Tele from scratch - A Construction Diary!

[jwells393]

What is the purpose of the aluminum U-channel and what sort of truss rod is this neck going to have?

Oh ........by the way, I routed the basswood body I've had around for a while and the final weight turned out to be 3 lbs. 12 oz. so yours at 2.8 lbs is really light.

[japasul]

The threaded rod is to be placed inside the U-channel, like this:



I was originally gonna use that bit there as an adjusting nut at the head of the neck, but now i decided to just have adjusting at the heel.

As you tighten the rod inside the alluminium channel, it tends to warp along the "open" side of it, which is to be placed facing the back of the neck. Since it will be limited on its sides by the wood on the neck, it will counter the tension on the strings if you tighten it.

Here's the truss rod very tightened in comparison to a straight edge:






AS for the weight of the body, it will indeed be very light. I have never used this wood, but it is very traditional among luthiers here. About that small tearing i had, i spoke to a luthier friend of mine and he told me it was very common when using this wood. This is why they use it mostly for solid colors: so the wood can be filled underneath...

Cheers
André Ripoll

[daviddoubleu]

very impressive work, thanks for taking us on the ride with you.

I'm intrigued to see how your neck build works out for you.

Have you decided to go with a solid colour for the body?

David.

[xjazzy]

Japa, muito bom. Parabéns!
It's a pleasure to watch it grow :)

[japasul]

Thank you all!

I decided i dont like solid colors... Well, i like them, just not on my guitars!

I think its a problem of conception... When i first tought of this project, i visualized it in natural finishes...

If i were ever to make a LP, i think it would be solid color, though...

[jwells393]

André ........... when you had your little drill through the back accident were you using a long dirll bit? If not, it's almost impossible to hit the control cavity because of the steep drill angle brought about by a short bit.

[japasul]

Yes, i was using a long drill bit.

I was kind of rushing things and didnt think it through. I startet drilling from the BOTTOM of the pick up cavity wall, so of course i was too low...

I should have started drilling from the middle of the cavity wall to get to the control cavity at a reasonable height....


Cheers
André Ripoll

[Nick JD]

André - where did you get your neck template from? Did you make it yourself? I'm just wondering if some kind-hearted soul out there like Terry has done a neck template drawing...

[japasul]

I made it myself, from a DWG drawing....

I dont remember now where i got it from, but seems to be quite accurate (at least the heel part - outline and screw holes - matches the Terry drawing perfectly).

If you want, i can convert it to PDF and post it on a new thread!

BTW, some words are very double meaning, aint it? Screw holes, F holes.... Oh well...


Cheers
André Ripoll

[jwells393]

I don't have a neck template drawing but here's a procedure with photos and text for making an accurate neck pocket template or actually routing a neck pocket.

http://www.tdpri.com/telephoto/showgallery.php/cat/576

André, it is possible to start at the bottom of the pickup cavity if you use a 12 inch bit and drill at the smallest angle. However you must stop as soon as bit breaks through. Here's my method and the resulting hole in the control cavity.

......

[Nick JD]

Originally Posted by japasul

I made it myself, from a DWG drawing....

I dont remember now where i got it from, but seems to be quite accurate (at least the heel part - outline and screw holes - matches the Terry drawing perfectly).

If you want, i can convert it to PDF and post it on a new thread!

BTW, some words are very double meaning, aint it? Screw holes, F holes.... Oh well...


Cheers
André Ripoll

I'm sure Portuguese has the double entendre too!

If you could post your neck drawing I'd be most obliged.

[Nick JD]

Originally Posted by jwells393

I don't have a neck template drawing but here's a procedure with photos and text for making an accurate neck pocket template or actually routing a neck pocket.

http://www.tdpri.com/telephoto/showgallery.php/cat/576

Awesome! My next big challenge resolved.

This is a great thread, Andre.

[japasul]

oh, this is howe i made my neck pocket template as well...

ill work on the pdf tonight and post it, both in inches and in milimeters...

I still have to post today's progress, a lot happened!

Cheers
André Ripoll

[Nick JD]

Originally Posted by japasul

oh, this is howe i made my neck pocket template as well...

ill work on the pdf tonight and post it, both in inches and in milimeters...

I still have to post today's progress, a lot happened!

Cheers
André Ripoll

The altruism here never fails to astound me. Cheers!

[japasul]

Day 8 (the day before yesterday) was very unproductive, as I had classes all day long, but yesterday was just the opposite. This is yesterday's outcome!

