A New Builder's Telecaster Journey - Take 2

[jstream]

Turns out the hand will be fine. And my career as a terrible guitarist is not in jeopardy. But I have to say, after today, if we learn from our mistakes, I'll be a guitar building genious by the end of next week :)

[Muzikp]

Percocet eh? Too bad the guitar isnt finished, you can get epic jimi tones while on precisely...at least that's what I'm told.

Guitar looks great, excellent job on the redo, it's always tempting to live with little issues but it so rewarding when you correct them. Nice build.

[Muzikp]

Darn phone, that was supposed to say while on Percocet. How did it translate that to precisely? Anyway, as you were. Glad the hands ok.

[DeepSouth]

Sorry to hear about your hand - the dog bite sounds nasty. The best thing to do is to bite the dog right back

Anyway hope you heal up quickly and are back on your build in no time.

Best wishes

DS

[jay1970]

Fantastic work, great photos too. Looking forward to seeing her completed.

[jstream]

Thanks Muzkip, Deepsouth and Jay 1970. Back on it already... Well sort of. I have another project going (secret for a friend), that I need to finish before we take our summer trip in june. I want to deliver it then. More details later. I had an issue with that, that while I could fix it well enough, I couldn't give him that. It just didn't seem right to me, so the original will be kept for myself, and a new one (hopefully with no issues) will be made. So I did a little work on mine yesterday by getting the fretboard dots glued in. Pics to follow soon. And while I was at the hardwood store today, the first thing I saw, after the dining table sized block of walnut, was an 8' long, 14 1/2" wide poplar plank. Yes it followed me home ;)

[jstream]

4/25/2012

So it’s been slow here lately… At least as far as posting goes. I’ve actually gotten a great deal done since saturday, but it’s mostly all for a different project. But there’s been a very little time for my own project. A little more sanding and scraping, and as the title suggests… Dots.

Layed out to see what it might look like.



Glued in.



Sanded and wiped down to get a better look.



Me Likey! They almost seem to glow in there. But of course there’s a seriously BIG problem here… Who can spot it?

Haven’t got it yet? It’s simple. There are so very many possibilities here. So many ideas that I’d like to try. I would have to make 100 fretboards to cover most of them. And of course after doing that, I’d have to do 100 more to cover the new ideas from that! So now I have to exhibit some serious self-control and just keep it simple. Someday… someday…

Oops! Just realized I gave away the other project in the first pic... That could be a problem :)

Okay, edited to fix that problem :)

And an interesting look at the difference between Bolivian Rosewood, and East Indian Rosewood…



Bolivian on top and Indian on the bottom. I’m really liking the Bolivian.

[jstream]

4/27/2012

Alright, enough lazing around. I need to get this neck mostly done before my eye surgery next week. Time to put aside the fears and just get it done. After all, how many posts can you read about the process before it”s time to just try it. Like the title of the post says, if you always say “I can’t”, then you never will. I get so mad at my students when they just say “I can’t” without ever trying first, so here goes.

First up, I thought I had better at least drill for the side dots first while I still have a stable platform to work with.



So with that done and out of the way, here goes.

I started with the rasp. I should have started with a chamfer bit or two on the router. It would have made things much quicker and easier. My thought here was to get closer to the thickness profile first, then work from there. I still like that idea, but starting that way with a rasp takes forever. And before you say anything, no, things like planes and spokeshaves and I just don’t get along.



Then it was to the ROSS. Bad idea… For me at least. In two spots I went just a tiny bit too far. They may (mostly) come out in sanding, but live and learn. Did I expect perfection here? No. It’s only my first attempt, and with no time for practice pieces. Will it be playable? It certainly looks that way.



Rounding out pretty nicely.



And a little more at the ends before getting going on the transitions.





And now to the transitions. WOW! That’s a lot of work. How on earth do you get them the same on both sides?





But it is coming along nicely. I’m beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, I can pull this off.



And on to the headstock. This one went a little easier.





And one more look at the heel.



I can certainly see why some people think this is the best part of guitar building… But not for me. Would it be worth it to just buy a neck, especially since these days I could get anything I wanted in a neck from companies like Warmoth? Definately NOT! This is an important part of the guitar building process, and the way to make it truly your own. I can see however, why so many prefer to build a jig to do this job. And such a jig will most certainly be in my future. If only just because working this closely to something so detailed is awfully hard on my old eyes. But we’ll see where the surgery takes us, and go from there. Now since I do have another neck in the works, I did take a slightly different tack with that one. I used two chamfer bits (like I saw in somebody’s TDPRI post), and I plan to use the router to set the thickness at the transitions just as soon as I figure out how to get the chamfer bit out… The collet lock pin broke on a new PC router. Grrr! I don’t have time for this. But we’ll get it, and keep going.

But if I had just said “I can’t do that”, where would I be right now? Shopping for an expensive neck that will fit, and feel right, and nowhere near as happy as I am when I go down to the workshop and look at what I made yesterday!

