Ikeacaster: newbie tele copy on the cheap

tuuur · October 30th, 2007, 10:39 AM

Hi all,

finally I started my own build.
I decided to start out cheap and try to do it with the most basic woodworking tools. So don't expect the result to be exact, as I am not a perfectionist as well...

I started out with this very cheap Strat copy (nicknamed Poltergeister) I'm going to use the neck, tuners, neck pickup and controls off. I got three strats already and no fender dimensioned tele, so I don't bother taking that apart.

Then I got me a laminated Ikea shelf plank, called Tryggve. The idea is to create a body out of it by cutting it in three and laminating it, hollowing the center part out. The plank was 1.20 meters by 36.5 cm by 1.5 cm.

After the plank was cut, I printed a Telecaster outline on A3 paper, cut it out, and transferred it with carbon paper on the front piece of wood. I also made two points for alignment to the left and the right of the body. On the middle part, I transferred the chambers.

Then, with a jigsaw I sawed out the chambers.

tuuur · October 30th, 2007, 10:53 AM

Recently I got a handrouter; so as a test I also routed out a cavity of 1 cm from the back and front panels. Here they are, finished routing:

Then I glued the three parts together. I used standad white wood glue from the DIY store, 6 clamps (maybe it's not enough, but we'll see) and a weight to push it together.

A day later, I sawed the body with a jigsaw. It is clear a bandsaw and router would give a much straighter result, but I don' have a bandsaw, and no tracing bit on the router... and was interested how things would turn out like this.
So this is how it looked, with pickguard, bridge and controlplate for reference:

Then I routed out the neckpocket... and made the newbie mistake to not measure thrice but only twice... :-) It was routed 3 cm while it should have been only 1.5 cm. So I glued a piece of wood in the neckpocket and routed it to the correct height.

That doesn't look pretty, but I guess it will work.

tuuur · October 30th, 2007, 10:56 AM

This is the current state:

Pickups are a Seymour Duncan STL1B Broadcaster bridge pickup and a no-name DeArmond style gold foil single coil neck pickup.

hekawi · October 30th, 2007, 12:46 PM

looking great so far...i like the natural wood, very nice!

by the way, when you use the whammy bar on this strat copy does your car window roll down?:

[quote=tuuur;977391]

Big Tony · October 30th, 2007, 01:00 PM

Hey, I like what you're doing.

Keep the pictures coming!

/ Tony

wikur · October 30th, 2007, 01:51 PM

Great thread!
You`ve got to post soundclips of the "tryggvecaster" when it`s finished.
Cheers,Wikur!

jwells393 · October 30th, 2007, 01:58 PM

It's good to see what's possible when you think outside the box.

boris bubbanov · October 30th, 2007, 02:03 PM

Looks cool, keep it comin'.

BTW, does anyone know what tryggve is?

This looks like some form of fast growing softwood; I guess there's a good number of hectares on land devoted to that Northeast of where you are.

You know, this is a dangerous deal. I've got big scraps of wood 'round here I'd have thrown away no questions asked a year ago. Now the stuff is piling up to mid-calf.

Bubbanov

tuuur · October 30th, 2007, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boris bubbanov

BTW, does anyone know what tryggve is?

I was curious as well... it seems to be a scandinavian name, especially one of a Viking king somewhere around 900.

ghosttour · October 30th, 2007, 03:29 PM

This is awesome!

toadman · October 30th, 2007, 03:40 PM

isn't Tryggve a a planet on Star Trek??

ptfreak · October 30th, 2007, 03:56 PM

Tryggve is a scandinavian name, and the viking issue is most possible also true. The Ikeacaster seems very thick, dont ya think, and the sidewindow whammy is hilarious!

J

telefunk · October 30th, 2007, 06:34 PM

Do you put it all together with one of those little hex keys ?

tuuur · October 30th, 2007, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hekawi

looking great so far...i like the natural wood, very nice!

by the way, when you use the whammy bar on this strat copy does your car window roll down?

