started another telecaster build today x12

[guitbusy]

Originally Posted by motor_city_tele

My goal is to have an assortment of finished components and configurations to display at the Michigan Fall guitar show. I'm still trying to organize a plan where someone can pick a body, neck, configuration and I should be able to assemble it right there. I don't know. It's just a thought. First thing is to build the components. It maybe a bit of a stretch assembling while you wait guitars but heck, my day job is sorta like that but with cars and trucks.

tootles - jb

Where and when is the

Michigan Fall guitar show.

??? Thanks.

[motor_city_tele]

nothing has been sheduled as far as yet. The spring show was in May so I'm figuring that the fall show will be in November. You can keep checking back at
http://www.gordysmusic.com/
or you can visit Gordy in Ferndale.
The shows have been at a place called Mabry Center in warren.

[motor_city_tele]

Today was the day to finish a couple things I started yesterday. Pickguards needs to be beveled and head stocks need to be planed.

Four screws hold the pick guard to the template. tighten them down, run it around a round over bit. unscrew the four screws. do it again till all 12 look like these.





The neck head stocks needed to be planed to a fraction over 9/16. I used the router table, set up a stop block so not to plane in to the nut. I took off about 3/16 per pass. this was pretty time consuming. With that done, I took my belt sander and clamped it to my workbench with the business end facing up. I marked a line where I must not cross and proceeded to sand the radius up to the line.


One thing about these necks is that they are all made from three different widths of wood. the bottom of the neck will be my reference for everything so the extra width should not make that big of a difference. after I radius the fretboards, all of the necks will be the same thickness. I'll do this in my jig after I install the truss rods.

[motor_city_tele]

84 degrees and a light breeze; a perfect day for getting some skunk stripes routed. I was able to get 7 done before my switch in my router up and quit on me. I'll swing by the hardware store tomorrow and pick up another switch. The last thing I want to do is hard wire a router. that has catastrophy written all over it.

Here is a look down the gut of the rout.


A close up of one of the ends. This one bottoms out a 3/4". the other end bottoms out at 5/8". Since there are three different thickness, I had to make sure I checked and double checked each pass to make sure they are all consistent. I took 4 passes for each neck, increasing in 3/16" increments.


7 down, 5 to go.


till next time - jb

[motor_city_tele]

After stopping at the hardware store and picking up a new switch for my router, I was able to route the remaining 7 necks for a total of 14.

The first pass is always about this deep.


After 2-3 passes it looks like this.


The last pass is done. whew! I'm always a little weary about the last pass.

I'm a firm believer of saving my scraps, you never know when you might need a couple 2, 3, 6 pieces. I use them to secure the neck and guides into the jig. that and a few clamps.


tootles - jb

[motor_city_tele]

Well that's easy, a 24" drill bit. I couldn't believe they had these for sale at Harbour freight. I stopped in to pick up a new shop vac with my 20% off coupon and also to get another free LED flashlight. Sure enough hanging on the wall was these long 2 foot wood drill bits. 1/8, 3/16, and 1/4 together in a single package. 5.99 - I grabbed up a bag.

After taking a good look at the ehawley template I came to the conclusion that I could drill the truss rod holes from the inside out. the angle for the hole looked to be just about the bottom corner to the top right corner of the truss rod channel.


After drill one end, I flipped it around and drilled the other end.


I used the 3/16 hole to guide my 3/8 bit to a depth around an inch.


Looks close enough for me.


Then I did the same thing to the heel end. another inch deep.


looks centered enough. The real trick will be to drill down the center of the 3/8 steel rod for the truss rod nut pilot hole. I have an idea for this, I'll let you know how it goes.


Here is a few of the finished truss rod holes. not perfect but close enough for my eyes.


I should have all of the truss rod channels finished tomorrow morning and will proceed to the fret board radius jig. - bye for now - jb

[mgdesigns]

Looks as though you've stumbled on a neat way to drill thru for the truss rods. KUDOS. I've started a small scale neck project myself. I'll post in my thread(s) later.

