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Tele Home Depot Building a T-Style guitar? From scratch or from parts. This is the forum for you.

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Old July 29th, 2007, 01:39 PM   #41 (permalink)
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Very impressive indeed, thanks for sharing this project.

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Old July 29th, 2007, 01:45 PM   #42 (permalink)
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Awesome thread

Upside : Amazing threads like this have me stopping by TDPRI on a daily basis.
Downside : Your disclaimer is no longer valid Jack.

Great work , love it

Cheers,

ch
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Old July 29th, 2007, 02:04 PM   #43 (permalink)
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Thanks guys.

Quote:
Could you give some ideas of the rest of the materials you used for the truss rod?
Well, as I showed above, the anchor was made from 1/2 in. steel rod threaded with a 10-32 tap. The rod itself is 3/16 in. steel rod threaded with a 10-32 die. These rods are available from Lowes, Home Depot and many neighborhood hardware stores. The truss rod nut is this one from StewMac.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Truss_ro...s_Rod_Nut.html

......

Almost forgot about this. This is a great tool for neck shaping ........ part of a set I bought from Grizzly. It's good to get the burnishing tool from StewMac so you can keep a good edge on it.

......
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Old July 29th, 2007, 10:46 PM   #44 (permalink)
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GREAT STUFF!!!

i was just about to take some pics of my own neck making.... Anyways, i just bought a router this week, so im not used to using it yet....

Either way, ill make a go-along pic-torial as i go...

thanks for sharing!
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Old July 30th, 2007, 06:44 PM   #45 (permalink)
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I mentioned earlier in this thread that I was also building a vintage style neck (truss rod adjustment at the heel). That one has been on a back burner since I was unable to find a suitable anchor for the truss rod. The anchor mounted on the truss rod has to fit through the 3/8 in. hole in the headstock and lock into the wood somehow.

I was unsuccessful after contacting StewMac Customer Service. I was basicly told "Don't have them. Don't know where to get them". Warmoth sells a vintage truss rod but not just the anchor. I went so far as to contact Melvyn Hiscock inquiring about the one pictured in his book. He wasn't able to help much. Said "they" had had several made up special several years ago.

Yesterday as I was browsing around the special parts drawers at my local Lowes, I may have found my anchor. It's a 6-32 knurled nut. I bought a package of two ($1.05). When I got back to Jack Ranch I drilled and tapped it 10-32. The knurled part does fit through the 3/8 in. hole.

......

I decided to do a little test with a small block of hard maple. Here I've drilled a 11/32 in. hole followed by a smaller 1/4 in. hole into the end grain.

......

A few taps with a dowel and a hammer and the knurled part is driven into the maple.

......

Here's the block after removing the rod. Looks like it just might work.

......
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Old October 22nd, 2007, 04:38 PM   #46 (permalink)
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First off great thread and I wish I had see this before yesturday, but thats usually the story of my life. My question is what radius did you use when cutting the neck jig for the router to run along? I've read the whole thread but did not see that radius mentioned. I tried using one of them plastic bushings on my router like telex showed but it melted at the end so its back to the drawing board. I did get a lot of practice in, but I will not be able to use the neck. Thanks in advance.
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Old October 22nd, 2007, 05:06 PM   #47 (permalink)
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I discussed in the first post that I used the Stratocaster neck blueprint found in the Duchossoir Strat book. I didn't go into specifics because it's a little more complicated than a single radius. Probably best understood if you take a look at the following:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...kBlueprint.jpg

If you build a jig like I show in the first post it would be a good idea to practice on 2x4s and take measurements of the channel depth at the ends and at the high point before starting on a neck blank. Actually making a neck out of a 2x4 would be good to work out the various steps.

I hope to get back to finishing these necks and this thread in a couple of weeks. Hopefully I can show something not seen in recent neck building threads.
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Last edited by jwells393; October 22nd, 2007 at 09:47 PM.
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Old October 24th, 2007, 10:52 PM   #48 (permalink)
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Hey Jack,
Kinda off topic for this thread but you mentioned you were making a mini neck for a mini tele, I am in the midst of the same. Was wondering how you went about your mini tele body templates?
Would love to see the mini neck build.

Thanks for showing an alternate neck method.
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Old October 24th, 2007, 11:44 PM   #49 (permalink)
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Mini-Tele Body Template:
Let's see if I can explain this. I took a Jpeg scan of the Telecaster blueprint found in the Duchossior book. This was before the Terry Downs drawing. I cropped the picture so the cropped image outlined the body. The picture was then resized so the length is 14 1/2 in. I printed this image actual size in two pieces since I can only print 8 1/2 x 11. I taped the two pieces together and glued them to 1/4 in. MDF then cut and sanded to the line................ the neck pocket area was modified to allow for a standard sized neck pocket.

