Phaedros
Tele-Meister
Just enough time for a cup of coffee and a quick burst test on a cutoff piece
It‘s leather dye and amber varnish… not quite there yet
It‘s leather dye and amber varnish… not quite there yet
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Brotherhood ‘23 - First Build - a gnarly LP Junior DC from scraps
- Thread starter Phaedros
- Start date
Rock-Ola
Tele-Meister
Don't know about that. I started using them since it's easy - and cheap - to make one yourself from round stock. Also, I was taught by someone to do it that way
Phaedros
Tele-Meister
This has been busy three hours today!
First off I planed the backside of the neck parallel to the front - I built a little jig from aluminium expo stuff I had lying around
First pass told me how much I needed to take off
Dialed in .5mm (~0.015“) and got evrything nice and flat.
This enabled me to flip the blank over to route the truss rod channel. Again I rigged up the aluminum profiles and shimmed one side a little to get the right amount of tilt.
First pass
Done
Last for today was planing the headstock
Next will have to be nut access and the fretboard then…
First off I planed the backside of the neck parallel to the front - I built a little jig from aluminium expo stuff I had lying around
First pass told me how much I needed to take off
Dialed in .5mm (~0.015“) and got evrything nice and flat.
This enabled me to flip the blank over to route the truss rod channel. Again I rigged up the aluminum profiles and shimmed one side a little to get the right amount of tilt.
First pass
Done
Last for today was planing the headstock
Next will have to be nut access and the fretboard then…
Phaedros
Tele-Meister
OK… one day down just trying to figure out how to get the nut access right.
Finally settled on making a 6mm brass bushing (as thick as the truss rod) and place it down the groove. Then I ground some brass wire to fit my forstner bit alignment hole, put all my bit extenders on and went for it.
Result after some light sanding - not the best but could have been far worse.
You can see here how I wedged the brass bushing down to guide exactly where I needed to be.
A 10mm socket will just fit snugly.
Made a washer and almost came out short
it’s flush now.
Day two was fret markers, as I said I wanted to try fossile ivory. So I cut a blank and turned it down to diameter
Then I superglued them in with black ca and accelerator.
Then I sawed in the fret slots. 123 blocks as sawguides
Used a shim to see when I was at the right depth.
If I intended to make more than two guitars I‘d need to build a nicer jig - this takes forever
Finally settled on making a 6mm brass bushing (as thick as the truss rod) and place it down the groove. Then I ground some brass wire to fit my forstner bit alignment hole, put all my bit extenders on and went for it.
Result after some light sanding - not the best but could have been far worse.
You can see here how I wedged the brass bushing down to guide exactly where I needed to be.
A 10mm socket will just fit snugly.
Made a washer and almost came out short
it’s flush now.Day two was fret markers, as I said I wanted to try fossile ivory. So I cut a blank and turned it down to diameter
Then I superglued them in with black ca and accelerator.
Then I sawed in the fret slots. 123 blocks as sawguides
Used a shim to see when I was at the right depth.
If I intended to make more than two guitars I‘d need to build a nicer jig - this takes forever
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Phaedros
Tele-Meister
Phaedros
Tele-Meister
Another short one… glue up went good, no sliding, no gaps. Started roughing out the neck.
First I took off the bulk from the back with my beltsander, then switched to paper.
Checked if the truss rod works too - for leveling I tightened it a quarter turn to give me some adjustment in both directions when I’m done.
Next will be final shaping and sanding, then It’ll be off to the body routing.
First I took off the bulk from the back with my beltsander, then switched to paper.
Checked if the truss rod works too - for leveling I tightened it a quarter turn to give me some adjustment in both directions when I’m done.
Next will be final shaping and sanding, then It’ll be off to the body routing.
Phaedros
Tele-Meister
Just had the mailman at my steps… now almost all the parts are assembled. I‘m not decided yet wether to put on a dogear cover or not.
Can’t wait now to get her up and running
Can’t wait now to get her up and running
Phaedros
Tele-Meister
Quality control is silently judging the surfaces
Better…
Heel in progress
Getting there… still some rough spots but I’m confident now that I‘ll get it done
Better…
Heel in progress
Getting there… still some rough spots but I’m confident now that I‘ll get it done
RickyRicardo
Friend of Leo's
He's saying "I don't know......."
Looks great!
Looks great!
Phaedros
Tele-Meister
@RickyRicardo thank you! It’s her actually - she’s the wise old lady of the pack keeping everything in order. He‘s the big boy (135lbs) doing all the relicing around the house
Phaedros
Tele-Meister
A lot done but little pictures of the process. Today I had a day off so I slammed in the frets, got everything level, crowned and polished.
Then I routed the neck cavity
First I aligned the body to my table, scribed everything with centerlines and then adjusted the neck accordingly.
Drilled out the pocket with a forstner bit then routed to finished dimensions
Next was tweaking the heel to get a nice fit to the rather uneven surface of the body
Theres a bit of gap to adress
But other than that, I’m pretty happy
Any tips on how to measure in the bridge position? This might be my last big chance for a major screw up, so I‘d like to make it count
Then I routed the neck cavity
First I aligned the body to my table, scribed everything with centerlines and then adjusted the neck accordingly.
