First Tele Neck Build

[Hairy Tele]

Hi everyone, I've recently joined this forum with the hopes of building my own Telecaster neck!
Updates will probably be slow, but I'm hoping to get tips from some seasoned builders as I go!

I did a 3 month course years ago on how to build a (Acoustic) Guitar. It was a fantastic experience, but I unfortunately didn't keep it up (work commitments etc.).

I have a beat up 00's Telecaster, so I thought why not build a new one?! Starting with the neck!

I found a pdf for a Telecaster neck, and I have printed off a template/blueprint.

My neighbour has given me some off cuts of what he thinks is Douglas Fir, and this is what i'm going to build my first neck and fretboard with. It won't be used for playing, and it won't have a truss rod, fret wire, or machine heads. It's literally just to see if I can build a well shaped neck with fret slots etc, before I move on to a more expensive wood!

At the moment, the equipment I have is:
A WhetStone
Record Plain
Circular Saw
Wood (Douglas Fir)
Router

I will attach pictures of my first attempt to cut out my template today! I got too close to some of the straighter lines, but I thought the headstock came out pretty good to be honest! I almost sanded the template down, but I need to make another one so I didn't think it was worth the time.

Also, I'm thinking of purchasing a bench sander or sanding station now, if anyone has any recommendations?

Hope you enjoy.

Cheers,
Hairy.

 

[pipthepilot]

Hi Hairy,

Tele necks are simple and a great choice for practice.

This is my process with some recommendation for tools and jigs

Create an MDF template for the basic neck outline. I use 2mm alignment pins to line up the neck and FB. I have two holes in the template, one below the dot on the 12th fret and one right in the centre of the nut slot, this is really useful.

Plane the neck blank and fretboard blank to size. I aim for a 20mm neck and 6mm fretboard thickness.
Draw a centre line on the neck blank and draw around you template before marking the truss rod location.
Route the truss rod channel. I have a simple jig that my router fits in that aligns to the centre line of the neck blank. I know you said your not using one for this build but when you do, I recommend a dual action rod like this Northwest Guitars Dual Action Guitar Truss Rod 440mm.
Rough cut the neck shape then use a trim router bit with bearing to cut out the neck shape. You'll be tempted to sand it at this point, Don't! wait until later! I highly recommend build a router table for this, well worth the time and effort.
At this point you can drill the tuning holes.
Cut the fret slots in the FB blank. I built the blow jig for this.

I have an MDF template with notches that match the fret positions that I use with this jig. I attache my fretboard to the template and then the notches line up with a pin in the jig so I can cut a slot, move to the next notch and cut the next slot etc. Important tip: Especially if you're using a dark fretboard like ebony or rosewood, keep the dust from the slotting, it comes in handy to mix with superglue for filling gaps.

This is one of my necks, the truss rod, fretboard and neck are ready to glue together.


Install the truss rod, I use a dab of silicone sealer at the ends and centre to ensure no rattle later.
Using the alignment pins I mentioned earlier, glue the fret board to the neck.
When the glues set, use the trim router to trim the fretboard to the neck shape.
Next, mark the headstock thickness then using a saw, make a cut parallel to the face along your marking line.
With a chisel, I rough shape the transition curve to the headstock face.
At this point, it is really helpful to have an spindle sander, I have a cheap Triton one from ScrewFix. I clamp a piece of plywood to the top and use it as a fence to sand the headstock face and refine the transition curve.


Next is carving the neck. I draw out the shape of the neck before I start and work out where I can make a 45 degree line to start the carve.

In the image Above, you can see if I mark 15mm on the side and bottom it forms a 45 degree line. I then use a Shinto rasp to cut this 45 degree line the length of the neck. I would say the Shinto rasp is essential.
Next I use a chisel to cut the head and heel transition carves.

I then use a round file to further refine the carve before switching to sandpaper for final shape.
At this point I drill and glue the dots on the side and front. This is where the dust, I told you to save earlier comes in handy.

