COMPLETED -- $100 Telecaster Challenge - Palletcaster

$100 Telecaster Challenge - Palletcaster

I'm in... I am not going to take this too seriously and I may not finish, although I will give it my best attempt… but it just sounds like too much fun throwing something together…

How about the Palletcaster ?

I was at work today looking around the recieving dock... The wood is probably not dry enough to be luther quality. I stopped by homey depoe and found some maple I can make a neck out of…

As I understand it the first Tele prototypes were made by Leo using 3/4" boards from amp production and that is why they were 1 1/2" thick. Imma glue me up some of these boards and make a 1 1/2" thick Palletcaster.

 

The pallet on top looks like some nice pine that had 1008 quarts of oil shipped on it... the stuff in the box was nailed to the floor of a 18 wheeler trailer used to block forklifts for shipment. = FREE wood!

 

02-15-09

Well... I took the pallet apart and pulled all the nails from everything... now I got wood...
That's all I got done and then I went to the Sunday blues jam...


sorry bout the bad camera phone picture...


If I fill a few holes I could make a second 2 piece body from this blocking wood...

 

02-16-09

I decided to use the 3 pieces that run front to back on the pallet and not the top or bottom pieces so it is going to be a 4 piece pine body.

I don't have a table saw ... or a bench vise... so I make do with what I have to work with... an old saw my dad left me and a c clamp from harbor freight.


I got the pieces sanded to fit together as best I can with my trusty belt sander.... smeared titebond on all the surfaces, put down some wax paper and clamped it up with some more clamps from harbor freight. All those clamps I bought years ago are coming in handy now...


After a few minutes I scrape off most of the glue squeeze out with a piece of cardboard and flip it over and pull off the wax paper.

 

I been wanting a router... my wood working tools consist of a delta belt sander, a ryobi 9" benchtop bandsaw and a harbor freigh benchtop drill press... and now I got me a used router offa craigslist for $40...

 

Well wednesday 12-18 I got it cut to shape and then on Thursday and Friday I sanded the top and back then routed the outside with a follower bit. It is a little farther along than these pics. I found a piece of maple for the neck that I had left over from making a 6 string banjo neck a few years ago.



I just love woodgrain....

 

I made the hardware from some copper scraps left over from the motorcycle gas tank project.

I should have called it the coppertone-caster...