Fred's first tele build

[Fred_Garvin]

So I finally squeezed in a little more work, if only so I can say I did something, & did the roundover. It came out perfect in some places.



Not so perfect in others.



This was my first use of a roundover bit, I think I'm tilting the router in spots like the lower horn where there's little surface to ride on, or the workpiece isn't flat enough.
I've always just used sandpaper for this, and even though it isn't perfect, I think I'll get a more consistent end result this way after some sanding.

Next up is the neck pocket. I've got a new, taller bit, but I'm going to practice on some scrap first.

[DeepSouth]

Hi Fred - great to see everything coming along so well on your build. Your previous builds look great too!

Just re: the possible tilting of the router you mentioned - I'm wondering if an oversized router base might help reduce tilt around areas like the horns. They are super easy to make out of 6mm (~ 1/4 inch) acrylic.

[Fred_Garvin]

Good idea, I've been planning to set up a router table, and about a hundred other jigs that I've seen here.

I think I figured out where the problem was, though. I had the body siting on bench cookies, and out of habit was routing downhill. All the sketchy cuts were the ones made counterclockwise, I think the padding on the cookies flexed enough to give me a slightly deeper cut going that direction.

I'm going to sand both faces down a hair, and try again with one continuous cut. Hopefully tearout wont be a problem, this ash seems to be pretty easy to work.

[Fred_Garvin]

One step forward, two steps back.



I flattened out about 1 /32" with the drill press sanding disc, hit both faces with the palm sander, & re-did the roundover. Much better, a little bit of scorching and a lip in spots. I'm going to like with it and just sand out the difference.

[Fred_Garvin]

I finally had a few minutes to work on things so I tested out the neck pocket template. As it turns out practice & testing are a good thing. I thought the template looked a bit irregular, and it was.



Big, uneven gap here.

I can still hold up the test 2 x 4 with the neck, after it is about 1/2 inch out of position.



I'll make a new template tomorrow, or several if needed. Now I'm going to drink beer & watch baseball.

[Fred_Garvin]

Made a new template on the other end of the old one.



Much better.

Tested on a 2x4.





Pretty snug. I put a piece of tape on the sides of the template, I'll do the same when I cut the actual workpiece.

[telemcCaster]

Looking good so far Fred_ Looks like you are having a lot of fun!

[Fred_Garvin]

High praise indeed coming from you, Ken.

It's coming along a little slow, but hopefully next weekend I can do a test fit of the parts and look towards prepping it for finish.

[Fred_Garvin]

Inspired by Ken's kind words, I decided to soldier on and make a little more use of what is for me, a long weekend, both Saturday & Sunday.

First I penciled in the area to be removed.



Hogged out most of it with the BAFB. Here you can see the worst bit of the roundover, a lttle chunk of tearout on the lower horn.



Clamped it up in the makeshift apparatus. You can see two lines on the template perpendicular to the centerline. One is the end of the neck pocket, the other indicates the travel of the router base, clamps must be clear of this line. Nothing sucks like having to reposition clamps halfway through a rout.



And routed out that sucker.



Excellent fit, and just enough room for a pickguard under the fretboard extension.



And the obligatory "Look, Ma! no screws!" shot.



Out of focus since I can't hold more than a pound or 2 at arm's length with my left hand since my shoulder was surgically "repaired".

[Allthesound]

That's shaping up quite nicely Fred , nice work so far. Really cool grain on the body wood.

[Fred_Garvin]

Thanks, best orientation of the grain was a thread of its own.

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home...piece-ash.html

In the end, I decided to follow Jack Wells' unpopular advice, even after asking myself "What does he know?", and considering the fact he's not cool enough to be a Mac guy. Hey, at least vista wasn't his idea.

All kidding aside, I think it was the best choice, I'm hoping to highlight the grain with a dark filler, and I'm leaning towards no pickguard.

[Fred_Garvin]

Another small step, the neck humbucker rout.
First, I did a practice run on the increasingly mangled test 2x4.



Not only did this get the depth dialed in, it made me notice that the stop collar was too high and the bearing was riding up a bit. I think I'm going to make it SOP to do test runs with the router until I get the hang of it again, Jr high shop class was a looooong time ago.

And hey, a HB fits quite nicely.

Moving along, the cavity is marked and hogged out with a 1/2" forstner,



and routed. I went full depth the entire cavity because it's easier than routing deeper for the pickup legs, and the body could stand to be lighter.



Came out nice & clean.

[Fred_Garvin]

I also did a quick grain filler test, this body is going to need it. I put a light coat of rattlecan lacquer on this piece of scrap last weekend, today I put some timbermate natural, mahogany, and mahogany with a couple drops of transtint black on it.



Funny, I have a sudden craving for Neapolitan ice cream.

[Fred_Garvin]

Another 8 days, finally the weekend.

I drilled some wiring holes, 3/16" extra long bit.







I also did the jack hole.





It took forever, the only 3/4" POS bit I could find eventually bored through. with a little tearout.

[Blacque Jacque]

That's looking real nice so far, and a lovely piece of ash. Good aim on that bridge pickup wiring hole too.

You're a little further ahead than I am on my build, so I will watch closely.

[Fred_Garvin]

Well, I was going to drill the neck bolt holes, but after a little measuring, it appears I won't be able use the existing neck holes and have an even bit of body around the neck plate. So plugging and redrilling the neck is in order.

I probably would have had to anyway.

[Fred_Garvin]

So, time for a quick mockup shot.



This has been my plan, no pickguard, with an amber finish, but here I think it looks a little bare, too much chrome & not enough black.

The good news is that the neck is lined up nicely. With a straight edge lined up with the string hole, there's an even 1/8" all up the neck.





The bad news is that the bridge is crooked. It may not be obvious in the picture, but it's off kilter for sure. I'll probably wait to see how the strings line up with the bridge pickup, but I think I can plug & redrill the mounting holes, and keep the existing string through holes.

[glen smith]

That piece of ash has a very nice grain structure.

[Fred_Garvin]

Thanks, Glen. I agonized over the best orientation. I'm now thinking about putting a black pickguard on it because the lower horn is a little incongruous with the rest of the grain.

[R. Stratenstein]

Whoah! Scared me to death when I saw that rule showing ~26 1/8 " at the nut!! Went back and looked thru the thread for mention of a non-standard scale neck or something, but then saw the rule's position on the bridge0, and the saddles you're using, whew, all's well. Didn't think you'd make a blunder of that magnitude.

I've got the patent on those kinds of things!

Speaking of which, I've found roundovers seem to work out better when you can do them on the router table. Little harder to see the actual progress, but there is no base tipping.

I agree with you about the pickguard.

Enjoying your build thread, Fred.