[glen smith]

The neck looks great! Good luck with the surgery.

[jstream]

4/29/2012

It almost appears as though I know what I’m doing. After losing all day yesterday to teaching, and a large portion of today to puppy training and shopping, I hit the shop with a vengeance (sp?). Time to get the other neck looking at least something like a neck. I kind of like the idea of doing two… I learn a lot with the first one, and put those lessions into practice on the second one.

The facets done. A 45 degree chamfer bit, a 15 degree chamfer bit, and a straight bit for the thickness. I wish I could find a 60 degree bit… That might make this go even smoother.



And on to the rasp. This part is so much easier with a large amount of wood removed by the router.



And more rasping.



On to the transitions. Nothing more complex here than a round file.



And at the neck.



And this does look pretty good to me.





And the other side.





I have to say, this is looking pretty good to me.







And the two together. Not overly surprising to me that I like the second one a bit more. It’s lighter, smoother, and has no real issues. But I truly love the fretboard on the first one. No, I’m not going to steam them off and switch them. Like I said, I’ll finish both, then go from there.



Allow me to say I’m rather proud of myself here. This is the part of the build that has always kept me from trying. Just the thought of making a neck has always scared me. Now of course, neither of them are finished yet, and there’s still plenty that can go wrong, but this wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be. Necks may never be my favorite part of the build process, but now I know I can do them, and I’m not afraid of them anymore.

More to come soon.

[glen smith]

Allow me to say I’m rather proud of myself here.

And rightfully so!

[jstream]

5/2/2012

Last day bbefore the eye surgery. Trying to get as much done as possible. Posting this late, and probably messy cause I can't see very well, but at least I'll get it in. Fortunately I got this up on the blog on wednesday, so I just have to copy and paste.

Yesterday and today were mostly for neck work. I’ve decided to mostly work on #2 because it’s in better shape. I fully plan to finish #1, but I think the fretboard is going to come off first. I need to fix that rattle. So on to some radiusing

Starting at 80 grit.



And making all those pencil marks disappear.



And we have a radius. Only took about an hour and a half… Do I really need a radius jig?



Well that was yesterday. Today we moved up through the grits. Ooh, shiny! This was at about 1600.



And it’s starting to look pretty good. This makes me much happier with the wood itself.



And just because I could, and it will be at least a week before I can get back at it, I took it all the way to 12000 grit. Wow! That’s almost scary! I’ve never felt a rosewood board that smooth before.



And then a wipe down to see it and clean it. I can’t wait to try playing it,





I am so pleased with how this is turning out, even though I just noticed that all the dots aren’t straight… It’s a custom touch, and there’s a very good reason for it… Just as soon as I think one up

[glen smith]

Wow! The rosewood looks fantastic! Good luck with the surgery.

[mgdesigns]

Originally Posted by jstream

5/2/2012

I am so pleased with how this is turning out, even though I just noticed that all the dots aren’t straight… It’s a custom touch, and there’s a very good reason for it… Just as soon as I think one up

It's so you won't wear them out on all of those string bends - yeah that's it!! Good luck on the eye surgery. I hope you heal faster than this rotator cuff/biceps repair I had! Today they said 4-6 weeks of wearing the brace, and no lifting or unassisted movement of the right arm. Nearly impossible to adhere to those kinds of rules.

[jstream]

Yes, it’s been awhile. Truth is, I was working on a super secret project that I simply could not reveal until the right time. It has been revealed, so now I can talk about it. Last fall, a good friend of ours (my wife and I) told us that he had retired from his high stress job of 18 years, and was planning to fulfill a dream… Opening a hard rock/heavy metal record store. Hmm… from one high stress job to another Shortly thereafter, the idea was born to make him a retirement/new venture gift, and since I had guitars on the brain, and he is a budding guitarist himself, what better gift could I come up with? Thus the M.F. Metal Music project. M.F. Metal Music being the name of his new store. You can see it on Facebook and on the web, so please go check it out.

Now that the shameless plug is out of the way, on to the project.

Since I had the Telecaster templates already, and because the tele can do just about anything, and because I have a sick, twisted sense of humor, I dicided I just had to make a heavy metal telecaster. The idea itself was pretty simple. They do exist in real life already, we just don’t really see all that many used for that purpose. So the basics: Two Piece Poplar body, Maple/Rosewood neck, two humbuckers, basic black with either a skull or dragon ghosted in, and the shops initials stenciled in over the top. So let’s get started.

The body cut to shape and sanded close to the line. This project started on March 2, I won’t post all the dates here, but it took quite awhile.



The template installed for routing.





That is one scary router bit!



Shape done, and pickup/control cavity routes started.





And done.



My simple and reasonably okay template for the string through holes… I would much rather have a bigger drill press. This setup is not perfect, but it does work.



And the neck pocket done.



Round overs started.



And finished.



And some nice, zen-like sanding time.





The neck layed out.



Rough cut.





And sanded.





So many pics, I’ll stop part one here.