This body will be used with a 22 3/4 scale neck as found on the Squier Mini-Stats. Location of pickup cavities and control plate cavity will be worked out with the neck in the pocket.

......
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Old October 25th, 2007, 08:57 PM   #50 (permalink)
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Thanks , I did about the same thing for the print to be placed on the template using the excellent tdowns pdf. Used the snapshot tool in acrobat to copy it to the clipboard and then import into paintbrush, played around with size until it was about the same size as the mini strat body I have. I also noticed that the lower bouts of the strat and tele are very close but the horn seems to be off quite a bit. I thought it was strange the mini necks heel was standard size. I have yet to add this to my drawing. Couple more questions:
Are you going to transfer the 1/4 to a 3/4 template when you cut the body?
I imagine the bridge will determine the location of the bridge pickup rout, but for the neck pickup are you just gonna
- wing it?
- use the dimension from the neck pickup on one of your mini strats?
- use a ratio based on the location and scale length of a full size tele?

would love to see pics of the mini neck.

thanks again for the detailed info.
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Last edited by milkshape; October 25th, 2007 at 09:00 PM. Reason: can't type
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Old October 25th, 2007, 09:44 PM   #51 (permalink)
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I've already cut my body. I used the template above to make a plexiglas template. I actually didn't do as I say. Somehow my template turned out to be 13 3/4 in. long. It's been a long time since I made it and I don't really remember the criteria I was using at the time. I've laid it out with a vintage style bridge and it looks like the bridge may be set back a bit toward the butt end. I measured a Mini-Strat and saw that the centerline length was 14 1/2 in.

I'll probably just use what looks right visually when determining location for the neck pickup. Since the Mini neck only has 20 frets, using a ratio based on a full sized Tele might place it too far from the neck to look right.

Here's my Mini-Tele neck alongside a Mini-Strat neck with reshaped headstock. I'll be using it for a mini-hybrid project. The maple board neck still needs frets, nut, final shaping and finish.

......

Here's the body with the bridge plate in the required location. It doesn't look right to me so I may start over with a larger body. I'm thinking the size of this pine scrap may have determined the length I made it.

......
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Last edited by jwells393; October 26th, 2007 at 09:53 AM. Reason: Spelling
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Old October 25th, 2007, 10:48 PM   #52 (permalink)
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thanks again jack, neck looks fantastic, I think you're right the bridge does look a little far back. Maybe it's just the size of the bridge?
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Old October 26th, 2007, 12:59 AM   #53 (permalink)
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Wonderful thread, Jack. Thanks so much for your contribution.

I'm already devising a way to mount my portable 3" belt sander so I can imitate what you've done with that cool Ridgid tool, to put a little taper on the boatnecks I'll be getting from Warmoth. After a wee bit of work with the lil plane.

Yeah, the quarter sheet random motion sander is a real workhorse for me.

Love the way you just wade in there and get the job done. When ya got tools ya gotta use 'em.

Bubbanov
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Old October 26th, 2007, 01:09 AM   #54 (permalink)
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Jack,
You are such a baddd dude!!!!

Thanks for sharing. With much respect....

TD
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Old October 26th, 2007, 09:58 AM   #55 (permalink)
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Quote:
Love the way you just wade in there and get the job done.
Well ................ I sure haven't been getting the job done recently. Looking at my posts, I see I haven't worked on these necks since July. Maybe in a couple of weeks I'll get started again.
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Old February 11th, 2008, 05:01 PM   #56 (permalink)
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Wow, nice work.
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Old February 11th, 2008, 07:09 PM   #57 (permalink)
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MacGyver has got nothing on you. I'm very impressed.
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Old April 12th, 2008, 01:01 AM   #58 (permalink)
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Hey Jack,

Thanks for taking the time to put this up. Very educational and inspirational!
I've really enjoyed all your other build threads too.
Much appreciation, man!

Chris
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Old April 12th, 2008, 07:30 AM   #59 (permalink)
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Jack, you da man! Makes me *THINK* about getting back to scratch building .... NOT!!!
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Old April 12th, 2008, 07:47 AM   #60 (permalink)
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Jack, may thanks for sharing

I'm loving this post!

Peter
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Old April 12th, 2008, 08:58 AM   #61 (permalink)
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Good stuff man!

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Old April 12th, 2008, 11:13 AM   #62 (permalink)
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Looks like a good choice.
Good work there Jack!

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Old July 20th, 2008, 10:41 PM   #63 (permalink)
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So Jack, did you fret these necks yet ?
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Old July 21st, 2008, 04:16 AM   #64 (permalink)
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Thanks for a superb thread!
Very interesting and great pics.
Thanks for sharing!
Cheers,Wikur!
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Old July 21st, 2008, 07:34 AM   #65 (permalink)
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Jack I love your build threads!

