Building a T-Style from a historic stump

[cfay]

Hello all!
I am newer to this forum but figured I would post a project I am working on if yall are interested. It is a stump I am making into a Tele.

A brief backstory about this wood: I was one of several chosen by the city of Mobile, Alabama to receive a piece of historic lumber from Bienville Square. This lumber was from 200+ year old oak trees that fell during Hurricane Sally and at the time I didnt know what I was going to do it with it. After letting it dry in the shop for well over a year my wife challenged me to the only logical thing I could make out of this: a guitar.

After digging it off the top shelf in my shop I discovered it had cupped quite a bit (expected). It also had a lot of checking and cracks in the lumber (these trees came down for a reason). I then decided it would need to be milled into smaller "chunks", epoxy filled and remade into a "solid piece" of wood again if it had any hope of being structurally sound. I will add pictures of that process now and see if yall are interested in seeing more. I had to chamber this quite a bit to get into into a playable weight since the raw body with no cap on it yet still weighed well over 9lbs.

Planned specs so far:
-All oak body and neck (historic oak will be on front of Tele with a cap on the back)
-Back is book matched oak from a local lumber mill in Mobile, AL they lost behind their kilns many many years ago after getting it from a torn down cabin.
-The neck will be from the same lumber as above.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Danb541]

Very cool, I'll be watching this thread and look forward to seeing the end result.

 

[bettyseldest]

I think that you might have just started some serious clamp envy, welcome to TDPRI.

 

[brookdalebill]

Very cool!

 

[schmee]

I've been thinking of making one out of this big piece of Cedar burl. I've had it laying around for 20 years and finally chain sawed it last year. Some weird colors in there.

 

[Milspec]

I like the multiple piece look in a tele and that should turn out awesome.

I tore out the pine porch from my home that was built in 1860 by the railroad and built a tele out of the planks. It took a lot of pieces, but I loved the result when I finally finished it.

 

[cfay]

Thanks for the replies yall, here are some more pictures of the body cut out:

 

[cfay]

I like the multiple piece look in a tele and that should turn out awesome.

I tore out the pine porch from my home that was built in 1860 by the railroad and built a tele out of the planks. It took a lot of pieces, but I loved the result when I finally finished it.
View attachment 939764

That came out nice, how much does it weigh?

 

[Milspec]

That came out nice, how much does it weigh?

7 lbs dead even....even with the Baja neck

 

[cfay]

7 lbs dead even....even with the Baja neck

I see, thanks for sharing! This body came in at over 10lbs before I hallowed it out and added a back cap. I did a Gibson style route out on the inside and managed to get the body down to just under 7lbs though with oak back. This is going to be a beast but theres no way around that with this almost petrified and insanely dense oak.

 

[Telekarster]

Clamp pic - It's like my Dad always said "You can never have too many clamps!" LOL!!! Looking really nice man! Good luck on it!

 

[memorex]

Maybe if you could make a Tele out of Long John Silver's peg leg, that would truly be a historic stump.

 

[pippoman]

I've been thinking of making one out of this big piece of Cedar burl. I've had it laying around for 20 years and finally chain sawed it last year. Some weird colors in there.

Do it do it do it do it do it!!!!

 

[cfay]

Clamp pic - It's like my Dad always said "You can never have too many clamps!" LOL!!! Looking really nice man! Good luck on it!

Hah thank you! I would have used more clamps but ran out

 

[Telekarster]

Hah thank you! I would have used more clamps but ran out

There we have it!

 

[stepvan]

Thanks for the replies yall, here are some more pictures of the body cut out:

Love the way you layed out the pieces prior to cutting the body

 

[cfay]

Love the way you layed out the pieces prior to cutting the body

Thank you, was hard to make a gem out of this wood but tried my best to line up grain, color, etc. and hide the less than desirable pieces under the pickguard all while still doing this wood justice. Literally had just enough wood to work with for the body without cap.

I reckon I used nearly half a bottle of the large 30 minute finishing epoxy too in filling all of the cracks and grain filling after but was worth it. Just as I thought I was done I would find another crack, especially when routing out the inside for weight relief. This thing is rock solid now though so should hold well past my time here.

 

[stepvan]

Should be pretty stable for sure

 

[cfay]

She's all done! Everything was done completely by hand with reclaimed oak. The fretboard has custom MOP inlays for the city logo and park.

 

[rezin]

wow great work! It really looks awesome