Drilled out the pocket with a forstner bit then routed to finished dimensions
Next was tweaking the heel to get a nice fit to the rather uneven surface of the body
Theres a bit of gap to adress
But other than that, I’m pretty happy
Any tips on how to measure in the bridge position? This might be my last big chance for a major screw up, so I‘d like to make it count
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Here you go:
www.tdpri.com
Positioning the bridge on a new build
Hello all, some assistance with bridge position in relation to scale length, saddle position for intonation and the notch in the pickguard. In the photos below please note the line marked scale (this is 25.5" scale length from nut) and also the position of the first saddle for which I adjusted...
Phaedros
Tele-Meister
@guitarbuilder thank you - That was just the headstart I needed to get to work!
After dinner I went back to the shop, I was dying to do the glue up. So I wiped on charcoal colored dye to the sides and created a light burst. Good thing about this guitar is, that nothing needs to be overly pretty
Then I got the glue up done and started educating myself on bridge placement while the glue dried.
Before drilling the posts, I wiped on a first coat of boiled linseed oil.
Just had to mount the tuners and string her up.
Started the control cavity but it was too late to start the router with the whole house asleep, so I called it quits…
The heel in detail
back of the headstock.
Right now the action is super high, because I haven’t filed down the nut but this thing sounds way better than I had expected it to do for a first time project - tuned it down to G and played some Keef, now I really hope I can get it done tomorrow
To do:
- pickup cavity
- control cavity and cover
- pickguard, jackplate and trussrod cover
- wiring
- nut and intonation
After dinner I went back to the shop, I was dying to do the glue up. So I wiped on charcoal colored dye to the sides and created a light burst. Good thing about this guitar is, that nothing needs to be overly pretty
Then I got the glue up done and started educating myself on bridge placement while the glue dried.
Before drilling the posts, I wiped on a first coat of boiled linseed oil.
Just had to mount the tuners and string her up.
Started the control cavity but it was too late to start the router with the whole house asleep, so I called it quits…
The heel in detail
back of the headstock.
Right now the action is super high, because I haven’t filed down the nut but this thing sounds way better than I had expected it to do for a first time project - tuned it down to G and played some Keef, now I really hope I can get it done tomorrow
To do:
- pickup cavity
- control cavity and cover
- pickguard, jackplate and trussrod cover
- wiring
- nut and intonation
AAT65
Poster Extraordinaire
The gnarliness of that body is inspirational!! Looking good… a real ready-to-work guitar…
Phaedros
Tele-Meister
@AAT65 thank you very much! It really turned out just the way I had imagined… a bit like being chewed out of a barn door
@SammyC yep, that’s quite a heel to carry… but have you seen my strap buttons?
You’re absolutely right though, I could have shaved off a good chunk of wood there - and will in any future build.
Just a quick update:
Finished everything other than a few more coats of oil, the nut and intonation.
I’m pretty happy today
@SammyC yep, that’s quite a heel to carry… but have you seen my strap buttons?
You’re absolutely right though, I could have shaved off a good chunk of wood there - and will in any future build.
Just a quick update:
Finished everything other than a few more coats of oil, the nut and intonation.
I’m pretty happy today
Now you just need to replace the pickup cover with a dog ear one... YMMV.
. YMMV.
Phaedros
Tele-Meister
@guitarbuilderI will - already ordered one!
thankyouguitar
Tele-Holic
Thank you for documenting your process! I really enjoyed going along for the ride. Guitar looks amazing!! I will watch for any sound samples . .@AAT65 thank you very much! It really turned out just the way I had imagined… a bit like being chewed out of a barn door
@SammyC yep, that’s quite a heel to carry… but have you seen my strap buttons?
You’re absolutely right though, I could have shaved off a good chunk of wood there - and will in any future build.
Just a quick update:
Finished everything other than a few more coats of oil, the nut and intonation.
I’m pretty happy today
View attachment 1103389
Phaedros
Tele-Meister
@thankyouguitar you‘re very welcome! Actually I learned almost every little thing I know about building a guitar right here through the documentations other people did about their builds. I skipped showing quite a few steps and missed many opportunities to take pictures of complicated processes because I was so excited to carry on - so it really makes me happy if you liked it so far.
Today I battled the intonation and even though I set the bridge quite a few notches back to compensate in the first place I‘ll have to wring every last fraction of inches out of it to get to a cleanly intonated guitar. It’s a precompensated bridge and I can file the saddles back a bit to not have the bridge sitting all the way to the end of the intonation screws.
The nut was carved from the same fossile ivory (woolly mammoth) as the dots are. I found it to be not too brittle to try and so far it looks great.
As far as sound goes I‘m just getting used to dialing it in and finding proper amp settings. On a clean, neutral setting with vol and tone ripped open she sounds a bit like a Telecaster on steroids. I‘ll record a few bits as soon as I‘m confident not to toast your ears
Today I battled the intonation and even though I set the bridge quite a few notches back to compensate in the first place I‘ll have to wring every last fraction of inches out of it to get to a cleanly intonated guitar. It’s a precompensated bridge and I can file the saddles back a bit to not have the bridge sitting all the way to the end of the intonation screws.
The nut was carved from the same fossile ivory (woolly mammoth) as the dots are. I found it to be not too brittle to try and so far it looks great.
As far as sound goes I‘m just getting used to dialing it in and finding proper amp settings. On a clean, neutral setting with vol and tone ripped open she sounds a bit like a Telecaster on steroids. I‘ll record a few bits as soon as I‘m confident not to toast your ears