- - -


Having done the channel for the truss rod, i rough-cut the shape of the neck.



I attached the template to the wood, using a screw located at the heel of the neck. Since im using a rosewood fretboard, it wont be a problem.

I decided to start routing the straight portion of the neck.



At this point, I really regret not having built a router table. There is just too little surface for the handheld router to run on! I would never do a neck this way again, i desperately need a router table!

I routed the neck with various very light passes... The wood is just too hard...

After routing this part, i moved on to route the head of the neck.




And here is the neck contoured!




Ill go have lunch now and finish writing later! I still have a lot of photos from yesterday...

Cheers
André Ripoll

[Buckocaster51]

Very good.

I can tell that you have switched cameras!

Routing tables are nice. Even though I made my first body without one...I can't imagine doing it without a table now.

What are you studying in school? I notice that you're not spending all of your "off" time in the library...studying.

You, Telex, and Jack Wells are twisting my arm harder and harder...I am going to have to build a neck...that is all there is to it.

[japasul]

hee hee

i study architecture

indeed, the camera im using now is a lot better. I still dont have the photoshop skills you have, though!

I think building a neck is more intimidating than actually difficult... Well, im not a great builder myself, but my first guitar turned out nice (a lot of detail problems) but it works and plays great.

It does take a lot of time, though, to make the curves on the back accurately... The main reason, actually, for me to make my own neck is cost! Having an import tax of about 93%, i cant import that many items!

Thanks for the support!

Cheers
André Ripoll

[Rich Rice]

Looks great, André. I love to see young guys doing this work. I started when I was 11 or 12 years old, with a hammer and a sharpened screwdriver.

Where in Brazil are you? I have a friend who lives in S.P., a great tele player named André Christovam. He helped me get a tele made to my specs by Marcio Zaganin. Wonderful players and guitars down there. I may have a solution for a cheap, portable router table for you. PM me if you're interested. Nice build. Be careful.

Rich Rice

[japasul]

...

So i had the neck contoured...

i started drilling the cavities to anchor my truss rod.... Using this kind of truss rod does not require such a reinforced anchor like Jwells has showed us, since the rod could work on its own, without even being attached to the wood.

Using my dremel mounted to a home-made router jig, i made this...

After i glue the wood stripe on top of the truss rod, it will look nice, me thinks...

but...

When i did this that you are all about to see, i felt like the most stupid guy in the world...



Again, i didnt plan thoeroughly enough what i was doing. I didnt realize, once i glued the fretboard, it WOULD NOT be long enough to cover that quite big of a hole...

stupid stupid stupid....

I should have made the truss rod a lot smaller...


But, no sense in crying over spilled clear coat - i needed to find a way to remedy this! And i did:


I made a rosewood insert, that luckily enough, fitted perfectly.
I hope it looks good when the neck is done...

Heres a pic of the heel

[martyb1]

Originally Posted by japasul

Yes, i was using a long drill bit.

I was kind of rushing things and didnt think it through. I startet drilling from the BOTTOM of the pick up cavity wall, so of course i was too low...

I should have started drilling from the middle of the cavity wall to get to the control cavity at a reasonable height....


Cheers
André Ripoll

Is it not possible to drill the wire channel through the output jack hole.I'm sure I seen a pic of it being done that way

[djinn1973]

All I can say is, wow.

[japasul]

I prepared to glue everything together.

I started by finishing my truss rod. Cut the U-channel and the threaded rod to length...



...and rounded the ends.



When the rod goes into the U-channel it should not turn freely. So, at one end, I made the following:



This has to be really tight! The nut width is exactly the inside width of the U-channel.



At one end I can adjust the tension, while on the other end the rod is uneble to turn...



More to come!

Cheers
André Ripoll

[japasul]

Before installing it, we must first dampen the steel rod inside the channel, or it will oscilate and resonate as you play, and will cause buzzing...

I make this by simply wrapping some tape on the rod:



And here is the rod inside the channel:



I then wrapped the channel in tape, so that its fit was snugger inside the neck. I prepared some tape with a strip in the middle that was folded so as not to stick to the rod inside the channel.



And ready to install!





More to come!
Cheers
André Ripoll

[japasul]

Hammered the truss rod into the neck (now it was really tight!), and stuffed some paper towels at the end so that when i glue the wooden strip on top of the truss rod, the glue doesnt go to the threaded rod (the nut is still not installed).



A lot of glue (way more than what appears on the pic!):



And the whole thing clamped together...