Yep, I like the wood too. I'm planning to keep it natural, with some clear finish or oil, I'm not sure which yet.
And the whammy bar doesn't do that, though maybe with some infrared device...
By the way, it's back again with its original owner, a 60s Kawai/Teisco/No idea what it is:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Tony

Hey, I like what you're doing.

Keep the pictures coming!

Thanks! There'll be some more in my next reply...

Quote:

Originally Posted by wikur

Great thread!
You`ve got to post soundclips of the "tryggvecaster" when it`s finished.

Thanks! I intend to post some clips, stay tuned for that...

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwells393

It's good to see what's possible when you think outside the box.

I'm actually very curious myself. I'm planning to learn to do things the right and sensible way as well, in the future, when I got my tools and patience and woodworking skills together some more. But in the meantime, this is fun as well!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ghosttour

This is awesome!

Thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by toadman

isn't Tryggve a a planet on Star Trek??

I don't know, I am not that versed in Trekkie stuff...

Quote:

Originally Posted by ptfreak

The Ikeacaster seems very thick, dont ya think, and the sidewindow whammy is hilarious!

I thought it was thick at first as well; it's 4.5 cm. But it turns out it has the same thickness as my Aria 1582t tele copy. Furthermore, as it is chambered, the guitar is very lightweight.
That sidewindow whammy is actually some german home window opening system I got from the scrapyard.

Quote:

Originally Posted by telefunk

Do you put it all together with one of those little hex keys ?

No, but I intend to finish it with some Ikea Behandla stuff...

tuuur · October 30th, 2007, 07:16 PM

OK, we left off somewhere here:

Tonight I first lined out the bridge using the low and high E strings. Then I mounted the bridge, and strung'r up!

Sound was promising, though naturally things were far from intonated. Then I traced the position of the bridge pickup route through the holes in the bridge, and adjusted the position of the control plate as well.

I drilled the control route with a forstner bit first.

tuuur · October 30th, 2007, 07:22 PM

Then I finished it with the handrouter, not using a template...

After that, the bridge pickup route. Started with a hole drilled with a forstner bit, and finished again with the handrouter. Again, without using a template. Remember, I'm just testing out how things will look when you DON'T do it the sensible way...

Then I drilled the hole for the bridge pickup wires:

tuuur · October 30th, 2007, 07:26 PM

Well, I guess I am not the patient kind of guy. So having come this far, I installed the bridge, bridge pickup, control plate with a volume pot, and a makeshift output jack...

And here it is now (is a guitar named after a 10th century viking king a she? don't think so!):

And hey, what do you know, after some tweaking of the bridge saddles it's actually very playable already!

Sounding gritty like it should.

aznrambo481 · October 30th, 2007, 07:41 PM

very cool! 1 question though... why didn't you cut the f-hole out before glueing? Is there an advantage to doing it now?

lostpick · October 30th, 2007, 07:49 PM

My tele pipe dreams took me to your idea one
day as I was thinking about how to turn old
furniture into tele bodies....imagine doing this
with an old slab of mahoghany, or walnut
off the top of a 70 year old dresser. Wood that
old sings like a marimba when you thunk it.
I will have to send you a slab....your doing
it the exact way I would have done it...

Would it work out if you cut the neck pocket
in the upper slab and then leave it uncut in the
middle slab?

MAGNIFICIENT....

Fatmanstratman · October 30th, 2007, 08:02 PM

Fascinating thread, Tuuur - you're doing an excellent job!....

Keep it coming.

bobthecanadian · October 30th, 2007, 08:42 PM

Hey bro,

This is a build thread that I can relate to! Basic wood and methods for a basic guitar. Sweet!

psychotelepathic · October 30th, 2007, 10:09 PM

This is great. Watching a build with tools us mere mortals have access to.