I had posted some photos of my builds but nowhere near the detail you show. I'm a photographer by trade and I just don't like using a camera when I'm not working I guess. Anyway, nice job and thank you for sharing!
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Old July 21st, 2008, 11:36 AM   #66 (permalink)
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.....Now this is embarrassing. I haven't worked on this project since July ............ of last year. Hopefully I'm embarrassed enough to get back on it.
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Old July 21st, 2008, 11:47 AM   #67 (permalink)
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These things take time.
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Old July 21st, 2008, 12:20 PM   #68 (permalink)
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I have to say that this:



is absolutely brilliant.

Oh and I will steal this idea from you eventually LOL
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Old July 21st, 2008, 01:56 PM   #69 (permalink)
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I ordered a couple of vintage style truss rods from Warmoth. At $10 each it's hardly worth making your own. You get the rod with attached anchor, truss rod nut and plastic sleeve. If you order one of these make sure you specify the vintage style nut. They initially sent me the wrong one. They did however replace it at no charge.

......
......
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Old July 21st, 2008, 02:32 PM   #70 (permalink)
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Great work and great presentation. Very detailed and well supported by the picures.

BTW - after reading many of your posts I finally bought one of the Rigid belt/spindle sanding machines you rave about - your raving was spot on - it is a great tool for the shop!.

Keep it coming.
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Old August 24th, 2008, 05:15 AM   #71 (permalink)
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How wonderfull the world is full of people like you lot here thanks I'm on to it,being a Newbie this gives me ummmpf correct to go under down under
Thanks to jwells wonderfull article
PS: I WILL turn the flash of hmm
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Old August 24th, 2008, 05:26 AM   #72 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by japasul View Post
GREAT STUFF!!!

i was just about to take some pics of my own neck making.... Anyways, i just bought a router this week, so im not used to using it yet....

Either way, ill make a go-along pic-torial as i go...

thanks for sharing!
japasul thank you so much for all the posts, I follow them intensely,you are a genius, such great result with the limited sources. I aspire to do what you have done, here in OZ we would say " good on ya mate "
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Old August 24th, 2008, 11:41 AM   #73 (permalink)
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Great thread.

A good source for long drill bits is an alarm systems distributer. Installers use them to drill through door and window frames and can be found in various sizes.
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Old August 24th, 2008, 05:53 PM   #74 (permalink)
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When I did that we used bits up to 6' long.
You can usually find them in a well stocked Electrical Supply House too.
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Old August 24th, 2008, 06:11 PM   #75 (permalink)
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thought this may be of added interest

Have read this great thread on building one piece necks i could not help but wish it had been done years ago...shame that jwells393 has not finished it off.
Anyway having built a number of one piece necks I thought it maybe cool to throw in a few little things i discovered during my own process of learning how to do it. First off I also use a Stew Mac fret slotting jig just like jwells, but because i build one piece strat and bass necks i have adapted mine to cope with the peg head getting in the way not an issue with with the radial saw i know but for those without...by cutting of the rear left side of the jig you can slot right up to the nut even with a bass neckLibrary - 2178.jpg...if you keep the piece you cut off you can still bolt it back on using the small allen nuts.Library - 2177.jpg
Also if you wanna make life easy when it comes to carving the rear of the neck get a "flapper" which is a round sanding disk that goes on a small grinder...it gets rid of most of unwanted material really fast u can then finish off by hand...far less elbow grease, basic shaping takes 5 mins....to get the correct final shape i use a two pack filler and cling-film moulds. You can take the moulds at say 5 points from a real neck....I think u guys could use "Bondo" as well, its just a matter of checking the shape against the moulds...i found surforms and spoke shavers a total pain in the neck to coin a phrase...if you use a flapper practice first it is a skill to get good at you can wipe a neck out if you're not careful. ill add some pix of me building a one piece as well...but here is hoping jwells finishes off a great post.
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Old October 14th, 2008, 05:00 PM   #76 (permalink)
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Neck Jig question

Hey Jack,

I am working on my neck and neck jig tonight.
When you get to the end of your router travel, do you leave the slight angle that you get from the 90 degrees off the curve, or to you do another step there?



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Old October 14th, 2008, 06:12 PM   #77 (permalink)
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You had me at one piece neck, Jack...you had me at one piece neck

BTW, are you using this for a specific project? Also, how would you describe the profile?
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Old October 14th, 2008, 06:38 PM   #78 (permalink)
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Another terrific thread and SUPERB pics!
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Old October 14th, 2008, 09:30 PM   #79 (permalink)
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Jack,
I admire your craftsmanship and thanks for the great pics! Makes me want to run out and buy some tools, but it would take me many years to get half your skills.

Regards, JD...
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Old October 15th, 2008, 10:15 AM   #80 (permalink)
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Jack were you at on the neck build? Quit teasing us so much! I love to see how other folks solve problem during the build phases.
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