Tele from scratch - A Construction Diary!

[japasul]

Hey everyone!

Decided to document the making of my telecaster, since I'm building it virtually completely 100% from scratch... Mostly i wanted to show everyone how I'm making my neck, but then Jack Wells beat me to it! Either way, mine will be a rosewood fretboard and a homemade truss rod, and information is never too much!

(the pre-construction part is covered in my other thread: Telecaster Project)

So here we go:

Day 1 - Part 1 - Making the templates

Last week i managed to make the full body template on mdf, but still have to make the one for the neck pocket and neck pickup cavity. I first made sure that the one for the neck pocket had the same shape as the other one (i printed the Tdowns PDF, glued them on MDF and jigsawed/sanded to shape).



One on top of the other and...



...route to shape! Notice that i take half the height at a time (and that im using a bottom bearing bit for this....)

Having done that, this is how i made the neck pocket template:



This is very effective, since i used a router bit of the same radius as the curves on the pocket!



Tadaa!

I was very pleased with this template... But my moments of happyness stopped here...

(more to come)

Cheers

André Ripoll

[Buckocaster51]

Looking Good!

[japasul]

After having my very first time using a router (for making the templates), i felt confident to move to routing the body. I tried a bit on some scrap wood (same wood as the body) so as to get used to the hardness of the wood.

Here´s the body piece, after having jigsawing most of the excess away:




Fixated the template on the body piece using some screws and some fixating-dings-stuff (which i dont know the name in english, but check the picture )



And off i went! But uh-oh...



Ran into some problems! When routing up-grain (if there is such a word ), the routing bit was lifting up too much "splinters". Theyre not exactly chunky tear-outs, but to sand them down ill remove about 1mm-1,5mm of wood...

Can anyone enlighten me, what can i do to avoid this? Im routing in the direction that has been discussed in oh so many other threads (in Bucko's BUTTERCASTER thread, even), but even so didnt manage to do this smoothly.

The wood is very fragile and very open grained, so i think this MAY be normal. I also realize im taking off too much at a time, but i wasnt able to find a smaller bit!

Any comments welcome!

Cheers
André Ripoll

[Buckocaster51]

How long is that router bit?

You should be able to shorten up the depth of the cut by adjusting the bit so the bearing is close to the top of the your template.

Can't see for sure from you photo, but it looks like you are still standing proud of the template. Can you clean it up with another pass of the router?

I bet somebody who REALLY knows what they are talking about will soon jump in here with some REAL advice.

[japasul]

hmm, my bit is about 1 inch, plus the bearing.... the bearing is running along the top of the template already....

Even so, i dont think this would solve the problem (it helps against tear-outs, though).


My brother has my camera and he is in Germany,so i was left with this crappy one... He'll be back on Saturday though, then i can make some real photos!

thanks for the help though, Bucko!

[aznrambo481]

awesome thread! Can't wait to see how well it'll turn out.

[gtech]

Did you move the router all in the same direction for the part that you began to route?

If so, that was the problem. But maybe it's not what you did, I can't say.

I had the same problem when I routed some soft open grain walnut, but at the bottom end of the body where it's almost straight. But it was not as straight as I thought, and I ended up with the same result. For the second body with the same wood, I had to be VERY careful with the direction I was using the router.

Gilles

[Ronkirn]

Ran into some problems!

Use an old, but resharpened but to make the first pass, and move slowly, even if it results in burning” the wood.

A resharpened bit is a few thousandths smaller than a new bit. This results in the body being a few thousandths larger than desired. When you make a second pass with a new bit, it will remove the remaining wood. Since this is so very thin, the cut is generally quite smooth.

A benefit, other than a smooth cut, is the new bit will last much longer since it’s removing so very little wood.

One other thing..... make a router table... really it's the best way to do a body, and much safer.

Ron Kirn

[japasul]

Originally Posted by gtech

Did you move the router all in the same direction for the part that you began to route?