[glen smith]

Looking forward to seeing more.

[jstream]

So on to part two. Did a little resawing for the fretboard… which piece to use? decisions, decisions.



Hmm… I kind of like this one.



And I like the way this is going.



A little fret slot cutting



And this part I don’t feel so good about. The lesson here is to always order the important parts before you start. If I had, I wouldn’t have put the bridge pickup rout under the leading edge of the bridge. So I had to move the rout. Made a plug, spent hours filing and sanding to make it fit as closely as possible.



Glued it and clamped it.



And the hole is filled.



This caused me a lot of anguish and a very sleepless night. To make a long story short, in the end I decided to go see if I could find another blank to work with. I just couldn’t give a gift that had to be repaired like this before I really even got going. So the next morning, after teaching my classes, I went to the hardwood store and found 12 feet of this…



I’m reasonably sure that I can get a guitar or 4 out of this board. But the silver lining here? He will get a one-piece body instead of a two-piece. I can only see advantage here. So it’s back to the template again. I did not make a new one yet, I just measured very carefully and shifted this one to put the routs in the right places. If ever I decide to make more of these, I’ll redo the template then.



A little sanding on the fretboard to reset my brain.



And it’s off to the races. I’m usually a fairly slow worker on projects like this. I like to take my time and make sure I’ve got each process in my head before I go at it, but the rest of these pics were taken over the course of one afternoon. I had a deadline for this project, and was loosing time far too quickly.



Cheating a bit so I wouldn’t have to waste time changing bandsaw blades.



Cut and sanded.



Again with the scary router bit





Drilled.



More drilling and some rounding over.



Almost there.



And done. Whew! That’s a lot of work for one afternoon.



A little more drilling and we’ll be good to go. DON’T screw it up now!







And that’s it for one day. I’m not totally happy with the ferrule holes, but it’s pretty much the best I can do with a hand drill, and I’ve seen Fenders that look worse.



So, recovery made on the body, and now I have an extra body (fixed) should I desire to do one of these for myself. Plus a nice stock of 15″ wide, very flat poplar for any other projects I can dream up. Add to that all the things I’ve learned so far, and I guess I have to say the project is going very well so far.

[jstream]

Time for some neck work. Now I did post some of these before I think, but now it’s relevant to this project and in the right order, so here they are. And if it helps anyone who wants to try this themselves, then it’s all good.

Slotting the fretboard. I’ve found that for me, it’s better to determine how deep you’ll need to go, and get it done right away… More on that later.





Ready for the truss rod. I used the router table for this. Just tape the blank down with good, double sided tape, and set the fence to get to the center line. Works beautifully.





An important little thing. Someone on the forums forgot to remove the tape, and later pulled the fretboard. I don’t want to do that.



Glued and clamped. Theoretically, you don’t need this many clamps, but I’m never so comfortable that I don’t feel the need for overkill.



Some edge sanding.



And it almost looks like a neck.



Holes drilled…



And dots glued in.



I used the router and a couple of chamfer bits to rough-in the profile.



And a straight bit to rough in the depth.



And then it was just a lot of quality time with a rasp and a bunch of files.











And that’s where we are for now. Stay tuned.

[jstream]

Back to the body. I had a concept in my head, so the next task was to figure out just what it was. I went through a whole bunch of fonts and finally settled on these two.





And when I saw them actually placed against the guitar, the second was the clear choice to me.

And then the pickup rings.



They say on the forums, that yours plans will change… And they’re right. I had originally planned a full pickguard for this one…



And I still like it. But then I got to thinking “how about a half pickguard?”, and then “what about no pickguard?”. To be honest, I’m now leaning towards no pickguard, but that may change yet again.



The body has been epoxied. Let the sanding begin.



And a little scraping.



Primer is on.



And the black. Now I wasn’t really happy with how the paint was laying down out of the gun. It’s been a very long time since I’ve used a spray gun, and it sure isn’t like riding a bike… It doesn’t come right back. But at this point, the deadline was looming, so I had to go with it.



And of course, because I’m working on a deadline, I just had to do an inlay on the fretboard rather than a decal.





Again, not perfect. You can see where I had to fill around the rosewood with maple dust. I’ll have to keep working on this part, but now I have time to practice.



And then a test of my long-lost airbrush skills. YAY!!! Something finally turned out just as I had imagined!



And then the painful part. The frets just wouldn’t stay in. Even with glue. When I had cut the frets deeper (after gluing up the fretboard) I failed to keep the saw perfectly straight as I cut. I should have known I couldn’t do that! I’ve never been able to saw straight without a guide. And packing them with dust and glue didn’t help either, so off comes the fretboard. This is really the only pic of this process. I felt far too rushed to sit and take pics of each step. Maybe in the future I’ll look at this again with the idea of a tutorial in mind… Maybe.



Needless to say, I did a new fretboard, slotted it to full depth while still in the jig, and glued it up and all that. More coming soon.

[Colt W. Knight]

I wish I had your airbrush skills.