The Baritone Tele Build

[tdowns]

I was in the studio a while back when the producer said "play something low". I instantly identified with his mindset. Thoughts of Glen Campbell's "Wichita Lineman" came to mind. We recorded my Tele solo and he dropped it in pitch by an octave with one of those fancy computer plug-ins. He added vibrato and coolness emerged. I was driving home and thought to myself...Why don't I have a Baritone Tele? What have I been thinking? I have many guitars to bring variety to a recording project, but never a baritone.

I went to Warmoth website and ordered the BTN232.

It's a 28-5/8" scale maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard.

It appears now, Warmoth only has the BTN254 as a rosewood (non-birdseye) offering.

I planned on the body color to be something i don't already have. Can you believe I don't have a RED Tele? I didn't want to put the time and effort into finishing a body, so I bought a MIM Candy Apple Red body off eBait.

[tdowns]

The first item is the nut. I measured the nut slot thickness.



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But I found the treble side to be larger.



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I was puzzled but that. How could it be made that way and why? So I continued to mess with the nut.

Here is the nut width.


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[tdowns]

The Stewmac 10" radius shaped White Bone Nut is perfect. I have already cut it to length here.


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I checked the radius. It doesn't rock and there is no light visible in under the nut.


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[tdowns]

I sand the nut on sandpaper laid on a flat surface. I measure and check fit the nut in the slot after a bit of sanding.


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It turns out, the treble side being larger allows the nut to slide in from the treble side and be very tight on the bass side. Please let me know if any of you think Warmoth did this as a feature.


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[tdowns]

I use a carpenter's pencil refill lead to mark a reference line on the nut. I file a diagonal so the line drawn will be the same height as the frets.


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This gives me an idea as to how high to trim the top of the nut and file the slots.

[tdowns]

Some of you may have seen my TDPRI article "Going Nuts Over Nuts". I use an Excel spreadsheet to calculate centerlines of string spacing for nuts so a scaled page can be printed. This template is glued to the top of the nut with Elmers glue. It gives sharp precise lines to start the nut slots. Here is the template applied.


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The slotting begins with the Stewmac 0.010" fret file.

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[Groovey Records]

This is a hhgmmmm (speaking in a baritone voice) great project Terry

I had a chance to play a Baritone National last summer.
It just stood out proud in the mix.
You'll be loaded for bear when this project gets done.

I'm with you

[Buckocaster51]

Terry!

Don't leave us hanging!

That is a fine neck.

I once upon a time found an Allparts maple-boarded baritone neck.

[tdowns]

Here is the decal paper. I sprayed 4 coats of acrylic (Krylon Clear Coat), starting with very light mist coats.


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The decal applied.


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[tdowns]

Originally Posted by Groovey Records

This is a hhgmmmm (speaking in a baritone voice) great project Terry

I had a chance to play a Baritone National last summer.
It just stood out proud in the mix.
You'll be loaded for bear when this project gets done.

I'm with you

Thanks Groovey!!

Originally Posted by Buckocaster51

Terry!

Don't leave us hanging!

That is a fine neck.

I once upon a time found an Allparts maple-boarded baritone neck.

Thanks Bucko. After dealing with finish on frets in maple and doing refrets, I drifted away for the maple fingerboards that I love the looks of so much.

[tdowns]

The neck with the rosewood fingerboard masked for shooting the clear coats.

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Here is the headstock with about 30 coats of polyurethane applied.


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[tdowns]

The poly has dried for a week and I wet sanded the face of the headstock to reduce the decal outline by a mil or so.


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5 additional coats are added and allowed to dry for a week.

[Joefaity]

wow, nice logo, what text did you use for the "BARICASTER" if you don't mind me asking?

[tdowns]

Originally Posted by Joefaity

wow, nice logo, what text did you use for the "BARICASTER" if you don't mind me asking?

It's
HelveticaNeue LT 67 MdCn
24 points and expanded by 1.4 points. No kerning.

The Downs part is:
Fender Font
Fill is Red = 204 Green = 153 Blue=0
Outline = black 1.5pt
Height = 0.49"
Width = 1.66"
Fill transparency = 0%

[tdowns]

There is lots of work to do on shielding. Here is the control cavity shielded with self adhesive copper tape. Notice thin strips connect the cavity shielding to spots where the control plate screws mount.


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[Joefaity]

Originally Posted by tdowns

It's
HelveticaNeue LT 67 MdCn
24 points and expanded by 1.4 points. No kerning.

The Downs part is:
Fender Font
Fill is Red = 204 Green = 153 Blue=0
Outline = black 1.5pt
Height = 0.49"
Width = 1.66"
Fill transparency = 0%

Sweet, thanks!

[tdowns]

Here's how I shield the jack hole. Curl some of the copper tape into a form with a smaller radius than the jack hole and insert it into the hole.


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Here's how it looks inside the cavity.


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Outside the jack hole

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Using a screwdriver to conform the tape to the radius of the hole.


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[tdowns]

The trimmed and finished shielding. It takes another piece around the top.

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[Ironwolf]

If that is a standard Tele body, does the bridge work out at the right distance from the nut for a baritone neck?