I used different directions, according to the bit turning direction, so that it couldnt take out big chunks (i managed to avoid that even taking off so much at a time...)

Originally Posted by Ronkirn

Use an old, but resharpened but to make the first pass, and move slowly, even if it results in burning” the wood.

A resharpened bit is a few thousandths smaller than a new bit. This results in the body being a few thousandths larger than desired. When you make a second pass with a new bit, it will remove the remaining wood. Since this is so very thin, the cut is generally quite smooth.

hmmmm

thanks for the advice...

Ill see if i can get a new bit today, and try to sharpen a little the one i have.

About a router table, i want to build one, but i dont have much space to put it in... Im considering making a foldable tabe, but then it wouldnt be so stable... Suggestions are welcome!


Cheers
André Ripoll

[Lostheart]

Hey Andre! Keep it up...it's great to see so many homemade-Teles...in a few years time noone will buy them from Fender anymore! ;-)

[ray]

I would suggest making several light passes until the bearing contacts the template, rather than chewing off the full depth of the cut all in one pass. I have had luck doing it that way.
Good luck.
Ray

[jwells393]

Ran into some problems! When routing up-grain (if there is such a word ), the routing bit was lifting up too much "splinters".

Sounds to me like you may be going in the wrong direction. In this picture, in the area of the arrow, the router should start where the clamp is and move "downhill" toward the narrow part.

......

This picture that I posted in an earlier thread applies to both table routing and hand held routing. For each section, you start at the green dot and stop at the red dot. After going completely around the body you can go around it again in one direction to clean up any small areas you might have missed.

......

[Ronkirn]

and try to sharpen a little the one i have.

Don't. . don't even try..... take it to a professional and have them do it... cost. . about 5 bux.....

that little bugger is Carbide, and very few abrasives will cut it.

Ron Kirn

[japasul]

Jwells, im running the router along the right direction, acordding to your diagram. The problem im facing is not so much as tear out, but the surface is becoming rough and "hairy"...

Didnt try to sharpen my bit, Ron! good thing you warned me, though, i was about to have a go using my dremel...

I just realized that this bit im using is perhaps 1/32 smaller than 1/2" (leaving a bit of wood still to be removed!)! So i went out and bought a nice Bosch one, exactly 1/2" diameter, which I will use after having done the first pass using the first bit.

Rainy cold day today, so i dont think ill have much done...

Pictures to come!

Thanks for all the help!
Cheers
André Ripoll

[Ronkirn]

The new bit is a good idea... and have a pro sharpen your old ones... it has to be a precision machine to do it correctly...

Rainy cold day today

Umm... what the heck it that? Seems I vaguely recall something similar, when we had a cold snap come through and the temperature took a dive all the way down to the high 90's.

Ron Kirn

[japasul]

hee hee

got the new bit, and the bearing just arrived! installed the bearing - a perfect fit!


our climate here is WAY TOO HUMID! i cant stay outside for long when its too cold, becaus e the cold and humidity penetrate any clothes.... =/

ill use this time to prepare some tools; im making a sander, pics to come....

[Fatmanstratman]

Thank you for sharing your experiences here, André - a very, very interesting thread, one which I shall follow with utter fascination.

Buckocaster's documented Tele builds have also been truely inspirational, and it just goes to show what you can achieve with a few "handyman" tools, and a lot of time and patience.

I salute all our members who are kind enough to share their efforts on the forum, and it is especially comforting to know that experienced builders like Jack Wells, Ron Kirn, Buckocaster, Arlo - and many others to whom I apologise for not mentioning personally - are always happy to offer help and advice.

It is exactly this sort of camaraderie that makes the TDPRI such a special (and unique place). I think that far too often we tend to take this wealth of freely-given knowledge for granted, and I am not at all ashamed to thank ALL our members for the enjoyment that the TDPRI brings to me.

Thanks, guys!....

[japasul]

Left nothing unsaid!



TDPRI represents the Utopia of the Internet... When one person shares a little bit of information, many many others benefit from it!