This is where I sand the fretboard radius, a radius sanding block is another essential tools.
Now final sand and the the neck is done, apart from fretting which is another load of steps

I like to fine sand and finish the fretboards at this stage before the frets go in. For rosewood necks I mask the sides and then use oil to finish them. On the ones in the picture I experimented with using Rubio Monocoat to finish them and I love how they turned out.


Hope you find this useful.

 

[Hairy Tele]

Hi Hairy,

Tele necks are simple and a great choice for practice.

This is my process with some recommendation for tools and jigs

Create an MDF template for the basic neck outline. I use 2mm alignment pins to line up the neck and FB. I have two holes in the template, one below the dot on the 12th fret and one right in the centre of the nut slot, this is really useful.

Plane the neck blank and fretboard blank to size. I aim for a 20mm neck and 6mm fretboard thickness.
Draw a centre line on the neck blank and draw around you template before marking the truss rod location.
Route the truss rod channel. I have a simple jig that my router fits in that aligns to the centre line of the neck blank. I know you said your not using one for this build but when you do, I recommend a dual action rod like this Northwest Guitars Dual Action Guitar Truss Rod 440mm.
Rough cut the neck shape then use a trim router bit with bearing to cut out the neck shape. You'll be tempted to sand it at this point, Don't wait until later! I highly recommend build a router table for this, well worth the time and effort.
At this point you can drill the tuning holes.
Cut the fret slots in the FB blank. I built the blow jig for this.
View attachment 1057936
I have an MDF template with notches that match the fret positions that I use with this jig. I attache my fretboard to the template and then the notches line up with a pin in the jig so I can cut a slot, move to the next notch and cut the next slot etc. Important tip: Especially if you're using a dark fretboard like ebony or rosewood, keep the dust from the slotting, it comes in handy to mix with superglue for filling gaps.

This is one of my necks, the truss rod, fretboard and neck are ready to glue together.
View attachment 1057939

Install the truss rod, I use a dab of silicone sealer at the ends and centre to ensure no rattle later.
Using the alignment pins I mentioned earlier, glue the fret board to the neck.
When the glues set, use the trim router to trim the fretboard to the neck shape.
Next, mark the headstock thickness then using a saw, make a cut parallel to the face along your marking line.
With a chisel, I rough shape the transition curve to the headstock face.
At this point, it is really helpful to have an spindle sander, I have a cheap Triton one from ScrewFix. I clamp a piece of plywood to the top and use it as a fence to sand the headstock face and refine the transition curve.
View attachment 1057940

Next is carving the neck. I draw out the shape of the neck before I start and work out where I can make a 45 degree line to start the carve.
View attachment 1057943
In the image Above, you can see if I mark 15mm on the side and bottom it forms a 45 degree line. I then use a Shinto rasp to cut this 45 degree line the length of the neck. I would say the Shinto rasp is essential.
Next I use a chisel to cut the head and heel transition carves.
View attachment 1057947
I then use a round file to further refine the carve before switching to sandpaper for final shape.
At this point I drill and glue the dots on the side and front. This is where the dust, I told you to save earlier comes in handy.
View attachment 1057948
This is where I sand the fretboard radius, a radius sanding block is another essential tools.
Now final sand and the the neck is done, apart from fretting which is another load of steps

I like to fine sand and finish the fretboards at this stage before the frets go in. For rosewood necks I mask the sides and then use oil to finish them. On the ones in the picture I experimented with using Rubio Monocoat to finish them and I love how they turned out.
View attachment 1057949

Hope you find this useful.

Wow, thank you so much for taking the time to write all of this information. I just read through it all, and I can tell that it's going to be a huge help in building my neck.

I've definitely found the right forum to help me.

Do you know if my Bosch router can be flipped upside down to be used as a table router? Or is it best to buy a separate unit? Any recommendations on where to buy trim router bits with a bearing? I'm new to the router world, so any advice would be great.

Cheers,
Jon.

