**Hmmm......... Think I'll Build A Thinline.**

[jwells393]

A year or two back, I bought some really heavy ash on ebay. I knew this would be way to heavy if made into a solid body so I've been thinking about making it into a Thinline for some time now. It won't be your typical Thinline. You can buy typical Thinlines. I own typical Thinlines. My building philosophy is to build guitars that aren't readily available off the shelf.

To give you an idea how heavy this ash is, after I planed the glued-up body blank to 1 1/2 in. thick, cut and routed the shape, it weighed 6 lbs. 3 oz.

This project will have a contoured back. First step was to do a pencil rubbing from another Telecaster that had the contour.

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......The contour line was cut out and traced onto the back of the body blank.

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I then go after it with a 7 in. disk sander. During this stage I dropped the sander and broke the side handle. I finished without it. Looks like a job for some J-B Weld.

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Contour roughed out. An orbital sander will smooth that right out.

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[Daddydex]

You Go Jack!

This should be fun. Lots of pics please.

Dan

[voided3]

While frowned upon typically, you could always swimming pool route the guitar as well. That alone can really cut down some weight!

[riggergreg]

Oh Goody!! Here we go again....

[milkshape]

Cool! Now I get to see how someone with talent shapes the belly cut!
The drawing in the (and I know I'm not gonna spell it right) Duchossoir strat book showed it as a radius, so I picked two points on the
edge that seemed right and drew an arc with a pencil and a string. I also drew an eyeballed line on the side. Did you figure keeping the grinder at a constant angle would make it come out right?

[shoretyus]

Them is serious tools

I contoured a back the other day with really high tech tools ... rasp, file, scrapers. It's the first time to feel the contour.. I like it.

[boris bubbanov]

What about a real belly shaped belly cut, I mean, extending half way across the back of the guitar?

No, my belly isn't that big either, nevermind.

Eager to see this, the wood sure looks good.


Bubban0v


Wait, you could core it out like a baseball bat! Cork, anyone?

[jwells393]

When I originally made my template for routing the chambers, I took measurement from a MIJ '69 Thinline. It appeared to have a 5 in. solid section down the middle. I modified my template for this one and widened the chambers by a half inch. I pre-drilled the chambers with a Forstner bit and proceded with the routing.

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I decided to add an F-hole to my Telecaster template. I made the original F-hole template from a pencil rubbing.

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I decided to remove a little extra wood between the pickups. I made this temporary template, routed one side, flipped it over and did the other side.

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[tdowns]

**Hmmmm.....I'm up for another exciting thread!! Go Jack!!!

[HOBBSTER01]

Lookin too good.
BTW,where did you get your templates?

[martino]

Jack I got a wild idea!
what if you took off the plexi top and back
flip them over and spray the underside of the plexi with Candy Color!
then paint everthing under the candy plexi metalic silver! yes/no?

[Nick JD]

What's going to cap that leaden wood, Jack? Hmmmm...

[jwells393]

Originally Posted by martino

Jack I got a wild idea!
what if you took off the plexi top and back
flip them over and spray the underside of the plexi with Candy Color!
then paint everthing under the candy plexi metalic silver! yes/no?

Hmmm........... I think you may be referring to my other project........... now complete..........which has faded into oblivion ..... probably on page 3 or 4 by now............... pushed aside by more interesting threads asking pickguard color advice and such.

NickJD..............I'm thinking of putting this 1/4 in. maple top on it. However the pieces are cupped a little ....... bowed from side to side. Got to figure how to glue them together. Almost wish I hadn't removed the wood between the pickups. I lost some glueing area.

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The body has gone from 6 lbs. 3 oz. to 3 lbs. 13 oz. Of course the top will add some...........additional routing will remove some. It will probably be somewhere in the 4 to 5 lb. range.

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[d-rock]

looks awesome. You do some of the cleanest routing.

[WisconsinStrings]

Originally Posted by jwells393

How did you do the inside of the belly cut? Nice work.

I'm turning the idea of a thinline around in my head. I'm following this thread with interest.

[jwells393]

Inside belly cut. In the picture below you see a temporary template that's taped to the back while I routed the rest of that chamber to the full depth.

