A kids telecaster

[scottser]

Get her one of those cheap mandocasters and change the strings to suit.

Harley Benton MA-500 VS Bluegrass Series

Electric Mandolin Body: Basswood, Neck: Maple, Neck attachment: Bolt-on, Fretboard: Amaranth, Fretboard inlays: Dot, Neck profile: Rounded V, Bindings: Cream-coloured, 20 Frets, Scale: 350 mm, Nut width: 28 mm, Double action truss rod, Pickups: 2...

www.thomann.de

 

[yegbert]

Ukelele.

I have a mini strat style, is sounds weird tuned to 440, so I tune it to a higher pitch but not that good sounding there either. So it’s just a novelty.

 

[alexlaguna29]

I saw someone using P-bass pickups for that exact purpose

 

[crazydave911]

Get her one of those cheap mandocasters and change the strings to suit.

Harley Benton MA-500 VS Bluegrass Series

Electric Mandolin Body: Basswood, Neck: Maple, Neck attachment: Bolt-on, Fretboard: Amaranth, Fretboard inlays: Dot, Neck profile: Rounded V, Bindings: Cream-coloured, 20 Frets, Scale: 350 mm, Nut width: 28 mm, Double action truss rod, Pickups: 2...

www.thomann.de

Most of these sound better with the pickups in series as humbucker

I saw someone using P-bass pickups for that exact purpose

Somewhat the same here, and entire P Bass pickup which is two in series, noiseless but strong

 

[Phaedros]

OK - deal is done
Went to MBG and ordered the loaded bridge and a set of tuners.
Had a little talk to the tiny one and she absolutely insisted on a sparkle top telecaster… champagne to be exact. Good thing there’s loads of info on here!

 

[Greplington]

I built 2 electric "Lelecasters" for my 2 year old and 16 year old. I used a cigar box pickup and string-through bridge, and the top 4 strings for an electric guitar, with standard soprano uke tuning. I designed the body template myself based off dimensions from a soprano uke plan. They sound wicked through the amp with a little distortion...

 

[bebopbrain]

I play 4 string tenor almost exclusively. Rail pickups work well for wide string spacing.

Crazy cheap: Epiphone Pro-bucker FB-720 firebird. ($20/pair at auction).
Excellent: Wilde/Bill Lawrence twin blade (L-90, L45-S, etc).
Primo: Charlie Christian

I like single string bridges for flexibility, but they can be expensive.

The existing nut (and tuners) can be OK if you file in more slots for the wide spacing.

 

[Phaedros]

We‘re going hot!

Just struck a deal on a nice little piece of maple for the neck, found out my chunk of rosewood will fit the fretboard and received notice that the bridge assembly and tuners are already in Germany.
Also found a can of toy grade, waterbased clear in my stash that will bind the flakes nicely.
In my little box of guitar parts I have an old S-type body with small diameter pots that will go well into the smaller cavity. I’ll salvage the strap buttons there too.

Still needed:

- champagne pink flakes
- frets
- knobs
- pearloid pickguard material for the guard and fretmarkers
- knobs which I might turn and plate myself
- control plate (diy as well)
- small threeway switch
- thin round stock for the trussrod

This is what I’m shooting for (minus binding and neck pickup and with a pearl pickguard)

Picture taken from a sold reverb listing



@bebopbrain thank you! I‘d love to make a build with a Charlie Christian once - those are fascinating! Always admired Ted Greenes Tele.

 

[RickyRicardo]

I buy all my metallics from this site if you can't find it there.
Paint With Pearl

I did a gold metal flake Tele last year and to be honest I won't ever spray flake again. It goes everywhere..

 

[Phaedros]

@RickyRicardo thank you for the link! I‘m already thinking hard about how to contain the glitterness

Think I’ll go for Hemway Glitter - they offer a very nice rose gold in all sizes

Mega Craft Glitter Shaker

Add a mega sparkle to your crafts. Make all of your crafts shine bright! This MEGA Shaker is packed with loads of vibrant glitter, making it ideal for schools, craft clubs and home art supplies. Specially designed with crafters in mind, this craft glitter is made to stick to glass decorations...

www.hemway.com

The parts have arrived!

The seller who offered me the maple for scraps even sent some flame. I’ll get two necks out of the blank too!

 

[Oscar Stern]

A thing to consider on the stewmac mini kit is that it's tuned an octave higher. I found it incredibly difficult to play even with my finger strength. I put the lightest strings I could find on it and it was still pretty tough to fret strings. So then I tried the heaviest strings I could find and tuned it standard, and while it's very easy to play now, it's really hard to intonate and keep in tune.