 

[guitarbuilder]

Some have found these useful. I'd suggest you square up your neck wood and rout the truss rod slot as step one. Have your truss rod in front of you so you can fit it before moving on. Then determine the peghead angle for tuners and cut and sand that surface. This will give you a registration surface to hold against the fence on a drill press for drilling the holes in line. There are lots of ways to get to the end result. I've made all the mistakes over the 4 decades of doing this. These threads show a relatively simple process that works for many.

For the record, pattern routing a peghead can lead to tear out. Cutting and sanding to the line....the old school way...eliminates that part of the tear out anyway. There are a number of great build threads on the main HD page. We used to have contests (challenges) and you will find a bunch of different approaches. I'd encourage you to read a bunch and see the common mistakes.

Let's make a neck!

Since many of my threads are essentially useless now due to photo blackmail, I thought I'd start a new one while I make a neck that I need for a build. This will be a maple two piece bolt on neck with a hotrod truss rod. I went to order a hotrod and saw they were back ordered, so I...

www.tdpri.com

Let's make a neck ( volume 2)

This one will be kind of LP single cut like, which is my favorite kind of guitar to play. My first American made guitar was a Gibson LP Custom in the mid 1970's. I've had LPs and variants ever since. Thanks go to Leslie West, Paul Kossoff, Tom Sholz, Peter Frampton, and all the others 70's...

www.tdpri.com

Let's make a neck ( volume 3)

I decided I'd glue the fretboard on first and then do the taper and peghead operations. I removed all the tape and put 3 dabs of caulk under the rod.

www.tdpri.com

 

[pipthepilot]

Wow, thank you so much for taking the time to write all of this information. I just read through it all, and I can tell that it's going to be a huge help in building my neck.

I've definitely found the right forum to help me.

Do you know if my Bosch router can be flipped upside down to be used as a table router? Or is it best to buy a separate unit? Any recommendations on where to buy trim router bits with a bearing? I'm new to the router world, so any advice would be great.

Cheers,
Jon.

Hi Jon,

No problem, I'm glad it's helpful.

Regarding the router, I'm not familiar with the Bosch but I'm sure you will be able to use it. If it has a screw on plastic base, which most do, you can make a simple plate to screw in it. For my first table, I used a 5mm piece of acrylic sheet, about 20cm by 20cm square. I cut a 30mm hole in the middle and drilled and countersunk 4 holes to screw in the router base. Then cut a hole and mounted it on my workbench.

As for router bits, Axminster tools is one place. You need something like this Axcaliber Flush Trim Cutters Top Bearing | Axminster Tools with a top bearing. When this is fitted in the router and mounted upside down in a router table, the bearing is at the bottom. I adhere the template to the neck blank with double sided tape. With the template at the bottom, the template will run up against the bearing. Just remember as the router is now up the other way, you need to think about the direction of travel. Usually, with the router bit on the opposite site of the work piece to you, you will move the work piece from Right to Left.

Regards,
Philip

 

[eallen]

Just a word of router caution, I learned 1st hand, a bit spinning at 20,000 rpm will eat flesh far easier than wood! Read up on router safety before proceeding & follow it!

 

[epizootics]

Hi Hairy,

Tele necks are simple and a great choice for practice.

This is my process with some recommendation for tools and jigs

Create an MDF template for the basic neck outline. I use 2mm alignment pins to line up the neck and FB. I have two holes in the template, one below the dot on the 12th fret and one right in the centre of the nut slot, this is really useful.

Plane the neck blank and fretboard blank to size. I aim for a 20mm neck and 6mm fretboard thickness.
Draw a centre line on the neck blank and draw around you template before marking the truss rod location.
Route the truss rod channel. I have a simple jig that my router fits in that aligns to the centre line of the neck blank. I know you said your not using one for this build but when you do, I recommend a dual action rod like this Northwest Guitars Dual Action Guitar Truss Rod 440mm.
Rough cut the neck shape then use a trim router bit with bearing to cut out the neck shape. You'll be tempted to sand it at this point, Don't! wait until later! I highly recommend build a router table for this, well worth the time and effort.
At this point you can drill the tuning holes.
Cut the fret slots in the FB blank. I built the blow jig for this.
View attachment 1057936
I have an MDF template with notches that match the fret positions that I use with this jig. I attache my fretboard to the template and then the notches line up with a pin in the jig so I can cut a slot, move to the next notch and cut the next slot etc. Important tip: Especially if you're using a dark fretboard like ebony or rosewood, keep the dust from the slotting, it comes in handy to mix with superglue for filling gaps.