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I pulled it out, cut it back 3/8 in., put it back in and routed again at a shallower depth. I repeated this a couple of times creating a terraced area. I got involved with this part and forgot to take a picture of the terraces. Here are the chisels, rasps and scrapers I used to smooth out the terraces.

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Here's the glue-up of the maple top. The glue joint is clamped between two solid blocks. Wax paper between blocks and the top so it isn't glued to the blocks.

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[Tom S]

Hey Jack, another stellar project under way I see!

Originally Posted by jwells393

Hmmm........... I think you may be referring to my other project........... now complete..........which has faded into oblivion ..... probably on page 3 or 4 by now............... pushed aside by more interesting threads asking pickguard color advice and such.

Well, it wasn't made out of pine, and didn't look like every other telecaster...so therefore, little interest. I would suggest that you go back and insert some wood-look contact paper under the acrylic, then slap a black pickguard on it.

Hey, real nice job with the contouring of that chamber around the tummy cut. I just left mine with the terraces...too lazy!



But you're a much finer craftsman than I. Btw, nice collection of rasps you have there!

You know, those cupped boards are a little worrisome, aren't they? I'm sure you know this, but you'd be better off to try to correct that (as much as possible) before you true the edges. Otherwise, your straight-edge joint might not remain that way. It's going to be pretty risky trying to get the glue to keep those board flat, since you have so little glue area...especially where you need it most. I'm assuming the concave side is going towards the body, but either way, it's an issue.

You might try some steam and appropriately placed clamping cauls for a day or so to see if you can eliminate the cup. I have about 5 sets of bookmatched spruce that all have a little cupping, so I'm going to be really interested in whatever you do here.

EDIT: Oops, I realized after posting that you already glued up the boards for the top. How did you handle truing the edges for the joint with the cupped boards? Please post how that joint worked out, and how you dealt with the cupping!

[jwells393]

But you're a much finer craftsman than I.

Thanks Tom but not necessarily true. I'm just an old guy doing the best I can. I put in the extra time removing the terraces since this is going to have an F-hole

When I jointed the glueing edges, I pressed the piece low against the jointer fence ............ pressed the part of the wood near the glueing edge hard against the fence so the jointed edge would be perpendicular to that part of the boards. It appears to have worked out.

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Here's the cupping. The piece is flexible enough that it shouldn't be a problem. I'll drill the template mounting holes into this piece and screw it to the body during the glueing process so slipping won't be a problem. Got to see how many clamps I can come up with.

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[Buckocaster51]

Jack, how are you going to handle the edges of the maple? Real binding? Faux binding? Rhinstones?

Keep those workshop photos coming. Sunlight AND a warm place to work...I'm living through you today!

[jwells393]

Faux wood binding is what I'm thinking at this point. Never done that before.

[WisconsinStrings]

I vote Rhinstones!

What's the thickness of the maple top?

[Tom S]

Jack, thanks for the info on the top. It looks as though you have things well in hand. That is fairly significant cupping. I see now that the convex side will be glued. Being overly cautious, I might consider using two screws in each pickup cavity location, one on either side of the joint, so that the joint cant separate under pressure. Maybe that's overkill. But obviously you know how much flexibility you have in the top, so I'm sure you know what you're doing.

I've seen your collection of clamps, so you ought to be fine in that respect.

I also agree with Steve...I am so freakin' jealous that your have a dedicated shop in nice, warm weather! All I can do is think about projects right now. Although we're having a very mild winter (so far!), it's starting to get cold again. Too cold to pull the cars out and set up the garage. I'm definitely moving to a warmer location.

Btw, I've seen your faux binding tests, and I know you can do this as well as any other guitar I've seen with that technique. Looking forward to seeing it.

Originally Posted by jwells393

Thanks Tom but not necessarily true. I'm just an old guy doing the best I can.

Your humility is one of the things that makes your posts and builds so enjoyable, but having seen the many examples of your work, I beg to differ. IMHO, there are only a handful of people on this site who are talented and skilled enough to produce really professional results (myself not included). Among them even fewer are imaginative enough to even attempt anything out of the mainstream, let alone pull it off with such aplomb.

[CCreyeder]

Nice work!

I stumbled across this board about a week ago and have been so busy being mesmorized by all the build threads that I havent gotten around to introducing myself-- but I will later lol.. Hec