...with a close up of my attempt to remedy an earlier screw-up:



This was it for day 9!!!!

Cheers, and thanks for reading!
André Ripoll

[japasul]

Hey!!!

I started today by taking off the excess of the wood strip i glued in the truss rod cavity at day 9...




Then glued my fretboard wood to the neck. This was done adding a LOT of glue... Better to have too much than too less! I used a spatula for this.




I started clamping both pieces together very lightly. I took off the excess of glue that squirted out and put it back in the bottle (my hands were clean!).




I left this to dry for hours, but every now and then i would go by and tighten the clamps half a turn more. When dry, this is what i had:



I still needed to shape the rosewood to match the neck wood shape...

More pics later...
Cheers!
André Ripoll

[jwells393]

That floor sure looks clean ............ nothing like mine.

[japasul]

I have to clean up everyday! Otherwise the wood shavings will go everywhere...


Cheers
André Ripoll

[Ronkirn]

That floor sure looks clean ............ nothing like mine.

I was noticing that too.....must be nice to have a tiled shop floor.....that's last about one day....

Very nice work Andre'

Ron Kirn

[japasul]

I actually dont have a shop floor....

I was avoiding telling all you guys this, but i live in an apartment (with my parents and 2 syblings) and I make the guitar on the balcony....

Yes, the whole apartment gets dusty....

And yes, my family is very supportive of what i do....



Thanks for the comments!
Cheers
André Ripoll

[Buckocaster51]

Originally Posted by japasul

And yes, my family is very supportive of what i do....

It will be interesting to see how long that support lasts ... once you plug your new toy into something with 2 x 12" speakers.

It sounds like have have a neat family.

Where do you fall into the range of kids' ages?

[japasul]

I am the older brother!

Everyone plays an instrument here...

My dad played classical acoustic, and taught me a bit (didnt stick, though!) and taught my mother (thats how they started dating!).

My sister (the middle kid) plays the Cello and thinks that distortion and wah pedals combined to high pitched notes is whats wrong with the world (well, im exagerating a bit, we actually play together sometimes).

And my younger brother plays the acoustic guitar (brazilian music - bossa nova and samba) but listens to Iron Maiden and ACDC!

Since I built my first electric almost 2 years ago, then built various effects pedals and finally a head and cabinet (and the amp inside, of course), I think my family got used to have wood shavings, dust and A LOT of noise coming into the house...


Cheers
André Ripoll

[Rich Rice]

Andre, the rest of the story tells more than your pictures. Your desire and tenacity are admirable. Reminds me of a kid long ago...


-Rich

[jwells393]

Ah .............. building a guitar from an apartment ........ that's even more impressive.

[japasul]

I lost count of what happened at what day, so im just gonna post the latest pics!!!


I trimmed the fretboard wood using the router, and got a nice line!






and a nice fit to the body and PG!





Then I got the headstock roughly to thickness (also using the router).

[japasul]

I got a nice clean piece of bone, but it weas too big. Using my dremel i split it in two. nicely sized for use!




Using a very simple jig and a paper template taped to the neck, i cut the fret slots.




Then marked the points of the inlays using a pointy bit, before removing the paper template...





I used the dremel first with a router bit then with the sanding bit, to take most the wood off from where the fretboard meets the headstock, then used a sanding block to round it off...

[jwells393]

Impressive.

[japasul]

This is how i got the transition from fretboard to headstock.



I liked the way it came out - the little insert i had to put in due to a very serious previous mistake (check the other posts) looks good!


To begin rounding the back of the neck, I printed out some templates and made them with MDF.




And marked where the rounding would begin and end, at the headstock and at the heel...

[japasul]

I then started to work on the back of the neck.

I used a wood file to take most of the wood away.



The surface, after doing this, is VERY rough, since the wood file has large "teeths", so i sanded it roughly using a sanding jig attached to the electric drill. This is however not a very controllable tool, so i had to make the final shaping using my trusty sanding block!





This is how it looked at the end of the day. It still needs a lot of shaping and sanding, but its starting to look like a neck!




And a closeup of one of my favorite parts on the tele design, the place where the curves meet the headstock! I just love this detail, and how the curve on the back complements the curve on the face of the headstock... I think its one of the most beautyful designs ever!





Thanks for reading!
Cheers
André Ripoll

[Rich Rice]

Very nice. ;) I wish I had your skills when I was your age. Are you ready to set up shop yet?

[Stefan]

I am very, very impressed. I wish I had the time (and skills) to do such a thing.