This is one of my necks, the truss rod, fretboard and neck are ready to glue together.
View attachment 1057939

Install the truss rod, I use a dab of silicone sealer at the ends and centre to ensure no rattle later.
Using the alignment pins I mentioned earlier, glue the fret board to the neck.
When the glues set, use the trim router to trim the fretboard to the neck shape.
Next, mark the headstock thickness then using a saw, make a cut parallel to the face along your marking line.
With a chisel, I rough shape the transition curve to the headstock face.
At this point, it is really helpful to have an spindle sander, I have a cheap Triton one from ScrewFix. I clamp a piece of plywood to the top and use it as a fence to sand the headstock face and refine the transition curve.
View attachment 1057940

Next is carving the neck. I draw out the shape of the neck before I start and work out where I can make a 45 degree line to start the carve.
View attachment 1057943
In the image Above, you can see if I mark 15mm on the side and bottom it forms a 45 degree line. I then use a Shinto rasp to cut this 45 degree line the length of the neck. I would say the Shinto rasp is essential.
Next I use a chisel to cut the head and heel transition carves.
View attachment 1057947
I then use a round file to further refine the carve before switching to sandpaper for final shape.
At this point I drill and glue the dots on the side and front. This is where the dust, I told you to save earlier comes in handy.
View attachment 1057948
This is where I sand the fretboard radius, a radius sanding block is another essential tools.
Now final sand and the the neck is done, apart from fretting which is another load of steps

I like to fine sand and finish the fretboards at this stage before the frets go in. For rosewood necks I mask the sides and then use oil to finish them. On the ones in the picture I experimented with using Rubio Monocoat to finish them and I love how they turned out.
View attachment 1057949

Hope you find this useful.

I like your take on the Tele headstock very much!

 

[Bendyha]

Welcome Hairy Tele. Great hobby to get into, I wish you success.... but, just a few thoughts. That bit of wood you have, although a softwood, will probably throw-up more problems than a better bit of hardwood. The somewhat wild grain, and hence, shifting grain direction, as well as the extreme differentiating hardness between the wide and softer summer growth, and the harder, thinner winter grain lines, will make getting the long even and flowing lines and curves that a good neck needs, much more difficult than a more homogenate wood would present to you. The even resistance of a hardwood makes cutting neat and consistent fret slots easier, shaping the back of the neck easier, and even routing the truss rod channel easier.
I'm not saying that it can't be done with the wood you have, but you are not making life easy with it. A beam of oak would be less problematic, but involve more elbow grease to slowly work down to the finished shape.
I suggest asking around at a few local carpentry shops for a better scrap. I used an old toilet door from a British-rail train for my first guitar, it was a wonderful mahogany. I have pulled great wood from builders skips - old stairs can be a great find, scrapyards will often have a piece of wood in a corner somewhere that you can get for the price of a beer.
I cut out my first necks with hand saws, dug out the rod channel with a small, hand router plane and chisels, and built the whole thing with no power tools. Still, now, I use few power tools, and for the more than 100 violins I have built, use only a bandsaw, and a drill, otherwise it is all hand powered. Sometimes I feel that the use of jigs, rigs and the set-up time takes longer than just doing it by hand. If you intend to make lots of the same, or similar pattern on a regular basis, then it might make sense to build the jigs, but for the dozen or so guitars that I have made, all the enjoyment of arching tops, contour shaping and even fret slot cutting and the likes, has come from free-hand work.

 

[Freeman Keller]

Hi Hairy and another welcome to the forum. I won't repeat all the stuff that others have told you, you've been given some great advice from folks who know what they are doing. There is one thing I always recommend to any new builder - get a copy of Melvin Hiscock's book Make Your Own Electric Guitar and read it several times before you start. He talks about literally everything you need to know to build your first and second and many more guitars. Hiscock passed away right after his third edition came out - buying and studying it will be the best investment you can make.