And each and every single new member has been welcomed in a nice and warm way (me included!)...

As for all these builders that documented the process, its really great to have such inspirations!

I hope my thread can help people out there!!!

Cheers
André Ripoll

[japasul]

The majority of the routing (all the contour) has been done! Sadly, i bumped the router into the body (the router was off), and got myself a very nice chunk out of the corner... =(
It will partly go away with the rounding of the edge (its not that big or deep), but will need some filling. I'm beginning to consider painting this guitar...

The new bit i got helped a lot to overcome my previous upgrain issue, but i still had hairy surfaces...

Well, i decided it was acceptable and it would go away with some sanding, so i moved on to rounding the edges, using a 1/4" radius bit.



Still have the same problem of rough surface, but could be avoided going slowly.

And here i made the fisret stupidity of the day.... Rounded off even around the neck pocket... Oh, well, rookie mistake! wont be that bad in the end, i hope. Anyways, with the rounding done, i prepared for routing out the neck pocket and neck PU cavity.



And had two tearouts doing this... One of them not so serious, quite small, but the other one very serious:



Right there.... Well, an acceptable mistake for someone using a router for the first time, but again some filling needed! Rookies should take care here, on how they are routing. take just a little at a time! i took too much =(

At this point, i was already tired from an afternoon of work, but decided to move on to drilling some wire channels anyways, after having the routing on the body done (one step coquered, although with many problems on the way)!



Cheers
André Ripoll

[jwells393]

Looks like the only milling left is the jack hole. What does it weigh at this point?

[japasul]

just a sec, gotta do some conversions...

about 1.3 Kg, or about 2.8 pounds...

Its feather-light!

I could be wrong on these values, though, used a kitchen scale to weight the body!

[jwells393]

That is super light .............. Anything under 4 lbs is considered light. I think that's lighter than basswood. I'm thinking your hairy wood problem may be due to the wood you're using.

I have a basswood body that's been rough cut but hasn't been routed yet. It's probably going to come in just under 4 lbs.

[Buckocaster51]

I'm impressed. It is looking awfully good.

If you have Ron's little booklet, you know how he talks up the virtues of Auto Body Filler. On a painted body, it is great stuff.

You can probably get rid off most of your "oopses" during sanding.

So what if you change the contour a smidgeon here or a smidgeon there? The pre-CNC Teles I have looked at, and admittedly that data base is VERY small, pretty much all seem to be a bit different. I doubt that the gnomes in Fullerton didn't have a tearout now and then that they had to "fix" with a sander (or filler.)

Keep up the good work...and be safe.

[aznrambo481]

That body's looking really nice. Gotta pop the question... what kind of finish are you planning to put on it?

[Lostheart]

Nice! Good job!

[japasul]

Originally Posted by jwells393

That is super light .............. Anything under 4 lbs is considered light. I think that's lighter than basswood. I'm thinking your hairy wood problem may be due to the wood you're using.

I stopped worying about the rough ends because i atribute this to the wood, yes... This is considered a crappy wood, over here, but as always, crappy stuff can be pretty useful on a guitar!

Originally Posted by Buckocaster51

If you have Ron's little booklet, you know how he talks up the virtues of Auto Body Filler. On a painted body, it is great stuff.

I don't have his booklet, but am planning yes on using Auto Body Filler if more goes wrong, but since im still planning on a natural finish, some putty made of glue and the wood shavings could be better to cover these small tear outs

Originally Posted by aznrambo481

That body's looking really nice. Gotta pop the question... what kind of finish are you planning to put on it?

Like i said, i was planning on using a natural finish. Was thinking nitro, but since the wood is so soft and fragile, im now thinking about a poli coat to make it more resistant to small bumps!


Thanks for the comments, guys!

Woke up to an even colder and rainier day than yesterday... Its my last day before school starts again and i wanted to get some work done!
Oh well... I think ill finish posting the pics from yesterday...