Man that IKEA furniture must be cheaper over your way! I can't imagine cutting up a $300 table

tuuur · October 31st, 2007, 02:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aznrambo481

very cool! 1 question though... why didn't you cut the f-hole out before glueing? Is there an advantage to doing it now?

No advantage at all, but on the other hand, I don't think it would be that difficult to do it at this stage.

The only reason I didn't do it yet is... I'm still not sure if I want a thinline or not...

tuuur · October 31st, 2007, 03:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lostpick

My tele pipe dreams took me to your idea one
day as I was thinking about how to turn old
furniture into tele bodies....imagine doing this
with an old slab of mahoghany, or walnut
off the top of a 70 year old dresser. Wood that
old sings like a marimba when you thunk it.
I will have to send you a slab....your doing
it the exact way I would have done it...

That would be a great idea indeed. If I recall correctly, it is exactly the way Orville Gibson started his little company... by carving guitars out of old furniture.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lostpick

Would it work out if you cut the neck pocket
in the upper slab and then leave it uncut in the
middle slab?

That would certainly work out, had I not been dumb enough to measure the neckpocket wrong... that would have saved me some serious trouble.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lostpick

MAGNIFICIENT....

You, sir, are too kind!
(and haven't seen the mistakes and ugly spots yet...

)

tuuur · October 31st, 2007, 04:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by psychotelepathic

This is great. Watching a build with tools us mere mortals have access to.

Precisely! (but of course I still don't know if the result will be that good.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by psychotelepathic

Man that IKEA furniture must be cheaper over your way! I can't imagine cutting up a $300 table

Well, this wasn't a table originally, just a plank. A pine plank at that. Would this then be a Pinecaster?
The 119 cm x 36,5 cm version can be had around these parts for a mere 6 euros...
http://www.ikea.com/nl/nl/catalog/products/90094631

and $8 in the US:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10094630

tuuur · October 31st, 2007, 05:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fatmanstratman

Fascinating thread, Tuuur - you're doing an excellent job!....

Thanks! Most things I learned one way or another from this here TDPRI forum.
I don't really have much woodworking experience, so I read the Buckocaster thread and the like and took that as a sort of guide...

tpaul · October 31st, 2007, 10:50 AM

I'd love to hear a sound clip (hint, hint)

After watching some of the other build threads by people who seem to have complete furniture and lutherie shops in their garages, it's very refreshing to see one using only the kind of tools I have, or could someday afford to buy.

Now, if only someone would do a build thread using only a hammer, chisel, some glue, and a screwdriver...

Joe Chaney · October 31st, 2007, 11:44 AM

that ikea plank is also our kitchen worktop haha! inspires me to have a go at building a tele, love how its coming a long

tuuur · October 31st, 2007, 06:17 PM

Well, I recorded two soundclips, playing the Tryggvecaster through my Kustom 150h solid state amp, and recording it with Audacity on my laptop.
Lesson learned: laptops are not by default fit to record audio, it all sounds somewhat weird. In real life it sounds more lively and sparkly than this...

I don't mind
Some blues noodling

Shoved BassVIII · November 2nd, 2007, 04:36 AM

I'm lookin foreward to seein this all done

TeleConvert · November 2nd, 2007, 04:54 AM

I wish I could build stuff like that. You get mad props.

tuuur · November 2nd, 2007, 08:01 AM

Now I got the Tryggvecaster temporary functioning for a few days, it's time to collect the mistakes / ugly bits / things I most clearly have to fix.

I don't know what came over me during the creation, and fixing of the neckpocket... but my solution is sort of out of whack entirely. I have to insert a strip of wood there to make it look reasonable.

Looks like the neck is attached just ever so slightly entirely wrong... it should be tilted backwards instead of like this. A shim would correct that, maybe I should adjust the neckpocket... I don't know yet. The saddles are on their lowest, so the strings could take it I guess.