[szechuanking]

you lost me with the 24" bit.

[motor_city_tele]

Time to do some of the detail work to these necks. Now that all the channels have been routed, the 3/16 and 3/8 truss rod holes have been drilled, it's time to install the skunk stripes. Since I haven't made any of my truss rods yet, I had to temporarily install a 3/16 rod to take up the space that the real rod will occupy.

First thing is to fine tune the skunk stripe width to match the routed channel. When the width was correct I would match it with the neck that it will be glued into.


Here is a lattice of necks ready for some glue and clamps.


These are a pretty tight fit so I need to clamp them down as far as they will go and let dry. Before gluing them, I rounded the ends with a round over router bit.


Here are the two styles of skunk stripes. One regular, and one with the racing package.


I thought I was going to radius the fretboards but forgot that I needed to istall the fret markers first. I plan on using a 2-part epoxy putty dyed black. I did a few sample holes to see how they set up. tomorrow I'll sand them flush.


After about 20 hours, I sanded it flush with the belt sander and gave it a couple quick shots of clear lacquer. I think they will work for my dots.


One of my concerns was that the dye would seep into the maple and give these a fuzzy edge. It looks like the dye stayed out of the maple. Now I will have to mark and drill all of the necks. Not today though, mother nature has opened up a can of whoop-ass on us.

[motor_city_tele]

After scribing a centerline, I marked the exact positions for each dot using the pdf printout.


I line up the mark to the point of the bit and plunge the bit to a predetermined depth. All of the necks will be drilled with this setup. The thicker necks will have deeper holes but that will all even out in the radius procedure.


now pinch out a 3/4 inch ball of each.


Mix them up thoroughly and form a bigger ball.


I added 10 drops of black dye and mixed it all up, I formed a snake and removed my latex gloves. Once the dye is mixed into the putty, the dye doesn't seem to transfer onto my fingers.


I pinch off a tiny bit and roll it up and stuff it into the 1/4 inch holes. I worked the putty into the hole making sure all voids are filled.

[Jason Jillard]

nice, ive never used epoxy putty before, but i did a similar sort of thing mixing ebony dust and super glue. came out pretty nice.

[motor_city_tele]

I guess the first thing is having the appropriate weather. It may be a little damp but at least we still have power.

the heel holes match up to the sled piece.


I secure the heel to the sled


the I secure the head stock to the sled and check to see that the neck is lying flat.


I mounted the concave pieces directly to the router.


looking down the jig I see that the bit is at it's high point.


again looking down the center, I see that the bit is in it low point.


I'll be taking about 1/2 inch increments. The first pass is all lined up.


After a couple of passes you can see how the radius has been carved out. It takes about 5 minutes per neck, going nice and slow. I do not want any tearout, it would be very hard to repair any mistakes at this point.


With this setup, all of the necks from now on will be exactly the same thickness.


Here is a shot of the first seven with the exact same radius as the second seven. Next process will be to build truss rods for all of them.

[motor_city_tele]

In theory, this new jig works great. The trouble is, theory and reality sometimes are two totally different concepts.

The idea behind this jig is to remove the wood as fast as possible with a minimum amount of physical effort, and still have the consistency of hand sanding. And since I am building 14 necks, I had to come up with some type of jig that I could make using the scraps and leftovers.


Here is the concept in 2-D. Belt sander gets clamped with the business end around 5.5 inches from the table top. The belt runs parallel to the table top and perpendicular to the back wall.


Here is what I came up with.


Each neck will get clamped into the jig and I should be able to shape the back 1/2 at a time. I'll have to flip the end pieces and reclamp to do the other side.


The small clamps keep the neck secure in the jig.


Here is a closeup of all four states. Hopefully I will be able to test it out this weekend. I thinks I'll use one of the plain maple necks. I'd hate to have the belt sander eat one of my flamed necks.

[Jason Jillard]

i think a video of that new jig is in order....

