Done here... you may delete if desired.

[dsutton24]

It started like so many projects... good intentions, disappointment, perseverance, eventual victory. I've been a 12 string player for most of my life, and have a few including a gorgeous Electric XII Strat. So, why not build a Telecaster?

Why not, indeed?

Easy. I bought an Electric XII neck from eBay. When I got it, I discovered why I stole it dirt cheap. It wasn't an Electric XII neck, it was a Villager neck. That doesn't sound so bad at first, but this thing had had at least four different sets of tuners during its life, and had somehow lost two frets. Yep, lopped off just below the 19th fret. How in the heck did this happen? This thing was a wreck. It was basically sound, the truss rod was good and it had very little fret wear, but it sure as heck wasn't going to be a 'nice' project.

What to do? I toyed with all sorts of ways to use the neck, and figured it would make a nice project to learn the things I needed to know for a 12 string Telecaster build. The neck was a 25.5" neck, so using it as-is would mean moving a Tele bridge back so far that it would look really odd. What about a Telemaster? There's plenty of lumber behind the usual bridge placement.

Then came inspiration in the form of a wide piece of poplar from the sawmill:




Nice and wide, but only one inch thick. Easy, just glue some 3/4" poplar stock to the back.


Some cutting and rough sanding:




A few routes:




And a quick mockup. It might be a guitar:




The end result:



There are a lot of steps missing, I'm not sure where the intervening photos are. It's also obvious that it's time to upgrade the Pawn Shop Special camera!

Some firsts for me. I've never done an offset waist guitar, never done any contours, never cut a 12 string nut (not bad, but they do chip easily -- I'll probably use Tusq on the Tele), first transparent finish (I'd give it an 8 out of 10, not a bad first try). and of course, my first 12 string build.

All things considered, I think it's okay!

[kidmo]

Nice one! Love that shade of blue!