Cheers
André Ripoll

[japasul]

Couldnt finish posting my images last night, so here goes the end of yesterday...



I was tired and even so wanted to drill some wire channels tonight, so i did it! stupid stupid stupid....

Here i went into my last stupidity of the day...



Drilled through the back of the body, when drilling from the bricge PUP cavity into the control cavity... Quite stupid, didnt pay attention to what i was doing...

Along with my tear outs and little chip offs, this will make for four places that need filling... Hopefully ill do this tomorrow and after its done, ill decide wether i should paint the body after some heavy grain filling or if i can still go natural...

Even with all the mistakes, i was happy with the outcome, and put together some parts to see how it would look in the end:



Im liking it! Its coming out about the same as i pictured it in the start!




Cheers
André Ripoll

[RichardM]

André,

A little breakout on the back like that looks OK filled with DARK brown or black wood filler.
Just looks like a small knot in the timber.

Lots of my projects end up having some "knots" that weren't there when I started.

Looking good though.
I hope my first effort of guitar routing turns out as well.

(I chickened out of making my own templates, and am waiting for a set of Ron's to travel across the Pacific to me.)

P.S. I little tip if you use the filler. Seal the wood first, stops the filler from going anywhere except the hole.

[japasul]

Hey!

Way to rainy and cold today to start on the neck, so started to fill the body.

I used wood shavings mixed with some glue to fill the tear outs on my body:




I apply this "putty" with a wooden stick, and then cover it with a piece of plastic bag, just until it dries a bit, to avoid touching it acciddentaly.




well, now all i have to do is wait for this to dry, so i can work on the body again. For now, ill have to wait for the rain to stop so i can begin on the neck! Im kinda nervous about this, but ill have to do it eventually!

Cheers
André Ripoll

[Buckocaster51]

I hate, absolutely HATE, drilling those holes for the wires. I have had SO many close calls.

It looks like you are doing a Cracker-Jack job!

[japasul]

huh, i gotta ask

whats a Cracker-Jack job???

[Buckocaster51]

First Rate

Top Drawer

A-OK

Groovy

SPIFFY!

Not too shabby!

They all mean "very good."

CrackerJack is candy-coated popcorn that we break our teeth on.



There's a PRIZE in EVERY box!

[Nick JD]

Great stuff, japasul!

I went and got a router yesterday to go with my brand new (and crazy expensive!) top bearing bit.

Tear-outs ... here we come!

Keep the photos and words coming - and most importantly, keep the mistakes documented. If everyone here only documented their success, I wouldn't know where to begin!

Cheers.

[japasul]

Thanks for the encouraging comments!

I also spent a lot to get my top bearing bit. I actually bought the bit and the bearing apart, since oonly bottom bearing bits are available here...

As for Day 4, its colder and rainier, and i had to pick up my mother and my brother at the airport, and spent most of the day hearing about their trip (to Germany).

Good news is that a friend of mine in Germany sent me something that the fellow TDPer from the Land Down Under will recognise for sure!



Original new zealand paua shell pieces (my friend spent the last year there in NZ and got me some)! They're a little too big though (over 3/4" in diameter), so i have to either figure out a way to properly shape them in smaller radius circles or come up with some alternative shape of inlays... The shells are really beautyful, tho!
Please, if you have any advice or comment on this matter, let me know!

The other nice news is that my brother had my good camera, and now i have it again! That means QUALITY MACRO CLOSE UP PICS!!!


More to come, hopefully tomorrow wont rain so much....

Cheers
André Ripoll

[TelecasterBlooz]

Lookin' good! I admire all of y'all that can work with wood....Me? If I attempted something along these lines, all you would see is the hardware nestled in a pile of toothpicks! Keep up the good work!