There is some weird bend in the neck that I hope to be able to get out by adjusting the trussrod.

The handrouter had a life of its own; and I didn't use a template. Or a guide. therefore, here is a dent... about one mm deep, next to the bout. Ouch!

tuuur · November 2nd, 2007, 08:02 AM

At the neck side of the bridge, there is about a mm space where the bridge floats over the body... how could that happen? Possibly the top of the body isn't entirely flat... or I overtightened the screws in the soft wood.

The worst kind of nut is the nut with deep incisions, like this one. I'll be making a new one myself.

Buckocaster51 · November 2nd, 2007, 08:14 AM

Holy Router Batman!

Whenever I try to hand-route something it wanders all over the place.

I am impressed with what you have been doing.

Some people put small screws in the corners of the leading edge of the bridge to snuggle it down to the top. Might be something to think about.

Thanks for sharing.

aman · November 2nd, 2007, 09:12 AM

You sir, have just changed my views on buying Ikea planks.... Hmmm..... :)

Bob Marlec · November 2nd, 2007, 09:22 AM

You could only sand the top of the nut, if the bottom is correct (keep it simple!)

TelecasterBlooz · November 2nd, 2007, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toadman

isn't Tryggve a a planet on Star Trek??

I think your thinking of the planet "Triskellion" from the episode where Kirk, Uhura, and Chekov were taken to a planet to be made into gladitorial slaves. Nice build by the way...

tuuur · November 2nd, 2007, 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aman

You sir, have just changed my views on buying Ikea planks.... Hmmm..... :)

Glad to be of service, sir!

This IKEAcaster changed MY view on IKEA wood.. The guy who created it says he can get three tops out of a $15 end table.

He himself has this to say about what the body is made of:

Quote:

multi-piece knotty pine with a gorgeous AAAA-private stock IKEA top

I gather he is joking, but then look at the price he is asking...

tuuur · November 2nd, 2007, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Marlec

You could only sand the top of the nut, if the bottom is correct (keep it simple!)

It's a bit on the high side... so it could be still usable when I adapt it the way you suggest.
I like the simple approach!

tuuur · November 2nd, 2007, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buckocaster51

Holy Router Batman!

Whenever I try to hand-route something it wanders all over the place.

Same thing happens here, believe me. One of the bigger problems I encounter is that I am too impatient... so rather to prepair a routing session well with some guiding piece of wood clamped to the body, I went at it without doing so.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buckocaster51

I am impressed with what you have been doing.

Coming from you, sir, that means a lot! Thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buckocaster51

Some people put small screws in the corners of the leading edge of the bridge to snuggle it down to the top. Might be something to think about.

Thanks for sharing.

The Squier Affinity Tele bridge has those same screws:

... but I doesn't bother me too much at this point. I don't play that subtle, so I don't know if I even would notice the difference in tone...

Thanks again, and greetings from a place some mere miles from Lochem, the Netherlands!

October 30th, 2007, 10:39 AM	#1 (permalink)
tuuur Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: the Netherlands Age: 40 Posts: 1,460 7 Photos	Ikeacaster: newbie tele copy on the cheap Hi all, finally I started my own build. I decided to start out cheap and try to do it with the most basic woodworking tools. So don't expect the result to be exact, as I am not a perfectionist as well... I started out with this very cheap Strat copy (nicknamed Poltergeister) I'm going to use the neck, tuners, neck pickup and controls off. I got three strats already and no fender dimensioned tele, so I don't bother taking that apart. Then I got me a laminated Ikea shelf plank, called Tryggve. The idea is to create a body out of it by cutting it in three and laminating it, hollowing the center part out. The plank was 1.20 meters by 36.5 cm by 1.5 cm. After the plank was cut, I printed a Telecaster outline on A3 paper, cut it out, and transferred it with carbon paper on the front piece of wood. I also made two points for alignment to the left and the right of the body. On the middle part, I transferred the chambers. Then, with a jigsaw I sawed out the chambers.