[motor_city_tele]

I was not happy with the initial attempts using the belt sander and the "cog style jig" I will eventually use it but instead of a belt sander I will use my router. It will work better with the jig.

I did end up getting all of the backs finished using the belt sander mounted on the table top. The belt sander provided a quick means to remove much material and get a decent rough shape. The next tool was a coarse 2inch sanding bit in my handheld drill. I followed that with a rasp. Next was my hand plane for the finer shaping. Last but not least I used my jitterbug sander with 120, 180, 220, 320 grit paper.

The backs are all pretty much the same shape.

tootles - jb

[birddog01]

Nice stuff Motor City Tele
Glad to see you started with the necks first.

How much did that lumber and machine work cost at Armstrong, friend told me about that place 15 years ago and I go by once in a while but never stopped in, which I need to do some day.

I've heard about that guitar show over the years, think its around the middle of November, maybe I'll have to check it out this year.

The way its been raining around these parts you gotta quit everything your doing every 2-3 days just to mow the grass.

[motor_city_tele]

I've been putting off dragging the drill press out and finding that hack saw. But I'm getting to the point where I can't wait any longer. The steel must be cut, drilled, tapped, cut again, filed, drilled again, threaded, peened, and cut one last time. One thing that is most difficult to do is to drill a straight hole down the middle of a steel rod with only a bench top drill press, some scraps of wood, a small c-clamp, and a pair of vise grips. This is what I came up with.

1. Secure a 1 inch thick piece of wood to the drill press table and drill a 3/8 inch hole all the way through it.

2. Remove the 3/8 drill bit by loosening the chuck and letting it fall through the wood and the hole in the table.

3. Secure the 1 1/2 inch steel rod at the top with the vise grips and insert the bottom as far as it will go into the newly drilled hole.

4. Put your #21 drill bit into the chuck and tighten it down.

5. Now slowly lower the bit. It "Should" be directly in the center of the rod. Use plenty of cutting oil and proceed down the center of the rod, until you are through to the end.

6. repeat steps 3 - 5 until you have the desired amount.

This is just the first step, there is plenty more to do before they are ready to install


I secured the pieces in my vise and proceeded to tap out each of the small rods. I used plenty of lubrication and would go 1/2 turn in, back out 1/4 turn, and reset, another 1/2 turn, back out 1/4 turn, reset, and so on.



Tomorrow I'll cut the anchor pieces off and finish them off with a round file and drill some relief in the end for when I peen the rod in place.

till next time - jb

[motor_city_tele]

I started the pokey part of the anchors today before the rain chased me indoors.

Clamp tightly in the vise


File with a rat-tail in one direction.


Then in the other direction. pretty basic really.


Looks like the sun is coming out - see y'all later - jb

Chop Chop. Lets get these anchors and nuts separate before the rain. I can here thunder in the distant.


Just in time. I feel a drop or two. I'll clean up the saw marks and round the corners later.

[Marc Rutters]

Impressive metalworking skills! Simple is cool I like it.

[motor_city_tele]

screw the grass. I'm going to play a bit with some steel, a hacksaw, a die, and some cutting oil. In other words, time to finish a truss rod or two.

I like to use some worn out sandpaper to help keep the steel from rotating while I turn the die.


To get a good start, I file a small bevel on the end.


Just a little dab will do you. Essential ingredient is that oil.


I do the cutting 1/2 a revolution at a time. then back out 1/4 turn. repeat until the threads are long enough, I'd say about an inch, maybe a smidgen more.


Back off the die and give it a quick wipe. They look good enough to me.


But the real test is how the nut turns on. good and smooth with plenty of lee-way.


Now a couple of criss cross cuts in the end and I believe it is good to go.


Now flip it over and repeat the same thing on the other end. I did this for all of my rods. When that was done I cut each of them in half giving me a bunch of 18" x 3/16" steel rods with a 1" thread on one end. Next time I'll measure the final length, thread the other ends and apply the anchor.

tootles - jb