Just something to consider.

I guess for the Octave Higher Tuning you'd need 6s from Octave4Plus

 

[Phaedros]

Let’s go then! Put on my earphones to blast some Sticky Fingers and used up my breakfast break for a bit of shoptime.

Finished the neck template and found the best orientation to get two blanks out of the maple. One a bit more figured for the pink glitter tele with the rosewood fretboard an one with minimal flame for the second neck I plan on keeping all maple (If I should find a mini humbucker this could become a micro-micawber )

Raw cut, both maple and rosewood

Raw cut the body out of an old plank of unknown wood that I had in my shop for twelve years now… it‘s light and resonant and doesn’t seem too soft. Propably pine or sth. similar.

Jointed with the tracksaw and glued up

I don’t want to go back to work now…

 

[Phaedros]

Routed the outlines, planed everything and glued on the fretboard.

Then I went ahead and routed the headstock with a ballnose router bit.

Aaaaaaaand…

totally forgot to add the truss rod had a phone call in between and my wife asking me to hold the ladder while she cut some plant in the garden…

After a few minutes of cursing and contemplating to try without, I decided I‘ll add a skunkstripe and a square anchor that sits a bit deeper in the neck and still keep it a heel adjust.
I’ll try and show in detail as soon as I’m at it.

 

[envirodat]

love the pups and the guitar work

 

[dougbgt6]

i bought grandson No.1 a 3/4 size Squier Mustang and Number No.2 a 3/4 size Squier Strat. No.1 granddaughter has a 3/4 size acoustic and No.2 granddaughter a ukulele. Grandsons No.3 & 5 aren't ready yet and grandson No.4 wants a blue bass, I think Squier do one. This is costing me money!

Doug

 

[Phaedros]

@envirodat thank you!

@dougbgt6 looks like Squier should give you a factory discount! To me it all started when I gave a good friends son (then 10) an old strat… now he‘s 18 and has his own band. Still playing the old guitar I gave him (better than me I‘m afraid)

This easter evening the world’s best wife agreed to bring the little one to bed and I was able to squeeze in a couple of minutes of (quiet) shoptime.

Used it to measure everything carefully, lay out centerlines and fabricate a neck pocket template.
Problem was that the radius of my copying bit is larger than the outside radius of the neck‘s heel corners. So I‘ll have to use the ring insert in my router, a small bit without bearing and calculate for the difference.

This is what I ended up with.
The corner radius of the neck is 8mm so I can just use straight lines. The template might be a hair tight so I can adjust the fit a little.

If you look closely you can see that I left the neck area on the body oversized. I’ll install the neck first and then run my bit against it to get perfect fit and alignment. After that I’ll update the templates directly off the body and neck.

Now there’s another, more aesthetic problem I ran into… the bridge is looking humongous on that little body.
I measured carefully and if I go and build my own, I can shave 3/8“ in width and almost 7/8“ in length. Everything left of the stock bridge would be the screws then - not settled if I put myself through this. I‘ll build the control plate first and go from there.

 

[Phaedros]

The neck pocket jig worked like a charm. I routed four test pockets and took off material/ superglued paper strips and sanded the template to final dimensions.

There’s little friction between neck and pocket so I’m sure that finish buildup will not affect the fit in any way.

Next will be neck plate and bolting on the neck to rout the body to final dimension

Edit: size comparison to my strat (it’s sooo cute )

 

[Cpb2020]

Nice work.

I suggest in the photos from here on out that you put peppa pig more in the limelight, as your “assistant.”

 

[crazydave911]

The neck pocket jig worked like a charm. I routed four test pockets and took off material/ superglued paper strips and sanded the template to final dimensions.

View attachment 1107796

View attachment 1107794

There’s little friction between neck and pocket so I’m sure that finish buildup will not affect the fit in any way.

Next will be neck plate and bolting on the neck to rout the body to final dimension

Edit: size comparison to my strat (it’s sooo cute )
View attachment 1107801

What's your fretscale on that?

 

[Phaedros]

@Cpb2020 keen eyes you have I‘ll see what I can do… Peppa is in charge of the night time routine right now!

@crazydave911 it‘s 43cm, exactly tenor uke. My plan is to tune standard dgbe on light strings and see if this works…

Neck plate in the works - made of high end german knife steel