October 30th, 2007, 12:46 PM	#4 (permalink)
hekawi Friend of Leo's Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: greenville, sc Posts: 2,396	looking great so far...i like the natural wood, very nice! by the way, when you use the whammy bar on this strat copy does your car window roll down?: [quote=tuuur;977391] __________________ ____________________________________________ "Rule Number One: Obey All Rules" - Barney Fife

October 30th, 2007, 01:00 PM	#5 (permalink)
Big Tony Friend of Leo's Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Sweden, by golly! Age: 54 Posts: 2,751 29 Photos	Hey, I like what you're doing. Keep the pictures coming! / Tony __________________ {8^)>

October 30th, 2007, 01:58 PM	#7 (permalink)
jwells393 Doctor of Teleocity Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Albuquerque, USA Age: 65 Posts: 13,962 101 Photos	It's good to see what's possible when you think outside the box. __________________ Jack's Disclaimer: When I say something.... always ask yourself ..... "What the hell does he know?" _ I'm not cool enough to be a Mac person.

October 30th, 2007, 03:40 PM	#11 (permalink)
toadman Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: andoverandoverandover,ct Age: 46 Posts: 1,336	isn't Tryggve a a planet on Star Trek?? __________________ toadman the plank spanker www.slugnickel.com www.zydecohogs.com "The ultimate result of protecting man from folly is to fill the world with fools" Herbert Spencer

October 30th, 2007, 10:53 AM	#2 (permalink)
tuuur Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: the Netherlands Age: 40 Posts: 1,460 7 Photos	Recently I got a handrouter; so as a test I also routed out a cavity of 1 cm from the back and front panels. Here they are, finished routing: Then I glued the three parts together. I used standad white wood glue from the DIY store, 6 clamps (maybe it's not enough, but we'll see) and a weight to push it together. A day later, I sawed the body with a jigsaw. It is clear a bandsaw and router would give a much straighter result, but I don' have a bandsaw, and no tracing bit on the router... and was interested how things would turn out like this. So this is how it looked, with pickguard, bridge and controlplate for reference: Then I routed out the neckpocket... and made the newbie mistake to not measure thrice but only twice... :-) It was routed 3 cm while it should have been only 1.5 cm. So I glued a piece of wood in the neckpocket and routed it to the correct height. That doesn't look pretty, but I guess it will work.

October 30th, 2007, 10:56 AM	#3 (permalink)
tuuur Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: the Netherlands Age: 40 Posts: 1,460 7 Photos	This is the current state: Pickups are a Seymour Duncan STL1B Broadcaster bridge pickup and a no-name DeArmond style gold foil single coil neck pickup.

October 30th, 2007, 01:51 PM	#6 (permalink)
wikur Tele-Meister Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Sweden Posts: 413 18 Photos	Great thread! You`ve got to post soundclips of the "tryggvecaster" when it`s finished. Cheers,Wikur!

October 30th, 2007, 02:03 PM	#8 (permalink)
boris bubbanov Doctor of Teleocity Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: New Orleans, LA + in the past Posts: 12,794	Looks cool, keep it comin'. BTW, does anyone know what tryggve is? This looks like some form of fast growing softwood; I guess there's a good number of hectares on land devoted to that Northeast of where you are. You know, this is a dangerous deal. I've got big scraps of wood 'round here I'd have thrown away no questions asked a year ago. Now the stuff is piling up to mid-calf. Bubbanov

October 30th, 2007, 03:29 PM	#10 (permalink)
ghosttour Tele-Holic Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Decatur, GA Age: 36 Posts: 715 6 Photos	This is awesome!