[tdowns]

Originally Posted by Ironwolf

If that is a standard Tele body, does the bridge work out at the right distance from the nut for a baritone neck?

Yes. The neck dimensions take care of that. Good question. Believe me, I researched that before I got started. It would be terrible to have bridge that would become "out of range".

[DanofTucson]

h

Originally Posted by Ironwolf

If that is a standard Tele body, does the bridge work out at the right distance from the nut for a baritone neck?

I was wondering the same thing Ironwolf.

[tdowns]

The Fender Bass 6 was wired like this.



Notice the switch with a series capacitor switched in (see capacitor item 31). That cuts the low bass out. It makes sense that using this type instrument as a solo guitar needs the low bass removed. With this thought, I decided to put a high pass/low pass filter in the Baricaster using a Fender TBX pot. Notice it is not wired like a regular TBX pot. The TBX pot lends itself to a lowpass/high pass filter configuration.

The Downs Baricaster Wiring Diagram

[tdowns]

Since the TBX results in a 250K low pass load to the pickup, I decided on a 1meg volume pot. The 330K resistor across the treble bypass capacitor makes the volume work very nice and smooth.

[Groovey Records]

That's one of the clearest and easiest wiring diagram I've ever read Terry

Your spoiling me

[tdowns]

Originally Posted by Groovey Records

That's one of the clearest and easiest wiring diagram I've ever read Terry

Your spoiling me

Thanks. It just takes some attention to detail.

[tdowns]

I decided on these strings.

[jkingma]

On the first Baritone I built I used those same strings but I found it didn't "growl" the way I was hoping and I went for a set of 13/72 instead. It sounded much better to me. Mind you my scale length was an inch longer so that probably had something to do with it as well.

*EDIT*
the strings i used were (13 - 18 - 30 - 44 - 56 - 72)

[ehawley]

Great Terry!!!! Can't wait to hear "Ghost riders" Bellowing from that baby!!
Cheers
ED

[tdowns]

Originally Posted by jkingma

On the first Baritone I built I used those same strings but I found it didn't "growl" the way I was hoping and I went for a set of 13/72 instead. It sounded much better to me. Mind you my scale length was an inch longer so that probably had something to do with it as well.

*EDIT*
the strings i used were (13 - 18 - 30 - 44 - 56 - 72)

Thanks for the input. I was wondering if I was missing out on a larger gauge. Who makes the set you use?

Originally Posted by ehawley

Great Terry!!!! Can't wait to hear "Ghost riders" Bellowing from that baby!!
Cheers
ED

Thanks Ed. I feel like such a weeny novice compared to the skilled builds you do. You would have made that baritone neck from a tree in your back yard!!

[jkingma]

Originally Posted by tdowns

Thanks for the input. I was wondering if I was missing out on a larger gauge. Who makes the set you use?

I'll check when I get home. It was either D'addario or Ernie Ball.

[tonyw]

I am going to be using on my baritone for starters D'Addario 013-062 EXL158 they do make a thicker set. I am having to ream out my bottom string pole as it will only take up to 058 but can go as wide as 072, these are Sperzel lockers.

[Groovey Records]

I was going to check with Dean Farley for you guys but his web site is down.

Any info ?

[tdowns]

Here's the control plate.


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[jkingma]

Originally Posted by tdowns

Thanks for the input. I was wondering if I was missing out on a larger gauge. Who makes the set you use?

Terry, I checked and they were Ernie Ball, Baritone Slinky.

[tdowns]

I began the process of using a Tele pickguard with neck adjustment screw holes along with a transfer punch to make a ding in the cavity for drilling the pilot holes for the neck pickup.


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Then I realized the position of the hole is right on the ledge of one of the swimming pool route cavity features. I had forgot a MIM body is not easily conducive to a body mounted neck pickup.

So I screwed the old pickguard with neck pickup mounting screw holes to the new pickguard and used it as a drill jig.


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Here's the pickguard with the bridge mounted. It's a Stewmac Gotoh thingy. The vintage bridge a was planning on using did not cover the indentations in the body made by the original MIM bridge.


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[tdowns]

Originally Posted by jkingma

Terry, I checked and they were Ernie Ball, Baritone Slinky.

Awesome. Thank you. I like that lavender packaging. But, they should have saved that for the bluegrass pickers!

My notes say:

Gotoh Kluson tuners from Stewmac string holes accepts a #45 drill bit which is 0.082” dia.

So a 0.072" B string will work. The tuner hole is the limiter.

[jkingma]

IIRC, I had to drill out my low E tuner hole... but I don't remember what tuners I had used.

[mellecaster]

Great Build Terry !...unless I missed it earlier with all the talk of String gauge, have you mentioned how you will tune it yet ?....B to B...or A to A ?

[tdowns]

Originally Posted by mellecaster

Great Build Terry !...unless I missed it earlier with all the talk of String gauge, have you mentioned how you will tune it yet ?....B to B...or A to A ?

Howdy Melle!!! Thanks. I was planning on B to B. Any suggestions?

To B or not to B: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them?

[jkingma]

If you use the lighter guage strings B to B should be fine. With the heavier ones that I used I found A to A worked best for me. But again, my scale length was longer as well. YMMV.