pine esquire with applewood neck (lots of pictures!)

[zepdrummer17]

so i just finished my first true build and i didnt want to stop there. so i got some wood from my dads shop and i got to work. the tele i just built is a blonde and i loved the color so much that i just had to make myself a blonde esquire.
the pine im using came from my grandfather's house, he had been saving huge pieces in his livingroom so he could make benches. but that never happened so they just sat there drying(40+ years) anyway, my dad moved those pieces into our home woodshop and left them for a project. he gave me one of the pieces to use, there are still 2 more. i managed to get four 2 piece bookmatched body centers, a single piece body, and a single piece top out of that one slab of pine. i kept that one single piece body to use for my tele, the others will have all sorts of fancy tops and what not and they will be for sale.
as for my neck, my dad cut down an apple tree in our yard around 20 years ago and he sealed off a ton of beautiful wood from it. he gave me a very nice flat sawn piece to use for the neck and then a big chunk that i will use to make fingerboards.

this is gonna be a long post because ive already started the build and i just never posted any of it, so try to bear with me :)

[zepdrummer17]

my future neck


ok, so ive never made a neck before so i made the stupid mistake of not putting this through the joiner before i did a rough cut


but after a while i got a good joint and i glued the extra piece for the headstock on

[zepdrummer17]

the pine monster, soon to be cut to pieces


took it out to the parking lot to chop it down to size






got rid of most of the nasty bits on the table saw


these are the 4 that im not going to be keeping, you can see the big chunk under the template, thats the one im keeping

[zepdrummer17]

heres a rough cut of the neck, im already in love with the wood!




so this is the point where i should have routed the truss rod channel, but instead i made the choice to begin carving the neck

also i made the plywood jig that the neck is taped to using a particleboard neck shape

i used the routing table to remover as much material as i could


but all the rest will be done by had with rasps, files and sandpaper

[zepdrummer17]

here are those other bodies i was making, they are all glued up


the evolution of a neck


this thing is starting to look like a neck


and a shot of the back


and now for the hard part, the fingerboard, im getting the slots off of a rosewood board we had at the shop

[zepdrummer17]

now to route for the truss rod


truss rod ready to go in


im gonna take the top off of this


i started on the table saw and then i had to do the rest by hand


it looks good to me

[zepdrummer17]

now im gonna shape the body


after the shaper





got it routed out

[dman]

Very nice!!!

And keep any chunks of applewood for smokin' on the grill! (Unless the tree's been sprayed with pesticides...that would NOT be good!)

[zepdrummer17]

this part took me a very long time. i spent a few days on tdpri trying to see how other people have made fretting jigs. i finially made one that worked well

heres the jig


theres my board


doesnt look to bad to me


neck and fretboard

[zepdrummer17]

i put some m.o.p. on the board, i think its looking pretty good


got some fret-wire, i cut out all 21 frets


i glued in a long strip of apple above the trussrod and sanded it flush to the neck


and then i glued the board to the neck


and thats all for now! be back in a week

[glen smith]

One piece body? Nice slab of wood!

[zepdrummer17]

Originally Posted by dman

Very nice!!!

And keep any chunks of applewood for smokin' on the grill! (Unless the tree's been sprayed with pesticides...that would NOT be good!)

haha yeah, well ive never seen anyone make a neck or a whole body out of applewood before so i figured if it didnt work out in the end i would at least have some nice wood for smokin meat :)

[zepdrummer17]

Originally Posted by glen smith

One piece body? Nice slab of wood!

hey glen, yeah its a one piece body, the other 4 are 2 piece bodies, but the one im making my tele out of is just one piece. the last tele i did was also a one piece pine body. check it out:

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

[Revv23]

Lookin good so far!

[zepdrummer17]

Originally Posted by Revv23

Lookin good so far!

thanks revv23!

[roger ebelrin]

looking good. Have you decided what Esquire wiring you are going to use? Traditional or the Eldred wiring like my Daphne Blue won has.

[I_build_my_own]

Is that an Ibanez Artist AR 105 AV hanging on the wall?

[zepdrummer17]

Originally Posted by roger ebelrin

looking good. Have you decided what Esquire wiring you are going to use? Traditional or the Eldred wiring like my Daphne Blue won has.

im thinking eldred, i really liked the way yours sounded

[zepdrummer17]

Originally Posted by I_build_my_own

Is that an Ibanez Artist AR 105 AV hanging on the wall?

yes, i believe that it is a vintage one too

[metalmayhem]

Nice work