a beautiful piece of wood and the seller did good work but it appears he copied some non-Fender guitar. It wasn't dimensionally correct. With a neck on, I've measured 25.5 inches from the nut to find my center point. I've drawn circles of 8 3/4 in., 9 1/2 in., and 10 in. I'll be using a biscuit type cone and coverplate. In this picture I'm pre-drilling to remove the majority of the wood.

http://www.tdpri.com/telephoto/data/588/Pre-Drilling.jpg

I've drilled a small hole in the body at the center point of the circles I've drawn. Here you see the rotating template I've made. I'll be using a 1/2 in. pattern bit. The distance from the screw to the outer most part of the template slot is 4 3/8 in.

http://www.tdpri.com/telephoto/data/588/Ready_to_Rout.jpg

Here you see the first pass with the router.

http://www.tdpri.com/telephoto/data/588/Routing_Underway.jpg

I've made patches and have glued them into the ends of what is left of the control cavity route. I also glued a plug into the jack hole since it was drilled in the wrong place. The pillar has been left in the center because there's more pivot routing to do.

http://www.tdpri.com/telephoto/data/588/Patching_Control_Cavity_Rout.jpg

Here I've completed the routing using the 4 3/8 in. template. I've gone 1 1/2 in. deep leaving 1/4 in. for the back. I'll make another template that will rout a 9 1/2 in. circle for the biscuit cone.

http://www.tdpri.com/telephoto/data/588/8_75_Routing_Complete.jpg

The original plan was to have a resonator screen just above the neck and to drill a hole that would go from this hole to the under side of the cone to serve as a port. However after routing the 9 1/2 in. opening for the cone approximately 1 3/16 in deep, there wasn't much room to drill a hole that would end up under the cone. I decided not to attempt it and figured the string ferrule holes would act as a port for the cone. So............ the 8 3/4 in routing wasn't necessary. I could have just routed a 9 1/2 in. cavity.

http://www.tdpri.com/telephoto/data/588/9_5_in_Routing_Complete.jpg

I ordered a biscuit bridge from Stew-Mac. These bridges come with a flat vertical part for use on Dobro style guitars. With a neck mounted to the body and the cone and bridge sitting in the well, I stretched a string from the D tuner across the bridge and sanded the bridge with a fretboard radius block until the action was acceptable. I then put it all together for an acoustic test. Because the tailpiece sits so high on the coverplate, the strings weren't even touching the bridge. I had to add a maple strip to the bridge to build it back up. I had to shim the neck to lower the action with the higher bridge.

http://www.tdpri.com/telephoto/data/588/Biscuit_Bridge_.jpg

Here I've strung it up for acoustic testing.

http://www.tdpri.com/telephoto/data/588/medium/Strung_Up_For_Acoustic_Test.jpg

Time to put it all together

http://www.tdpri.com/telephoto/data/588/medium/Ready_For_Final_Assembly.jpg

!!!!!

you're right about pics!!!

Thanks for the great photos! Can't wait to see the final product!

It's all together although I do have a few bugs to work out ........... intonation for one.

http://www.tdpri.com/telephoto/data/588/Together_At_Last.jpg

Holy cow that went fast :D looks great!

Your Resonator Tele is much cleaner than mine; I would not show the routings under the cover ...

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jwells393 - That is a great looking resotele you built!

I came across another short reso tailpiece - this one I believe is the shorter version as the one you have - it is also not that expensive.

http://i23.ebayimg.com/03/i/05/81/3a/b4_1_b.JPG


Sold by Molonator Guitars on Ebay (http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7367602576)

Molonator Guitars (http://www.molonatorguitars.com/twinneck.html) is based Down Under and built Reso guitars - they also made this twinneck aluminium bodied ResoTele ...

http://www.molonatorguitars.com/images/tn1.jpg

My, that Reso-Tele is sweet!
Excellent job!
But...no Pickguard?
I guess something in tortoise or pearloid would add to the orange/red paintjob and to its overall look...

Have you wired it and fired it up yet? You've spoiled us with all the photos so now we're going to have to press you for some mp3 samples! I was imagining mine with a P-90 and no PG but I'm thinking I might like to see it with a PG too.

Man that looks hella cool. Is it loud when played without an amp?

When played without an amp it's really loud compared to a regular Telecaster. Right now with the long tailpiece I'm getting very little break angle at the bridge. A shorter tailpiece with more of a break angle might increase the acoustic volume. I've seen pictures of the shorter tailpieces but have been unable to locate a source. I contacted Molonator Guitars .......... the one he's selling on Ebay is the same size as mine. He's not selling the short one shown in some of his pictures. I not yet ready to spend $90 for the Allen tailpiece.

Right now I have each pickup wired to it's own volume pot. The outputs go to a stereo jack. If I push the mono cable plug all the way into the jack, the neck pickup is grounded out and only the piezo pickup is heard. It has a very metallic sound as you would expect. If I push the plug only part way in till I feel the first detent (both jack contacts in contact with the tip of the mono plug) I can blend the two pickups .......... as long as one isn't completely off ......... If one is completly off both outputs are grounded. I haven't yet used a stereo cable and split the outputs to separate amps. I may add a switch and replace the stereo jack with a mono jack.

very cool work! Man, that's an instant GAS attack right there...