October 30th, 2007, 03:56 PM	#12 (permalink)
ptfreak Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Holmsund, Sweden Posts: 112	you're right.. Tryggve is a scandinavian name, and the viking issue is most possible also true. The Ikeacaster seems very thick, dont ya think, and the sidewindow whammy is hilarious! J

October 30th, 2007, 06:34 PM	#13 (permalink)
telefunk Tele-Meister Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Sydney Australia Posts: 310	Do you put it all together with one of those little hex keys ? __________________ "Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder"

October 30th, 2007, 07:16 PM	#15 (permalink)
tuuur Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: the Netherlands Age: 40 Posts: 1,460 7 Photos	OK, we left off somewhere here: Tonight I first lined out the bridge using the low and high E strings. Then I mounted the bridge, and strung'r up! Sound was promising, though naturally things were far from intonated. Then I traced the position of the bridge pickup route through the holes in the bridge, and adjusted the position of the control plate as well. I drilled the control route with a forstner bit first.

October 30th, 2007, 07:22 PM	#16 (permalink)
tuuur Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: the Netherlands Age: 40 Posts: 1,460 7 Photos	Then I finished it with the handrouter, not using a template... After that, the bridge pickup route. Started with a hole drilled with a forstner bit, and finished again with the handrouter. Again, without using a template. Remember, I'm just testing out how things will look when you DON'T do it the sensible way... Then I drilled the hole for the bridge pickup wires:

October 30th, 2007, 07:26 PM	#17 (permalink)
tuuur Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: the Netherlands Age: 40 Posts: 1,460 7 Photos	Well, I guess I am not the patient kind of guy. So having come this far, I installed the bridge, bridge pickup, control plate with a volume pot, and a makeshift output jack... And here it is now (is a guitar named after a 10th century viking king a she? don't think so!): And hey, what do you know, after some tweaking of the bridge saddles it's actually very playable already! Sounding gritty like it should.

October 30th, 2007, 07:41 PM	#18 (permalink)
aznrambo481 Friend of Leo's Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: La Jolla, California Age: 18 Posts: 2,890 6 Photos	very cool! 1 question though... why didn't you cut the f-hole out before glueing? Is there an advantage to doing it now? __________________ Check out my bands, and feel free to PM me comments on them! The Eclectics (guitar/vocals) SLIP (bass)

October 30th, 2007, 07:49 PM	#19 (permalink)
lostpick Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Staten Island, NYC Posts: 1,215	My tele pipe dreams took me to your idea one day as I was thinking about how to turn old furniture into tele bodies....imagine doing this with an old slab of mahoghany, or walnut off the top of a 70 year old dresser. Wood that old sings like a marimba when you thunk it. I will have to send you a slab....your doing it the exact way I would have done it... Would it work out if you cut the neck pocket in the upper slab and then leave it uncut in the middle slab? MAGNIFICIENT....

October 30th, 2007, 08:02 PM	#20 (permalink)
Fatmanstratman Friend of Leo's Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Fatmanville, Cambs., UK Posts: 3,403	Fascinating thread, Tuuur - you're doing an excellent job!.... Keep it coming. __________________ . . . *"Behind every argument is someone's ignorance."*

October 30th, 2007, 08:42 PM	#21 (permalink)
bobthecanadian Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Taipei, Taiwan Age: 42 Posts: 1,636	Hey bro, This is a build thread that I can relate to! Basic wood and methods for a basic guitar. Sweet! __________________ It don't mean a thang if it ain't got that TWANG!!!

October 30th, 2007, 10:09 PM	#22 (permalink)
psychotelepathic Tele-Holic Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Charlotte Posts: 630	This is great. Watching a build with tools us mere mortals have access to. Man that IKEA furniture must be cheaper over your way! I can't imagine cutting up a $300 table

October 31st, 2007, 10:50 AM	#27 (permalink)
tpaul Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Kingston, NY Posts: 1,128 4 Photos	Excellent! I'd love to hear a sound clip (hint, hint) After watching some of the other build threads by people who seem to have complete furniture and lutherie shops in their garages, it's very refreshing to see one using only the kind of tools I have, or could someday afford to buy. Now, if only someone would do a build thread using only a hammer, chisel, some glue, and a screwdriver...