 

[Hairy Tele]

Not a huge update, but I got the whetstone out today and managed to sharpen my Record no.5 plane.

I was surprised that I actually remembered how to do this, and I was made up with all the shavings I got from levelling out a piece of wood.

Can't wait to do some more tomorrow

 

[scubadoo]

Do you know if my Bosch router can be flipped upside down to be used as a table router? Or is it best to buy a separate unit? Any recommendations on where to buy trim router bits with a bearing? I'm new to the router world, so any advice would be great.

Most can be. I used to have a bosch that had a fixed and a plunge base, so i could screw the fixed base to the router table and remove the motor to use in the plunge base for cavities. Various places like Axminster and Woodworkersworkshop do insert plates for various models. Think Axminster has a universal plate as well.

But as you get more into woodwork it's so much better to have one permanently in a router table and one for handheld use.

The big Triton TRA001/002 is really useful in a router table as it has a built in lift mechanism that means you can easily adjust height and change cutter from above the table. It's a bit plasticy but has plenty of power.

And for cutters, have a look at Wealden as well.

 

[netgear69]

If that is a palm router 1/4 these will do the job never had any issues saves using a router table
this one is decent attach the blank to your template run it over the top of the template do a few passes
it will last a while


truss rod channel
again do a few passes it will last longer

 

[netgear69]

Not sure what is wrong with them links but 2 router bits

Trend C121X1/4TC Template Profile 12.7mm Diameter

Trend C005BX1/4TC 1/4" Shank Straight Router Cutter Bit
find them on amazon

 

[Hairy Tele]

Thank you for all the tips people, Pip has been extremely helpful.

Some more toys arrived today, so I had a go at making another template. It's looking a lot better than the last one!

I didn't have time to unpack the Spindle Sander unfortunately, but hopefully I will in the next day or 2!

Cheers,
Hairy.

 

[pipthepilot]

Glad to see you've got a Shinto rasp, its a great tool for starting the carve. If you haven't see already, I have a build thread in process here Flamed top Thinline Telecaster Build | Telecaster Guitar Forum (tdpri.com). I'm just about the start the carving process in the next couple of days and will upload detailed photos of the process so you can see how I do it.

 

[Hairy Tele]

Glad to see you've got a Shinto rasp, its a great tool for starting the carve. If you haven't see already, I have a build thread in process here Flamed top Thinline Telecaster Build | Telecaster Guitar Forum (tdpri.com). I'm just about the start the carving process in the next couple of days and will upload detailed photos of the process so you can see how I do it.

I was really happy when my Shinto Rasp arrived too. I can't wait to use one again.

Thanks Pip. I did see your post, that wood looks absolutely gorgeous. I will definitely keep an eye on it for the neck carving process

 

[Hairy Tele]

I had some time to play with the spindle sander today. It made sanding out the curves on the headstock an absolute breeze, I expected to really struggle with those.

I'm really happy with the template I have now, I managed to trace and rough cut the neck shape on to my final piece of wood.

Slow progress, but I'm enjoying myself.

Hairy.

 

[Hairy Tele]

So I made a fretboard today, and thicknessed it to (roughly) 6mm.

My flush trim router bit arrives tomorrow, so I'll hopefully be finalising the main shapes for my fretboard and neck this weekend.

Next thing I need to do is route the Truss Rod channel (even though I won't be installing one on this practice neck). I also need to check that my center line is correct?

 

[crazydave911]

I'd HIGHLY recommend routing that when the wood is still square. No need for jigs

 

[Hairy Tele]

So hand planing things flat is proving very tricky, and the advice on here about not routing until your wood is square is very good advice!

I struggled hand planing things flat on the course I did too (it's very enjoyable though). I may be investing in a thicknesser or table saw?

I did get to use my router trim tool today, they are great and I really enjoyed using it.

I think I may have ruined this fretboard, but I have more wood I can use to make another one if need be