[Nick JD]

PAUA FRITTERS WITH BEER



8 pauas
2 c. flour
1 sm. onion
1/2 c. shallot
1 egg
Milk
Garlic
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground black pepper or 1/2 tsp. cumin
1 c. beer
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

Mince pauas and onion, chop up shallot, squeeze garlic over pauas and set aside. Take 1 cup of the flour and make a batter with flour, egg, baking powder, salt and milk. Add beer and use rest of flour to make a thick batter. Add paua, onion, shallots and pepper. Let stand for 1/2 hour, then fry in tablespoon of butter until crispy golden brown.

YUM!!

I wouldn't have a clue how to make inlay neck dots though. Maybe some type of 1/4 inch hole saw thing? The shells are quite brittle.

[Buckocaster51]

Neat looking shells!

The first dots that I ever made, I rounded with a file...that was a pain. I soon switched to diamonds and snowflakes...a lot easier to make!

You COULD swipe a trick from telescope makers that have to drill holes in the primaries of Cassegrainian telescopes.

You find a piece of copper tubing the diameter of the hole you need to make...in your case you would be looking for the INSIDE diameter...

Cut three, four, five or so notches in the end of the tubing.

Clamp your piece of glass (or your shell) in place...chuck up the piece of tubing.

You also need some sort of mild abrasive. Telescope makers have is laying around. I would think that polishing rouge would work. Make a slurry of rouge and water. Put it on your piece of shell.

Still with me?

You also (the list of "alsos" is over now) need a weight that you can attach to one of the handles on the drill press on some sort of string. Not a heavy weight, just something that will keep a continuous, light pressue on the working end of the tubing.

Put the grinding slurry on your shell. Power up the drill press at low speed. Lower it into the slurry/shell...and the weight on the handle of the drill press will keep it in contact with the shell...

Sit back and drink a cup of coffee, read a book, or practice the guitar, while the tubing grinds its way through.

Make sure the slurry is always surrounding the cutter/tubing.

After it cuts through...push it out of the tubing...and you should have a shell dot.

Of course I have never tried that with shell, but I have drilled through telescope mirrors and beer bottles that way.

Wouldn't you know it! There is a YouTube video of a telescope mirror being drilled!

[japasul]

You will probably notice i skipped day 5... Didnt get mugh done at day 5!

Yesterday i came up with a way to get my fretboard wood (Brazilian Rosewood) to thickness using my router, and i should say it worked very well!



I placed two parallel sides and the board to be leveled in the middle. (the the dark red/purple wood was just to get the rosewood to proper height)



First i got all the top side leveled, and then turned it over and routed the piece to thickness.

Well, it was the first day back at the university and i had classes, so i couldnt do much, this was it.



Oh, i got some ear covers (i dont know what to call it in english) to go with my masks and my goggles. IF YOU DON'T ALREADY, USE THEM WHEN ROUTING!!! A router can go as high as 105dB, and that can be pretty damaging to your hearing. These cheap ear covers already block about 25dB in the routers frequency range ( my router goes up to 95dB). It was a really great buy!


More to come about todays progress!
Cheers
André Ripoll

[japasul]

Hey guys!

Today i started working on the neck, by routing the truss rod channel.

Ill be using a home made truss rod, made from a U-shaped aluminium bar and a threaded rod inside of it. It will be adjustable only at the heel.

I started by using by parallel guide that came with the router to set the appropriate placing of the routing (the neck was previously penciled over the wood im using, parallel to the sides of it).






After doing two very shallow passes (to get the appropriate width), i tested the fit with the allu piece. TIGHT FIT!!! :)




I made several light passes till i got the desired depth, and voilá


Turns out it still has to bee a tad deeper, so ill come back to it tomorrow...

I started to rough-cut the contour of the neck, but didnt get any pictures of it yet. Hopefully ill have some more tomorrow!

Oh, yeah, after i routed the channel i realised that it will be visible at the heel. I shouldnt have routed up to the heel, but should have stopped short of it. Oh well, ill see what i can do to fix it tomorrow. I think ill glue back a block of wood...

Cheers
André Ripoll

[mojocasterman]

I love these threads :)