October 31st, 2007, 11:44 AM	#28 (permalink)
Joe Chaney Tele-Meister Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: aude, France Age: 16 Posts: 455 2 Photos	that ikea plank is also our kitchen worktop haha! inspires me to have a go at building a tele, love how its coming a long __________________ If you're not careful, It'll stick to your cheeks, and You'll smell like a native, For a couple of weeks In France

October 31st, 2007, 06:17 PM	#29 (permalink)
tuuur Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: the Netherlands Age: 40 Posts: 1,460 7 Photos	Well, I recorded two soundclips, playing the Tryggvecaster through my Kustom 150h solid state amp, and recording it with Audacity on my laptop. Lesson learned: laptops are not by default fit to record audio, it all sounds somewhat weird. In real life it sounds more lively and sparkly than this... I don't mind Some blues noodling

November 2nd, 2007, 04:36 AM	#30 (permalink)
Shoved BassVIII Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Lima Ohio Age: 27 Posts: 495	I'm lookin foreward to seein this all done

November 2nd, 2007, 04:54 AM	#31 (permalink)
TeleConvert Tele-Holic Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: tennessee Age: 44 Posts: 824 1 Photos	I wish I could build stuff like that. You get mad props. __________________ Now, if you see me drinking bad red wine, Don't worry 'bout this man that you love. Don't you think it's sometimes wise not to grow up --Jagger/Richards

November 2nd, 2007, 08:01 AM	#32 (permalink)
tuuur Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: the Netherlands Age: 40 Posts: 1,460 7 Photos	Now I got the Tryggvecaster temporary functioning for a few days, it's time to collect the mistakes / ugly bits / things I most clearly have to fix. I don't know what came over me during the creation, and fixing of the neckpocket... but my solution is sort of out of whack entirely. I have to insert a strip of wood there to make it look reasonable. Looks like the neck is attached just ever so slightly entirely wrong... it should be tilted backwards instead of like this. A shim would correct that, maybe I should adjust the neckpocket... I don't know yet. The saddles are on their lowest, so the strings could take it I guess. There is some weird bend in the neck that I hope to be able to get out by adjusting the trussrod. The handrouter had a life of its own; and I didn't use a template. Or a guide. therefore, here is a dent... about one mm deep, next to the bout. Ouch!

November 2nd, 2007, 08:02 AM	#33 (permalink)
tuuur Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: the Netherlands Age: 40 Posts: 1,460 7 Photos	At the neck side of the bridge, there is about a mm space where the bridge floats over the body... how could that happen? Possibly the top of the body isn't entirely flat... or I overtightened the screws in the soft wood. The worst kind of nut is the nut with deep incisions, like this one. I'll be making a new one myself.

November 2nd, 2007, 08:14 AM	#34 (permalink)
Buckocaster51 Poster Extraordinaire Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Iowa USA Age: 57 Posts: 7,331 1 Photos	Holy Router Batman! Whenever I try to hand-route something it wanders all over the place. I am impressed with what you have been doing. Some people put small screws in the corners of the leading edge of the bridge to snuggle it down to the top. Might be something to think about. Thanks for sharing. __________________ "If you can't say something nice... don't say nothing at all." - Thumper the Rabbit "An awfully lot of time can be wasted waiting for the right time." - Gunsmoke's Doc Adams

November 2nd, 2007, 09:12 AM	#35 (permalink)
aman Tele-Meister Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: KL, Malaysia Age: 27 Posts: 291	You sir, have just changed my views on buying Ikea planks.... Hmmm..... :)

November 2nd, 2007, 09:22 AM	#36 (permalink)
Bob Marlec Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Brittany Age: 59 Posts: 234	You could only sand the top of the nut, if the bottom is correct (keep it simple!) __________________ P.S. Don't mock my English because i learned it mostly while reading this forum !